The Green Fork is the official blog of the Eat Well Guide. Click here to Find Good Food.

Spring finds us very busy here at Eat Well. Since emerging as an independent program under the leadership of new director, Destin Joy Layne, the Eat Well Team has been working feverishly to develop some new tools to make it easier for North Americans to find good food. Among the new developments:

Eat Well Everywhere Coming this summer: A new, interactive mapping feature (think Eat Well Guide meets Google maps, and then some), this new feature will not only serve up great listings, but will also tell you how to get there. You’ll be able to map a route from point A to point B and choose from a list of categories (anything from farms to markets to lodgings, all offering local, sustainable food), and create your own free custom, printable guide complete with maps, driving directions and business profiles. It will be able to handle anything from a day trip out to some local farms and restaurants to a cross-country adventure, and by indicating a radius around your route, you’ll get to choose how far off the beaten path you’re willing to go to find your next meal.

Radically expanded listings The Eat Well Guide was created originally to help people find meat, poultry, eggs and dairy that were not from factory farms. Conceived by Sustainable Table and IATP in 2003 and promoted by the internationally acclaimed Meatrix films, the Guide’s focus has traditionally been on animal products. But the Eat Well Field Team of interns and externs around the country are currently working on adding produce, farmers markets, and vegan restaurants to the mix. Working with friends at Food & Water Watch, the team is also adding a new “water conscious rating” to help raise awareness of water issues and reward businesses that conserve water and have moved away from the decidedly un-green bottled-water phenomenon.

The Eat Well Guide was created not only to help people find better food, but also as a way to help local farmers and business owners to promote their work. We invite vendor and consumer members alike to take ownership of the Guide by updating and adding new listings.

The Green Fork Blog If you’re reading this, we’re up and running. If you would like to contribute or suggest a story, feel free to email blog [at] eatwellguide.org.

Eat Well Search Boxes We are now offering mini-search box widgets, so if you’d like to make it possible for visitors to search for locally-grown, sustainbly-produced food directly from your site, check them out — you can even embed them in your blog or social networking membership pages. For your personal use, we’ve also created an iGoogle gadget called the “Eat Well Local Food Finder.” Maybe you’ll want to put it beside your Green Fork feed!

We’ve also started a Facebook profile (and group) as yet another way for our supporters and friends to stay involved. We’ll post photos and notes about the Eat Well Guide and announce events and other opportunities to get involved. Please become a fan if you’re on Facebook. (You must be a member of Facebook, but signing up is easy and free.

Our team is excited to be pioneering a new territory where digital media supports local, sustainable agriculture. We hope you’ll continue to support the sustainable food movement by sharing the Eat Well Guide with friends, and by “voting with your fork” and supporting your local food producers.

Until next time…Eat Well!