100 Mile Diet and Buying Local
I finished the book 100 Mile Diet - A Year Of Local Eating this past weekend and today the family went to the local Cambridge Farmers Market! I guess the book worked.
The premise of the book is that the authors, a couple who live in Vancouver (Alisa Smith & J.B. MacKinnon) decided to take one year and only eat food that was grown within 100 miles of where they live. Each chapter is a new month and they are alternately written by Alisa and J.B.. When you think about eating locally it changes quite a bit. For them it meant no bananas or oranges and it took them a good 7 or 8 months to find decent wheat which meant 7 or 8 months with no bread, pancakes, crackers or anything delicious with flour in it!!! It's a good read and one worth reading to see the possibilities of trying to move to a more local diet.
With gas prices where they are and wanting to be a good steward of the resources I have been given eating locally makes so much sense. Also the food is much fresher and you're supporting your neighbours! So consider getting out to your local market or farmer's stand. Winter will be here before we know it so might as well get out and pick up some of that delicious produce while it is at its best! Here's a few pics from our trip this morning!
Sidenote - The Cambridge Farmers Market (I live in Cambridge) was recently named one of Canada's best 10 markets! It's been around since 1830 and has operated from the same place ever since. A long time for this part of the world!
This is a photo of one side of the market. There are vendors on both sides then there is also an indoor part where you can find meat and cheeses.
Our bounty from this morning. Jonah is nibbling on a green bean!
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6 comments:
hey glen, i thought id tell you about this...
my wife and i bought a share in a local organic farm crop for this season. So for a share large enough for two people - we get a basket of farm produce every Tuesday from June till October. We have got beans, snap peas, strawberries, oven baked bread, carrots, beats, and a few things I wouldn't know what they were.
Anyway, this is kind of in line with what you are talking about. We paid approx. $300 for the whole season and we never have to buy bread or vegetables all summer. And we are supporting a local farmer.
It's a great program.
We also get emails each week telling us how the crop is doing and what is in the fields and what some of the vegetables are that we are getting.
Scott that sounds great!! I don't have your email address or any way of contacting you but I'd love to know more about it!!
that share program sounds fantastic!! i heart our Cambridge Market!!!!
glen, email is contactscottorr@gmail.com
the share crop is through http://www.manorun.com/
Glenn, does your 100 mile radius count when you are on the road? That could get tricky with catering! hehe... just kidding. :-) That looks really yummy and your market sounds incredible! I'd be worried buying that much "bounty" all at once in case it went bad before we ate it all, but I guess if that's all you're eating, then it probably wouldn't...
I've been searching out local farmer's markets this summer and even considered (but since forgot about) the farm crop share idea since I make all of Riley's organic baby food from scratch. I might have to look into the share crop idea again though now!
I haven't been to the Cambridge market for 25+years, I think. And even then, it was only a few times. I didn't know it was that old.
I remember that cheese and meat building really stank when I was a kid!
Interesting note--a few years ago, an insurance company used that side view of the market (in your picture) for a tv commercial. It depicted the progression of the company and the market building (without vendors) was used for their 'old days' segment.
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