I was pleasantly surprised to find the link to our blog on the ELS weekly flyer today! Shannon D. (sorry Mrs. Duguay...I think we are officially The Shannon's now!) mentioned yesterday that she'd been asked if it was OK to include it, but I didn't expect it would show up so soon. I went to ELS tonight for our weekly trip before the CSA and was asked if I was "one of THE Shannon's from the blog?" when I gave her my name for the member's discount. Eeek! Man, I feel kind of naked....kind of like the dream where you show up on stage and you realize you have no clothes on, and your speech isn't ready. The blog isn't completely dressed (yet) and neither of us have this Eating Local thing down pat (yet) and here we are up on stage. Wow! I have to say I was a wee bit uncomfortable.
However, as the day went on and I thought about it more, I realized that it's probably a good thing that we are putting ourselves out there so soon. Firstly, now we have more than just ourselves to own up to...if we cop out, others are going to know! Secondly, I'm hoping people are going to help us out. Please, if you have answers to any of our dilemmas, recipes to share or if you can recommend places where we can source our food (wieners anyone?), leave us a comment or send us an email. Thirdly and I think more importantly, I'm hoping we will inspire more people to give it a try. Trust me, if the two of us can do this...ANYONE can! We didn't come in to this armed with any real knowledge or any sort of real plan. We decided on a whim that we would do it. We didn't plan in advance. We were both Costco, YIG, Food Basic based shoppers, who ate McDonalds on a regular basis and didn't eat enough veggies (well my family didn't anyways) and some how we, our husbands and our children have survived the first 2 weeks. No one is going hungry, no one is missing KD or chicken nuggets. You know what? I think this is about the longest I have ever stuck with any project in my life!! Imagine that!
A interesting question came up while I was in the store today. The other young lady working asked me if I was finding it expensive to be eating locally. I hadn't really thought about it until then. I'd have to go back and really look at the numbers, and I will try to keep better track over the next few weeks to see. It's probably too early to tell anyways. The seafood Keith came home with from New Brunswick would certainly screw up the numbers, and I'd have to factor in the cost of the meat I already had from Dalew's and my CSA share. The last two things have been part of our diet for the past two years anyways, so they aren't new expenses because of our project. We also regularly eat wild meat, fish and berries which can be pretty tricky to put a price on. As I see it though, it doesn't really matter. Eating cheaper food from further away may cost me less now, but it will certainly cost us more in the long run when we factor in our health and the environment. So, if it does cost me more right now to eat good, whole food, from just down the road and in return have better health and a better planet to live on, I'll glad pay it.
So for those of you who found us today, welcome! To the ladies at ELS today, I'm sorry I didn't ask you your names...I was a bit flustered. I do need to get to know you all better!
Before I forget, dinner tonight was smokies from Burt Farms on buns we found at Buns Master...baked on location by real live people, from scratch. I picked up 4 more baskets of strawberries today and some of them got turned in to strawberry-rhubarb jam...rhubarb from my friend's back yard. Yum! The rest our in the freezer to be played with at a later date.
We head out for a family vacation tomorrow. Not sure how Eating Local will play in to this trip, but maybe we will surprise ourselves!
Shannon A.
However, as the day went on and I thought about it more, I realized that it's probably a good thing that we are putting ourselves out there so soon. Firstly, now we have more than just ourselves to own up to...if we cop out, others are going to know! Secondly, I'm hoping people are going to help us out. Please, if you have answers to any of our dilemmas, recipes to share or if you can recommend places where we can source our food (wieners anyone?), leave us a comment or send us an email. Thirdly and I think more importantly, I'm hoping we will inspire more people to give it a try. Trust me, if the two of us can do this...ANYONE can! We didn't come in to this armed with any real knowledge or any sort of real plan. We decided on a whim that we would do it. We didn't plan in advance. We were both Costco, YIG, Food Basic based shoppers, who ate McDonalds on a regular basis and didn't eat enough veggies (well my family didn't anyways) and some how we, our husbands and our children have survived the first 2 weeks. No one is going hungry, no one is missing KD or chicken nuggets. You know what? I think this is about the longest I have ever stuck with any project in my life!! Imagine that!
A interesting question came up while I was in the store today. The other young lady working asked me if I was finding it expensive to be eating locally. I hadn't really thought about it until then. I'd have to go back and really look at the numbers, and I will try to keep better track over the next few weeks to see. It's probably too early to tell anyways. The seafood Keith came home with from New Brunswick would certainly screw up the numbers, and I'd have to factor in the cost of the meat I already had from Dalew's and my CSA share. The last two things have been part of our diet for the past two years anyways, so they aren't new expenses because of our project. We also regularly eat wild meat, fish and berries which can be pretty tricky to put a price on. As I see it though, it doesn't really matter. Eating cheaper food from further away may cost me less now, but it will certainly cost us more in the long run when we factor in our health and the environment. So, if it does cost me more right now to eat good, whole food, from just down the road and in return have better health and a better planet to live on, I'll glad pay it.
So for those of you who found us today, welcome! To the ladies at ELS today, I'm sorry I didn't ask you your names...I was a bit flustered. I do need to get to know you all better!
Before I forget, dinner tonight was smokies from Burt Farms on buns we found at Buns Master...baked on location by real live people, from scratch. I picked up 4 more baskets of strawberries today and some of them got turned in to strawberry-rhubarb jam...rhubarb from my friend's back yard. Yum! The rest our in the freezer to be played with at a later date.
We head out for a family vacation tomorrow. Not sure how Eating Local will play in to this trip, but maybe we will surprise ourselves!
Shannon A.
I'm reading your blog and cheering for you! I think it's great that you are thinking food miles...I also have looked around at the grocery store and been sick to my stomach to think of how far an apple has come (New Zealand! Seriously!)
ReplyDeleteSo, you have a fan and a fellow struggler to keep things local! Cheers!