This week my Sustainable Food Production class is once again doing a local food challenge. Our professor made it easier, since it is winter: we just have to eat 3 mostly-local meals this week.
The first time I did the local food challenge -- back in the early fall -- it was very difficult for me. This time, even though there is snow on the ground, it has been a breeze. Why? Because now I have a community.
On Friday, I was invited over to dinner at Mark Boen's house; Mark is the owner of Bluebird Gardens, a local CSA. His wife cooked a delicious turkey dinner using the turkey that I "helped" slaughter on Monday. (By "helped," I mean mostly watched.) Along with the turkey, we had Bluebird Garden potatoes, corn, and deviled eggs.
Last night, I was invited over to dinner at my professors' house (Tom Prieve and Sue Wika) at Paradox Farm. We eat pork chops from Kent Solberg's farm, Seven Pines, along with carrots from Bluebird Gardens and potatoes from Paradox Farm.
Today my breakfast consisted of eggs from Seven Pines and sauerkraut that I made last fall with my class using produce from Bluebird Gardens.
Instead of struggling to find one farm to source my local food, I now have several I had patronize. My meals this weekend have been a mix of food grown by farmers who I know very well: Mark Boen, Sue Wika, Tom Prieve, and Kent Solberg.
This afternoon, I am heading over to Seven Pines to help with milking the cows. I'm sure I will be treated to another mostly local meal at the Solberg residence, and I hope to take home some of their milk so I can make my own yogurt.
The lesson for me has been that a robust local food system must be build on a robust community. We cannot do it alone.
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