To “eat local” in July and August is hardly a “challenge”—it’s a pleasure, it’s easy, it’s delicious— the harvest is peaking and the abundance of produce is overwhelming. Those of you who participate in Rainbeau Ridge’s CAP or membership programs have been rewarded during these months with some of our best produce. Others have been taking advantage of the growing presence and number of farmer’s markets which are popping up all over and increasing in their diversity of offerings. Still others have gardens of their own and find themselves befriending neighbors, just to give away the overflow.
But being a locavore in October is more of a challenge—the choices from the garden are becoming slightly narrower, local fruits are fewer. Still we have a fair amount of local resources to draw on. Register to join fellow locavores.
Why eat local?
There are tons of lists going around on the value of eating local. “Top ten” and on, but in our estimation it all boils down to three important points:
• It tastes better
• It’s better for you
• It helps the environment
The rest of the explanations are detail.
Tasting better is due in part to eating things in season, they’re being picked more closely to the time they’re being consumed. Things are picked ripe: not under ripe; not forced by use of ethylene gas to color up in time for your purchase but devoid of flavor; nor over ripe or damaged because of the long journey traveled. It is unlikely that local foods will be GMO because these bioengineered products are largely the provenance of big Ag.
Which leads us to ‘better for you’. In the time elapsed from farm to table and in the distance much of our food travels (reportedly from 1200-1500 miles), important nutritional value and flavor is lost, not to mention the affected air quality and pollution resulting from the transport. Typically, eating local means we’re preparing whole foods, a better choice than prepared, fast foods. E coli and salmonella are more often present in large scale commercial operations, not those in our neighborhoods. More imported foods are coming under attack for lack of quality control but little is being done to ensure our safety.
For most of us, environmental stewardship is becoming an obligation, not just a desire. Local foods and farming preserve open space and viewshed, protect biodiversity and species and provide important biological corridors. Reducing miles traveled speaks for itself.
If these reasons are not enough to convince you of the value of eating local, there’s one last argument—quality of life. By connecting with your farmer and others shopping similarly, you’re re-connecting with your food and building community—two values that are significant to us at Rainbeau Ridge.
Up until recently, we have lost most of our connections to our food (come hear Ann Vielisis speak on her brand new book Kitchen Literacy October 30th at 7pm) but many are struggling to get that back. When you eat local, you become in touch with the seasons, the weather, the moon and stars and the miracle of growing and raising animals. We need to re-connect!
What’s local?
How we define our foodshed is an important starting point. The space of where food is produced through where it is consumed is described as a ‘foodshed’. For most of us, the majority of our food comes to us from across the country and even across the world. This pattern evolved in response to our desire for plentiful, low cost food of all types anytime we want it. So yes, we can get strawberries in February but we pay the price in taste and carbon footprint terms.
Taking the local challenge and reducing that footprint or that foodshed is typically described as buying from within a 100 mile radius. Being in the Northeast, that’s a daunting radius when you actually put it on the map. It’s times like this I wish I lived in California! Extending the radius in concentric circles quickly incorporates important food growing in regions in NY State and nearby states—you’d be surprised how much we do have here in the Northeast.
Take the pledge (or plunge)!
There is power in taking the challenge and connecting with others attempting to do the same thing. It doesn’t matter whether your goal is as simple as a single meal over the challenge period or as complex as the full month; whether the mileage restriction is 100 miles for 100% of your foods or regionally for 1 meal a week—the consciousness and attention paid to the subject makes it a worthy undertaking.
It’s true that the devil’s in the detail—even in the height of the season, if you stop to journal what you consume, you’ll quickly see that staples and spices that we depend on are sourced from miles away—coffee, salt, spices and olive oils are just a few of the obvious examples. It has become known as the ‘marco polo’ exception in the food challenge circles—but no matter what you call it, there will undoubtedly be exceptions to the rules—just understand it, define it and document it.
In trying to truly being 100% local, there are tricks of the trades, tips and ideas, substitutes and things that will help you tweak your eating habits and make them even more local—substituting sweeteners for sugars is an obvious one—local honey, maple syrup or even applesauce are good choices (Mary Duncan can help us refine these substitutions and take out the guesswork—especially when baking. Watch for her recommendations and take her November cooking class).
More ideas will be shared with our participants and we want to hear your ideas too! If you’ve signed up for the Challenge, you will receive a copy of our kit (on-line or hard copy) with many ideas and a support network, including optional, weekly conference calls.
Preserving the harvest—making it last!
As the white shoes get returned to the closet (remember those rules?), the kids return to school, traffic in town builds up, the pool’s just a little too cold to swim in, a handful of leaves are changing color, you’re a little tomato fatigued and on squash overload, you realize that in Zone 5 our bounty of local, seasonal produce will soon fade along with summer.
It’s not too late to think about ‘putting by’…and it’s not too early to be planning for next year’s garden. To help you with your thinking, Rainbeau Ridge is offering several very exciting and timely authors who will speak on books they’ve written and experiences they’ve had very germane to our topic at hand. Come to hear Joan Dye Gussow on October 10th, a pioneer in the field (pun intended!).
Remember it’s about reconnection—not perfection!
There is power in joining the challenge—no matter how you define your pledge.
It’s about taking incremental steps – balance—something is better than nothing—every step, even asking questions about your food and making conscious choices, is key!
Make trade offs—if you can’t find a local source, make your food purchases conscious choices—think about local, organic, family farm, regional, fair trade or any other distinctions that are important to you.
Awareness is huge—I was in town and starving the other day. Instead of grabbing and rationalizing my typical food choice (coffee and something sweet), I went into the green grocer and found myself standing in front of the nectarines. (Ok, an apple would have been the better choice.) But in selecting my nectarine, I didn’t rely on the sniff test—but read every one of those tiny, annoying sticky labels until I found one marked ‘north eastern USA. Maybe next time, I’ll go for the apple—but it did slow me down, make me think.
It’s not too early to plan for the following year—plant your own, join a CSA, help out on a local farm…grow something—preserve something—make choices.
We hope that by signing up for the Challenge, the experience will be interesting, fun and healthy. Join us and get connected to RR, community and your importantly, food!
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