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I am finally accepting the fact that I am trapped! Blah, blah, blah - yea, I'm babbling. Anyway, I'm really excited about our CSA box. I want to take the kiddos to the farm this summer, so they can have a real connection with the place. We are also trying to grow our own garden, but this climate sucks - I have to completely relearn to garden, so who knows what we'll get! I'm going to take some time and wander through the hfs to see what is from Colorado. Outside of some seriously kicking applesauce and jerky (which we don't eat), I don't know what comes from here! It'll be a learning experience for me, too.
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Originally Posted by SageR
 I want to do some serious foraging this year too. The summer before last I ate a ton of dandelion greens and I felt fantastic. There will be wild stuff growing quite awhile before anything is ready in the garden.
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Originally Posted by EarthyMamaofDaisy
Is there a good list somewhere of local places to buy food? I mean other than farmer's markets?
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Grains will be an issue because we are gluten free, so we won't be getting most of our grains from Colorado. The CSA box will be great for us here because so far the pickin's are slim! This is definitely going to be a process - so bear with me! 
I promise not to gripe too much about my homesickness for Arkansas. 
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Originally Posted by russianthistle
I'm in
Where I find it hard (I live near where Leta lives), is in the flour/grain dept...and in the coffee/tea dept. |
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Originally Posted by Leta
We have decided not to do a CSA share... this year. We have a list (a wonderfully long list) of farms in county, and while many do shares, they all also just sell food to anyone. So that's cool.
There are some other farms, outside our county, that we are interested in scoping out. So we are planning on taking little daytrips and doing lots of upicks. Our definition of local is going to be U.P. grown. (That is, the upper peninsula of Michigan.) We already do 90% local dairy, We haven't been able to find chevre, Swiss cheese or any kind of bleu cheese, but everything else is U.P. dairy. Meats and eggs are pretty easy, too- if we want something that we can't find locally, the rule is that it must be certified organic. We get our juice concentrate from a downstate Michigan company. We will only be buying Michigan beet sugar from now on. As far as produce, we are going to try to overwinter (in a cold frame) spinach and lettuce this winter for greens, and we'll sprout. We're also going to try to grow tomatoes indoors. Other than that, we are just planning on canning, freezing, and drying tons of U.P. produce as it comes into season. We already do this, but we want to ramp it up a notch, and even do things that are cheap do buy at the store (ie, frozen peas). We also are planning on converting our basement pantry (we have 150+ year old house) back into a root cellar, to store root veggies, garlic, and apples. There are three farmers' markets nearby, as well as a natural foods co-op that works extensively with local farmers. So we really have a lot of options, fortunately. We know we'll have to buy "imported" grains, but we are going to get whatever we can from MN, which isn't far away. We made the rule that all of our citrus, avacados, nuts and grapes MUST come from within the U.S. and be organic, so we have at least some sense that the workers have been well treated. Our cocoa, chocolate, coffee, tea, spices, cashews and bananas must be organic and fair trade. There are still some dry goods that I don't know what to do about. Dry shell beans, in particular. I'm thinking of just making a U.S./ organic rule and leaving it at that. I have no idea what to do about rice or pasta. Fish is hard, too- we've decided we will only be eating fish from the local fish market (Great Lakes, most Lake Superior), wild AK salmon, as well as U.S. farm raised catfish, barramundi, shrimp, and shellfish. If SIL (who lives in AK) catches another halibut and sends us some, we will greatfully eat that as well. :I want to, eventually, get to the point of having a list of "outsourced" foods rather than "local" foods. So... what do you think of my rules? Do they at least make sense? |
We are looking into root cellaring too. Our basement is about the right temperature but is quite damp (120 year old house) so I am not sure how to adapt without putting energy into it (like dehumidifying). My plan is to do a test this year with 3-4 specimens of several types of produce just to see what happens even with the dampness. Canning has saved us! Last year, I also grabbed a bunch of the green tomatoes leftover at our CSA farm and put them in grocery sacks. Every week, I would pluck out the ripening tomatoes. Not nearly as good as fresh summer tomatoes, but we were eating real, local, FREE, red tomatoes until December.
: The mom would put up strawberry preserves and she'd also freeze strawberries. I don't think we ever had enough asparagus to freeze, but you can!
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Originally Posted by laohaire
OK, here's one question. More about seasonal eating than local eating, technically, but of course they go hand in hand.
Are any spring vegetables usually preserved for later? I know summer vegetables and fall vegetables are, but spring seems to be mostly leafy greens. I know you can freeze them but do most people just eat what they can get in spring, and start up preserving in mid or late summer (with tomatoes, etc)? |
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Originally Posted by EarthyMamaofDaisy
Is there a good list somewhere of local places to buy food? I mean other than farmer's markets?
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Originally Posted by russianthistle
Oh, and if you haven't already read it...check out Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I'm sure most of you already have.........
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