Me and my goals for eating real, local food

tyrelh

Hello community!

I am a software developer in Bellingham, Washington. When I started my job over 11 years ago, I weighed 135 lbs, which is the same I'd been since I was in high school. However, shortly after starting my job, I went up to about 155-160 lbs and have been in that general range ever since.

This weight is a little higher than I'd like, and my wife is doing great losing with MFP, so I'm inspired by her to start tracking and losing as well. So far, so good!

In addition, my wife and I have set a goal to eat real, local food whenever possible. Part of this is about being more healthful for us, but also being more healthful for the planet, as the energy used and pollution generated to transport food around the world is atrocious. We already have a solar array and electric cars, and decreasing the footprint of our food is the next step to having better air to breath!

We are lucky to have a lot of resources in our area for getting fresh, local food. The type of food changes throughout the year, so we won't be having much fruit (other than apples and preserved things) half of the year, but we're prepared to handle that. One issue is that we're starting in the middle of winter, so we didn't have an opportunity to can or freeze fruits or veggies while they were in season. So for now we have to buy those from the store or import them. But it'll get better with time.

I look forward to hearing from others who are taking similar steps!

jgnatca

I have an interest in the 100 mile diet, but my farmer friends pointed out that many of them would be bankrupt if everyone did this. (i.e. remote farms). There's a Timothy farmer around here who exports his premium hay to Japan for Kobe beef. Think about THAT round trip.

Considering your location, how are you doing with cereal grains?

I assume you are good with fresh fruits and vegetables. Washington is very much like the Vancouver area and the Fraser valley; so lush, so fertile.

tyrelh

jgnatca wrote: »

My farmer friends pointed out that many of them would be bankrupt if everyone did this. (i.e. remote farms).

Well, first of all, there's no way everyone is going to switch to eating locally overnight at this point, so your farmer friends don't need to worry too much. In reality what would happen is the local demand would increase over time to the point that it would be more profitable for your farmer friends to sell locally rather than overseas, and they would switch at that point.

jgnatca wrote: »

Considering your location, how are you doing with cereal grains?

There are a couple local flours mill that we can get flour from. I need to ask them where they actually get the wheat from, though. There are definitely a lot of wheat farms (and other grains) in Eastern Washington that would be fine sources for these things, and some wheat is also grown in limited quantities more closely as well. My dad works for a potato farmer in Lynden and they put winter wheat on their fields as a cover crop.

jgnatca wrote: »

I assume you are good with fresh fruits and vegetables. Washington is very much like the Vancouver area and the Fraser valley; so lush, so fertile.

Yeah, depending on the time of year. The Bellingham Farmers Market runs nearly rear-round and is a great resource. We also subscribe to a service which delivers fresh, local products (produce, bread, cheese, pasta).

welshcoffeeaddict

Love this!
I agree that modern farming practices drive farmers to seek and cater to a global market producing singular or limited crops/produce. But there is a growing trend of smaller, niche/gourmet farming that is more geared toward this vision.
My partner and I bought a small acreage 4 years ago and grow and rear a lot of our own produce, and am currently looking at expanding to local markets with some excess. There is also a growing interest in swapping produce (that I participate in) in our area and a resurgence in the community gardens.
So much so that a cafe has opened that will be offering a co-op shop, where "customers" can buy or swap their smaller quantities of produce, so even someone with a container of herbs could participate.
So definitely search social media for your own local groups, markets. You might be surprised what is out there.

jgnatca

Nice thought that eventually all farmers would produce locally, but we're talking Canada here. We have remote farmers who are not anywhere near a town.

Enjoy your fresh eating!

tyrelh

Well, the term "local" is certainly relative :-)