I made a list of all the local edibles -- from the Farmer's Market, Bluebird Gardens, Native Harvest, and an Amish farm -- that exclusively represent my range of choices and ingredients for wood this week. I added to the list the trade items I've used so far: salt, sugar, olive oil, and lemon.I'm not a natural cook -- I tend to graze throughout the day on a variety of individual food items eaten separately -- and so this diet poses a challenge. How do I transform a mound of local produce into enough satisfying meals for an entire week?
Keep in mind, my diet is limited to items that were grown, processed, packaged and sold within 100 miles of my apartment. That means homemade bread is off limits, unless I can find flour from grains that were grown, harvested, winnowed, and ground all within 100 miles.
So far, the only grains I have are wild rice and dried hominy. I have no sources of protein yet; I still have to investigate sources of local meat, eggs, and dairy. I have parsley and shiitake mushrooms for flavoring (yes, the mushrooms were produced within a hundred miles -- I saw the logs were they grew myself). For starches, I have two potatoes, an acorn squash, a spaghetti squash, and a sweet squash. For desert, I have watermelon. And then I have a ton of veggies: three bunches of kale, two bunches of Swiss chard, a bag of string beans, two regular cucumbers, two lemon cucumbers, and an eggplant. I bought a green tomato, too, but I ate that as soon as I got home to tide myself over while cooking lunch.
My task for this afternoon is to look examine my inventory carefully and plan out meals for the week.
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