We celebrated the end of a long week and the potato harvest with an all local, and mostly homegrown, dinner tonight. The potatoes are Russian fingerling fresh from the dirt, roasted in the oven in California olive oil and local butter. The slaw is red cabbage, carrot and green bell pepper from the garden tossed in a bit of organic Italian dressing. And the steak? Oh yum. It’s from this year’s grass fed steer, topped with homegrown caramelized Walla Walla Sweet onions.
Amazing.
In case you missed it, the annual Eat Local Challenge starts next week. It runs for the full month of October and it’s not too late to sign yourself up. Join in any way you can, it’s a riot. This year Jennifer is asking us all to divulge how we’ll be participating and what our goals are. Here are mine:
1. What is your definition of local?
My definition is 100 miles for produce, meats and dairy. I extend that to 200 for fruits and grains, reason being that really no wheat is grown West of the Cascades, and most of our tree fruit comes from over by Yakima. Since that’s what in season this time of year, I extend my range a bit. Of course, we’ll be trying to eat as much from the garden and grounds as possible.
2. What exemptions will you claim?
I’ll be claiming the usual: coffee, tea, sugar, olive oil, spices and chocolate. I guess I might throw rice and vinegar in there too.
3. What is your goal for the month?
My goal is to continue putting up the harvest, eating from the garden and to eat at least one local meal each day. That might be dinner, but on a night that I’m canning, freezing or otherwise occupied in the garden, it might be breakfast or lunch. I’ll keep you in the loop for what we’re doing, but expect only one post per week.
So join in, figure out how to eat locally even as the harvest winds down. Put up some fruit, fill your root cellar or freeze the last of the veggies. And when you’ve got your swing down, come back here for the 2nd Annual Dark Days of Winter Eat Local Challenge (DDWELC). I’ll be opening sign up on October 15 and posting details for this year at the same time. Hope to see you then!
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While olives certainly don’t grow around here, the Coeur d’Alene Olive Oil Company does press their olive oil from California fruits, and it’s quite delicious. Not quite local to Western Washington, but closer than imported olive oils.