www.eatlocalchallenge.com

Eating a Local Breakfast

by Jasmine

It is 5:30 a.m. and the alarm has just gone off but you are tempted to push the snooze button and catch a couple more minutes in bed. Just as you reach over to shut off the news the announcer mentions another study about the perils of missing breakfast. People who skip breakfast are likely to be heavier, less alert, and miss out on essential nutrients. Children and teens who skip breakfast do not preform as well in school or on tests and have more hunger induced stomach aches and are more likely to be overweight.*

The standard quick breakfast of cereal isn't as easy when trying to eat locally, so what should we have for breakfast?  No matter where you live, you are likely able to get eggs, milk, and cheese locally.

I, personally, have been known to push the snooze button a little more often than not so a breakfast that comes together quickly is important, too. My answer to this workday morning dilemma is a few standard recipes that have a million possibilities depending on what is available at the market and can be made ahead.

I  make a variation on this goat cheese tart many weekends and eat the leftovers as I am running out the door on my way to work.

Not everyone is a gardener

by Jasmine

I am not a gardener. I have dabbled in gardening and failed miserably. The year that I rented a garden plot in Burlington, Vermont’s Intervale had to be one of the most humbling experiences in my brief gardening career. The garden plot comes marked out and with the soil freshly turned by the blades of a rototiller (or more likely a tractor). I bought seeds and seedlings. I marked out rows. I planned companion plantings. I tried to plan succession planting but a little math soon led me to see that 70 days from the end of the season was only three weeks after the beginning of the season. This is where the adventure began.

The State Drink of Virginia is Milk

by Jasmine

Virginia lists Milk as the state beverage.  The Virginia General Assembly passed the bill declaring this in 1982.  You would think that means that dairy is an important industry that the government would want to support.  However, according to Barnie Day, Virginia's dairy herds are diminishing at record numbers as the state continues to import milk. 

Milk production in Virginia was $275 million in 2005 yet dairies continue to struggle.  The only listing I found for Virginia milk that did not contain rBGH - Bovine Growth Hormone went bankrupt in the beginning of 2004.  As for large milk production both H. P. Hood and Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative have plants in my food-shed, they are both huge corporations accepting milk from producers up and down the East Coast. Shenandoah's Pride has been bought out by Dean Foods I could hardly consider any of these local.