Springfield Locavore

Day 7 - Cool Farmers' Market, Hot Pizza

So how did things go on Thursday?

Breakfast

Eggs from Loyd Family Farms (Williamsville), with colby cheese from from Ropp Jersey Cheese (Normal).

Lunch

Green beans from Voss Pecans (Carlyle), strawberries from Livesprings Berries & Produce (Chandlerville), challah bread and a chocolate chip cookie from Central Illinois Event Catering (Springfield). I also brought along a local salad, but I didn't have any salad dressing, so I saved it for another day.

Farmers' Market

Speaking of being out of something, when I got the the Illinois Products Farmers' Market, I realized that I was out of cash! Thus, "Farmers' Market Rule #1: Remember to bring cash." I had spent all of my cash on Wednesday at the Old Capitol Farmers' Market and had forgotten to get more. (It was a bit of a flashback to one of my very first locavore outings (in April 2008), when I showed up at the James Family Farm (in Sherman) to look into buying eggs and then realized that all I had was my debit card!)

On top of having no cash, it was wet, overcast, cool -- not exactly what I'd been hoping for after all of the rainy days we've been having! As a result, I wound up not staying very long.

However, it wasn't a completely wasted trip. Todd Vincent and family, of the Vincent Family Farm, were there!

He said he'd had a booth at the farmers' market a couple of years before, didn't have one last year, and then decided that very morning to get a booth at the fairgrounds. (Incidentally, if you'd like a pet bunny, his daughters were selling some.) We chatted for a bit about replacing septic systems, then I announced that, since I had no money, I was going somewhere warmer -- home!

Dinner

Remember how our son was sick Wednesday, so we just threw a frozen pizza in the oven? Well, when I got home on Thursday, our son was fit as a fiddle, but now Dawn was sick. Well, not really sick, but with a splitting sinus headache, probably triggered by the weather. She'd been trying to take a nap for about 2 hours, but Lando, being a typical 5-year-old boy, would come into the bedroom every few minutes, saying "Hey, Mom! Look at this!" or "I'm hungry!" or "Are you getting up now?"

So we had pizza again. We suck.

Farmer's Market Tip #1

Remember to bring cash. That is all.

Day 6 - Farmers' Market Begins, Preschool Ends

Wednesday was an important day for us! First, it was the opening day for the Old Capitol Farmers' Market. Secondly, our 5-year-old, Lando, was "graduating" from Preschool in the Park. Both events were happening in the morning, so we had to scramble a bit to get everything done!

Breakfast

For breakfast I made a cheese omelet for Dawn and scrambled eggs for myself. The colby cheese was from from Ropp Jersey Cheese, of course, but the eggs were mainly from Loyd Family Farms in Williamsville, since we only had one egg left from Bear Creek Farm & Ranch.

Old Capitol Farmers' Market

After dropping off our son at preschool, we stopped by the first day of the Old Capitol Farmers' Market. This market is held from 8:00 AM to 12:30 PM every Wednesday and Saturday from roughly mid-May until the end of October. They block off Capitol Avenue between 3rd and 5th Streets, so there's plenty of room for a wide variety of vendors. In addition to the locally grown produce, there are frequently special attractions, such as a band, a cooking demonstration, or an art show. It's always has just a little bit of a festival atmosphere, and I could easily spend a couple of hours wandering up and down the street talking to the vendors.

Unfortunately, I always seem to be too busy to do that! Today was no exception, as we had to finish up quickly so that we could make it to our son's "graduation" from preschool.

Incidentally, make sure you show up as early as possible, because sometimes "supplies are limited". Our usual strategy is to park our car and walk to the opposite end of the market, quickly checking out what's available as we go, then work our way back towards the car, buying stuff as we go. This minimizes how far we have to carry everything. Of course, if we were really smart, we would pick up a little shopping cart to make things easier!

From Central Illinois Event Catering (exiled over on Broadway Street, a new addition this year just off of Capitol Avenue) we got challah bread and chocolate chip cookies. I mentioned that I had bought several of their products the day before at the Seaney Farms store in Sherman, including their roasted garlic & herb butter. I asked where they got their butter and was told that they get it from Gordon Food Service (GFS), although the garlic and herbs are local. That's pretty much what I expected.

Oak Tree Organics was over on Broadway Street as well. I had intended to get some stuff from them on our way back to the car, but we ran out of time and I forgot. Oops.

Our son Lando absolutely loves the donuts from Mileur Orchard (in Murphysboro, IL). We simply cannot go to the farmers' market and leave without buying him some donuts, even if he's not there personally! We also bought a chocolate chip cookie, just because. :-)

From Livesprings Berries & Produce we bought 6 quarts of strawberries, with the intention of freezing some for later. We use frozen strawberries to make smoothies. If we use, say 1/3 of a quart of strawberries each time, and if we make smoothies once per week, that means we need about 17 quarts of strawberries to last us until next year. If we guess that they'll have strawberries for 4 weeks, then that means we need to freeze about 4-5 quarts of strawberries each week. Time to get freezing! Of course, I prefer my strawberries fresh, and I suspect I could go through 4 quarts of strawberries in a week all by myself. :-)

From Veenstra's Vegetables & Heck's Harvest we got lettuce, chives, and spring onions, plus some tomato plants (Brandywine and Okra Paste). Garrick Veenstra wasn't there, but Andy Heck and Nancy were. I don't think I've mentioned yet that I'm not in their CSA this year. I was a member in 2008 and 2009, but after lots of waffling decided not to join this year. I'll explain why in a later post. (Don't worry; I wasn't at all unhappy with the CSA!)

From Bluestem Bake Shop (in Elkhart) we got some key lime cookies. Lando loves their lemon cookies nearly as much as he loves the donuts from Mileur Orchard. Unfortunately they were out of the lemon, so Dawn picked up some key lime ones for herself.

After confirming with Ropp Jersey Cheese that they didn't have any mozzarella today (nope), I was ready to pass on by, since we had just bought 3 packages of their colby cheese on Thursday. Dawn then informed me that we had in fact already used up all 3 packages! So we bought a package of their cojack cheese and 2 packages of their colby cheese.

Remember my post the other day lamenting the fact that we couldn't find local pasta? Guess what we found? Yes! Local pasta! There was a new vendor there, Pasta Alley (in Decatur, IL). They had a large variety of pasta available, as well as soup mixes, bread mixes, and more. We picked up a package of spinach herb fettuccine and a package of lemon pepper fettuccine. Unfortunately they didn't seem to have elbow pasta (macaroni) or shell pasta; everything seemed to be straight pasta (e.g. fettuccine, linguine, spaghetti, angel hair), with the exception of rotini. Of course, I realize that this is really only produced locally; the ingredients are most likely very non-local. Nevertheless, it's one step closer! (Also, the business apparently employs numerous developmentally disabled people, which is nice.) The Decatur Herald-Review ran an article in October 2008, Right up their alley: Pasta company creates jobs for developmentally disabled adults, that provides some additional information.

From Voss Pecans (in Carlyle, IL) we bought sugared pecans (naturally) and green beans (they have a small greenhouse). Our family is addicted to their sugared pecans, as they make a great snack! Voss Pecans is the only commercial pecan grove in Illinois. I have a special interest simply because they are located about 20 miles from where I grew up. If you'd like to learn more, after visiting their web site, here are a few other articles about them:

• Storm ravages Illinois' only commercial pecan grove (USA Today)
• Pecan Disaster Recovery (Growing)
• Pecan Harvest Going Slow (Farm Week Now)

Was that everything? I think so. By the end I had $2 left in my pocket. :-)

Lunch - Preschool Porch Picnic!

After finishing up at the farmers' market, we scurried home to put things in the refrigerator, then hurried off to our son's preschool "graduation". After the unbearably cute ceremony, the teachers, children, and parents went outside to have a picnic on the porch of the Washington Park preschool.

Our lunch consisted of stuff from the farmers' market -- donuts (from Mileur Orchard), strawberries (from Livesprings Berries & Produce), and sugared pecans (from Voss Pecans). Not exactly a balanced meal, I know, but we were aiming for this picnic to be "easy" rather than "healthy". Besides, we knew Lando would be far more interested in playing with his friends than in eating! :-)

Dinner

Unfortunately, in the afternoon, while playing at the park after preschool, Lando told Dawn that he was tired, his teeth hurt (?!), and he wasn't feeling well. It felt like he had a fever, and Dawn suspected strep throat, since another preschooler had recently had strep.

She took him to the pediatrician. While he was at the doctor's office, Lando threw up. The doctor found no initial signs of strep, but final lab results won't be available until tomorrow. For now, it looks like it's just a stomach bug of some type.

When I got home from work, Lando was lying on the couch, while Dawn entertained him by playing Mario Kart. Anyone who knows our son knows that "lying on the couch" is just not something he does. He is Mr. Energy at all times! In short, he was definitely sick.

Given that we had a sick child in the house, cooking just wasn't appealing, so we wimped out and threw a frozen pizza in the oven. It was a bit disappointing, because I was looking forward to having that pasta and those green beans (not to mention the challah bread and the roasted garlic & herb butter)! Oh well. We'll be eating again tomorrow!

Day 1 Results. Not.

Today was supposed to be the first day we again tried to eat local. The Illinois Products Farmers' Market opened today, so it seemed like the logical time to start. However, after my interview with Kathryn Rem, in which I told her that we would start on May 13, it occurred to me that there were only two problems with my plan:

1. The Illinois Products Farmers' Market is held in the evening, 4:00-7:00. In other words, after breakfast and lunch are but dim memories. Makes it a bit difficult to eat local for the first 2 meals of the day.
2. My dad and step-mom were arriving today from Texas to visit for a couple of days. This means going out to eat. Another strike against eating local!

So I wouldn't really call today Day 1. (I won't be calling tomorrow Day 1, either, since we'll still be entertaining company. Let's talk again on Saturday, shall we?)

We did make it to the farmers' market and pick up some local food. Here's what we got:

• Strawberries (Livesprings Berries & Produce, Chandlerville)
• Eggs (Bear Creek Farm & Ranch, Palmer)
• Challah Bread (Central Illinois Event Catering, Elkhart)
• Mesclun Mix, Waldmans Dark Green Lettuce, and Cherry Belle Radishes (Oak Tree Farms, Ashland)
• Colby Cheese (Ropp Jersey Cheese, Bloomington)

Dawn and Lando had never been to the evening farmers' market, since I normally just drop by on my way home from work, so it was a good opportunity for them to come along, as well as my dad and step-mom. This let them see everything, but it also meant that I didn't spend as much time chatting with people as I normally do. I did get a few photos, so I'll try to get them posted soon.

Oh, we went straight from the farmers' market to a restaurant for dinner, with our purchases in an ice chest in the trunk, but I had to eat a strawberry as an appetizer in the parking lot. It was good!

We Interrupt These Farmers Markets to Bring You an Emergency and a Fair

The Illinois State Fair starts this weekend. Since the Illinois Products Farmers' Market held on Thursday evenings is located on the Illinois State Fairgrounds, that means no farmers' market this week or next week.

We still have the Old Capitol Farmers' Market on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, of course. Since I'm at work on Wednesdays, Dawn and Orlando normally go.

Except today.

This morning, while I was at work, Dawn went out to the car, started the air conditioner to cool things off, strapped Lando into his carseat, closed the door -- and then realized that she had just locked herself out of the car!

Lando wasn't in any danger, because the air conditioner was running, so Dawn stayed calm and Lando of course was unworried. However, I was a good 20 minutes away from home. By the time I got there to unlock the door, Lando had grown extremely upset, which made Dawn somewhat frantic. At 4 years old, he couldn't understand why she wouldn't roll down the windows and turn off that annoying classical music! :-)

Everybody was fine, but Dawn was understandably a bit shaken up. In addition, we had a friend who was supposed to drop by for a visit, so there was no time to make a trip to the farmers' market in any case.

So, no blueberries today!

On the plus side, however, when I picked up our CSA share at the Vincent Family Farm on Tuesday, I was able to get eggs and butter from Todd!

Eggs I can get from several farmers; generally we've been buying from Bear Creek because they are convenient, having a booth at the both farmers' markets. (However, this week they won't have a booth -- because they'll be at the Illinois State Fair showing their Belgian draft horses!)

Butter, on the other hand, is difficult to find! So far, Todd Vincent is the only local source I've located. Even then, he has a limited supply, so it's very hit-or-miss as to whether he'll have any. This week, however, I lucked out!

So, a good day at the CSA on Tuesday, but we missed the farmers' market on Wednesday, and there won't be a farmers' market on Thursday!

Come Saturday, I'm hoping for more blueberries, plus some green beans to freeze. Yum!

P.S. Our Internet service is still extremely flaky. Hopefully it doesn't go out entirely!

Freezing Sweetcorn

We went to the Old Capitol Farmers' Market this morning and bought 24 ears of sweetcorn (cost: $9), which we then processed to freeze for the winter.

Aw, Shucks! 24 ears of sweetcorn, ready to be shucked.

Naked Corn! Ready to be blanched.

24 ears of sweetcorn made about 4½ quarts for freezing. We'll need plenty more for this winter!

I did a quick "back of the envelope" calculation. Let's suppose that for a typical lunch or dinner, we would use about 2/3 of a quart bag (e.g. 1/3 of a bag of corn, plus 1/3 of a bag of green beans, plus some bread). That means that 3 meals would use up 2 bags. That means that over the course of 3 days (6 meals total, not counting breakfasts), we would use up 4 bags. Over the course of a month, we would use 40 bags. Over the course of 6 months (the months when there are no farmers' markets), we would use about 240 quart bags of food.

Yikes!

Of course, this is very much an approximation. In addition to ignoring breakfasts (which generally involve eggs, cheese, and/or fruit), I also haven't taken into account things like potatoes (which don't need to be frozen or canned). I also haven't accounted for frozen chicken, beef, pork, etc (which I eat, but Dawn doesn't). Bread? Milk? Butter? Cheese? Occasional dinners out or trips out of town?

There's plenty of variables to consider, but the message is still the same: We need to preserve more food!

Day 30 - Peaches!

It showed up in the afternoon — an email from Dawn saying, “I just ate a peach!”

Peaches are here! Dawn went to the farmers’ market this morning, buying 2 quarts of strawberries, 3 pints of blueberries, 1 quart of raspberries, and a half-dozen peaches!

My parents grew peaches in a small orchard on their property, down in southern Illinois. That was about 25 years ago, but I still clearly remember the house smelling like peaches from the dozens of bushels sitting inside, waiting to be taken to a roadside corner to sell. I was spoiled by those fresh peaches, eating them literally moments after they had been picked, so I always look forward to the arrival of peach season! My mom also made peach jelly, which I never appreciated nearly enough at the time.

Two of the peaches are already gone, and so are 1½ pints of blueberries. Dawn won’t eat blueberries (she says that she likes them, but that they don’t like her). However, I love them, and it turns out our son Lando loves them, too!

The strawberry season is starting to wind down, and I must admit that I’m getting a bit burned out on strawberries. At the same time, I know that it will be nearly a year before we get any more, so I can’t stop buying them. We’ve been freezing quite a few, primarily to use in smoothies. I’m not a big smoothie fan, but Dawn and Lando both really like their banana/strawberry smoothies in the morning! Of course, we’re not likely to find local bananas, but at least we can use local strawberries!

Meal Recaps

Breakfast was scrambled eggs and sausage, all local.

Lunch was broccoli, a tomato, bread, and honey, all local except for the bread, which was locally made (Bluestem Bake Shop in Elkhart).

Dinner was mac & cheese (non-local macaroni, but the cheese was from Ropp Jersey Cheese in Normal) and salad (local, except for the dressing), with blueberries for dessert.

Tags: locavore, fruit, food

Day 9 - Parkay! Butter! Parkay! Butter! Parkay! Butter!

Breakfast

On Thursday, May 28, for breakfast I had my usual scrambled eggs and toast with honey. The eggs were from Bear Creek Farm & Ranch (Palmer, IL), the semi-local milk was from Oberweis Dairy, the bread mix was from Hodgon Mill (Effingham, IL), and the honey was from Vanderpool Apiary (Arenzville, IL). However, there was one difference....

Parkay! (Not Really)

The butter was local! Whoot! The Vincent Family Farm (Rochester, IL), where I pick up our weekly share from Veenstra & Heck's CSA, actually makes and sells butter! He did warn me that it would only be good for a couple of weeks after we thawed it out, but that's okay. It's local! We had used up the last of the non-local butter, so I was finally able to try it out on my toast. Nice!

One other difference is that, rather than being in quarter-pound sticks, this butter comes in a tub (naturally). That isn't a big deal, but it does mean that if a recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of butter, you won't be able to just cut off the proper length; you'll have to either actually measure 3 tablespoons or make a good guess!

Lunch

Lunch was local green beans (yum!), strawberries from Livesprings (YUM!), and a salad (lettuce and spring onions from the CSA), plus a non-local dressing.

Farmers' Market

The Illinois Products Farmers' Market was back to its normal location this week - the Commodities Pavilion behind the Grandstand on the Illinois State Fairgrounds. I picked up quite a bit of stuff:

• 2 dozen eggs from Lazy T
• 6 quarts of strawberries from Livesprings Berries & Produce (Chandlerville, IL)
• new potatoes from Dyer's Farm (Hillsboro, IL)
• radishes (German giants) from Split Rail Gardens (Riverton, IL)
• breakfast sausage patties from a farm in Madison County, IL
• spring onions from Odelehr's (Brussels, IL)
• zucchini (!) and snow peas from Buds & Blooms (Decatur, IL)

I got plenty of eggs, because I want to let a dozen of them sit for 2-3 weeks before I hard-boil them. Supposedly, it's easier to remove the shell from old eggs than from fresh eggs. It's a bit of a shame to let farm fresh eggs become old eggs, but I really don't like peeling hard-boiled eggs one tiny shell fragment at a time!

I picked up 6 quarts of strawberries because Dawn keeps wanting to freeze some and I keep eating them before she can! I figure 6 quarts will ensure that she gets to at least some of them before I do!

There seemed to be just a single quart of new potatoes in the entire farmers' market, and I got it! The Dyers said that it was the first quart that they had harvested, dug up the night before just to see whether things were ready. It will be nice to add some starches to my diet! You can only eat so much salad! We haven't yet decided what we'll do with them. Fried? Baked? Hmm...

It was also nice to see some zucchini there. I'm not a huge fan of zucchini, but Dawn likes it quite a bit. I primarily like it breaded and fried. Yum! I just picked up one zucchini, so I'll let Dawn decide what we'll do with it.

I'm on the lookout for ways to add variety to my breakfasts. Eggs are nice, but there can be too much of a good thing! The sign by the booth just said "family farm in Madison County". I was running out of time, so I didn't chat long enough to ask the name of the farm and where exactly they were in Madison County. He did say that he'll be back next week, so I'll ask him then. He had plenty of frozen meat products, but the thing that caught my eye was the breakfast sausage patties! Dawn's a vegetarian, so it adds no variety to her breakfasts, but I'll eat them!

Split Rail Gardens (Riverton, IL)

The radishes (German giants) were from Split Rail Gardens in Riverton. I talked to the owner for quite a few minutes about his garden and how he got into it. He said that back in the 1990s he had a U-pick strawberry operation, but that after several years business dropped off as people lost interest in picking their own strawberries. He got out of the business, but then about 10 years later became interested again. With the upsurge of interest in buying fresh, local food, he figured it was a good time to get back into the business. He now has 4 acres, planted with a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, including (from my memory) strawberries, onions, and radishes.

Dinner

Dawn made lasagna! She used non-local lasagna noodles and Wisconsin mozarella cheese, but everything else was local - spinach, kale, chard, green garlic, spring onions, hydroponic tomatoes, plus one special ingredient...

First Harvest

Basil from our garden! Okay, there's not much yet, but there was enough purple basil for Dawn to harvest a few leaves and immediately add them to the lasagna. It doesn't get much fresher than that!

Day 8 - Yes, We DO Have Strawberries! And Green Beans!

Breakfast

On Wednesday, May 27, I had a cheese omelet for breakfast, using eggs from Bear Creek Farm & Ranch (Palmer, IL) and Wisconsin cheese. (I keep mentioning that it was Wisconsin cheese simple because, although it's not local, it at least didn't travel too far to get here!)

Farmers' Market

Dawn made sure that she left for the Old Capitol Farmers' Market early. On Saturday, Livesprings Berries & Produce was out of strawberries by 7:53 - and the market doesn't officially open until 8:00! She wanted to make sure that we got some this time, both for eating now and to freeze for later. Our 4-year-old son Orlando likes to have smoothies made with strawberries and bananas. Bananas almost certainly can't be found locally, but at least we'll have the strawberries!

In addition to the strawberries, Dawn also found green beans! Hooray!

Lunch

Lunch was a salad of lettuce and green garlic from Veenstra & Heck's CSA (Rochester, IL) with non-local dressing. More importantly, I had broccoli! The broccoli came from Dyer's Farm in Hillsboro. Yum! (If you don't get that excited about broccoli, you're probably not a locavore! Well, at least not a locavore that really likes broccoli.)

Dinner

For dinner, we had more broccoli, as well as local green beans! (Sorry, Dawn doesn't recall the source of the green beans.) We also had salad (local lettuce, etc, from Veenstra & Heck's CSA) and sugared pecans from Voss Pecans (Carlyle, IL). We also had semi-local bread made from a mix from Hodgson Mill (Effingham, IL)

Lastly, throughout the day, we snacked on local strawberries - lots of local strawberries - from Livesprings Berries & Produce (Chandlerville, IL).

Day 4 - Yes, We Have No Strawberries

Breakfast

Saturday, May 23, began with a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast. As before, the eggs were from Triple S Farms (Stewardson, IL, 77 miles SE of Springfield), and the honey on the toast was from from Sasse's Apiary (Chestnut, IL, 88 miles NW of Springfield). The bread, butter, and the milk were all non-local.

Market

I then made a quick trip to the Old Capitol Farmers' Market. My main targets were strawberries and green beans. I struck out on both counts. The guy at the Living Springs Berries and Produce booth told me that they sold out of their 35 flats of strawberries at 7:53 AM. Did I mention that the farmers' market doesn't officially open until 8:00 AM? The last of the green beans were gone by 8:30 AM. The trip wasn't a complete loss, however, as I got sugared pecans from Voss Pecans (Carlyle, IL, 90 miles south of Springfield), snow peas, and broccoli. Where did the snow peas and the broccoli come from? Well, I wrote that information down on a piece of paper, which I then cleverly lost. *sigh*

Food Not Lawns Talk

The reason the trip was rather quick was that I was scheduled to speak to the Springfield Food Not Lawns group at 9:30 at Lincoln Library. The title of my talk was "My So-Called Locavore Life". (I'll post a link to the PowerPoint file here as soon as I can figure out a way to do so!) I had briefly met Carrie and Don Moorman, the organizers of the group, at Meet Your Local Producers. Due to conflicts with my work schedule, I hadn't been able to attend a Food Not Lawns meeting before. The turnout wasn't especially large, which wasn't surprising given that it was 9:30 on a Saturday morning, but everyone was quite interested in the topic and I had a good time.

When I was preparing the talk, I was worried that it would be too short. ("Let's see. 44 slides, 30 seconds per slide, that's only 22 minutes. Hmm... I better ramble a bit.") Well, I rambled alot! Somehow I talked for over 2 hours about:

• how I became interested in becoming a locavore;
• my first steps last spring and summer;
• how things got sidetracked by the house purchase;
• our intentions to resume the project this year;
• the various reasons I have for becoming a locavore;
• and local resources for locavores.

Anyway, I enjoyed it, and I think everyone else did, too. However, if I ever give this talk again, I definitely need to ramble quite a bit less!

Lunch

For lunch, we had a salad, with strawberries and sugared pecans for dessert. The lettuce, chives, and radishes were all local, from Veenstra & Heck's CSA (Rochester, IL). The sugared pecans were from Voss Pecans (Carlyle, IL, 90 miles south of Springfield). I'm sure the sugar on the pecans wasn't local, but I won't quibble; they're good! The strawberries were also local, although I don't recall from where. The cheese on the salad wasn't local, but it was from Wisconsin, which isn't too far away. (After it's gone, we'll be using cheese from Ropp Jersey Cheese (Normal, IL) and other local sources.) The salad dressing was non-local.

Visitors!

Later that afternoon, my dad and stepmom arrived for a visit from Texas. We invoked the "social exemption" and went out to dinner with them at Panera Bread, where I had the Bacon Turkey Bravo sandwich and drank a Mountain Dew.

"Social Exemption?"

I probably ought to post a page here explaining what our "rules" are. For us at least, becoming a locavore isn't intended to be a religious conversion. Eating something non-local isn't meant to be a sin! So we have some "exceptions" or "exemptions". The most obvious one is that we're still using up any non-local food that's already in the house. And Dawn won't be giving up her chocolate, coffee, or tea. (I probably won't be giving up my oranges, although I won't buy them in the dead of winter!)

In addition, we have a "social exemption": When going out with friends or family, or when eating at their house, enforcing locavore restrictions just isn't practical. After all, part of my motivation for becoming a locavore is improving community ties; if we can't socialize with people, that sort of defeats the purpose! Dawn also wants an exemption for one lunch and one dinner out each week.

Of course, if there are too many exceptions, then you're not really being a locavore! We haven't really chiselled our rules in stone yet. I think we're both sort of feeling our way a bit to get a better feel for what we really can't do without.

In any case, as I said, this isn't intended to be a religion. There are benefits to being a locavore. We're just trying to make the changes needed to make those benefits a reality.