So, the hardest part was telling a colleague that I didn't want to eat his home smoked salmon today. It's killing me and it was rude. I have some he gave me last week in the freezer at work. It's a mini-fridge. It's full.
Yesterday friends dropped off some garden overage that they couldn't eat. Tomatoes, and onion, a little head of cabbage, and a squash. I used the tomatoes with peppers from a different friend to make a veggie stew. Augmented it with some sliced up kale, chard, chives, sage and tarragon from the garden. Perked it up with salt and pepper (the exotics) and fried the peppers in coconut oil (another exotic on the list).
With one full meal left to go, I have not used the sugar. Had I enjoyed some of the kombucha I'm making, I would have but alas it has not gotten tart enough for me to bother. I like it when it's almost vinegar.
Last night I also made a blackberry pudding. 3cups fresh blackberries from some friends, 1/2cup local whole wheat pastry flour, 3T honey, a tsp of cinnamon and a 1/4tsp of baking soda (last 2 are on the exotics list). It was fine. The baking soda cuts some of the acid from the honey and berries. I'd eaten too many tomatoes and didn't want to over-acid my stomach. Anyway, heat and mash the berries in a sauce pan. Mix the rest of the stuff up. Mix the flour stuff into the hot berry mash and cook until it looks like a thick porridge. It was delicious. Another 1/2 cup of flour and it would have gotten cakey, but I didn't want that much food and need to get through the berries before they mold! MORE tonight. It's not a chore, it's a challenge. I can tell I've boosted the fiber in the diet by eating locally.
I found a book at the library:
In the introduction to the time the authors spent on a local diet, one says something like "I see a lot of potatoes in my future." She was right. I've eaten potatoes every day. They are available locally. I've also eaten a lot of apples. They are extremely local. From my land. Also, delicious.
That popped out immediately: I'm very willing to eat what is there if there is some phony rule in place. Why not everyday?
I don't do like some friends who decide what to eat randomly, go to the store, get stuff, make one meal. That is a peachy way to go. Not my current way. In general I try to look at what I have anyway. The local challenge is a small boost to the effort to start, and now finish, with what I already have.
A side effect is cutting the non-food budget. No stop at the store meant I actually ran to town the other day and didn't spend any money. I do "no spend" days, about 10 a month is the usual goal. Often I end up spending when I run in to town because I go ahead and hit the grocery store for sales as long as I'm there. It was a bit of a challenge to break the habit.
Part of it is, I have a TON of food. Since starting this and without putting out the word, I've gotten a lot of free food:
The aforementioned smoked salmon
3gallons of blackberries
about 15lbs of squash
an onion
5lbs or so of tomatoes
a small cabbage (which will get eaten tonight!)
jam...to be eaten later as not local enough
I'm sure there is more. I've been offered more but can't store anything else! Crazy!
I like having my jars of chicken from the day of butchery. I get 2 or 3 meals worth of meat out of a half pint. I could eat more in a sitting but I'm getting plenty of protein so might as well stretch it out and eat the fresh veg that will go off sooner.
The book, Plenty, is aptly named. I have plenty. It is the tail end of harvest season so that is much of the picture but not all of it. More anon.
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