We got home from pickup tonight and pounced on our box. I scrubbed potatoes, and put water on to boil. Keith fired up the BBQ and shucked the corn while the kids hit the garden to pick green beans. Within an hour we were at the table eating what Sydney called "The Best Meal EVER!". She's easy to please, and I've heard it several times before, but even I thought this meals was definitely in my Top 10. We finally tried the Cheddar Smokies that Shannon D. has been raving about and were not disappointed. They were incredible! Alongside the corn on the cob, BBQ'd potatoes and onions, and "squeaky" green and yellow beans, this meal was summer at it's finest. Summer on a plate.
As Shannon D. mentioned on her post today, the mid-point of our project has arrived and it's a good time to reflect on where we are and where we will take it from here. Like her, we've been incorporating local eating in to all of our meals now, and likely this will be a permanent change for us. I know it won't be possible or practical to eat this way all year (yet...someday maybe!) but I feel that incorporating as much local fare as we can, and buying more from our small local producers and vendors, rather than hitting the grocery store all the time, will continue to make a big difference. I know some of the purists would disagree with me...it isn't really considered local if the ingredients aren't local...but I'm at peace and still think I'm making a difference by ordering a pizza from the little pizza joint behind my house or a lasagna from one of the Italian stores, rather than buying something McCain's or Stouffers froze and put on a shelf at the YIG.
And more importantly, just as Shannon D. also pointed out (she's such a smart, smart lady!) it's the example that we are setting for our kids that in the end is going to make the biggest difference. When Sydney threw her arms up in the air and cheered "it's local!!" last night, when an employee at The Cold Stone Creamery told her they use cream from the Parmalat down the road to make their ice cream on site, my heart swelled with pride.
The seed has been planted!
Shannon A.
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