Homegrown — Businesses, schools see importance of sourcing locally-produced food
SHERIDAN — Christine Hampshire said she took for granted all the access she had to farm-fresh food while growing up on a ranch. But her passion for locally-sourced products is something she now brings to the community through Cross E Dairy and Freedom Foods, a downtown Sheridan farmers market with 40 local producers.
“We were pretty sure that this community would be really supportive of the local producers,” Hampshire said of her business’s opening four and a half years ago. “So many people are really becoming educated and aware of how real food impacts health.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines “local food” as a food product raised, produced, aggregated, stored, processed and distributed in the same region, less than 400 miles from the origin of the product. These foods often appeal to those looking for fresh products with high product integrity, as each food’s source and production methods are typically easier to track.
Hampshire said locally-sourced food often has unique properties different from processed versions found at traditional supermarkets, a factor that can draw naturalists or those with certain intolerances to pursue these less processed alternatives.
“I think the preservatives, chemicals and dyes and all of these things we put in our foods now have impacted our health,” Hampshire said.
At her store, Hampshire partners with farms and growers throughout northern Wyoming to sell locally-produced meats, produce, eggs, canned goods and breads. Hampshire and her family also supply many of their dairy farm’s milk, cream, butter, cheese and yogurt — a longtime staple of the store.
Traditional milk found at places like Albertsons or Walmart are often pasteurized and homogenized — two standard processes that first kill harmful bacteria in the milk and then mix the product to prevent the cream from separating. Hampshire said raw milk avoids these two processes, allowing it to retain more vitamins and minerals.
“Raw milk is just as it was made to be, right out of the cow,” Hampshire said. “Without the damage from the pasteurization and homogenization, our body doesn't struggle to digest it.”
Hampshire said a large part of buying locally-sourced food is the education component. She said many producers want consumers to be aware of how their food is being made, with everything from vegetables and kombucha to meat processing and flour milling.
“That's a really cool thing about allowing producers to work directly with our community,” Hampshire said. “There is a lot of education that goes with it, as people learn how to eat healthier and source real foods, then it really brings up some great discussions.”
At Sheridan High School, agriculture education teacher Chaney Beyer said the school is also using local food production as an education opportunity. While it may be impossible to eliminate all modern food processes, like genetic altering and fertilizer, some students are exploring homegrown products as a way to return to organic and natural products.
“For those students who really have a passion for it, I want us to be able to foster that and support them in that journey,” Beyer said.
The school also explores what that type of production could look like on vegetables through a hydroponic lab system. Greenhouse Coordinator Shayley Cooper leads the production of about 70 pounds of lettuce and other leafy greens per week for school lunches. Beyer said students also get their hands dirty by practicing vegetable and other crop planting techniques, living out the journeys of many local food producers as they produce products for the community.
“Just being aware of the different methods of growing food and how you can do it at home, that’s huge,” Beyer said.
This story was published on May 1, 2025.