Friday, February 11, 2011

This Week I Will Eat Only Local Meats (and a bit of Valentine info)



So, this blog won’t work if I’m not honest about my weekly experiments. That being said, being a locavore was way harder than I thought it would be. At the beginning my daughter said being a locavore will be great – she could eat anything she wanted from our frig. I groaned and said that’s not the point, but was later surprised to realize how close to the mark she was. The week was super-busy with a combination of extra work and school meetings, sick kids and family drama. I had no time to shop, so we just ate what was around the house and I felt smug about how easy this locavore thing was. Until Wednesday. On Wednesdays I get my son a special treat on the way to his music lesson. It was to be my first food purchase of the week and I was stumped. I guess we could have gone to the supermarket and found a local apple or something, but that wasn’t going to cut it. I ended up getting him a burger and vanilla cone. I’m pretty certain none of it was local. Oh yeah, and I got a diet Pepsi. Probably not local either. Not only did I fail at being a locavore, but we had a fair amount of paper packaging as well. We continued to eat out of our frig for most of the rest of the week and I missed the farmer’s market because of work.

I thought I would redeem myself on Monday, since I would be passing by a Whole Foods on the way to a doctor appointment. For sure, Whole Foods would save me! Well, their food was certainly from the whole planet. Signs proudly proclaimed “water chestnuts from Thailand” and “blueberries from Chile”. So much of the produce was flown in from exotic places that in that cornucopia of healthy food, I wound up with two organic Washington apples and a bunch of bananas. I know there was local produce there somewhere, but it wasn’t like there was a banner flying. I do have to admit that when I got to the aisles there were local foods prominently displayed and marked by big shelf tags. The problem was there were very few and what there was, was very expensive. A jar of local honey was $9.99.

So what does all this mean other than my whining? It means I have to take smaller steps. That’s the whole point of this blog anyway, right? Break the big problems and hard solutions into small manageable pieces. So rather than become a locavore just yet, I will break food choices into groups and try making local choices for that group. Since I’m still really busy and feeling like an environmental failure, I’m going to go with the easiest group (for me) first. I don’t eat much meat to begin with and I know I’ve seen organic and local at a couple of nearby stores, so I’m going to take a much smaller step. This week I will eat local meats. Ah, much better.

On a completely different note, I’ve been receiving lots of information about sustainable Valentine’s. Here are some ideas:

Sustainable flowers, wreaths and chocolates

Adopt a beautiful place:

Green gift guide from Treehugger:

Organic chocolate companies:

No Impact Man  by Colin Beavan – book or DVD
This is a love story if there ever was one!

In the interest of shameless self-promotion, you can also check out my jewelry website:

“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.


2 comments:

  1. Here's something I've been thinking about... why not join a CSA (community supported agriculture)? You buy an annual membership, and in return, for 22 weeks, you can pick up a box of fresh, in season, local produce (a box a week). It works out to about $30 a week. One of Pleasanton's local CSAs also includes dairy and bakery items, and some include meat. I'm considering giving someone a "gift" membership (I know I'd love to have one!). Check out www.localharvest.org/csa to learn more.

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  2. Hi Laura,
    Thanks. This is a great idea! I've looked into it a little bit and included some links in an earlier entry, but I need to find the right one for me. I certainly spend at least $30 at the farmers market, so a CSA could be just the thing. I do want to make sure I'm not driving too far to get my local food. Since you're thinking about giving one as a gift, maybe you have a good suggestion for me!

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