The Local Challenge

I was inspired to be a better eater last fall after hearing about 3 folks from the White Earth Reservation in Northern Minnesota who had pledged to eat only food grown within 100 miles of their home for an entire year. My reaction: If they can do i in northern MN, I can do it on the Far Coast. I was reluctant to begin the year in November though. It seemed easy enough, well, not quite easy maybe, but within my power, but I needed a growing season to prepare. But it also seemed as though the whole purpose was to demonstrate that local eating is possible. And it should be possible for everyone, not just those who have the benefit of a farm at their disposal.

So, here it is, mid-June, and I'm still all talk--though I'm full of A LOT of talk. I think it's time to do more. There are a million excuses, though--What if I move and I can't take all of my canned goods with me? I don't have a good root cellar just now, I don't have a freezer, I'm sick of early summer greens, What about coffee, citrus and spices?

Doing a bit of web research, I found out that May was local foods month--aha! what a simple solution: Eat local for just a month at a time. That's easy enough to commit to. I still need a bit of time to prepare; maily to figure out what I'm going to eat other than veggies and meat. Here are the rules I propose to begin by:

1. All food must be grown or produced in the state. This is a big beginner's concession allowing foods that have been produced but not necessarily grown locally (i.e. bread, ice-cream, cheese or beer that includes out of state ingredients.)
2. A nod to community. Sharing food with friends is an important and valuable part of my life. Potluck and dinner party food prepared by friends gets a free-pass.
3. I don't eat out often here on the Far Coast but in the spirit of community there are some friends that I just don't see except over a meal out. I will allow myself two chances to eat restaurant meals that will almost certainly not be local, though I will make an effort to eat at establishments that make an effort to include local foods on their menus.

A few sites for more local eating inspiration:

• The 100 mile diet
• Localvores
• The Eat Local Challenge
  

Another rainy day in paradise

I’m enjoying my dry afternoon drinking coffee too late in the afternoon, along with most of the other residents of town (the café is packed this afternoon). I’m getting to really enjoy my mundane Thursday afternoon trips into town—laundry, coffee at the bookstore, reading the weekly paper and sometimes grocery shopping if I feel up for a treat (the real grocery shopping happens on Sundays when Mandy can come along and throw around her 15% discount at the co-op).

It often seems to me that I’m the only one left who isn’t unbearably busy. There are the city folks with drinking nights and intramural sports competitions and meetings and fancy jobs and business trips; and the scientists with experiments that demand attention every 3 hours around the clock for days on end; and the farmers who have amazing endurance and self-discipline to work 12 hour days six days a week. Sometimes my mundane schedule seems a sure sign of laziness—and maybe when it comes down to it, it is—but mostly it seems to me that there’s no point in living in a beautiful place if you don’t have time to enjoy it.