Locavores Tribe - Page 2

[nolonger]

I feel you, Valkyrie; I put up a double batch (a dozen pints and about a half dozen quarts) of pickles last month and ds has already devoured all of them.



I can still get more cucumbers if I can afford to pay for them and find the time and energy to make more.

[accountclosed3]

Has anyone seriously considered moving to an area with more sustainable local food sources?

it's interesting, but yes, this is a consideration for us. we want many things out of where we live, the lifestyle that we want. we put this on the list of what we want.

My biggest problem is dp. If it were just me, I'd have far less of a problem with this switch.

i know it seems like a big, insurmountable problem, but it really isn't. i would figure out what his favorite/common recipes are, what they require, and then buy as many of those ingredients as you can locally. don't worry about those that you can't.

i would also suggest that while you're buying locally, you pick up something new to try. pick up a recipe for it too--and either ask him to make it or make it yourself. it's nice to try new things, and you'll start to get familiar with the tastes and textures of local foods. If you're husband is "really" into cooking, this will interest him. If he cooks because it's 'easier' for your family, then this might pique an interest or you might start sharing that process.

either way, you are getting started slowly.

as for the vegetarian/vegan stuff--we live in a mixed diet household. i'm vegetarian (formerly vegan); my husband is omnivore. it's really not a problem for us.

but we function--cooking-wise--from a concept of "nutrition by addition" rather than one of subtraction. many new vegetarians function from "nutrition by subtraction" because they'll just 'eat the side dishes" and avoid the meat.

but this isn't healthy or balanced. So, i often recommend nutrition by addition--and it's similar to the "food guide pyramid" in construction.

you start your meal with the foundation of something vegetarian--bean soup or some sort of bean/grain pilaf, then add vegetables, and then add whatever dairy or meats you would like.

this way, vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores get what they like. i cook things separate (we have a pan for meat and a pan for vegetarian food--as well as separate cutting boards, etc), and then put them on different platters, and people can eat what they want and leave what they don't.

when we have a family meal, we set the table and usually have a tourine of soup, a bowl of salad, a platter of cheeses, and a plate of meat. in the mornings, it may also include a basket of breads and some sort of egg dish as well.

this way, everyone is satisfied. and typically, we cook for two (my husband and I, no children yet), but i will make amounts for enough for everyone.

[celestialdreamer]

We first learned about the benefits of eating locally 3 years ago when we joined an organic CSA. It is a year round CSA and they also sell honey and pastured eggs. I tell pretty much anyone that will listen about them!

We had been getting our meat from a local organic butcher, where the cows were local and fed both grain & grass, but the poultry was from CA. We just went this weekend to a farm about 2 hours away (which I still consider local) and purchased enough organic grassfed beef, pork and chicken to fill up our freezer. We've been waiting to be able to afford this for over a year so it was very exciting. The day we were up there was their annual festival, so we got a full tour of the farm and an informative discussion with the owner. What they are doing on this farm should be an example to others. We were quite in awe of the setup. We plan to buy some more chickens and a couple turkeys from them next month at a farmer's market. Anyone in Western WA that wants to check them out can look here: http://www.skagitriverranch.com They were recently featured in Mother Earth News magazine for their eggs.

Buying locally is a big deal to both my husband and myself. I love that my kids will grow up seeing where their food comes from. We plan on buying acreage next year to start producing alot of our own food. We just bought a giant freezer so we can start putting stuff away for the winter. Luckily our CSA is year round anyway so we mostly put stuff away so we don't get bored of weeks on end of potatoes, carrots, squash, root veggies, winter greens and apples.

I'm really happy to find this tribe as many of the people I know think I'm a little extreme with my attempt at eating locally.

[juneau]

I just finished AVM and LOVED it. I was inspired to make cheese as soon as I could get the ingredients. Dd and I have been making mozzarella and ricotta just about weekly now.

Maria, the chicken recipe sounds marvelous! I will cook it up this weekend just as soon as I can get a chicken from the farmer's market.

I am lucky to live in an area with a lot of great farmstands, and I have always had a garden and been more or less successful at growing things I eat (more successful this year now that dd is 2 1/2).

I find that when I go to the grocery store now I turn up my nose at most of the things in there. I wish our stores carried local produce, especially e.g. apples now that we are in apple season and surrounded by orchards. I could do a CSA but mostly that duplicates what I am already growing. So I grow and supplement with tours of the farmstands.

A question for everyone: What are you eating these days?
I made cheese on Sunday, then made pizza with the whey. I topped the pizzas with 1) local sausage, my own tomatoes, my homemade cheese and my own basil, and 2) homemade pesto from the freezer, oven-dried tomatoes from the farmstand, and the cheese. On the side we had arugula/lettuce/tomato/radish salad from the garden with my homegrown garlic in the dressing. To drink, a local microbrew. Yum!!

: noordinaryspider!

[Valkyrie9]

I made Maria's chicken recipe on Sunday and it was sooo delicious! Easy, too. In fact, I just finished up a plate of leftovers for lunch. That roasted salsa idea is great: I halved tomatoes and onions and some peppers, put them on a piece of foil on the grill and rotated them after about 4-5 minutes on a side, then rough-chopped them and let it all sit for a couple hours.

Also, I smoked tomatoes this weekend! (Not that kind of smoking...) It was totally easy, and they'll be great blended into soups and sauces. It's a great use for extra end-of-season tomatoes.

[accountclosed3]

What are you eating these days?

my usual: eggs, cheese, yogurt, lots of salads with sprouts of different sorts, tomatoes, cucumber, olives (not local), fruit. beans (not local) in various indian spices (not local, as far as i know--i do buy them at the indian market, so i assume they're imported).

yeah, same old same old. going out to dinner tonite. local restaurant, not organic.

i'm thinking pizza; they're htinking mexican. my tummy hurts right now, so i think pizza will be better because i can have a salad.

[eco_mama]

Ok, I have to go back and read through the new posts but I wanted to say.......I found Animal, Vegetable, Miracle at my library today!! :

[Keeta]

Hey locavore mamas!

I'm so glad there is a tribe for us now! I've become obsessed with local food and food politics this summer. I loved AVM, now I'm reading Omnivore's Dilemma and The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved. I've got Plenty on backorder, and I can't wait to tear into that one!

We are part of a CSA (our third year) and we regularly shop at the farmer's market, which I look forward to all week. Our CSA runs out in two weeks though and I'm getting kind of nervous! I guess we'll just spend twice as much at the farmer's market! I feel lucky that we can get lots of local food (especially since we're right outside of Detroit, not really what you think of as an agricultural oasis!). Aside from produce we also have a source for pastured eggs, local flours, a variety of legumes, flax seed, sunflower seeds, etc. What I can't find (so far) is a truly local source for dairy products, which is so frustrating. So we compromise and get the most local we can find or at least try to support a locally owned business when we buy it.

One of the most interesting things about eating locally (and therefore mostly seasonally) is how much of a produce snob I've become! It's like I can't eat out at run-of-the-mill restaurants anymore. The "tomotoes"! Horrible, mealy, white on the inside. It's funny how your tastes can change. On the one hand, I hate wasting food, but I just can't make myself eat conventionally grown tomatoes. Gross. It's like a sacrilege.

Anyway, I have a link in my siggie to my food blog. I was participating in the Eat Local Challenge of September 2007 until house guests descended upon us for three weeks, but I'm working on updating it soon!

[jkg]

Originally Posted by Keeta

We are part of a CSA (our third year) and we regularly shop at the farmer's market, which I look forward to all week. Our CSA runs out in two weeks though and I'm getting kind of nervous! I guess we'll just spend twice as much at the farmer's market! I feel lucky that we can get lots of local food (especially since we're right outside of Detroit, not really what you think of as an agricultural oasis!). Aside from produce we also have a source for pastured eggs, local flours, a variety of legumes, flax seed, sunflower seeds, etc. What I can't find (so far) is a truly local source for dairy products, which is so frustrating. So we compromise and get the most local we can find or at least try to support a locally owned business when we buy it.

Hey Keeta! Would you mind sharing your source for local flour? Thanks!

Jennifer

[Keeta]

Originally Posted by jkg

Hey Keeta! Would you mind sharing your source for local flour? Thanks!

Jennifer

Hey Jennifer! No problem. Hampshire Farms is at the Royal Oak Farmer's Market every Saturday from 7-1, and they have whole wheat pastry flour, wheat flour, spelt flour, rye flour, barley, split peas, lentils, black beans, chickpeas, sunflower seeds, flax seeds...all organic, all grown within 100 miles of Detroit! They also sell eggs and chickens, and some breads and other baked goods, and sometimes produce. They are awesome! If I'm remembering right, they are there year round except for the month of January.

[accountclosed3]

while i don't use a lot of flour in my cooking, i would love to find a local. that's cool.

[ghostlykisses]

I have to jump in with those who say they have become food snobs. The produce at the grocery store is just so nasty now that I have been spoiled since spring with organic, fresh, and local foods. My brother in law was moving and he gave us some grocery store produce left from a cook out he had and it was just awful, no flavor in the onions, the cucumber was dry and the tomato tasted and had the texture of cardboard. we won't even go into details about the sad excuse for a salad I got when I was starving at a fast food place. ACK! That was not even real food I fear, my mom's dog ended up eating it but only if I drenched it in dressing.

I love fresh foods as much as the next guy but when the growing season finally ends here I will just try and be patient until spring! I have some creative tomato and lettuce growing projects I am working on inside the house. If they work I just may have salad for another month or two into the long Vermont winter.

Also I have to suggest another book for those who are interested in learning more about food politics, ect. The book is by Jane Goodall and it is called Harvest For Hope. She has a lot of interesting information about agriculture and food practices around the world. She has a lot of good information and suggestions. I do not think this book gets as much press as Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Plenty, or The Omnivore's Dilema but it really should.

[Valkyrie9]

Originally Posted by ghostlykisses

Also I have to suggest another book for those who are interested in learning more about food politics, ect. The book is by Jane Goodall and it is called Harvest For Hope. She has a lot of interesting information about agriculture and food practices around the world. She has a lot of good information and suggestions. I do not think this book gets as much press as Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Plenty, or The Omnivore's Dilema but it really should.

I was looking at that one in the bookstore last week. Does it cover a lot of the same information as in AVM and OD, or is it markedly different? That's my concern--I don't want to get burnout on the topic!

[eco_mama]

Originally Posted by Carlin

Has anyone seriously considered moving to an area with more sustainable local food sources?

Carlin

Yes. Which is why I love living in the state that I do. I've come to learn that I have ALOT of choices for local food. We also plan on buying a lot of land in an Ecovillage that's being planned only 30m west of us which is RIGHT near the organic farm where we have our CSA and I know of at least one more big organic farm in the area as well. So when I think about living there not only am I thinking about the sustainablity of purchasing food, but also the health aspects (cleaner air) for my family.

[Belleweather]

Oh yay! I'm so excited to find this tribe! We're working really hard on eating locally, but we don't really have a 'plan', it's kind of something we're working out as we go.
I think DH and I both got really inspired when we did a pick your own strawberries thing with some friends of ours and then made our own jam. It was SO MUCH BETTER than anything either of us had ever eaten that I think we ate nothing but strawberry jam on toast and in yoguart for a week. Then we started thinking "Gee... what else could we buy and make for ourselves?" I haven't read "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" yet, although it's on my reserve list at the library... I'm 238 of 452! Someday, my book will come, right?

Right now, I'm working on sucking up to the local dairy we've been getting milk from at the farmer's market... I really want to start making cheese and especially butter at home. We'd been ordering grassfed butter from Whole Foods, but it was *not* local (it came from Ireland!) and they discontinued it anyway. Going back to store-brand has been making me weep... it just has no taste whatever and the color is too weird after the high-carotene yellow of grassfed stuff. I was going to order a cheese-making kit this week, but I need to come up with/rig up a cheese press first. DH is starting is fall brewing projects... pressing windfall apples this weekend for hard cider, and buying local honey for Christmas Mead. I'm hoping we'll get a chance to bulk-order beef, but I've got to see just how far we can pinch our pennies.

I think we're going to have a tough time during the winter, but I've already got big plans for the spring... we have a crappy backyard for gardening, but I'm really going to push it to the limit with containers. I can't wait to grow potatoes in a big pot with my 2 year old!

[Valkyrie9]

Oh! Hard cider would be totally, totally cool. *oozes envy* Has he done it before? What is the bottling process like?

[Carlin]

Originally Posted by eco_mama

Yes. Which is why I love living in the state that I do. I've come to learn that I have ALOT of choices for local food. We also plan on buying a lot of land in an Ecovillage that's being planned only 30m west of us which is RIGHT near the organic farm where we have our CSA and I know of at least one more big organic farm in the area as well. So when I think about living there not only am I thinking about the sustainablity of purchasing food, but also the health aspects (cleaner air) for my family.

That's very cool! I love the concept of ecovillages, particularly the development of a close, supportive community. I think it is something many people are desperately lacking.

There are good and bad aspects about where I live. Lots of agricultural goes on here and there are fruits and berries in the summer (although seldom commercially available) but a very short growing season. The growing season we do have though is temperate with very long days. It is possible to eat local here, although I think it would be very, very difficult to be a locavore and a vegetarian in Edmonton.

[farmama]

yum. every time i check in with y'all i get hungry...

i liked harvest for hope (i'm partial, we're in it ) but i found AVM infinitely more inspiring, just because it's so readable. i love the nuts and bolts way that kingsolver talks about their food journey.

[accountclosed3]

my husband and i are definitely food snobs, but we've been this way for years because we got so into traditional foods, which of course leads you to sourcing carefully anyway. . .so even when we weren't buying local, we were still buying high quality. . .

and eating "regular" food is so unsatisfying, comparitively.

my first thanksgiving (as hostess) went over huge. no one expected me to pull off the meal, but everyone told me it was the best they'd ever had in a long, long time. it was all organic and about 90% local.

i served:

creamy herb-leek soup with a salad of late-season lettuce, green apple, dried cranberries, and walnuts with a vinegarette dressing;

organic, brined first, then roasted turkey stuffed with fresh organic veggies and herbs and lots of butter (falling off the bone so moist);

frozen, organic green beans steamed to crisp and roasted local, organic red and golden beets;

home-made cranberry chutney;

a goat cheese and herb creamy sauce in lieu of gravy because i didn't know how to make gravy--it was a total hit--

and sprouted-grain sourdough with raw, whole butter whipped with a bit of honey and herbs;

home made butter pecan ice cream with whole raw milk and whole raw cream, caramel sauce, and multi-grain (home made) shortbread cookies.

i decided to host it because i was so tired of boring, lack-luster, brown thanksgivings where very little was vegetarian and nothing was/is organic. my husband and i dreaded thanksgiving because of this!

so, we opted to host it and serve what we would like. and it was a total hit!

it was really because we've become such food snobs that we dislike dining out, going to friend's houses, etc.

[WeasleyMum]

Sounds delicious! Especially the ice cream...

About relocating to areas with better foodsheds... I don't know if I would actually move *just* to be in a more local-friendly place, but it would come into consideration, certainly. And I think about when pondering a possible move from VA back to Texas, where we were until last year. There's so much food here! Dallas seemed pretty dry as far as locavorism goes, although I could be mistaken.

Anyone else's Farmers Market closing up soon? Ours only goes through the end of October, apparently. :