Yesterday was an excellent day to start the Eat Local Challenge: Saturday, Nevada City Farmer’s Market!
Seen here are the delicious sourdough pancakes from Living Lands Agrarian Network, a network of ecologically minded farmers and community members working together to create a unique and vibrant local food culture.
The grains for these flapjacks come from Reed Hamilton’s Grass Valley Grains, and the peaches are from Chaffin Family Orchards. The oil and sugar came from Briar Patch, and are the non-local ingredients that pull everything together.
Besides bringing together the tastes and talents of these incredible local farms and people, Living Lands also prepares the pancakes as true sourdoughs by using and feeding a starter that pre-digests and ferments the batter, making the end product much more digestible and wholesome. The fermenting of grains is one of the healthy nutritional practices advocated by the Weston A. Price Foundation. Nevada County has a thriving local chapter committed to the promotion of local food and nutrition.
Dinner time and my Eat Local, America! card was punched for dinner at Matteo’s Public, a great new local pub and eatery on Commercial in Nevada City. (They’re a participating local restaurant, and if you haven’t snagged your card yet, pick one up at Briar Patch.) We ordered the beer battered vegetables that come from a variety of farms in the area, and I had an (OK, I had two) Auburn Ale House IPA, the closest local beer on the menu, and Sarah had Zinfandel from Damiano.
In this case, the beer is local, but I don’t know how far the grains and hops had to travel. (Ask me how bad I’d love to have a local brewery in Nevada City again, especially one that was able to incorporate some local ingredients. Answer: A LOT)
Food follows the same guidelines as other purchases for strengthening our Local Living Economy, but is particularly important as food (along with water and energy) is about as foundational as it gets when it comes to self-sufficiency for our community:
- Best: Locally grown food bought from our local farmers and locally owned eateries (Local AND Import Substituting)
- Good: Locally grown food bought anywhere or not-so-local food bought at a locally owned restaurant (Keeps $ local)
- Leaky: Not-so-local food bought from non-locally owned establishments (Drains $ from our local economy)
Breakfast this morning, the omelette: eggs (a few from chickens on the property), non-local cheese (Tillamook cheddar), and basil and garlic from our Riverhill CSA box.
Onward!
Jacob Griscom (www.localfirstfoothills.org)
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