That’s my kind of “challenge”!
The challenge is officially on, for the whole month of August. Join me! Yes, I’m challenging you – let’s see who can eat the localest!
For those of you who can’t resist a dare, you’ll really shine here – seeking out local ingredients for all of your recipes, snacking only on local fruit, building meals around foods that are available right now and right here.
For the rest of us mere mortals … it may be a challenge afterall – no matter how idealistic and tasty it sounds.
I can’t say that I’m setting my sights too high for myself. I’ve been through this before, and I know my limitations ( finding extra time for deliberate qualifying ingredient seeking ) and my weaknesses for imports ( coffee, chocolate, vanilla … cereal-straight-out-of-the-box ). But, I’ll give it a good try.
The first thing I’ll have to do is rearrange my schedule and my priorities as far as shopping goes.
Since my garden is lacking in just about everything (except mint and parsley) this year, I’ll have to go out into the community to find my local meals.
The best selection of fresh local goodies is at a farmers’ market. And, unlike the grocery store – the markets are only held on certain days and you’d better get there early. Since the market closest to home is on Saturday mornings, and Saturday mornings are usually my catch-up-on-yard-chores time …. I’ll have to make some adjustments.
Luckily, if I miss the market, I’ll still be able to shop for local produce and meats at BriarPatch Co-op and SPD Market, not too far from my house. My habit of late night shopping will have to be put on hold – Raley’s has been a good backup for organic produce after hours, but you’re not going to find local there … don’t let the advertising fool you, we’re talking about actual local now, not southern California or Washington state produce.
I am looking forward to finding time to visit the farms for super fresh, and super local food with the personal touch. There’s nothing quite like meeting the people who are growing your food.
So, the challenge is on. Go do your shopping, and come back here to compare notes, and find out how “challenged” I become before this month is over !
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