Veggies-A-Plenty

Someone close to me, who is also receiving one of our weekly harvest boxes, said to me the other day "Amy, I don't know if I can keep up with this veggie marathon..." I took slight offense of course, and told them that it the harvest boxes are optional and you shouldn't feel socially obligated to buy what we're growing. Despite saying this, I know that they probably still do feel socially obligated and they will likely keep on trucking, trying to consume $20 worth of our veggies a week.

This got me thinking about this whole eating local thing which has become quite trendy as of late. This time of year is, quite literally, a veggie marathon. We do have the ability to produce year round here with climate and technology being the way that it is. But right now, we are at the peak of our growing season and the veggies are aplenty.

Folks who have/are making the decision to eat locally are signing up for more than just the enjoyment of good, fresh food; they are signing up for a lifestyle change. When choosing to eat locally, for the most part, you cant go to your local Safeway and pick up your habitual grocery list that results in the same 7 dinners each week. You probably can't pick up a recipe book, and pick out whatever sounds delicious, regardless of time of year.

Eating locally requires creativity: you need to work with what you can get, what is fresh from your local farms. It requires the forgotten art of real cooking. To eat locally you need to know how to serve up an ever changing roster of seasonal ingredients. You must be fearless in trying out a plethora of new dishes in order to make use of what its produced around you and to rely less on the "normal" foods shipped in from around the world. And, until more restaurants catch on, you probably need to eat at home a whole lot more.

We live in the middle of a breadbasket where we produce an amazing diversity of delicious and healthy foods. What would happen if each person put themselves up to the challenge and made the lifestyle change necessary to eat what is grown and produced around us, supported our local farmers and reduced our impact on other people and places?

I want to give a big thanks to my friends Colleen and Will who, since choosing to receive a weekly box of veggies from us, have managed to slip Skeeter Farm veggies into each and every meal they are eating at home. They are truly inspirational. Swiss Chard for breakfast anyone?