Your Stories
So you're having a crack at the 100-Mile Diet. Tell us about your first meal. What local foods did you discover? Where did you find them? And what did you have to do without?
Ontario’s Horticultural Convention will provide 100-Mile Meals
by Valerie Neal The Ontario Horticultural Association is having its provincial convention in Owen Sound this August. We are planning to make all our meals 100 mile meals. I thought it would be difficult but things are coming together very well. The caterers have been keen to be part of this plan too.We hope to have 500 delegates.Pop Up Markets in Victoria, BC
By Tessa Helweg-Larsen I think it's important for local food to be available to people, within the cities that they live in. Many people will buy local food if it is available close to their home, but will not put as much time to drive out and visit the farm stands. In Victoria BC there's an organization called FoodRoots (through LifeCycles Project Society) that sets up very small local fruit and vegetable markets called "Pop Up Markets" at senoir's centers, community centers, daycares, etc.... to make local food available to the city residents. I am about to become a vegetable landscaper - I wish to start vegetable gardens for people in their front and back yards. It's not only important to eat local food, but it's just as important to make local food easily accessible to our communities.Organic vs. Local in Central Illinois
By Patt Mitchell I just read the 13 farmers market tips -- I love #10! We are a small farming operation in central Illinois and we sell our produce locally. We are not certified organic and do use some chemicals on some plants (just the sweet corn and melons, really).Sometimes it feels like we are second class when customers compare us to organic producers. What really matters is that the produce is fresh and seasonal and the selection of the fruit or vegetable that is grown.Often times, people overlook that.I urged our farmers market director last year to challenge people to eat locally with items bought from our local markets.The 100 mile diet is what I dreamed the eating local challege would become.Our season starts soon, so I will be encouraging our customers to check you out!Fabulous Wines in BC
by Susan McCalla We live in Vancouver and find eating locally a wonderful experience. Recently, I started to buy only BC wines - luckily, there are fabulous ones to choose from. A couple of years ago we lived in Madison Wisconsin, which has the most amazing farmer's market. It kept us shopping locally for almost the entire year - cheers to Madison!Astounding Results in Westchester
by Eliza Mutino I have some great results to share!Last May I started a strict 100 mile diet in Westchester just outside of New York City.I had a wonderful time and lots of help from extensive organizing by the farmers markets - one of which was right on my high school campus! After four months on the diet I had blood tests and compared them to those taken the day before I went on the diet. The results were astounding!I lost 17.3 lbs (which was still in a healthy range!) and had a 40 point drop in cholesterol (from an already low 149).I discussed these results with nutritionists and we attributed the loss of weight to the fact that the foods I ate on the 100 mile diet were less processed, therefore had less bulk, thus my appetite was satisfied with fewer calories. The diet cost an average of around $42 a week, eating a very diverse, non-vegetarian diet.With the current front page story of Time magazine, and since we already know it's feasible and enjoyable, I am inspired to redo the project with more than 1 test subject and give a well researched answer to the question "is it healthy?". I am currently organizing to get a local diet started in my area, and analyze everything from costs, to changes in eating habits, to health effects which will include mercury levels.Pig Out in Chicago
By Chris Birky VALPARAISO, IN--We are a small family farm in northwest Indiana. We raise our own pork products and sell them in a country store. We feed no antibiotics, steroids, hormones, animal by-products or Paylean*. Birky Farms is only 50 miles from Chicago and close to 100 miles from Indy. This is a great idea. *Alisa says: Another good reason to know your farmer! I had never heard of Paylean until now. Turns out the active ingredient is Ractopamine hydrochloride, and here's what the manufacturer says about it in the fine print: "May increase the number of injured and/or fatigued pigs during marketing." And on the human side: "Individuals with cardiovascular disease should avoid exposure. Not for use in humans. Keep out of the reach of children. . . . When mixing and handling Paylean, use protective clothing, impervious gloves, protective eyewear, and a NIOSH-approved dust mask."Back to basics in Sweden
By Peter Lundberg GOTEBERG, SWEDEN--I grew up during wartime (World War II) but in a country that stayed out of it. However, we had food restrictions, fuel restrictions and coupons for most items. My luck was being born and raised in the countryside. My diet was not the 100-mile one but rather the 1/4-mile diet. We grew vegetables, we had rabbits, hens, sheep and fresh milk from the neighboring farmer. In the summer, there were berries, some grown but mostly wild. In the fall, there were mushrooms. And yes, the little lake gave us fish and crayfish. My grandfather made his own wine, my grandmother occasionally made cheese. And of course there were some fruit trees: apples, cherry, pear, plum. The apples were stored through winter, as were carrots, beets and potatoes as well. Having no fridge nor freezer, Grandmother relied on a series of progressively cooler storage spaces. A kitchen cupboard, an outer cupboard, an earth cellar (which is a concrete lined, ventilated room that after more than fifty years is still mold free). You can still live like this and it is never only "surviving". Combined with some wild herbs, like the stinging nettle and a few other species that are considered a pest but are surprisingly rich in vitamins and iron - more so than your homegrown salad - you are never at a loss for healthy, tasteful, and varied food. One problem today seems to be the view of the potato as just filling, food styrofoam. Customers should ask for varieties and stores should start selling potatoes like exotic imports: displayes on velvet and sold apiece, to get our attention. Oh, one additional thing. In those days, allergy was virtually unknown in small children. Something about being exposed to a regular small dose of plain, unadulterated dirt. My grandfather's small farm was a non-sustainable size even in those days. The fields were worked, though, by men, women and horses. The difference I remember from those days is that during harvest and other peak times, no one ever worked on Sundays and there was always time for lunch and an occasional break. In these days of machine-intensive agroindustry, my neighbors slave to make ends meet through round-the-clock workdays and income from supplemental - or rather, main -regular jobs. I am now the owner of that little farm so I should start doing something and not just talking. My first project is to set aside part of my land in collaboration with the forest authorities, to provide a habitat for a bunch of red-listed but fussy creatures like the White-Backed Woodpecker.Wild foods the next level in California
TOPANGA, CA--Sunny Johnson, wild foods guru, has launched a forager website that helps take local eating to the next level. In phase one, see recipes for California sagebrush tea, wild buckwheat pancakes, and cowgirl face cream. This lady is serious about local eating--not only did she do a one-year challenge in Minnesota, she still churns her own butter.School chef brings farms to kids in Connecticut
BLOOMFIELD, CONNECTICUT--Timothy Cipriano calls himself the "local food dude." Luckily for the parents of Bloomfield, Connecticut, he is also the food service director (aka Chef Tim) of all the town's public schools. He has gotten kids to eat their root vegetables--and like it. He has published a book of child-friendly recipes, a favorite being what he calls "squapple crisp." Chef Tim succeeded in serving beets, kohlrabi, parsnips, turnips, onions and winter squash to the students by slow roasting them to bring out the sweetness and splashing on balsamic vinegar as they came out of the oven.He secured the USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program for his school, one of just 350 participants in the country. The revolution is simple: he sent fresh fruits and vegetables to the students homeroom's to snack on during morning announcements.
Chef Tim also partnered with Michael Buchanan , a local Jamaican immigrant Farmer to grow calaloo (a leafy green) for Bloomfield schools. With the large West Indies population in Bloomfield Chef Tim wanted to work with a farmer that the students would recognize.
