Getting ready.....

As I drank my Starbucks today, I thought "well, this is it for a while old friend!" While I have my issues with Starbucks like everyone else, the convenience and consistency sometimes win out (like today) and I wind up there instead of the local coffee shop. I am now sitting with my own homemade mocha that I drew a nice heart in the foam of and realizing that I can handle the absence of Sbucks for a month (or, who knows, maybe even longer!)

We get our weekly produce box from our CSA today (www.denisonfarms.com) which is always a highlight of my week. I am waiting to plan the week's menu once I know the contents of the box. Myabe later tonight I'll get a chance to post about that!

Eat Local Challenge

I have been somewhat stalking http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com/ for some time awaiting a new locally eating minded challenge, so I was so happy when they posted one to take place the month of October 2008. For the last year or so I have made much more of a concerted effort to buy local. In ways such as continuing our involvement with a local CSA, supporting Farmer's Markets instead of grocery stores and, more recently, buying meats and eggs from a local farmer. It has evolved to local honeys, nuts, cheeses, soaps and whatever else I can find! I am eagerly awaiting this challenge to really help me stretch a bit further and see what other local gems I can discover!

To begin this challenge the participants were asked to answer a few questions:

My definition of local:

I will use the 100-mile diet definition of local, using a 100 mile radius. I find the tool at http://100milediet.org/get-started/map especially helpful in this endeavor!


Exceptions:

Coffee – although we home roast and only use sustainable, fair trade, organic beans.

Eating out – will make an effort to only frequent places that promote local eating.

Spices and grains that are already in my cupboard (but I will not purchase new ones that are not locally available)

Kids – in an effort to get my children to eat a well balanced diet an occasional exception may have to be made.


Goals:

To try and incorporate local eating more in the children’s diets as well as ours.

To discover new local items that I was not previously aware of.