Talk about local!  The fairgrounds were filled with all the locals in the area last night.  I didn’t meet one person who came from farther than 150 miles.  The food, on the other hand had Sysco written all over it.

Here’s what went down the hatch:

Here’s what went down the hatch:

• bottled water
• french fries
• ice cream
• pizza
• vegetable rice bowl

The Fudge Puppy I didn't eat.

I was tempted to have the fudge puppy but I successfully talked myself out of it.

Here’s a tip on the water thing.  Go next to the KNCO booth and they are giving out free  cold filtered water to refill your jug.  I don’t think the water comes from Fiji either.

Mike, how about we meet for a deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich on Treat Street?

Its been really encouraging seeing so many people and businesses engaged in Eat Local, America!.  I’ve seen signs out in front of Flour Garden letting people know about their local breads and such, great deli specials at SPD, clearly marked local produce at Natural Selections and Briar Patch, amazingly voluptuous fruits and veggies at farmers markets, and I’m looking forward to going out to eat at some of the participating restaurants.

Nevada County is the shazzile!

This is my favorite food time of year.  Favorite river time of year too, but that’s a little off topic.  I love berries and pitted fruit.  The taste, colors and flavors are reaching towards Nirvana.  Even better, I can go for a short walk around my yard and neighborhood and fill up on the best summer has to offer.  Blackberries, plumbs, apples and figs drive me crazy.  The price can’t be beat either.

I hear bubbling that The Sustainability Center is putting together a gleaning program.  The idea is to identify neglected food producing trees and harvest as much Nevada County fruits and nuts as possible. The harvest can be used to feed our people in need or sold within our community at a modest price.  The proceeds can then be poured back into our sustainable food producing efforts. Sorry squirrels, you got some competition headed your way.

OK, that’s all for now.

The Dude abides and the summer provides . . .

Sunday morning breakfast with Tom, our out of town guest.  We want to show him what our local bounty has to offer.  Here’s the run down:

The Game Of Life and a local breakfast!

Local:

• Eggs – grocery store
• Onions- farmers market
• Hot Pepper – Trent garden
• Tomatoes – Trent garden
• Basil – farmers market
• Bread – grocery store
• Jam – South Pine Cafe
• Coffee – (local roasted) grocery store

Non-local:

• Oil
• artichoke
• garlic

Yesterday we went to our super special secret plum tree.  Bailey and I picked a ton of fruit that was destined to fall into Deer Creek.  The challenge will be getting the pits out of these small plums.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  Cutting them out one by one seems to be the only way, but it takes a long long time.

Fruit pickin' at Deer Creek