I started this experiment in April which (at this point in October) feels like years ago. April seemed like a opportune time to begin a local eating experiment. There was so much hope and promise ahead in the coming springtime and summer harvests.
And now, here I am six months later facing the challenge I knew would eventually come: winter. Yes, yes, I know. It's not quite winter yet. And what am I so concerned about? I mean, who doesn't love root vegetables and gourds? (I do, actually, love both, but my husband will need some real convincing or some sort of magic potion to convince him to eat either regularly.)
This seems like a good time to stop and reflect on the lessons learned in the past six months of farmers market shopping and a shopping priority for local and sustainable foods. This is not to say that my husband and I are complete locavores. We've certainly had our moments of regular grocery shopping and even (gasp!) eating guacamole. We're not trying to eat exclusively local foods, but we have shifted a significant amount of our food expenditures to the local food economy. And with that said, here are some lessons I've learned in the past six months:
1. The farmers market is addictive.
Although I admit that the farmers market can be somewhat inconvenient when compared to the always-open grocery store, I've found that once it became a part of my regular routine I was completely addicted. I buy much more produce than I previously did simply because everything is so fresh and such an interesting variety is available. A friend recently emailed me to say that she had visited her local market and had to force herself to "hold back" from buying too much. I mean, how can you resist this:
or this?
2. Surprises are good.The farmers market offers a lot of produce and other items you cannot find at your regular store. Most often, this has really forced John and I to try new things. In the spring, I purchased purple kohlrabi. It had all the signs of something my husband would hate: weird color, weird shape, and relative of cabbage. Surprise! We both loved it. Since kohlrabi is back for the fall, check out how we used it
here.
3. Surprises are also bad.
One Saturday morning I saw a sign advertising bacon. I thought, "What could be better than farmer's market bacon?" After approaching the producer, I learned that this bacon had to be reserved ahead. Wow. It must really be good, right? He told me that it was nearing the end of one person's reservation time-slot, however, and if I waited a half hour and she was a no-show then the bacon could be mine. What was a girl to do? And how could I go wrong with this bacon? So, I waited.
Inevitably, the woman never showed up and the bacon was victoriously handed over to me. I rejoiced (!) and rushed home to immediately make it for John. As the bacon hit the frying pan, something seemed not quite right. The kitchen didn't smell like anything. Of course, it looked like bacon, but where was that delicious smell?
Sure enough, as we each took our first bite into our crispy bacon, we tasted nothing at all. I ran into the kitchen to look at the package. This bacon was not only uncured, but the bacon had not been smoked. John and I decided that the lack of taste was not worthy of ingesting so much fat, so our bacon was recycled into some stuffing.
Who knew bacon could be so disappointing? . . . Which leads me to this:
4. Ask Questions
Most genuine producers love to talk about their products. I say "genuine" because asking questions is a great way to determine whether the stand you are purchasing from is a legitimate producer (as opposed to a wholesaler). When a stand tells me that they don't know where something they are selling comes from, I simply walk away. I can get that kind of service at the grocery store, so why go out of my way to shop at a farmers market for the same vague treatment of food?
On the other hand, real producers have informed me about issues like: how to handle pests eating their vegetables (like the ninja turtles mentioned in
this post), how Virginia's bees are doing well despite the national problem of dwindling bee populations, the process of making cheese, and how the chickens who produced the eggs I'm eating are treated.
Now, if only I'd asked more questions about that bacon.
5. Most foods really do taste better in season and purchased "just picked."
Here are some of my favorites:
- Spring asparagus that is so fresh the ends don't need to be trimmed.
- Fresh, fresh, irresistable lettuces. And right now: fresh greens like spicy mustard greens and delicious Swiss chard.
- Tomatoes that are truly vine ripened and picked within 24 hours of purchase. Not to mention, an incredible variety of heirlooms with funny names. And my favorite tomatoes, tiny small yellow-orange tomatoes-- sometimes called "sungolds."
- The sweetest corn imaginable from Toigo Orchards this July and August.
- Peaches! Including the mango peaches and donut peaches, as well as good old white and yellow peaches. Peaches are so good in-season that I feel it's a mortal sin to eat them out of season.
6. But sometimes you need to purchase foods from outside your area
That is, if you really want to a) prepare your foods in the best possible way, and b) maintain your sanity.
a) For example, how improved is that seasonal asparagus with a good splash of lemon juice? And it's not just lemon juice or olive oil, it's: b) the fact that every little bit counts. We're just trying to do what we can to support our local economy and to eat foods that were produced in a manner that is just and humane.
With that said, is it really realistic for most people to attain 100% local eating? In August and September it was incredibly easy to fall into the 90% range, but during the rest of the year I feel that simply doing what we can to support our local food economy (even if this is 40-60 % of our diet) is still making a difference. When we can't find certain items at the farmer's market, we do try to shop at places that inform us where our food is coming from or that it was produced in a humane and sustainable way (like
fair trade or
direct trade coffee). I suppose this leads me to the belief that we should eat locally when possible, and at all other times it's important to try to seek out ingredients that are organic, sustainable, or made by trustworthy producers.
7. Farmers (and other food producers) can become your friends.
Speaking of producers you trust, one great part of eating locally produced foods is the fact that I actually know the people who are feeding my family. In my twenty-eight years of living, this is a first. How amazing is it that I've lived my entire life so out of touch with the food that was sustaining me?
In July, Calvin of
Bigg Riggs Farm in West Virginia invited me to
visit his farm. While there, I walked through the vegetable gardens which were just beginning to produce some of the foods that I would later buy in August and September. It's a cool experience to feel that connected to your food.
Bigg Riggs Farm Vegetable Garden; Loom, West Virginia (July 2008)A few weeks ago, I heard a rumor that
Blue Ridge Dairy would be offering burrata cheese-- a mozzarella cheese that is filled with a rich and creamy center. If you like mozzarella, you would love burrata. But, it is very difficult to find since few people produce it. So, every time I visited the market I hounded the poor Blue Ridge Dairy representative about the cheese. How was it going? Were they going to sell it at any other market besides DuPont Circle? I asked so many times that when I showed up to his booth two weeks ago, he exclaimed, "It's the burrata girl!," and proceeded to hand me a container of the cheese I had so coveted. (I still had to pay for it, of course.)
So, you see, knowing the people who produce your food has some major benefits. Like good vegetables and good cheese. Who can argue with that?
8. And finally, on blogging: Blogging opens up amazing opportunities.
Before I started "The Garden Apartment" blog, I really didn't understand the blogging world. It was foreign and strange to me. If it hadn't been for the advice of a good friend, I probably would have done this local eating experiment undocumented. What a mistake that would have been!
First and foremost, I love to write about my experiences. Even if I didn't have people reading my musings and recipes from the farmer's market, this would be fun for me. I enjoy going back to the months of April and May to read my thoughts or what I found at market in early spring. How self indulging it all is!
Beyond myself, however, it's been amazing to become part of a blogging community of people who are passionate about where their food comes from and the best ways to prepare it. Reading other people's blogs has inspired and pushed me to be more creative in the kitchen, and also to try out some really great recipes. (See my sidebar for some of my favorite blogs.)
And the biggest thing is, it's been life changing. This summer a personal chef stumbled on my blog and wrote to me that she was looking for an assistant. I was ecstatic, of course, but thought it was probably out of my league (as a person trained in the education field). I decided, however, to pursue the application process. And now, with the end of October nearing, I have just completed my fourth week working as a chef's assistant. I am learning so much and working so hard. I hope that this will only help me to bring you some improved recipe ideas and a greater wealth of knowledge about the variety of local products and purveyors.
So, that's it. . .
Hopefully you enjoyed this trip down the past six months as much as I did. And yes, I know, it was weird to have a list of eight things. But, why do there need to be lists of five or ten? I like the number eight.
And, despite my slight apprehension that winter will not give me as many opportunities to write about interesting market finds and all the beautiful abundant produce, I think it may allow me an opportunity to get a little more creative with what's available. I also hope to focus more on some of my husband's favorite ingredients: meat and cheese. You see, both are available year-round. Lucky John.
Here's to the next six months!
