www.eatlocalchallenge.com

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.

A Introduction from the Sierra Nevadas

by Birdsong S.

Just a quick post to introduce myself, and help spread the word a bit.  I am Birdsong, I live in northern California, in a benign portion of the Sierra foothills, north of Nevada City, where we are able to garden, but still have to work around late snows and frosts.  I see the Eat Local Challenge as a way to encourage more people to think about how they can support their local economies through their purchases, and not as some sort of competition to be the "purest" (or is it "be a purist?")

I have been trained in permaculture design (incorporating permaculture into my Masters thesis in 2000), but have been employed as a teacher and most currently as an administrative support person for our local medical and dental clinic in Downieville.