A Challenge

If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic.
If not ORGANIC, then Family farm.
If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business.
If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Fair Trade.

That is the Locavore's pledge, but I'd have to change it a bit for me. I'm not all that interested in the Organic part, at least not instead of family farm. I think I'd change my pledge to:

If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Family Farm.
If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business.
If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Fair Trade.
If not FAIR TRADE, then Organic.

I've signed up for the September 2007 Eat Local Challenge. It fits in perfectly with what we having going on anyway and I love the idea of a structured, accountable way to continue to eat locally. Here's to September!!

Here are some answers to questions posed on the ELC sign-up.

What's it like in your area? Boulder, Colorado is a haven for eating locally. There are local farmstands sprinkled throughout the area as well as bi-weekly Farmer's Markets. I belong to one of many CSAs in the area. Eating locally is easy here...but as always, laziness threatens, making a stop at the grocery store even easier.

Which parts of eating locally are easy, and which are difficult? It's easy to find vegetables, fruit, herbs, honey, meat (though I am a vegetarian), eggs, torillas, bread and wine. It's hard to find dried beans, though my winter Keeper share will have some. The eggs are also a toss-up. It's basically first-come, first serve, so eggs are such a treat when I score some! (Buying Cyd's is at least a local business, but I'd rather have the lovely pinkish, orangish eggs from the happy chickens at the local farms.) Luckily for us, our soy products come from Boulder-based White Wave! It's also impossible here in land-locked Colorado to get shrimp and salmon, the only fish we really enjoy eating. So that's hard and besides cutting it out, buying the organic version is really the only way to go for the ELC.

What advice do you have for others? Start small! I love the suggestion on the ELC website to pick one thing to replace with a local product. Something is always better than nothing!

I'm going to keep track of our local meals (seems to be what others did in the Summer Challenge) on my Eating Local blog. (I love blogs.)