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Welcome!
Milwaukee's Eat Local Challenge, sponsored by the Friends of Real Food, is meant to encourage people to challenge themselves to increase the amount of local foods they choose.
For more information about Milwaukee's Eat Local Challenge, please visit http://eatlocalmilwaukee.googlepages.com/
5 comments:
Since the Eat Local Challenge is about a month away now, I'm starting to think about goals I want to set for myself. As a college student living on a low budget with only a bike in the way of transportation, I'm a little bit worried about how I'm going to obtain local food. Besides farmers' markets, I'm not sure where to find local food in my area. I'm realizing that my idea of local food necessitates having a car to travel to area farms and producers for those items not available at farmers' markets.
Most of my vegetables now come from the East Town Farmers' Market at Cathedral Square, a market that I enjoy quite a bit. I'm hoping in the time leading up to the Eat Local Challenge that I'll discover some places within biking distance of me from which I can buy locally grown or produced foods that are not vegetables.
I'm also interested in the possibility of having "buyers' clubs" available so I could obtain foods from places that I'd need a car to get to. I'm looking forward to the Friends of Real Food meeting on August 13th and posts on this blog by other people to find out some further suggestions for local food opportunities!
Hello fellow locavores. I have spent this growing season increasing my knowledge and use of local foods and finding ways to incorporate the philosophical/spiritual aspect of a local economy (did I say 'spiritual' and 'economy' in the same sentence, I must be getting older?!?) into my family life. This ranks high on the list of the most rewarding and fulfilling endeavors in my life. In terms of obtaining food, I start with this simple thought 'seasonal abundance and preservation'. As an example, I am currently doing everything I can possibly do with tomatoes - Spag sauce, salsa, taco sauce, plain tomatoes, (all frozen or canned) sun dried tomatoes, pickled green tomatoes when the first frost comes. Zucchini, now they are the real stumper, but Im working on it! With fall around the corner all those grazing animals will have to be butchered, or be given stored feed, so fall is ideal for buying a years supply of meat and putting it in the freezer. Also, we have found a deer hunter who is willing to give us one of his prey. In response to Becky, I highly recommend a CSA (community supported agriculture) for the growing season. You can find one that will deliver the box somewhere in close to you and if needed take the bus to pick it up (or maybe you could find one of those bike trailers that kids ride in cheap on craigslist to hall your stuff on your bike?). Also, the CSA farmers are very knowledgeable about other local farmers who can provide you with foods other than vegetables. To Jeff - I'd probably like to buy your carrots. How can I find you? I hope to store, in my root cellar, all the local crops I can to get our family of 5 through the winter. Next year I will be tackling more difficult local food issues, like making cheese from a local dairy and finding wheat products. There are certain foods (coffee, olive oil) that I feel okay about importing on occasion, but I do this with the recognition that it is special gift. I suspect that it will take us a couple seasons to get off the gigantic food grid...and I can't wait to get there!! Good luck going local. Perhaps we'll meet at the next Friends of Real Food potluck!
Hello Victory Gardener! Thanks for all the good ideas of ways to preserve the current and available local harvest! Also, thanks for the idea of the CSA subscription. Something I've realized since my original comment is that I can get what is called a "market basket" from Growing Power in Milwaukee. They get delivered on Fridays to my campus as well as to various businesses and organizations throughout the city. This basket contains fruits and vegetables at a reduced cost. It's a good amount of food for one or two people for a week. Most of the produce is from local growers (as long as it can be) but is bought from all over the country (and world) during the winter.
Happy Eat Local Challenge Week!
To Victory Gardener- if you haven't already, you can find Jeff and his carrots at Wellspring Gardens in Newburg:
Wellspring
www.wellspringinc.org
(262) 675-6755
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