uvlocalvores : field notes

Apologies if this is a bit off-topic, shopping locally is part of the whole local mojo for me! The next time you travel, this site will allow you to search by area code for *independent* coffee shops, bookstores and movie theatres… Yes, Virginia, there are alternatives to Starbucks…

Delocater

-Jenna

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Harvest Stone Soup Festival
Thursday, September 21, 12:00-7:00

During the Farmers Market On the Green in South Royalton, FREE, local, fresh vegetable soup, cooked in a giant cast iron pot suspended over a wood fire on the South Royalton Green.

Volunteers are needed to start chopping donated vegetables at 12:00 pm. The soup will be served from 4:00-6:30. Come early and bring a few items from your garden to add to the stone-soup.

Acoustic string music supplied by the Freight House Band.

The soup is free to all comers, and so is the music. Call Randy Leavitt at 763-8866 to find out what you can add to the pot or how you can help.

-Pat

Vital Communities list of farmers’ markets

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“My family hasn’t been able to do a full day of localvore eating, but we’ve done lots of localvore meals. And I printed off world and north america maps, and at the end of dinner we write down all of the ingredients and mark where the foods come from (although I haven’t yet tracked the sesame seeds from the coop bulk section). I explained to the girls (3 and 6) that we want the circle to be as small around Thetford as it can be. I next need to print off a New England map so we can mark our 100 miles.”

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“We have really enjoyed this ‘challenge,’ and while there were days where we have cheated, we have had many discussions, and those have spread to our work places. While the challenge is basically over, we have decided to really make a huge change in our diets based on how we have felt physically, and emotionally. We have made a list of our wildcards that we will start to incorporate, back into our diets, and except the chocolate and coffee, it’s all minimally processed (like lemons, avocados, and bananas). Our goal now for maintenence is about 75% local, and going back to making our own bread, and ice cream, etc….

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“I only signed up for the localvores challenge for a week. I have had quite the learning experience you described. Every time I thought something was local I would then have to ask the next question about well where did all the ingredients come from. A person can starve following through to get all the answers! In any case, this has been a wonderful way for me to begin my journey into eating locally… The implications of all this are quite astounding. I am trying to pass on examples to my children as well but I have to tell you, at least at my house teenagers just don’t get it. Please keep me on all of your lists as this is just the beginning for me.”

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“We’re going to make the pepper & squash dish that was at the Lebanon farmers market this past Thursday. Fun fun!”

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“This is our localvore week — we have not been as pure as most… but it’s been tremendously rewarding and eye opening. I made your recipe for soft flour tortillas last night and they were wonderful! I don’t like the commercial ones around here — they are waxy and cardboardy. The dough was great to work with, rolled out nice and thin, and the tortillas were delicious filled with garlicky refried soldier beans, local cheddar and cilantro from our garden. We accidentally grew a jalepeno pepper plant, so I made salsa from our tomatoes with chives, cilantro and parsley from our garden.”

“I nearly decided not to do this after all because my work schedule has been so hectic and I’ve had family visiting and other obligations — hunting down local food does take some planning and extra time, especially if you don’t already know exactly what to look for. But we decided to go ahead and do the best we could and I am so glad. There is something about rolling out dough, the feel of it under your palms… ”

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“How many localvores are into wild foraging? I’ve been collecting daylily buds, nettles, chicken of the woods mushrooms and chenopodium (pigweed, goosefoot), and will be going blueberry picking. The blueberry fields up in Goshen VT are scenic, wonderful and FREE, and well worth the drive, especially if you carpool — you can get a good supply of berries for freezing and then take a dip in Silver Lake or in Lake Dunmore at Branbury State Park. (It’s about 20-30 min. north of Rutland right off of Rt. 7.)”

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“I’ll try freezing some basil in ice cubes. The smell is so heavenly. Jon and I have been focusing on local eating (with a few wildcards). Mostly we are eating very simply and loving it. We have had corn, tomatoes and basil a number of times for dinner and are not sick of it yet. We are heading to the farmer’s market this evening. We’ll munch there and bring goodies home.”

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“I listened to you all on VPR tonight. You were all great and I thought covered many important issues. I was inspired yet again that this local eating can truly happen if we all work together.”

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How lucky we were to have Jessica Prentice, one of the original San Francisco “Locavores”, present “Deepening Our Sense of Seasonality” in Norwich, at King Arthur Flour on Tuesday night.

Jessica is a knowledgeable and articulate spokesperson for local and seasonal food and her presentation was relaxed, engaging and enjoyable. She uses the structure of 13 full moons throughout the year to talk about seasonal food through history and through different cultures and myths.

There was some interesting Q and A after her talk; I particularly appreciated her response to the question of “elitism” in regard to local and organic foods. Jessica said the issue was a big one, and she didn’t have all the answers but she did have observations and opinions: she observed that people have eaten local food through most of human history and our current dependence on globalized corporate food is just a “blink” in human history.

Many immigrants come to this country with a tradition of growing their own food and continue to do so in spite of low incomes. Many cities have community gardens where low-income people can grow food for themselves and their neighbors. The problem is not low income — it is a matter of culture and values. (If the culture promotes junk food, alcohol, cable tv, video games, and lots of commercial “stuff,” those things are likely to become the major values and where people spend their money — in our culture, farmers are demeaned and local food has not been given much value.)

I personally felt energized by Jessica’s presentation and know that Cindy Heath and Lou Anne McLeod are now percolating on the idea of community feasts a la 13 Moons!

–Pat

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