I've just finished reading The Omnivore's Dilemma -- extremely thought-provoking, to say the least. I usually give several copies of the most memorable book from each year as Christmas gifts, and this is probably going to be the 2007 "winner". Maybe bundled with Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which I have yet to read, but which promises to be equally good.
Liz at Pocket Farm is hosting the second year of a project-challenge-community-thingy, maybe likened to a knit-along, except that the challenge is to eat more locally. People all over the world are participating -- I really admire the intrepid family in the southern hemisphere, who will be cooking with what's available in winter while the rest of us enjoy summer's bounty. But I've been worrying (a lot) about what to cook in our house, and how local is local enough?
I think that at least for starters, we will be including foods grown and/or prepared within a half day's drive of our town. That includes all of New England and the eastern edge of New York State. If something is available closer, so much the better. There are two reasons for drawing the circle thus: first, there are more options, and so we can ease into this; second, I believe there's some merit to arrangements like CSAs and buyers' clubs (milk, not Costco) bringing food into a metropolitan area.
As soon as I'm done with work today, it's off to the farm stands! We have two fairly large ones not listed in the FoodRoutes or LocalHarvest databases. There's Verrill Farm in Concord, MA, and Wilson Farm in Lexington, MA. We should be able to put together a very large salad, at least! And though it's extremely hot and sticky, I'll see about making some strawberry jam, too.
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