Locavore, WHAT?

I mentioned a while back while doing the food budget that October would bring the Locavore Diet. What is this, you ask. Well, Locavores only eat food that is grown withing a certain radius of their home, say 100 miles. The benefits of this include reduced fossil fuels being used for transportation, support for the local economy, fresh, in-season food and a personal knowledge and appreciation of where ones food comes from. Many locavores will take the Marco Polo approach when it comes to spices to flavor their food, since spices have been traded throughout history. The downside of this diet is that it can be limiting and expensive. It is not enough that a product is made locally, it has to be made only of local ingredients.
We are very fortunate to live in one of the most bountiful areas of the world. Fresh produce is abundant. We are close to the ocean, dairy land, wheat fields, meat producers and vineyards! The only thing I have not been able to find locally is sugar, but honey is a substitute.

At first, I thought this would be an easy challenge, but then reality hit me. This was going to be very expensive and difficult. I have decided to modify my original plan. All meat, dairy, eggs, produce and bread will be local. Every day, at least one meal will be completely local. I feel that these parameters are completely manageable for me. I already do a great job of supporting our local farmers market and bakery. I just found a new place for farm fresh eggs and raw milk. We are looking into investing in a side of Bison that is raised just down the road from us.

The above picture shows the bounty that Nora Beth and I got at the farmers market on Wednesday. The peppers looked great. I see some pepper jelly in our near future.

I started off day one of this challenge with a delicious stir fry of veggies from the market and some chicken pesto sausage I recently purchased from a local butcher. Today I made some beef chili to watch the OSU football game. Unfortunately, the Beavers lost. The technicians at work should be thrilled to work with Lamar tomorrow after he ate chili tonight!