Tell all your friends...

“How many biscuits can you eat this morning? How many biscuits can you eat this evening? Howmany biscuits can you eat, 49 and a lb. of meat! This morning, this evening, right now!” - Doc Watson

As some of you may know, Joe and I are doing an experiment with our diet. In order to draw attention to the loss of family farms, the enormous carbon footprint left by eating imported foods, and the malnutrition that comes from factory farmed foods, Joe and I are eating only foods that are grown here in Alabama for four months. I have just named a few of the reasons for making this shift to being “Locavores.” One could argue that supporting local economies, fostering good stewardship of the land, less waste/packaging, and much more offer justification for looking at how we eat.

Many people across the nation are already addressing this very issue- think of Fast Food Nation, Super-Size Me, or Omnivore’s Dilemma. Here in Alabama, however, the movement towards local food economies needs more activists and Joe and I are excited to be part of the process. Along with another couple, Andy and Rashmi Grace, we have a blog and are making a documentary about Eating Alabama. Andy is a documentarian at the university where Joe works. Andy and Rashmi initiated this experiment and have done a lot of research on farms around the state. Last weekend, the four of us made a whirlwind tour of southern Alabama, stocking up on homemade cheeses, strawberries, pasture raised beef, greens, raw peanuts, honey, and more. Really, I think it is remarkable how much variety we found this early in the season. It was an exciting preface to the daily test of actually eating only locally produced foods.

So, it has been 5 days. No white wheat. No beans. No white sugar. No New Zealand apples or California carrots. No grapes from Chile or bell peppers from Mexico. And you know what? We feel GREAT!!! More energetic, more healthy, more positive. As the old adage goes, “You are what you eat.” I have always believed that in theory but in practice it is easy to use food for comfort and give in to habitual eating of junk foods. No more spray butter, diet soda, or cool whip. I traded those in for whole milk smoothies with strawberries and honey. It makes it difficult to eat on the go and I am always starving when I get home from school but this has not been as hard as I thought it would be.

Each of us has chosen some exceptions as is standard for many “locavores.” We all have excepted coffeeor tea, oil, vinegar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. I also excepted the occasional piece of dark chocolate. Joe and Andy have excepted the occasional beer- either a homebrew or one from a brewery in a neighboring state. Andy and Rashmi are also using limited spices. We have had many discussions about the idea of how “pure” we wanted to be. One big dilemma is grains. The corn meal we are presently using is milled in Alabama, and we thought the corn was grown here. ( We were assured by the shop owner that it was.) Don’t ask, don’t tell? Well, Andy called the owner of the mill and came to find out that the corn is from the mid-west. We are still using it but have a lead on some locally grown grains that are available. One cattle farmer did give us each a gallon of wheat berries which we are grinding in the coffee grinder.

Finding the farms and the products can be quite difficult. When contacted, many of the bureaucrats in the agricultural business here have scoffed at what we are doing and, in reality, don’t seem to know what is actually available in their own state. Small producers are not always to be found via internet either. Through word of mouth, road signs, and happenstance, we are finding more and more sources of local foods. Last night we had venison tenderloin, steamed broccoli, corn bread, habenero jack cheese, and sweet potatoes au gratin. We’ve made broccoli and onion quiche; salad with pecans, blue cheese, and strawberries; cream of wheat; roasted turnips with rib eye steak and collards; homemade sausage with cabbage and roasted sweet potatoes; and hard boiled eggs and corn bread. Today, I am going to experiment with a cream of broccoli soup (might be bland with only what spices I have growing here) and sweet potato pie. Any suggestions from ya’ll are welcome!!!!

“Use it up Wear it out Make it do Or do with out”
Ours has always been a family that valued the “Do- it – yourself attitude.” Carol and Becky and I made homemade bagels even before the Yankees really started re-colonizing the south. Ken talks about the Laura Ingles Wilder books with a sentimental, far off look in his eye. Granny saves the juice from canned fruit and pieces of tinfoil the size of a half-dollar, saying “waste not, want not.” My mother makes Diet Coke from scratch. (hee hee) Libby makes grape juice from her own grapes, saves her herbs, and makes her own butter. Steve can make a lovely chair set with naught but a big log and chainsaw. Ann had a veritable zoo within the city limits. Grandaddy was a locavore before it was “cool.”

I am glad my heritage has helped prepare me for this challenge. (Pray for my resolve in the face of 40 oz. diet sodas and pretzels with mustard at the ball park this summer).

Much love to all of you,
Sara