Another good book...

Lately, I've been reading Michael Pollan's latest book, "In Defense of Food". Not quite half-way through, but it is very good. He is wonderful at combining the science, politics, and "local knowledge" about a topic into an interesting and easy to understand format. Understanding more about why and how nutrition science and the government food pyramid evolved to be how they are is fascinating. Highly recommended!

Great Book for local eating inspiration!

If any of you are looking for a fantastic inspirational read about local eating, this book is the way to go! I meant to mention it a while back, but am just finally getting around to recommend it.

Here's the link to the book's info on Amazon.com (although there are undoubtably many independent booksellers out there, like Powell's books where you could get it too!)...or save a few trees and get it at the library!!

http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Vegetable-Miracle-Year-Food/dp/0060852550/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204605635&sr=1-1

The book is great because the Kingsolver family goes above and beyond local eating by actually farming most of their own food, including produce, canning, meat animals, eggs, etc. Pretty incredible! The book also includes lots of great recipes and menu ideas for regionally available foods (I believe their farm is in Virginia, so not to far off our Ohio climate.)

Anyway, enjoy! And if you still have lots of available time, check out either of Michael Pollan's fantastic books on eating locally, wholly, and sustainably. "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In defense of food: an eater's manifesto." More preaching to the choir, yes, but good for a little pick me up at this time of year when we are desperately looking forward to farm-market season!!

We're still here!

Hello blog-readers (if there are really any of you out there!!!)...

It is now February, quite a long time since my last post, and our local eating over the winter months has not been anywhere near the level it was during the warmer months. As people who tend to be hard on themselves to begin with, Eric and I have probably procrastinated from writing here as it exposes yet more of our flaws and shows the world we are not as perfect as we'd like to be! (Darn it!)

We will also soon be adding a new little one to our family, and that has frankly impacted my eating habits and preferences just a little bit too! (Some days I am at the whims of my hormone-directed food cravings!!!)

Having started out our journey into eating more locally last spring, we didn't plan lots of extra time and energy into canning and preserving things for winter. So mainly our winter local eating has consisted of frozen meats and cheeses, homemade freezer jam and tomatoes, and maybe a few other frozen veggies like green beans. I also still try to shop for locally baked bread (West Side Bakery makes fantastic bread!)

I guess the biggest change this winter has been in awareness. When we go to the grocery store, we look at where food is from. If we can find apples from Pennsylvania, we are sure going to buy them over apples from Australia. Australia!!!! We haven't been buying produce grown out of the US, and we've really just tried to pay attention to how far our food travels, even if it isn't all from Ohio this winter.

We're also concerned with buying food grown sustainably, and organically when possible, so it is sometimes a struggle to balance the urge to buy things that are "healthy" for the environment distance-wise, while finding food that is "healthy" for our bodies with less chemical contamination.

So, that is where we are right now. I'm missing the community and fresh smells of the farmer's market, and looking forward to taking the kids to the market this summer!! There is just something about doing your shopping outdoors, and buying direct from the grower that can't even come close to being matched by any supermarket. Only a few more months to go!!!

Back from Bioneers!

We're back from the first "beaming" Bioneers conference in Cleveland, Ohio. I've been hearing about Bioneers for many years and haven't ever had a chance to travel to San Rafael, California to attend the shindig in person. Last year, we heard about the "beaming" satellite conferences and nearly attended the one in Traverse City, Michigan. When we heard that there was going to be one at Cleveland State University this year, we knew that we had to go!

I talked to several people prior to the conference and attempted to explain what Bioneers is and had nearly as much trouble as I do defining my MA in Transformative Leadership. A day out from the end of the conference I would define Bioneers as a collection of people of the leading edges of the environmental, social justice, and spiritual movements of our times. We'll be posting some reflections from the coference over the next several days.

Yikes! Fame!...if only fortune would shortly follow...

Today we were featured in a local newspaper article (Akron Beacon Journal) about our local food journey. The story was called "Ohio grown, Ohio eaten" and may be accessed at www.ohio.com. We were a little nervous about being featured in a story, but it turned out very nice....and if it gets more people to look into local eating then that is a great thing!

On another note, we had our last week at the Peninsula farmer's market saturday. We stocked up on what we could, and have a freezer full of extra meat and cheese. We are considering buying a small chest freezer as an auxiliary place to store extra supplies to help us get through the winter. For now we are enjoying the plenty that we have.

Long time...no post

Wow! I can't believe I haven't written for a whole month....and I don't really have any time to do so now, either. We are doing well! Local food has been going pretty darn good. This is the "easy" time of year. Apples, squash, heavenly cheeses. We went and visited "Amish Country" in Holmes county this past weekend to celebrate our anniversary. Stayed at a very nice Inn that had an environmental/nature theme. Was great! We were very excited to see that Guggisberg Swiss cheese now has a Grass-fed variety (which of course we had to buy an entire wheel of!) Local food aplenty in Amish country. Farm stands, local vendors, and we even found a great little natural foods grocery in Berlin, OH that sold lots of local, organic produce. Who knew?!?!!? Even in the heart of Amish country!

Anyways, need to go catch some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzss now! Adieu...

local food...soldiering on...

hello readers! we are continuing on our local food journey...there is so much available in late summer in Ohio! Delicious peaches and raspberries...local watermelon! Sweet corn and zucchini, zucchini, zucchini! Hope everyone is enjoying the local delicacies while they are around! Plus, I've had so much fun this summer talking with the farmers at the farmers market. Nothing beats being able to have a conversation with the people who grow/harvest/ raise your food directly! They are always so passionate and interested in discussing what they grow and how they grow it! Try that at Giant Eagle! Last weekend I had a great discussion with the roaster for Crooked River Coffee company... such great cold-pressed iced coffee! I commented on its delicious caramel flavor, and he let me smell another variety that had a hint of blueberry in it. Imagine, blueberry flavor naturally roasted in a coffee! The excitement and pride of these farmers and purveyors in their products (I hesitate to even call them that...) is contagious!