Your Stories
So you're having a crack at the 100-Mile Diet. Tell us about your first meal. What local foods did you discover? Where did you find them? And what did you have to do without?
Putting Gardens on Balconies and in Yards in Vancouver
MAY 26, 2008 - I have a small south-facing balcony garden near 12th and Cambie and although I love my flowers, you’ve inspired me to grow container veggies this year. I picked up West Coast Seeds for carrots, cucumbers and several varieties of lettuce and herbs this past weekend. This summer I will aim for the 25-foot salad garden - it is about that distance from my kitchen to the balcony. Of course, I will need to supplement this with produce from our bountiful Vancouver farmers’ markets.
You are simply amazing. I tell all my colleagues about your book and website. I’m a dietitian with the heart and soil-stained hands of a gardener/veggie farmer.
- Elaine, Vancouver BC
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After surviving the coldest April on record in Vancouver, James and I finally have everything planted in the garden. I crossed my fingers when last weekend I put out the tomato seedlings, which we’d started indoors six weeks previously. We don’t really get guaranteed sun until later June here, and tomato blight from all the rain is a serious threat. But one week on (including a crazy monsoon thunder storm) they’re looking just fine so far. James just put in the beans yesterday, another plant that wants dry sunny weather until it’s sprouted. Fingers crossed — it’s at crucial times like these that I can imagine how a real farmer feels!
Other “crops” (in the 6-by-8-foot plot behind our apartment) include basil, tomatillos, onions, garlic, lettuce and orach (yeah, I don’t really know what that is either).We are also giving the pink Indian corn from Colorado one more go. We got one sucessful ear last year, but the summer was unusually cool. We’ll hope for sun, sun, and more sun for a better harvest this year. We also shared some of the seeds with friends in the hot, dry interior of BC, which the corn will likely adapt to better. One of our varieties of tomatoes is very rare, new to us from Salt Spring Island Seeds: it’s called the Bali, and is supposed to be marbled pink and red, and shaped like a flower somehow. I’ll be curious to see how it turns out — and please do share your garden experiments for the year with us, too. -ADS
Restaurant Fee Supports Local in Quebec
MAY 2, 2008 - I run a small restaurant in Wakefield, Quebec, called Soupçon. I started something called a green fee, where everyone pays $1 extra to help me support local food as much as possible. The idea was not to just raise my prices but to make people aware that it costs just a bit more, and that I don’t have fish or seafood on the menu because I haven’t found any that are local or, at the very least, eco-friendly farmed.
It’s amazing the response people have - loads of support and they learn that I don’t have steak on the menu all the time because each cow has only about eight rib steaks, and if I’m only buying local, my beef guy doesn’t kill a bunch of cows just for one cut. As far as the veggies and such, I’m getting organized to store and freeze veggies for next winter. Maybe not for the restaurant yet, but at least for my personal consumption.
The way I see it, we spend a lot of time planning to go out with friends to parties or restaurants . . . why not just plan a harvest party with your friends? So, on the days the restaurant kitchen is closed and it’s time for, let’s say, strawberries, I have about five friends get together and prep and freeze or make jam together. The same with all the veggies, we all make tomato sauce and apple sauce together, as a communtiy. We’ll split the cost of the veggies and jars and such.
Hopefully it will be easier to do it together instead of trying to take on everything alone. Those who have a garden, we can buy veggies off them. I’m hoping it will work. I just think if we got back to the basics of spending time as a community it will make life all that much more fun and rewarding. You’ve really inspired me and changed a lot of how I do business and want to live . . . thanks!
-Tanya
Money Where His Mouth is in New York
APRIL 23, 2008 - Here’s a story about local food making inroads into politics…
I panicked when flood damage prevented nearly half the local farmers from planting in 2007. Sure, I didn’t consider myself a big proponent of local foods; I just like putting the best, freshest meals on the table for my wife and son. Still, I freaked, and scoured the web for lists of farmers’ markets, direct retailers and other places where I could get local food.
I made the mistake of doing this at work. My boss was, shall we say, very interested in how I spent my day. I showed him a host of places to get food that I never knew was available locally: meats, cheeses, butter - a lot more than corn on the cob and salad greens. Then I bet him I could do an entire meal using nothing but local foods. He took me up on it, and challenged me to do it for a year.
My boss is a politician: New York State Senator Tom Libous.
Food crops and meats are a $50-million industry in his district around Binghamton, NY. Our math showed that if we could get each of the 110,000 households he represents to have just one $15 all-local meal each week, we could add $86 million a year to the local economy.
Libous knows a good policy program when it’s fed to him and his 15 guests: steak and chicken, potato salad, cheese-stuffed tomatoes and a variety of desserts. The larger challenge was to keep it up for a year. And in some ways, it’s a bigger challenge than the 100-mile diet. Libous’ district is, maybe, 1,800 square miles. The 100-mile diet draws from an area more than 17 times larger – 31,400 square miles.
But I tried.
Immediately, I found I had to cheat. The floods of 2006 had closed down the only flour mill in our district, but there was one just a few miles outside the district. However, nobody nearby presses vegetable oil for human consumption. Try making a good stir-fry or salad dressing without it.
Those exceptions aside, I did pretty well. I joined a community-supported agriculture service for most of my produce, and supplemented it with beef, chicken, pork, eggs and dairy from other local providers. I stocked up on frozen tomatoes and pumpkins as well as good recipes for greens.
But I faced some big challenges:
- There’s no single place to buy local foods once the farmers’ markets close for the season. There’s no year-round farmers’ market in our district, and the closest one is 80 miles away, near Syracuse.
- There was no complete list of local food providers, and I spent weeks going through web sites, agricultural extension lists, phone books and weekly newspapers to compile one.
- There was no USDA-certified slaughter facility nearby. Few farmers were willing to ship meat 80 or 90 miles to have it cut for retail sale.
I persevered. For nine months, I averaged two all-local meals a week and typically spent $35 or $45 on local foods. My all-local Thanksgiving was the best turkey I ever had. The prime rib for Christmas and the ribs and cole slaw for Superbowl Sunday were great. But by the end of January, I ran out of vegetables, except frozen tomatoes.
I still spend $25 or $30 a week on meats, egg, cheese, honey and maple syrup, but one just can’t get fresh local produce in February in the northeast United States - except for some hydroponic lettuce greens I found nearby.
But the experiment, so far, was enough to convince Libous he could help. He secured a $100,000 grant to help local farmers advertise their products. We plan a mass-media campaign, with a number of promotional events; and he’s trying to persuade a local meat-cutter to pursue USDA certification. Every few weeks, he asks me to post an update on my progress on his website, www.tomlibous.com. We call it “Buy from the Backyard.” People can find out what’s available, what the challenges are and even my favorite recipes.
I’m not sure I’ll ever entirely adopt the 100-mile diet: I like my cinnamon and pepper and my three-year-old is fond of bananas. but the experiment has introduced me to a whole new world of food to have fun with. Next up: I’m going to try mutton.
- By Todd McAdam
How To Change the Food System
APRIL 15, 2008 - We just received a great how-to program to promote local eating at every level, from individual to government. Here’s the collected wisdom of Guy Dauncey and Carolyn Herriot of Earth Future in Victoria, BC:
40 Ways to Encourage More Local Food Production
For Local Food Growing Champions
1.Form a non-profit society or alliance to champion local food growing, and spearhead a “Grow Closer to Home” food movement for growers and farmers.
2.Work with your municipality to establish Community Allotment Gardens.
3.Hold regular Sustainable Food Forums for networking, education and planning.
4.Organize organic year-round food growing courses and workshops, including for youth, people on low incomes, and ethnic minorities.
5.Encourage micro-market gardening in the city, and Spin Farming.
6.Establish community canning workshops where people can work together to can food.
7.Establish a Farmers Cooperative to share skills, materials, and marketing.
8.Establish a Young Farmers Institute for the next generation of farmers.
9.Encourage more Brown Box and Community Supported Agriculture programs.
10.Celebrate local food through festivals, community events, and by showcasing public food-growing gardens.
11.Encourage more seed saving by organizing an annual Seedy Saturday community show.
12.Encourage Community Fruit Tree Projects to harvest unwanted fruit, and have it juiced for sale and for fundraisers.
13.Create a “Buy Local” label for use in retail food stores.
14.Work with food distributors (e.g. Sysco, Neptune) to get locally produced food into the food distribution system.
For Municipal Councils
15.Make an inventory of all available land, both city-owned and otherwise.
16.Pass a resolution stating the importance of local food cultivation, listing the many benefits of greater food self-sufficiency, and including a goal that most food consumed locally should be grown within a few hundred miles. (e.g. Berkeley Climate Action Plan). Integrate food cultivation into all municipal planning documents. The American Planning Association’s Policy Guide on Regional and Community Food Planning (May 2007) contains 26 recommendations.
17.Support the development of Farmers’ Markets and neighbourhood food stands.
18.Prioritize the use of local organic food at all city-owned events and facilities.
19.Set a goal to develop new Community Allotment Gardens every year, supported by municipal staff. (Seattle has 5.5 municipal staff who support 65 gardens). Create a Matching Grant Fund to support the development of new Gardens, and offer small grants to help with soil-building, water systems, tool sheds, deer-fencing, and improvements.
20.Form a public Community Allotment Gardening Advisory Committee.
21.Pass a bylaw facilitating the development of temporary Community Allotment Gardens on vacant land, and encourage the leasing of vacant land to the municipality or to a Community Gardens Society for the price of the taxes.
22.Issue permits to encourage the development of commercial urban food growing operations.
23.Require the provision of food gardening space in all larger development proposals. In smaller developments, require a development cost charge payment to a Community Gardens Fund.
24.Permit the long-term use of temporary dwellings on farmland for agricultural workers.
25.Integrate ornamentals with edibles, bio-remediation, fiber and medicinal plants in city landscape planning.
26.Establish a community-wide composting program (as in Ladysmith, BC; Halifax, NS; San Francisco, CA).
27.Allowing easier permitting for composting toilets and grey-water irrigation systems.
For the Provincial Government
28.Support “Buy Local” campaigns with grants and other means.
29.Provide financial support for apprenticeship and internship programs created by organic growers.
30.Provide grants and low interest loans to help new farmers buy land, including for the cooperative purchase of land by groups and Land Trusts.
31.Prohibit the removal of land from the Agricultural Land Reserve without replacement with equivalent quality farmland.
32.Revoke the legislation that caused many local livestock slaughtering operations to close down.
33.Remove regulatory barriers that prevent local stores from selling locally grown dairy and meat products, and other barriers to producers processing and distributing their products locally.
34.Create legislation requiring municipal councils to provide at least 15 allotments for every 1,000 households and no more than six people waiting for a plot at any one time (as in Britain).
For Others
35.Garden Centres – support the “Grow Closer to Home” food movement by making feature displays of food bedding plants and sponsoring Community Gardens,
36.Supermarkets – increase the availability of local organic produce, and allow local farmers to deliver their produce directly to the store.
37.Regional Health Organizations and other Agencies - prioritize the use of local organic food in all hospitals, care institutions, prisons, etc. (as in Amsterdam).
38.School Boards – require all schools to develop working food gardens, include kitchens, replace junk food with healthy food, and reincorporate agriculture into the curriculum, including food prep, composting, preserving, animal husbandry, and ethnic cooking. (e.g. Agriculture in the Classroom).
39.Restaurants – cooperate to increase the use of local organic food. (e.g. Islands Chefs’ Collaborative).
40.Colleges – offer “How to Grow Food” and Organic Market Gardening entrepreneurship courses.
* These ideas have been drawn from a variety of sources, including Seattle’s P-Patch Community Gardens (60 gardens, 2000 lots); Amsterdam’s City Food Strategy; and local experience (including the BC Sustainable Energy Association members).
Your Response to BC Local Foods Campaign
MARCH 27 - Recently, the government of British Columbia asked us to prepare a report suggesting how they could promote local foods. But we knew we couldn’t do it without your help — so we sent out an email asking what you thought was needed, and what works already. Five hundred of you sent us your ideas, and it was no mere form letter. You all spent a lot of thought on your responses, and many expressed gratitude to finally be asked an opinion! Let’s hope this becomes an open-door process for governments across North America. Already, we’ve heard that Washington State is making big strides, requiring local-foods be purchased by schools. We look forward to seeing more solid policies being enacted.
We learned that you all love farmers markets, so support is needed in that quarter. We also heard a lot of you talk about the 24/7 convenience of the supermarket system, and the hope that you’d find a local-food section there. And so many of you said you wanted to know just where your food came from - better labelling, in other words. There were many more ideas, and inspiring stories too. We’ll start by sharing the reply from Vonnie in New Hampshire.
First, let’s give a big HURRAY to BC for looking into this!I truly wish the American government wasn’t so owned by huge conglomerates (ie. Monsanto, Mobil, Pfiser, the list goes on…) and that locally owned agriculture could be easier to get (as well as alternative energy sources, but that’s a whole other topic, isn’t it?).The thing that would make it so much easier to find local food sources is if there is a central place that’s widely known about where farmers could list (perhaps free or for a small fee) what they sell, where they are and when they are open or attending a farmer’s market.I am lucky to live within 10 miles of 5 wonderful farm stands, but not ONE of them has any organic produce.That’s a bummer.But, it would be nice to be able to have the info of whether a farm IS organic, do they sell free range meats, things like this all in one resource.Perhaps even printed for the masses, like an addition to the newspapers or something like that.
Of course, there’s the mythical wish that perhaps organic local producers could get tax-cut incentives to actually farm organic, and in turn make the state we live in healthier, and in turn the country, and in turn the planet, but until the big conglomerates can make a buck off it, it “ain’t gonna happen”.We’re two months into being a 100-miler family and I’ve had to do a lot of research online to find some of the stuff we needed locally, it’s been quite time consuming.
The things that do work for me…I have the wonderful farm stands locally, like I said.I also have been emailing some local producers to see where their product comes from (I emailed King Arthur flour, which is located 92 miles from my home to see where the wheat is grown…still waiting on an answer, but just got that one in under the wire!).I have had a hard time finding free range meats here, but did locate this good website, Eat Wild, to help me out…
Also found this wonderful place, Yankee Farmers Market, which has an organic produce farm next to it, once that’s in season.These are located about 45 miles from my home.
Here in NH, we’ve not had any real cohesive attempt to make the local eating, governmentally anyway, a viable reality.Right now, you have to really want to make this a priority for your family, it’s not something most people care about or talk about here.I would love to have that change, but am not seeing any kind of push for that.Right now, with our economy, people seem to be more caring about keeping their houses and jobs then worrying about what they can do to eat more sustainably.Sad, but quite true.
I applaud all that you do.Your book “Plenty” jumpstarted this for me (sorry, I got to read it free from our local library, which is AWESOME), and that lead to Barbara Kingsolver’s book and then to Michael Pollan’s book, and it’s all inspirational. You’re making a real difference one family at a time.So, thanks for your efforts and keep up the good work!
Relearning Swedish Seasonal Ways
JANUARY 31 - I grew up in a seasonal family. When we moved to Canada, my dad was in love with British Columbia and his ability to feed his family. We had five kids and a 12-foot freezer and a canning room, wine room, root cellar, fruit trees and always a garden. I took this all for granted and did not learn the skills of my mother and my Swedish grandmother - you have to be creative to live there! I am now 51 myself, in the process of reading the book and realize I am many steps ahead - I buy honey in Ladner, love to eat seasonally and now have just moved to Vancouver Island. I am going to give this a shot. I am passionate about the seasons and our connections to the environment - and lack of them, in every way, and I think food is the one area we can all relate to . . . this is lifestyle, not a fad. It just takes a little effort and a lot of caring.
-Terry, Vancouver Island, Canada
College and High-School Take on Local Eating
JANUARY 25 - I am a culinary arts student at the Marconi Campus at Nova Scotia Community College. Our class put on a buffet in the country part of our island up in Baddeck and the whole buffet was based on the 100-mile diet, and the buffet was a huge success. It just goes to show that even our local culture can be delicious.
By Reanna, Cape Breton Island, Canada
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I’m a grade 12 student and put my entire family on the 100-mile diet for 30 days for a school project. I then proceeded to film the progress, and make a documentary.
By Brittany Joy
Alisa’s note: We’d love to hear about more high-school students leading the charge on local eating like Brittany Joy. And we hope she’ll send us her film, too!
Nurturing Next Gen of Local Eaters in Toronto
JANUARY 18, 2007 - Your book has been one of the most interesting and inspiring that I’ve read in some time. I’m a long-time foodie, and have tried delicacies from many places in the world, with very little awareness of what impact global eating has on the planet - that is, until I became a mom in 2005. When my son began his adventures beyond the world of breast milk, I really became much more concerned about where his food came from.
In purchasing organic food, I learned more and more about the importance of eating locally - local first, organic next, everything else last. Living in downtown toronto, I thought eating locally would be difficult, but our city is very fortunate to have several organic farmers markets. The 100-mile diet has taught me even more about where food comes from, and inspires me to keep working at it.
Kim, Toronto
Ontario Italian Restaurant Does Local
By Carla Alfonsetti
STITTSVILE, ON-I own an Italian ristorante 15 minutes from Ottawa. I think it is great what you did and what you are still doing. I spend a lot of time myself going to the markets for the ristornate to buy as much as I can that is not brought from far away. There is a lot around me and it is closer than 100 miles. So it is out there, people just have to do a little homework and go. I have to be honest, I have to drive but I drive the least I can. Also it is hard to find olive oil that’s made here, this is hard. And salt, that’s tricky, you are right. What I think is that if everybody did a little at least that would be a start.
100-Mile Suit in Philadelphia, PA
By Kelly Cobb
In september, I read about your wonderful project. As a costume designer I wondered what I could do in my genre that might deal with similar issues, hence the 100-Mile Suit was born.
Check out the project at www.100-milesuit.blogspot.com
