The Dark Days Challenge asks participants to continue cooking at least one local meal through the leaner days of winter. Your ingredients can come from your freezer, pantry, cold storage or local sources like farmers and other producers. Full details on the ’09-’10 Challenge can be found here, along with the form to join.
The Challenge is not a competition, it’s about eating good local foods, stretching your comfort zone a bit, connecting with other bloggers and locavores and having fun. I really enjoy the Challenge every year and look forward to seeing what ya’ll have up your sleeves! As my mom says, if you’ve got local eggs, bacon, bread and butter than you’ve got a meal.
A recap of everyone’s posts is written each Monday night and posted to the (not so) Urban Hennery. All recaps can be found here, with the most recent first.
The participants in the 3rd Annual Dark Days Challenge (as of 12/6/09) are:
The East ::
- Mangochild of Living in a Local Zone :: Connecticut
- Sophie of Late Bloomers Farm :: Connecticut
- Stacey of Fessenden Farmstead :: District of Columbia
- Diane of Butterflies and Bumble Bees :: Maryland
- The Raven of The Purloined Letter :: Maryland
- Jenny of Daftly Smitten :: Maryland
- John & Nina of Ruit Farm :: Maine
- Colleen of Penny-Wise People :: New Hampshire
- Corrie of Farnum Hill Cider :: New Hampshire
- Peg of Palmyra Silver :: New York
- Mia of Food on the Firescape :: New York
- Kaela of Local Kitchen :: New York
- Marisa of Food in Jars : Pennsylvania
- Keili :: Astoria, New York
- Heather of The Bacwoodz Garden :: Pennsylvania
- Amy of What Did She Do Today? :: New Hampshire
- Amber of Unstuffed :: Ontario
- Pam of Hatchtown Farm :: Maine
- Trish of Simple Life in France :: France
- Jeanell of My Local Food Obsession :: Massachusetts
- Annika of Northeast Kingdom Locavores :: Vermont
- Erin of Sustainable in the City :: District of Columbia
- Cheryl of At the Farmer’s Market :: NY
The South ::
- Kelly of Reepicheep’s Coracle :: Georgia
- Joyce of Low Mileage Food :: North Carolina
- Lynn of The Mommy Porch :: North Carolina
- Monika of windycityvegan :: North Carolina
- Kristina of Tennessee Locavore :: Tennessee
- Michelle of Hippy Chick’s Adventures :: Texas
- Rose of Keeping up with K :: Virginia
- Hollie of Our Appalachian Homestead :: West Virginia
- Jennelle of Delicious Potager :: West Virginia
- Jasmine of Knitting 40 Shades of Green :: Virginia
- Laura of Laura’s Mommy Blog :: North Carolina
- HST of Life is Like a Box of Chocolates :: North Carolina
The Middle ::
- Norah of Aagaard Farms :: Manitoba
- Esp of Big Adventures with Little Buddies :: Illinois
- Wendy of Midwest Green :: Illinois
- Angela of Notes from a Country Girl Living in the City :: Michigan
- El of Fast Grow the Weeds :: Michigan
- Linda (my mom!) of Nordic Walking Queen :: Minnesota
- Anne of Green Leanings :: Ohio
- Sara of Put Your Shovel Where Your Mouth Is :: Wisconsin
- Melissa of Little Locavores :: Illinois
- Wendy of Simply Me :: North Carolina
The West ::
- Anita & Cameron of Married with Dinner :: California
- Einat of Almostima :: California
- Jen of Eat Local Challenge :: California
- Julianne of From Dirt to Dinner :: California
- Kathleen of Our Life in the Country :: California
- Maureen of Fotos by Meg :: California
- Ellen of 2010 CSA Challenge :: Colorado
- Renee :: Felton, California
- Sara of Prepping 4 28 :: California
- Kristen of Arugulove :: California
- Sara of My Busy, Green Life :: California
The Pacific Northwest ::
- Beth of Walking the Muse :: Oregon
- Donna of Chocolate Crayon Family :: Oregon
- Jennifer of Culinaria Eugenius :: Oregon
- Joanna of Farmer Jo :: Oregon
- Katherine of Dirt to Dish :: Oregon
- Lexa of Four Hills of Squash :: Oregon
- Alison of Acorn Cottage Artisanry :: Oregon
- Aimee of Hippie Housewife :: Oregon
- Rois of Hrafinstaad :: Oregon
- Amy of Amy’s Flock :: Washington
- Carly of A Growing Girl :: Washington
- Kimberly of Music & Cats :: Washington
- Lauren & Garth of Dropstone Farms :: Washington
- Maya of Eighth Acre Bounty :: Washington
- Sarah of EcoGeek :: Washington
- Annette of Sustainable Eats :: Washington
- Tamara of Belle Urban Garden :: Washington
- Brittney of Rock Solid Stone Planters :: Washington
- Kristy of Lola Local :: Washington
- Erika of Our Kids’ Earth :: Washington
- Jessi of Mudrakers :: Washington
- Beth of Farming Mom :: Washington
- Todd & Deanna :: Granite Falls, Washington
- Kristine :: Washington
- Diane :: Arlington, Washington
- Karen of Living Sustainably in Snohomish County :: Washington
- Lisa :: Granite Falls, WA
- Kathy of Arabella’s Garden :: Oregon
I don’t have a blog, but I have a group “Eating Locally in San Diego” and will be documenting my journey (pictures included) on there!
I was happy to read about the Dark Days Challenge in our local paper, The Everett Herald. We’ve been trying to eat more local foods for the past couple of years. I made my first all local dinner last week. I found local eggs, milk, cheese, green onions, carrots, apples, honey, whole wheat flour, and jam, so we had “breakfast for dinner”: cheese omelets, biscuits and applesauce and carrots. Went to the Ballard Farmers’ Market yesterday and found lots of great produce, so this week should be more creative.
wow, look at that list!
I’m torn between hoping everyone sticks with it, and praying that some people slack off, because just reading the recaps (much less writing them, poor you!) will take ages!
I’ve ready about this on your blogs. I’ve been doing it without knowing it. I just posted about our rabbit dinner with was almost 100% local (save the imported dark beer in the stew). I could easily use local beer though, we have a great local brewery. We try to eat locally most of the time, and now that we have a year-round indoor farmer’s market it just got much easier. I actually scored carrots to replace the other ones in my fridge!
Please contact me and let me know whether you sell your chickens. I read the article in the Everett Herald and was under the impression that you sold them.
Thanks!!