Two years ago June 1st, my partner and I attempted the 100-mile diet for one year. At the time we lived in Minneapolis, and the frigid winters brought the challenge to a stalemate by the end of December. The 7 months of successful locavorism proved to be both informative and inspirational. I would go so far as to claim that the experience led me here today. Obsessing over food sources is a major piece to understanding our broken system.
Nowadays, I’m considering a return to traditional locavorism with a slight twist.
As to be expected, eating locally also means cooking from scratch. It means no coconut milk or ginger or citrus fruit. No condiments (unless made locally from locally sourced ingredients), no fancy imported wine, and of interest here, little use for the modern-day grocery store.
This time the rules will be a bit more flexible. Our location – Portland, OR – is also far more receptive to a local eating challenge. The weather is mild year round, there’s an abundance of meat and seafood, and there are lots of fruit varieties to chose from.
The goal is to eat local and source most, if not all of our food from the source. Aside from toilet paper and other household items, the grocery store/food coop will also serve as our source of grain.
Put differently, we hope to shop at the grocery store once a month. We will continue to receive our meat from Afton Field farm. We will begin a dairy delivery with Noris Dairy (delivered right to our door no less!) Our produce will come from a variety of places: farmers markets, our garden, other people’s gardens, and hopefully a buying club. In fact, I just learned today about a new buying club starting in our neighborhood, one focused on produce and coffee. All that’s left is grain and condiments!
Between now and June 1st we will slowly stock our pantry with beloved grains; cover our fridge with preservation ideas; love our garden, and make the arrangements with the buying club and dairy. As you might imagine, I am very excited about this new project!
The planning stages are upon us and I hope to share this process with all of you.
Consider this an introduction.
Related posts:
- Grocery-free Living
- Living off the grid
- Food Fantasies
- Buy Local (or) We are “the market”
- Why “organic” isn’t good enough (or) the versatility of the tomato
Tags: afton field farm, Bulk purchase, Gardening, portland, seasonal eating