The September 2007 Eat Local Challenge: Many ways to participate

by the Editors

For the third year in a row, the Eat Local Challenge website, in association with the Locavores, is hosting a month-long Eat Local Challenge.  This year, the challenge is in September with an emphasis on canning and preserving the bounty of September for the winter months. 

During this time, nationwide participants focus on what foods are available in our local foodshed and how we can support our local farmers.  This year, we have received many inquiries on the ways that supporters of the Eat Local Challenge can participate.  While the original challenge premise involves eating as much food from your local foodshed as possible during the month, there are many ways that you can participate.

Here are just a few:

1)  Commit to eating local for 30 days in September.  To do this, define what "local" means to you --  be it a 100-mile radius or your entire state or region.  Then designate any exceptions, define any extra goals you have during the month, and sign up on the Locavores website so that you can be counted.

2)  Write about your experience with eating locally on your blog.  What's it like in your area?  Which parts of eating locally are easy, and which are difficult?  What advice do you have for others? If you are participating, email us and tell us what state you live in.  Then tag all posts with the term "EatLocalChallenge" so that we can find your posts.  Want to show your support?  Add an Eat Local Challenge logo to your site!

3)  Take photos of local food, local farmers' markets and local farmers and post them to our Flickr group.

4)  Make one local meal a week in September.  Liz from Pocket Farm heads up the One Local Summer project which asks people to eat a local meal each week during the summer.  You can participate in a modified One Local Summer by committing to preparing one local meal for your family weekly through September.  Let us know how you do!

5)  Submit original content about your eat local experience to the Eat Local Challenge blog to be posted during September.  Email us your content or blog thoughts.  All posts will be subject to our Creative Commons license.

6)  Attend a farmers' market each week in September.  Don't know how to find one?  Try this link or this link.

7)  Can, freeze, or dehydrate your local summer bounty so that you can spread your local eating into the winter.

8)  Ask your supermarket manager where your meat, produce and dairy is coming from.  Remember that market managers are trained to realize that for each person actually asking the question, at least 7 people want to know the same answer.  Make a difference!

9)  Find a local CSA and sign-up!

10)  Find out what restaurants in your area support local farmers. You can do this by asking the restaurants about their ingredients directly, or by asking your favorite farmers what restaurant accounts they have.

11)  Learn more about a farmer or a local producer by talking to them.  Ask them about what they grow, what challenges they have had, why they choose to produce or grow what they are growing.

12)  Use this tool to draw a 100-mile radius around your home and then use this tool to find a local provider.  In California, try CAFF's online local food database for more providers.

13)  Start simple and small by replacing one food item a week.  Find out who in your area roasts their coffee beans.  Try replacing your fruit during September with locally grown fruit.  Buy only locally grown tomatoes.  It might be easier than you think!

14)  Commit to learning more about the implications of growing food on our enivronment, health and economy by reading some of the most popular and influential writings in this area, including:

• Writings by Michael Pollan, especially Power Steer or The Omnivore's Dilemma.
• The Pleasures of Eating by Wendell Berry.
• Articles written for Grist by Tom Philpott.
• Plenty by Alisa Smith and JB MacKinnon.

15)  Take your kids to a u-pick in your area.  Can't find one?  Call your local farmers' market association to see if they know of any.

16)  Host a local foods potluck.  Have friends over and invite them to bring foods made from locally grown products.  A great way to learn about different locally grown products.

Why do we choose to eat local?  Read our 10 Reasons to Eat Local.

Interested in eating local and need some tips?  Read our tips for the Eat Local Challenge.

If you would like to read about challenges that we have participated in, please refer to the list below.

August 2005 Eat Local Challenge
May 2006 Eat Local Challenge
2006 One Local Summer Challenge
2006 100-Mile Thanksgiving Challenge
April 2007 Penny-Wise Eat Local Challenge

Let us know how we can help you eat local in September!

Comments

[Kristena]

We have been eating local all summer. It has been one fo themost rewarding and lively times I can remember.

I wish I had found you all earlier to share my experience thus far:)
Peace and Harmony
Kristena

[Courtney]

I am still not sure exactly how I am going to participate in this challenge, only that I intend to...I'm traveling quite a bit in September so my level of involvement isn't going to be as great as I had hoped. I plan to take most of this year to learn about eating locally and more fully participate next year...but I'll come up with something for 2007!

[CDC]

I think I'll have to take a swing at this - should provide some good new ideas for things to cook!

[Katherine Gray]

We're in!

[Jamie]

Hello All,
I'm an associate producer with the CBS Early Show and we're looking for a family who is taking the September Eat Local Challenge. If we find the right family, (perhaps with kids who don't like vegetables or are very opinionated), we would like to follow your family through the course of the month and document the challenge. If anyone here knows of someone who might fit this description, please feel free to contact me.
Jamie Farnsworth
farnsworthj@cbsnews.com
Thank you!

[Liza]

Hi -- I'm a newbie to thinking about eating locally, and am going to be taking on the challenge this September.

Right now, my biggest question is how I'm going to manage local yogurt for my yogurt-addicted toddler.

[Anne]

Lisa - I love yogurt but can't find it locally, so I am going to be making it from scratch with local milk (I will have to buy starter though.) There are tons of recipes and instructions for homemade yogurt on-line!

[Melanie]

It's been two months since my husband and I startng seriously eating locally here in San Diego, and I am very excited on the eve of this month's Eat Local Challenge, to have LOTS more company all of a sudden! I will be checking in regularly, hoping to learn some more about preserving. I am developing a directory of local eating here in San Diego on my blog which unfortunately will not be up in its full form in time for this challenge, but I'll try to post as much info as I can over the next month for those in the San Diego area.

[katrina]

I'm in.

[Kim]

I'm in. I am going to use the challenge to increase my committment to eating locally. I will do two things. First, I will try canning. My mom cans salsa every year so I am going to try that. Second, I will try raw milk from a local farmer and even try to make cheese from it. More on my blog (www.momspizzadough.com)

[Korinthe]

Liza -- There are great yogurt instructions at
http://www.pocketfarm.com/?p=150
The only starter you need is real yogurt (e.g. Stonyfield, with lots of cultures and few additives), and the only equipment you need is probably already in your house.

Question: how do we find a list of all the other ELC participants?

[Ellen]

I'm in! I've been trying to be as local as possible for a long time, but this will help me cement my plans!

[ANP]

Did anyone read the article in the Sept. 3 2007 edition of The New Yorker called "New York Local?" It is funny and very informative as it demonstrates how, even in New York City, you can eat local (New York City chicken, eggs, honey...).

Another way to eat local is to drink local wine. I own and operate a small winery in Massachusetts called The Neighborhood Cellar and we believe that even wines will become much more localized.

[Dale Conour]

California's great for eating local, but at least here on the Peninsula, coming up with local flour/sugar is a real challenge...

http://emerson.typepad.com/emerson/2007/09/peach-pie-oh-my.html

[Nora]

We approached this type of challenge a little differently. We gathered some folks from the local community garden for what we called a "Tomato Bee," inspired by apple bees of days gone by, when neighboring farmers came together to share bounty and labor and made apple butter for the winter.

We made ketchup with the garden's late summer bumper crop, adding red peppers and garlic from the farmers' market. Some of the spices were local, although not all, nor was the olive oil. But two out of the 3 vinegars we ended up using were local!

It was a lot of fun to get people together for tomato-mushing and cooking, great as both a community-building event, a solution to the age-old Minnesota "tomato problem" (what problem, right?), and as a way to focus on super-local food. Can't recommend it enough to other community gardens (and bonus: the ketchup turned out fantastic!)

[Cynthia]

Is there anyone out there in the South West U.S.? Colorado? I do not see any fellow locavores in the "Area Specific" lineup on this page.

I've been working faithfully for the last 4 months (since the beginning of summer) to buy only local food. I have not found a place to buy wheat from in Colorado though. My occasional sin comes from eating a slice at a local pizzaria in Widefield, Colorado. It's owned by a retired fellow Police Officer who lives locally. That is my one splurge.

[Leda]

I'm starting my third month of a 250-mile diet and loving it. If you want to know how it's going, please visit Leda's Urban Homestead at ledameredith.net/wordpress

[nancy r]

When is the 2008 challenge

[Kat and Anna - Local choices of the Central Valley]

I have been eating locally for almost a year with my CSA local farmer.

Everyday is a intimate and fun food experience
that has brought my family back to the table!

There is no place like home again...
Just Anna :)