August 2016’s Local Food Challenge

Last night, I introduced on Facebook Live a fun challenge that Adam and I have created for the month of August:  We have decided that we are going to only eat food that we grew or that someone locally grew or produced for the whole month.  

The challenge is somewhat inspired by the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.  In the book, Barbara and her family take on a whole year of local food.  We have always wondered if we could do it too and it’s been a topic of conversation often at our dinner table.

With August starting on a Monday (… the best day to start anything, in my opinion) we thought, why not give it a try…?  But, in hopes of easing into things, we are just shooting for a month.  For now.

We also set a couple ground rules, just like Barbara’s family did.

1. Local Food = The state we live in (Indiana)
2. If eating out (rare for us), no chain restaurants permitted.  Locally sourced is desired.
3. You get a pass if you are invited to someone else’s home.  No one likes the picky guest.
4. Freebie items to ensure good cooking and sanity:
   1. Oils and butter
   2. Salt, pepper and other spices
   3. Baking Needs: flour, sugar, yeast, etc. (Mainly for pasta and bread.)
   4. Coffee and Tea
   5. Parmesan cheese

*Note: Other freebies that were considered were things like limes/lemons, nuts, chocolate, grains, and beans.  ALL will be missed!

August is a great time for this challenge because our garden is booming and I have preserved a lot from earlier this summer.  We also have a bunch of protein in the freezer, like the meat birds we recently raised or the quarter grass fed beef we traded for with a local farmer. Also, the pigs will be butchered around the middle of the month.

We also hope to seek out other products that we normally don’t look for locally.  Adam makes bread often at the start of the week, so we are going to try to see if we can find a local flour mill.  Any beer or wine that we purchase will be made in the state. And, I even was able to find local catchup and mustard from Batch No.2 that is on my farmersmarket.com order this week.

While I like a good challenge just to see if something is possible, I also like that this one has an important impact.  Barbara writes in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle:

“Each food items in a typical U.S. meal has traveled an average of 1,500 miles….If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week.”

So, play along with us!

Maybe you can’t do the whole month or even a week, but you can do one meal a week and you will still be making a great difference.

And, I want to see what you are cooking and finding locally.  Use #bloomchallenge to show off on social media… I might even have some prizes along the way for those who participate!

Your photos might also be shared in our weekly check in’s where I promise to be totally honest about any successes and failures from week to week.  So be sure to tune in every Sunday night and follow along on Facebook and Instagram!