I’m looking forward to the local challenge. It fits in nicely with our decision to start trying to eat more consciously this summer. While we’re not trying to go to the same extent as the 100 mile diet couple or Barbara Kingsolver, we are trying to make sure that our produce, breads and meats are from local sources. So giving ourselves the explicit challenge of cooking at least one meal a week (and posting about it here) that’s from completely local sources should be just the incentive we need.

 For our purposes, we’re defining local as 150 mile radius as a lot of our fruit here in Puget Sound comes from the Yakima region which fits nicely within that boundary. To kick us off, we’ve been frequenting both the Everett and Snohomish farmer’s markets, the Everett Co-op and securing meat from local farms including beef from 3 sisters and chickens (and possibly pork) from Akyla Farm.

 
If you’ve ever wondered how much freezer space a 1/4 cow takes, here’s your answer. That’s just shy of 90 lbs of beef.

We’re also supplementing with delivered produce from Pioneer Organics for those things we’re not quite ready to give up when we can’t get them locally (this week that includes plums and red pepper). The folks at Pioneer Organics are also nice enough to send non-saleable produce extras for the girls. Below is this weeks smorgasbord for the hens - most of it would pass muster to me if I was buying it a farmers market, but apparently isn’t up to PO’s standards. Soooo, as they’ve sent it gratis for my hens, the hens shall get it. But I may make them share the beets as I don’t have any in the fridge right now for us.