Walk into a grocery store, scan the aisles, and you're bound to spot someone reading through a list of ingredients between rows of food labeled anything from natural to organic. As people have strived to learn more about where their food comes from, Magdalen Dale has always felt that connection to the food she eats.

A second-generation farmer, Dale grew up on Highland Valley Farm in Bayfield. Highland Valley is home to eight acres of blueberries and its largest field boasts more than 6,000 blueberry plants. Blueberries comprise eighty percent of the farm's production, but it also produces honey and other types of berries.

"We're the largest blueberry grower in the region, and we were the first farm to grow blueberries commercially in the area," said Dale.

The farm sells to markets ranging from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Ashland, Wisconsin. Recently, Highland Valley has expanded into a new market with several area farms. The farm just began selling blueberries to Northland College as part of the school's Local Foods Initiative.

"We've had the Bayfield schools coming out and picking the last few years, but this year is the first time we'll be selling to the Ashland School District and Northland College."

The College is purchasing foods locally from area farmers with the hopes of increasing consumption of local foods on campus to twenty percent during the 2012-2013 school year. The initiative is part of a collaborative effort with community partners UW-Extension, the Chequamegon Food Co-op, the Bayfield Regional Food Producers Cooperative, and several area farms and businesses. So when students grab a bite to eat in the Northland College cafeteria this fall, they'll likely be consuming more local foods.

Chartwells, Northland's food service provider, began receiving weekly deliveries of local foods from the Chequamegon Food Co-op at the end of August. The Food Co-op is serving as a distribution hub for local farmers.

"Northland and its partners are helping to create a vibrant local food system, creating a larger market for locally produced food products, making these products more accessible to schools and other institutions, and promoting community self-sufficiency, resiliency, and prosperity," said Nathan Engstrom, regional sustainability coordinator at Northland College.

When Northland realizes the goal of twenty percent local foods consumption on campus, the move will represent an investment of about $100,000 to grow the presence of local foods at Northland - while also supporting a local foods economy, farmers, and their families. The initiative grew from a proposal submitted to the Chequamegon Food Co-op by the Bayfield Regional Food Producers Cooperative last year. Cooperative members requested that the co-op serve as an intermediary between farmers and area schools.

"What really resonates with me about this project is how it's tangible and real," said Alan Spaude-Filipczak, local foods project coordinator with the Chequamegon Food Co-op. "This is exciting because this is really where the rubber meets the road. We have thousands of pounds of food and thousands of dollars going to local farmers. This initiative is really the fiscal realization of about five to ten years of the local foods movement gaining momentum in the Chequamegon Bay region."

Local growers have begun delivering food to the Chequamegon Food Co-op, which coordinates food storage and transportation to Northland College and Ashland High School. The collaboration benefits growers and schools by eliminating complications with billing or insurance processes and growing a network to support a local foods system.

"Practically speaking, local food can be thought of as concentric circles that start with growing food at home and expand out to progressively greater distances," said Northland's Engstrom.  "The closer to the center it is produced, the more local the food is. Our priority is to focus on purchasing within 100 miles of Ashland."

Area farmers have been eager to sign up. Many, like John Adams, manager of Bayfield Apple Company, see the value in enhancing the community's connection to food grown in the Chequamegon Bay region.

"I think it's pretty exciting that we're able to build this relationship with Northland," said Adams. "I think it's a great relationship to have any institution steering away from regional food providers that bring in foods from across the country. If we can replace that with locally produced foods, then that's going to eliminate a lot of waste, fuel costs and keep jobs in the area."

Chequamegon Bay area producers and businesses will provide the College with apples, blueberries, broccoli, cucumbers, honey, eggs, meat, and more as part of the Local Foods Initiative. Northland College is working toward an ultimate goal of increasing local foods consumption on campus to eighty percent
over time.

"I think the market is actually really large for supplying institutions with food as long as we can grow sustainably and the institutions can prepare the food in accordance with what the area can produce," said Adams.

For Dale, locally grown food simply holds more reward in every bite.

"I know I enjoy my meals better when I played a part in preparing them, even if it's just cooking, but even more so when you grew the vegetable yourself or picked the berry by hand," she said. "There's just a deeper meaning to the meal when you're involved to that extent."