www.eatlocalchallenge.com

A Local Yokel Browses the Bulk Section

by Suzanne Miller

My local food coop has a fabulous bulk section.  Fair-trade coffee, lots of organic grains, hard-to-find flours, herbs and spices… the selection is fabulous.  And someone there has a sense of humor:  the bin number for refined white sugar is 6666.  Hee.

I like buying in bulk.  It reduces food waste and packaging.  The prices are great.  I buy as much as I need and if I’m feeling really on top of my game, I bring my own glass jars from home and skip the plastic bags.

So I thought it would only be natural for the coop to label the origin of the bulk products.   Buying locally and in bulk?  Double whammy goodness.

Well, I was wrong.

I for one welcome our new corporate overlords

by Suzanne Miller

I first read about the Locavores and the Eat Local Challenge almost a year ago in an SF Chronicle article. It instantly appealed to me.

I had been floundering, trying to figure out what was seasonal (anyone ever looked at agriculture harvesting tables??). Wandering the farmers markets, I’d clutch my cloth bag and wonder what on earth people did with eggplants. But joining a group of people eating local for a month seemed… I dunno, doable. It also motivated me to get serious and buy a fricking eggplant.

When I started getting ready for August, amazing things happened.

 

In desperation, I joined a CSA, which I recommend for eat-local newbies. You don’t need to figure out what to buy, when, or what to do with it. You get a box of just-picked produce from a local farm with a newsletter telling you how to store the food, ideas for cooking the food, and farm updates. 

Women at the plough

by Suzanne Miller

The UC Davis Small Farm Center recently published a book honoring 17 California farmers, ranchers, beekeepers, chese makers and wine makers.  All women.  Cool, huh?

One them is Jennifer Greene, who runs Windborne Farm up in Fort Jones (near the Oregon border).  She's on the cover and yes, she uses draft horses to plough her farm!  I belong to her grain CSA and there's nothing like bags of freshly ground flour to inspire me to bake.  She might be technically beyond a 100 mile radius of my house, but I'm keeping in mind the spirit of the challenge.  If you know of a locally-owned, sustainable, organic farm that's a bit beyond your foodshed but offers juicy carrots, fragrant honey or some cheese you just can't live without, consider making it an exemption.

Suzanne Miller lives in Northern California and writes about her attempts to eat local, grow native plants and live life at www.adjectivenoun.com.