www.eatlocalchallenge.com

Stocktaking, stock making

by Patrick & Holly

As we prepare for the Eat Local Challenge, I find myself continually re-defining what it is we will do during this month.

At first my response was simple, and I guess it still is. It's a challenge: how locally can you eat? And we will work our hardest to eat as locally as we can.

Holly and I defined our foodshed as 150 miles. It was tempting to go with 100 but it seemed too limiting, to the extent that a lot of our choices would be "exceptions."

(You can read more about our ELC parameters on our blog, Letter from Hen Waller. Also, check out the nifty foodshed map that Holly created.)

However, I am discovering that what we are doing is much different than drawing a line on a map. We are learning, in sharp detail, exactly where nearly all of our food comes from. It's getting more interesting every day.

 

ELC |Food for Thought

by Jeanne Brophy

The best way to make a change is to understand your motivation for doing so. In order to make changes many of us need to understand through reading and discussion. Personally I place a lot of value on environmental education to build that bridge to change. A few years ago I was accepted into a local environmental education training program.  Although it was a huge time commitment I have no regrets. It solidified my focus on certain environmental issues including the need to raise awareness through education and food politics as they relate to the environment.

So today I am very excited to annouce the launch of the ELC Food for Thought online book group. Joining me in this effort as co-moderator is Barbara from Tigers & Strawberries. The books to be discussed will be both fiction and non-fiction. The objective is to not only learn from what we are reading but to enhance the reading through open discussion, thoughts and ideas from each other.

Lamb from Harvey Farms

by Birdsong S.

For me, one of the best parts of making an effort to eat locally has been getting to know more about my food sources and discovering new ones. If you visit my personal blog, you will find that I am a passionate knitter and occasional quilter. That is why, back in March, a member of my quilt guild who also knits asked if I wanted to visit Harvey Farms for the annual sheep shearing. I had met Anna a few times, as she is a member of our guild, living on the other side of Yuba Pass. She is a fourth-generation sheep rancher, it turns out, who has focused her 80-head flock on wool production. Much of the wool gets turned into quilt batts, and some into quality knitting yarn. Anna also teaches felting and needlefelting classes at the farm, and last fall, she and her husband Don, put in several acres of blueberries.

Taking Advice

by Sarah Irani

Taking advice from the Eat Local Challenge tip guide, my husband and I went on a field trip. Every Friday we have a standing date. Usually we go to Clay Oven, the best Indian place in Frederick. Since the weather has been so nice, my hubby suggested a new idea: the Friday Wine Down at Elk Run Vineyards. They have a few tables set up, a musician, wine, local cheeses and bread. We bought a bottle of the Maryland Chardonnay which was spectacular- my new favorite perhaps. Then, we cuddled under a blanket, listened to live, local music and watched the sunset over the vineyard. The grape leaves are just starting to flourish and the moon was just a sliver, but we could see the outline of the rest of the heavenly body. It was truly a wonderful evening!

Sarah is a sculptor living in Maryland. She is a member of the Summer Creek Farm CSA and the Common Market Co-op.

A few tips for the May 2006 Eat Local Challenge

by Jamie S.

In the middle of last year’s Eat Local Challenge, my grandmother became gravely ill. I packed my things and flew from Georgia to Ohio so I could visit her.

I stayed with my mother while I was there. And although there was a lot going on family-wise, I couldn’t see any reason why I shouldn’t continue to eat locally while I was away from home. The only difference was that “local” was somewhere different.

That’s how my mother got sucked into the ELC. Together, we shopped at roadside stands. We took field trips to fruit farms. We reveled in Amish cheeses. We discovered new breeds of vegetables.

So when I got an e-mail about this year’s Eat Local Challenge, I forwarded it to her. It contained the Locavore pledge:

If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic.
If not ORGANIC, then Family farm.
If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business.
If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Fair Trade.

The 80/20 Rule

by Sarah Irani

Being a hard-core perfectionist, I have had to impose the 80/20 rule into my life. I think that it can very easily be integrated into our thoughts about eating locally. Many people seem defensive about drinking Colombian coffee and African chocolate, but needn't worry. I figure, if we all eat 80% locally then the remaining 20% can be coffee, chocolate, wine, spices, etc. As more and more people implement local eating into their daily lives at the 80/20 rule we will still see a drastic change in agriculture and public health!

This helps us to integrate a little bit of grace into our lives and as human experience tells us- we can all use a little more grace.

Walking the walk, eating my talk

by Julie Cummins

I've been changing my mind about how far to go with this Eat Local Challenge. My first inclination was to go 100% local for a whole month. Luckily, I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, so it wouldn't be impossible, just a challenge, as the name promises.

I started thinking about what this commitment would mean for my life. I took stock of everything I eat that would be out for the month of May. Coffee, tea, sugar, salt, spices, chocolate, tropical nuts, tortilla chips, soy products, and so on.

In preparation, I started stuffing my face with all the things I knew I wouldn't get to have later. I didn't feel a bit guilty about polishing off the rest of that ice cream (with vanilla from Madagascar? and sugar from Hawaii? just a guess), or the peanut butter (Mexico?). My fridge was full of forbidden items: Parmesan, salad dressing, beer, even the jam made from local organic strawberries would be out.

I for one welcome our new corporate overlords

by Suzanne Miller

I first read about the Locavores and the Eat Local Challenge almost a year ago in an SF Chronicle article. It instantly appealed to me.

I had been floundering, trying to figure out what was seasonal (anyone ever looked at agriculture harvesting tables??). Wandering the farmers markets, I’d clutch my cloth bag and wonder what on earth people did with eggplants. But joining a group of people eating local for a month seemed… I dunno, doable. It also motivated me to get serious and buy a fricking eggplant.

When I started getting ready for August, amazing things happened.

 

In desperation, I joined a CSA, which I recommend for eat-local newbies. You don’t need to figure out what to buy, when, or what to do with it. You get a box of just-picked produce from a local farm with a newsletter telling you how to store the food, ideas for cooking the food, and farm updates. 

The Box

by VI 

Spring CSA Week 4

[Note, my family has subscribed to a Spring CSA offered by a local Illinois farm called Genesis Growers --owned by "Farmer Vicki".  This CSA started in April and relies on greenhouses to get a head start on the growing season.] 

Farmer Vicki noted in her weekly e-mail that her spring greenhouse crops were not coming in so well.

"We have been having problems with one greenhouse in that the crops are not all getting ready at the same time.  It is frustrating, but so far I have not figured out why.  The only clue I have is that we did a poor job spreading the composted manure.  In some places it is thick and others, thin.  In this case, though I have been a poor diagnostician."

A suspicion

by Jamie S.

I'll admit it: Down here in middle Georgia (the lower edge of Zone 7), we have it easy. Most of our sturdy greens and root vegetables can be overwintered, and our spring planting season starts in March. May is a shoulder season--down with the old, up with the new.

(I won't mention the bugs and the heat. I know it comes off as whining. World's tiniest violin, etc.)

If you live in a colder zone, you may be worried that there won't be much of anything at your local farmstand in May. But remember that some of your local farmers have greenhouses. I have a plastic hoophouse, and it makes me feel pretty darned clever. You can push the seasons ahead by a month at least. The plants grow in the same soil and battle the same bugs; the only difference is a little extra solar heat.