Kat with a K

Grocery Store - 7/26/08

Other:
Sugar

(I've been trying to use local honey and maple syrup instead of sugar whenever possible, but this was for my first jam-making experience, so I figured I should stick with the basic recipe to figure out what I'm doing before I try changing things.)

Farm Stand - 7/26/08

These became my first-ever jam. Yum!

Grocery Store - 7/23/08

Organic:

Nasoya firm tofu

Yeah, that's all... not very interesting.

Farm Stand - 7/23/08

(Sorry for the messy kitchen in the background!)

Local:
Stonyfield Farm milk and yogurt
corn on the cob
cucumbers
broccoli
purple and wax beans
garlic scapes
mini summer squash
blueberries
peaches
lettuce

Farmer's Market and Farm Stand - 07/18/08

Local:
Butter from Mendon Creamery
Sage Cheddar cheese from Organic Farmstead

Semi-Local:
Basil and Evening Treasure grains from Will 'n Rose's

Farmer's Market - 7/17/08

Local:
blueberries
summer squash
cucumbers
red potatoes
green beans
honey
LaBelle Winery Dry Apple Wine
Jewell Towne Vineyards Marechal Foch

Semi-Local:
Sourdough from The Good Loaf

Defining My Terms

As part of my new experiment in eating locally, I am planning to post pictures of my groceries as I buy them, sort of inspired by Hungry Planet, which has fascinating photo essays of families from around the world and their food for a typical week. With each picture, I will list the foods, in the following categories. (And the order given here is roughly my order of preference when shopping.)

Local: Main ingredients are grown within about 100 miles of me. I'm not going to go crazy worrying about where minor ingredients (like the salt in butter, say, or the packaging materials) are from.

Almost Local: Like local, but from a larger area - all of New England, and maybe some of the closer parts of New York state.

Semi-Local: Packaged and distributed by a local company, but the ingredients aren't necessarily local. (For example, Will 'n Rose's is a local company that sells great grains, but their grains aren't actually grown here. Because no grain is grown here.) I figure this is still better than non-local, because there's less movement of the food, and it supports local businesses.

Organic: Things that are labeled that way, more or less.

Natural: Again, things that are labeled that way.

Unprocessed: Not necessarily organic or natural, but at least a "whole" food - most produce would fall into this category.

Processed: Pretty much everything else. :)

And again, these are just the categories in my head. I am by no means saying that anyone else should use them, or that anyone else should prioritize the way I do.

The Eat Local Challenge

This week, I am participating in the Eat Local Challenge over at The Mighty Appetite. The goal for this week is to eat at least 10 foods from within 100 miles of home. This is the perfect time of year to start something like this, of course, since there are plenty of farm stands and farmer's markets selling all sorts of produce. I am hoping to continue trying to eat as locally as possible even after the challenge ends, but I know it will be a lot harder in the winter, because nothing grows in New Hampshire in the winter. I'm hoping to preserve some things to last me into the cold weather, but we'll see how it goes.

The other hard part: there doesn't seem to be any local grain. I can find dairy and fruit and veggies with no problem, but no grains. Not even cornmeal, which seems odd given the large amount of local corn. So if anyone has any leads on anyone selling grain grown in New England, please let me know. For now, I'm going with "semi-local" - grains distributed by companies based locally, but not actually grown here. I figure it's better than nothing.