go local

So I joined this Y! group for our area's localvores -- those who try to eat locally as much as they can. And the more I read their posts & the more I think about our impending move to Indy, the more I think about learning to eat more locally. Plus, it's exactly the kind of far-left (or is it far-right? they are strikingly similar these days....) activism that makes me happy and tickles my need to be in control.

Well, conveniently, my good friend, a fellow localvore member herself, decided to make 2008 her local foods challenge year. If the details of her challenge aren't up on her site yet, keep checking -- she assures me they will be!

I plan to join her in this challenge and I think you should too! Since it's not my challenge, I don't know that I'll be as hardcore as she will be, but I've been talking the talk for a long time & I think it's about time these boots got walking.

Now, I've done some preliminary thinking on "going local" and my first conclusion is that it's one of those things that almost has to happen gradually unless you want to severely cut your diet. Or, if you are a firm believer in eating seasonal foods only, you might not have a hard time. Personally, I think January and February are far and away the best time for fasting anyway. But, I get grumpy after fasting for too long so I'm big on eating seasonally when and where available, and using preservation techniques for any surplus you can get your hands on.

Knowing your seasonal availability of different foods and where to get them when they're harvested is the key. Then, you just show up and buy in bulk, planning to preserve your surplus in whatever way suits the food. If I find an oat grower, for example, here in my area, I would probably buy 100 pounds. This should last us for a year (we rely on having oats always available) and it might even be cheaper to buy it in large quanities. Thing is, we'll still have to feed ourselves while we're building our supply, so general cost-cutting will have to be a priority for 2008 if I'm going to strive to be 90% local in 2009.

For me, there will be a process to 2008 that should bring us to near-complete local eating in 2009. The process consists of these eight steps:

1. Make a list of the foods that are both grown locally and enjoyed by our family.
2. Separate into two groups those foods that are available year round (meat and dairy products) and those that are only available seasonally (vegetables, grains & fruits).
3. Of those that are only available seasonally, research to find the harvesting month for each food.
4. Find a local source for each food, probably using the database in our localvores group.
5. Set up a carpool group of others who might be interested in obtaining these foods.
6. Trim costs in both the existing grocery store budget and other household expenses to free up more money for buying in bulk when seasonal foods are available.
7. Preserve all surplus using any method that suits the food.
8. Keep a list in the kitchen that details how much of each food we purchased this year so that we can adjust our buying next year.

I won't likely shoot for 100% local eating at any foreseeable time. I like my coffee and chocolate too much for that! But I believe that 90% local should be attainable after a year of careful planning.

Challenges like this are great and I'm glad Mama brought it up! Not only do I love kicks in the pants to live in closer alignment with my principles, but it's just plain fun to do a challenge with a friend. I have one of my own challenges going on right now that I anticipate will help me cut those costs so I can free up money to buy local foods in bulk. I'm tired of feeling like all I do is shop for, maintain, fix, clean and rearrange my Things. I want to know how all those Things are coming into my life. I want to know how much stress they are causing and how much time they are stealing from me. I've created a challenge to write down all of my transactions that involve more of these Things so I can see more clearly how much time they're eating up and how I can fix it. And you know what? Call it shameless self-promotion, but I think you should join that challenge too!