Eat Local Challenge
Day 12
Can I eat this?
I've been working on my pantry and in another day or two I'll be ready to show you how it's shaped up. I have to say that seeing row after row, shelf after shelf of home canned goods is reassuring on a somewhat deep level. I walk into my pantry and take a deep breath and say to myself "it's all going to be alright". Whether everything really will be alright or not has yet to be seen, of course. Even if it doesn't all turn out alright (life in general I'm talking about) at least I can instantly lower my blood pressure by walking into my pantry. Is that weird?
I actually don't have high blood pressure. In general I have always hovered on normal to low pressure. Perhaps I should just be saying that the effect my pantry has on me is to instantly lower my anxiety level. Would it be weird to set up a cot in my pantry and sleep in there?
The Eat Local Challenge requires that you define many things for yourself such as where you will draw your "local" parameters. As you know, at first I was going to define mine as within my state. We debated about this and couldn't really be sure whether to define local as statewide or within a 100 mile radius which is how some of the trail blazers in the campaign to eat local have defined it. After doing more reading in the last week I feel that it's more in keeping with the spirit of the challenge to define local as being within a 100 mile radius. The miles are more important than state borders are.
You also have to decide to what degree you are taking on the challenge. This can get tricky, as I've been finding out this week. I don't want to have too long of an exceptions list but at the same time I don't like to be extreme about things and I am not interested in proving anything to anyone. So far my exceptions list is only eight items long which I feel comfortable with. However, there's the huge question of grains and consequently: flour. I have been doing some research on this and have found out that the two flour mills which are local do not grow most of their grains. Most of the grains come from states like Montana and the Dakotas, most notably: hard wheat which is what all purpose flour is made of.
Is it enough to be supporting quality local mills? Does it matter how far their grains have traveled? I have to decide what aspect of my challenge is the most important as far as creating change in the environment and our economy. If I allow myself to buy flour from local mills (with very high quality output, by the way) I am supporting local businesses that support organic growing methods and high quality products. I am putting money into my own local economy as well as supporting wheat growers here in my country. Is that good enough? Their grains use up gasoline to get here. How does that stack up against supporting my local economy? It's certainly a step up from supporting the huge monster flour mills that are located far from my local area.
Soft wheat is the only kind that is grown locally. I can get wheat pastry flour locally. Very cool. But it's not the ideal wheat for making bread. I have also been wanting to try to make crackers for Max (probably an exercise in banging my head against a brick wall, but worth trying) and he will not go for heavy wheaty crackers in general. Although I have made an exception for Max's food, there are things that if I make them for him I will be eating as well or it will largely go to waste. Such as baked goods. So really, it's for me too.
I just can't decide. If I allow myself to buy locally baked bread, because it's locally made, do I need to call the baker to see if all his raw goods are also local? How far into each product you buy do you need to dig? How much of a purist do you need to be to really learn how to make change? If I find a locally made mustard, do I need to make sure the seeds and the vinegar were made here too? Surely no one within 100 miles is growing turmeric, another popular mustard ingredient.
If it's a question of learning to live without a lot of products and produce that aren't really naturally viable in my own region, I've already been feeling the difference in eating local.
No citrus has been making me a bit itchy. I don't mind going without oranges, which haven't been all that great in the last couple of years anyway, but lemons and limes...oh boy. I don't even use them all the time but they are indispensable for the things I do use them for such as my favorite beet salad, fresh salsa, black bean stew, and herb teas.
Can I eat this?I've been working on my pantry and in another day or two I'll be ready to show you how it's shaped up. I have to say that seeing row after row, shelf after shelf of home canned goods is reassuring on a somewhat deep level. I walk into my pantry and take a deep breath and say to myself "it's all going to be alright". Whether everything really will be alright or not has yet to be seen, of course. Even if it doesn't all turn out alright (life in general I'm talking about) at least I can instantly lower my blood pressure by walking into my pantry. Is that weird?
I actually don't have high blood pressure. In general I have always hovered on normal to low pressure. Perhaps I should just be saying that the effect my pantry has on me is to instantly lower my anxiety level. Would it be weird to set up a cot in my pantry and sleep in there?
The Eat Local Challenge requires that you define many things for yourself such as where you will draw your "local" parameters. As you know, at first I was going to define mine as within my state. We debated about this and couldn't really be sure whether to define local as statewide or within a 100 mile radius which is how some of the trail blazers in the campaign to eat local have defined it. After doing more reading in the last week I feel that it's more in keeping with the spirit of the challenge to define local as being within a 100 mile radius. The miles are more important than state borders are.
You also have to decide to what degree you are taking on the challenge. This can get tricky, as I've been finding out this week. I don't want to have too long of an exceptions list but at the same time I don't like to be extreme about things and I am not interested in proving anything to anyone. So far my exceptions list is only eight items long which I feel comfortable with. However, there's the huge question of grains and consequently: flour. I have been doing some research on this and have found out that the two flour mills which are local do not grow most of their grains. Most of the grains come from states like Montana and the Dakotas, most notably: hard wheat which is what all purpose flour is made of.
Is it enough to be supporting quality local mills? Does it matter how far their grains have traveled? I have to decide what aspect of my challenge is the most important as far as creating change in the environment and our economy. If I allow myself to buy flour from local mills (with very high quality output, by the way) I am supporting local businesses that support organic growing methods and high quality products. I am putting money into my own local economy as well as supporting wheat growers here in my country. Is that good enough? Their grains use up gasoline to get here. How does that stack up against supporting my local economy? It's certainly a step up from supporting the huge monster flour mills that are located far from my local area.
Soft wheat is the only kind that is grown locally. I can get wheat pastry flour locally. Very cool. But it's not the ideal wheat for making bread. I have also been wanting to try to make crackers for Max (probably an exercise in banging my head against a brick wall, but worth trying) and he will not go for heavy wheaty crackers in general. Although I have made an exception for Max's food, there are things that if I make them for him I will be eating as well or it will largely go to waste. Such as baked goods. So really, it's for me too.
I just can't decide. If I allow myself to buy locally baked bread, because it's locally made, do I need to call the baker to see if all his raw goods are also local? How far into each product you buy do you need to dig? How much of a purist do you need to be to really learn how to make change? If I find a locally made mustard, do I need to make sure the seeds and the vinegar were made here too? Surely no one within 100 miles is growing turmeric, another popular mustard ingredient.
If it's a question of learning to live without a lot of products and produce that aren't really naturally viable in my own region, I've already been feeling the difference in eating local.
No citrus has been making me a bit itchy. I don't mind going without oranges, which haven't been all that great in the last couple of years anyway, but lemons and limes...oh boy. I don't even use them all the time but they are indispensable for the things I do use them for such as my favorite beet salad, fresh salsa, black bean stew, and herb teas.
No rice. I don't eat a lot of rice normally but of course, the second I realized that there are most likely no rice growers in my 100 mile radius, I suddenly crave all the rice recipes I haven't made in months. Although I have soy sauce already in the cupboard, I won't be buying any more of that either. I do have some rice left so I can use it when I have a real jones for it.
No peanut butter. Obviously I will buy the kind Max likes since it's one of the few natural protein sources he eats, but for myself and Philip there can be no peanut butter buying. I can grind my own here in town, but peanuts don't grow around here. Peanut butter for us is out.
No ketchup. Again, I will be buying this for Max but realized yesterday that I should not be eating it myself just because it's in the house. Unless I can find a local source for it, which is highly doubtful. I could have made it myself but it's too late for that, tomatoes are over.
No ricotta. Unless I make it myself from local milk. Believe me, I'm reading about it. No one makes it locally. I do love ricotta. Many specialty cheeses aren't made around here. The ones that are are quite expensive too.
No Parmesan. This is proving worrisome. I am worried. I love Parmesan cheese. I am still hoping one of the local cheese makers produces it because going a year without it sounds really sad. Like I might need to lock myself in the closet and cry for a few hours kind of sad. I could learn to make it but it wouldn't be ready until my challenge is almost over. Plus, if I get into aged cheese making I will have to buy a spare fridge which seems extravagant right now. If I can find it locally made I will splurge on it.
No mustard. No pre-made mustard anyway. I haven't yet found any locally made. However, I can make it myself which is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I wish I could get my grubby hands on the Gulden's recipe. Think they'd sell it to me for five dollars?
No avocados. This one is hard. Sometimes I think if someone inspected my molecules they would find I was one big walking avocado. I can inhale them like air. I never ever get tired of them.
No bananas. I haven't been eating many of them lately, but they have been a regular staple in my diet for a very long time. I am just this week learning to grab an apple and eat it. It's been a long time since I snacked on a raw apple. They aren't as nutritious as bananas, but they are abundant in my region and legend has it that they keep the doctor away. I miss bananas already.
No pineapple. Another favorite fruit. Full of enough vitamin C to keep scurvy at bay for months. (Not actually true, though they have an extraordinary amount of vitamin C, it's water soluble and we pee out all the excess our bodies don't absorb.)
A part of me wants to go for the challenge more stringently. It's not about living a convenient life, it's about living a more thoughtful life and pumping life back into our own regions, making our own towns viable places to live. It's about learning to become less dependent on foods that come to us from far away. It's about living a life that is more natural. The other part of me thinks that I can learn all of that and contribute to change without giving up all purpose flour.
I must go think on these things some more as Inap in work on my pantry.
No peanut butter. Obviously I will buy the kind Max likes since it's one of the few natural protein sources he eats, but for myself and Philip there can be no peanut butter buying. I can grind my own here in town, but peanuts don't grow around here. Peanut butter for us is out.
No ketchup. Again, I will be buying this for Max but realized yesterday that I should not be eating it myself just because it's in the house. Unless I can find a local source for it, which is highly doubtful. I could have made it myself but it's too late for that, tomatoes are over.
No ricotta. Unless I make it myself from local milk. Believe me, I'm reading about it. No one makes it locally. I do love ricotta. Many specialty cheeses aren't made around here. The ones that are are quite expensive too.
No Parmesan. This is proving worrisome. I am worried. I love Parmesan cheese. I am still hoping one of the local cheese makers produces it because going a year without it sounds really sad. Like I might need to lock myself in the closet and cry for a few hours kind of sad. I could learn to make it but it wouldn't be ready until my challenge is almost over. Plus, if I get into aged cheese making I will have to buy a spare fridge which seems extravagant right now. If I can find it locally made I will splurge on it.
No mustard. No pre-made mustard anyway. I haven't yet found any locally made. However, I can make it myself which is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I wish I could get my grubby hands on the Gulden's recipe. Think they'd sell it to me for five dollars?
No avocados. This one is hard. Sometimes I think if someone inspected my molecules they would find I was one big walking avocado. I can inhale them like air. I never ever get tired of them.
No bananas. I haven't been eating many of them lately, but they have been a regular staple in my diet for a very long time. I am just this week learning to grab an apple and eat it. It's been a long time since I snacked on a raw apple. They aren't as nutritious as bananas, but they are abundant in my region and legend has it that they keep the doctor away. I miss bananas already.
No pineapple. Another favorite fruit. Full of enough vitamin C to keep scurvy at bay for months. (Not actually true, though they have an extraordinary amount of vitamin C, it's water soluble and we pee out all the excess our bodies don't absorb.)
A part of me wants to go for the challenge more stringently. It's not about living a convenient life, it's about living a more thoughtful life and pumping life back into our own regions, making our own towns viable places to live. It's about learning to become less dependent on foods that come to us from far away. It's about living a life that is more natural. The other part of me thinks that I can learn all of that and contribute to change without giving up all purpose flour.
I must go think on these things some more as I
Labels: 100 mile radius, eatlocalchallenge, food, kitchen, local food