The Mobility Challenge

by Heather C.

There have been posts on this site about the challenges of eating locally if you don't have the money to pay premiums for local food or if you don't have the time or skill to cook from scratch.  I've recently found out about one more challenge - mobility.

I started with with specific goals for the challenge.  I found sources for local eggs.  I was going to plant a garden.  Everything was going according to plan and then I got hurt.  For the next several weeks I'm using crutches and a wheelchair to get around.  What does that have to do with eating locally?  As it turns out, everything. 

For right now the gardening plan is out.  If this was going to be a permanent problem I could get raised beds made or plant in containers. But it isn't worth hiring someone to build beds when I should be able to be working in the garden again in a month or so.  Even composting is suddenly difficult.  It is so much easier to throw scraps in the trash than to figure out a way to carry them to the compost pile.

In order to eat local around here at this time of year you have to go to several small stores and farms.  Each stop means hauling out the crutches and hopping around the store.  How do you carry groceries while on crutches?  I keep having visions of eggs smashing in my backpack.  I have a husband who can carry things for me.  But there is no way that he is going to agree to go one store for salsa and another for produce and yet another for everything else.  If I was reliant on friends to help me shop I wouldn't ask them to do that either. 

The thought of shopping like I usually do is exhausting to me at this point.  The electric carts with baskets on them at the big stores are sounding better and better.  If I was in this position permanently would I even try to search out local food?  If I'm having these thoughts as an eat local true believer how crazy must it sound to someone who hears it for the first time?

Is there a solution?  Maybe bringing food from your garden or from the farmer's market to someone you know who can't easily get there.  That would be a great way to share the benefits of eating local with someone who may find it interesting but difficult.

Comments

[Jamie]

What an, er, interesting challenge it is turning out to be for you! I read the account of your accident with horror--I hope you are feeling better every day.

I think in situations like this, we all need to be somebody's eat-local buddy. I love your idea of bringing food from the garden or farmer's market to someone who can't get there.

Someone with limited mobility would also be a prime candidate for CSA membership. When I used to belong to one in Minnesota, I shared with another family, and I volunteered to do the pickup each week--not out of altruism, but just because I enjoyed it. :-) Something like that could be of immeasurable value to someone who has difficulty doing it themselves.

[Birdsong]

I am sorry that you ended up injured, but what a great, thought-provoking post opening up the conversation about how eating local can be made more accessible to those who are disabled, elderly, or otherwise limited in their abilities to meet the tasks you have already found to be difficult. Thanks for sharing this, and I will certainly be thinking good recovery thoughts for you.

[julie]

Wow. Your predicament is a good reminder to all of us that, while eating local was once a necessity, it is now a privilege enjoyed by those who have the time, energy, access, and ability.