www.eatlocalchallenge.com

Celebrating the Harvest

by Sarah Irani

Tomorrow I am hosting an Eat Local Challenge Potluck Feast. The church, Good Shepherd Lutheran, Frederick, Maryland, where I met and married my husband has offered the community room as a location for our harvest feast. I have sent out e-mails, passed out flyers, posted info on the web and hung a poster at our local co-op. The response has not been huge, but a dozen or so folks is plenty for a feast.

I found inspiration from the Californian Locavores and their Full Moon Feasts. Unlike the Full Moon Feast, however, I have envisioned a potluck where everyone can contribute food. I want to keep the costs low so that we can include everyone! I am only asking for donations to the church in gratitude for permitting us to use the space. If a guest is financially strained, he or she will not be turned away, but offered a second helping! I want to encourage a multi-generational feast where we can see the elderly, children, teens and everyone in between all in one place. That doesn't happen much around here any more.

The True Cost of Food, a video from Sierra Club

posted by Sara Zoë

Sierra Club has produced a nice little animated movie about all the extended costs of commercial food that consumers aren't paying. My only problem with the movie is at the end, when the customer is buying food at the farmers' market, the lettuce is only $.30 a head! That's not a living wage for a farmer!

Here's the website for the True Cost of Food education campaign - looks like you can request a dvd or vhs version and discussion guide - (at the moment the links to download the full-length version aren't available - the link above is to the 7-minute version). I'm excited about all the activist materials they've made freely available surrounding this issue.

found via Vermont Localvores

I Like Eating Local

By VI

Jen gives us ten reasons to eat local. From a purely deliciousness point, it boils down to two things.  When food is sourced locally, it can be harvested much closer to its peak of ripeness--this would be the example of the pear, and when food is sourced locally, it is possible to obtain items that may be otherwise too difficult to market--this would be the example of the heirloom tomato. These reasons of deliciousness got me started eating locally.  Now, I have found, like Jamie S, that there is pleasure just in the fact of eating local.  In other words, I've come to find that if it is local, I find it more delicious.

The Joys of Cider

by Heather C.

Apple cider is starting to appear in the stores of the local orchards.  It is estimated that in the United States over 12,000,000 gallons of apple cider are made each year by small orchards.  That doesn't even  include the larger amount made by national companies. 

With so much cider available people have become very inventive in using it.  Beside just drinking it cold there are many versions of hot mulled ciders.  Here is just one version to get you started.

Avoiding Pesticides

by mipmup

In an ideal world, each of us heads out to the farmers' market once a week (or if you're me last week, three times) to buy our fresh produce. We engage our farmers and ask not only about their goods, but about their processes. How do you grow? Are pesticides or herbicides used? If so, which ones?