salt of the earth, shopping local

When I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I was intrigued.  We were settled down on our little farm and I was wondering about what it would be like to do this... "Year of Food Life ...tells the story of how our family was changed by one year of deliberately eating food produced in the place where we live."

A few summer's ago we made a deal: eat all summer long from only the food co-op & the farmer's markets minus a Costco list of dog food, coffee, flour, sugar, and a few other items we couldn't afford to buy locally.  We did okay but it was far from perfect.  Part of it was us, part of it was a financial issue (suppose that is us too), & part was a timing issue with getting enough food from the markets and having it last (the cheaper & more variety at the co-op 1x a month: the more pricey & hit-or-miss farmer's markets 1-2x a week).

But guess what? Yep, we are going to try it again.  The changes in the local food co-op offering an open market 2x a week makes this not only possible to do, it makes it wonderful to do!!!!

Our goals are these (some we already do):

1. Create a master Costco list of items we can't (for one  reason or another) buy from the local markets and stick to it.  That is the easiest part, Colby is our Costco man, I've been to Costco maybe 3 times & one of those was for Alexis's eye exam.  Colby never buys extras & he always says NO, hence me not going to Costco with him.          

2.  Buy all our bread from local bakeries or at market or bake it ourselves. (a bit redundant but bread matters a lot around here)

3.  Purchase 90% of household groceries from the local markets, street vendors, or farm stands. I realize I can't stop Colby from shopping at NPS (a store that sales over-runs, over-stocks, & out-of-date products) but we can cut out all of those trips to Smiths, Fresh Markets, & other such chains.

4.  Eat from our own farm & garden (another easy thing to do).

5.  Bake it and make it ourselves.  I already do a great deal of cooking and baking but if you take away all those funny little grocery store items I am going to have to fill in the gaps with homemade goods :)

6.  Purchase our beer from local brewers. Oh-yeah!!!!

7.  Eat out only at local businesses- no chains. Okay, nobody panic, Crown Burger is locally owned & operated (by our friend's family!), so are just about a thousand other fine joints around town.

Let the fun start now!