Day 1 Results

Day 1 of take 2 of the locavore challenge went pretty well. Here's how I did.

For breakfast, I had scrambled eggs and buttered toast with honey. The eggs were from Bear Creek Farm and Ranch (bought at the farmers' market on Saturday). The honey was from actually from 2 sources - Mackinaw Valley Apiaries (in Mackinaw, IL, about 65 miles north of Springfield, near Peoria), and Sasse's Apiary (in Chestnut, IL, about 95 miles northwest of Springfield, near Galesburg). The bread and butter were both non-local, as was the milk that I added to the eggs. I've found a local source of butter (hooray!), and possibly a local source of wheat flour, as well as a few options for local or semi-local milk, so eventually those will be local as well.

For lunch, I had the salad I mentioned yesterday. The buttercrunch lettuce, red lettuce, Pink Beauty radishes, red spring onions, and chives were all from Veenstra & Heck's CSA on the Vincent Family Farm (near Rochester, about 9 miles southeast of Springfield). The dressing was a very non-local catalina. I was a little worried that I had overdone the onions, chives, and radishes, but it was fine. And the chive flowers were particularly tasty!

For dinner, Dawn prepared the stir fry mix with rice and butter, with strawberries for dessert. The stir fry mix was from Veenstra & Heck's CSA. The strawberries were from Saturday's farmers' market (sorry, I don't remember which vendor!). The rice and butter were both non-local. As I mentioned before, we've located a local source of butter (we're just finishing up the non-local stuff first), but I doubt we'll locate a local source of rice!

Not too bad of a start!

Comments

[Carolyn carr]

Hi there,

We are from Minneapolis, visiting family in Athens, and got to read the nice piece about your locavore adventure in today's Springfield paper. While we haven't truly committed to a 100-mile diet, we have been CSA members for more than a decade, and the coop where we shop in Minneapolis (www.seward.coop) identifies the locations for all the fresh produce they sell, and posts "local" stickers (sometimes even with mileage!) on the processed and bulk foods as well -- makes being a locavore even easier -- and we definitely strive for this when we shop.

During our visit this week, we have enjoyed the rhubarb and asparagus from Jefferies Orchard (http://www.geocities.com/jefferiesorchard/jefferies.html) -- and their website shows they'll have so many kinds of fruits and vegetables through the whole season - and have been in business since 1822 -- wow!

Have a great time on the family locavore adventure --

Best wishes,

Carolyn Carr

[Don Smith Moorman]

I wonder if we could get wild rice from Minnesota. That might be the most local rice-like food.

Don

[Carolyn Carr]

Hi Don,

We are back visiting in Athens again, from Minneapolis. And yes, you can certainly get wild rice from Minnesota. One great source is the White Earth Land Recovery Project -- http://nativeharvest.com/catalog/1/wild_rice

Enjoy!

Carolyn Carr