Local Food Challenge - Recap

Well, it was a fun ride. Mommy, daddy, and I learned some things too. Speaking of rides... here's mine. This is how I cruise on up to Marietta Square when we go to the farmer's market, go to music festivals, go to restaurants, and go to the choo choo train slide.

I don't think that we went to the regular grocery store the week of the local food challenge. We only went to the big Whole Foods farmer's market store, a couple of local restaurants, our back yard garden, and up to the Marietta Square outdoor farmer's market. We weren't able to make it to a farm on short notice, but we have signed up for a farm tour in September... which I think will be SOOOO much fun!

Mommy and daddy had to cook a lot more than normal and do more planning for our meals. It was more work, they said, but that's ok because they made more of a connection with the food -- or something like that! Mommy likes to talk to our CSA farmer, Mr. Craig, about what we get each week and enjoyed talking to the guy from the dairy that she met at the store. He seemed to be proud of his products.

One thing that we learned: it was hard to find local, sustainable poultry. Even after doing a search on Georgia Organics website, mommy couldn't find readily available sustainably harvested chicken, turkey, or ostrich (their choice in red meat, if they can find it!!) She did find a source for chicken, but they were sold out and/or had a waiting list for products. Maybe the big Whole Foods farmer's market store here in Marietta could talk to a local poultry farmer and place big orders for sustainably, locally-produced poultry and start offering it to people who shop in their stores?

Another thing learned through this challenge: local milk is readily available (yay!)... and it tastes really good!

Also, planning meals around when we can get things up at the farmer's market. For instance - mommy bought peppers and eggplant mid-week that were "regional" (from Florida - at the store) but she could've waited a couple of days to make the lasagna and bought Georgia peppers and eggplant at the Marietta Farmer's market where there's a huge variety of local goods. Same thing with the blueberries -- they came from almost 200 miles away in South Georgia and sold in the store, but we could've gotten them from the Marietta Farmer's market too and they would've come from 10, 20, or 30 miles away? Little lessons learned!!

And- mommy & daddy tried some new recipes. One that's definitely a keeper: the pork chops with balsamic and peach glaze. I'll get to try it one day, I'm sure.

There were at least 25 different ways that mommy & daddy got our local foods:
1 - Sparkman's Dairy Milk from Whole Foods (Moultrie, GA) - 225 miles

2 - Mommy's co-worker who has hens & eggs - Mr. John (Marietta, GA) - 5 miles

3 - Tomatoes from our backyard raised bed garden (Marietta, GA) - 0 miles

4 - local restaurant serving Riverview Farms beef (Ranger, GA) 50 miles

5 - snagging a Coca Cola one morning when in need of caffeine (Atlanta, GA?) 20 miles?

6 - herbs from the backyard raised bed garden & bush on side of house (Marietta, GA) 0 miles

7 - pork chops from Whole Foods (W.F.) Store - Thompson Farms (Dixie, GA) 260 miles

8 - local beer from Terrapin Brewery bought at W.F. (Athens, GA) 80 miles

9 - cherry tomatoes from garden at mommy's office (Atlanta, GA) 0 miles - picked up while at work

10 - zucchini, tomatoes, squash, corn, string beans, potatoes, cabbage, okra, broccoli (previously made into baby food & frozen), cucumbers, and more! from Mr. Craig of Two Mule Farms CSA (picked up at Marietta Square Farmer's Market) - grown in Resaca, GA 55 miles

11 - farm-to-table restaurant meal from 5 Season's who serves local meats and vegetables from 18 different farms in Georgia - 100 miles?

12 - 5 Season's local Brewery beer drank in restaurant - 15 miles

13 - Vidalia Onions (bought at W.F.) - Vidalia, GA - 200 miles

14 - breads made locally - Great Harvest (Duluth, GA) - 25 miles

15 - local honey (bought at Marietta Farmer's Market) from Kennesaw, GA - 12 miles

16 - local breads bought from The Real Bread Company - Marietta, GA - 10 miles

17 - Georgia Peaches (bought at W.F.) - location - 100 miles?

18 - "regional" products - peppers, eggplant, cilantro (bought at W.F.) - Florida - 300 miles?

19 - "regional" Gulf shrimp instead of from another country (bought at W.F.) - MS? - 500 miles?

20 - blueberries bought at W.F. store - Byne Blueberry Farms, Waynesboro GA 190 miles

21 - Sweetwater beer bought at W.F. store - made in Atlanta, GA - 20 miles

22 - blackberries bought at Marietta Square farmer's market - 30 miles?

23 - Williamson Brothers BBQ sauce - Marietta, GA - 3 miles

24 - Locally-made pasta squares from Via Elisa - Atlanta, GA - 15 miles

25 - Pure Bliss Organics granola seen in 3 places sold in Marietta & Smyrna - made in Marietta, GA - 5 miles

So, the search for the poultry continues... and - mommy thinks that she's going to have to learn how to start "canning" tomatoes. We're starting to get a lot of them... but that's the fun of it -- finding ways to use all of these great, local products when they're bountiful and in season!

Thanks for taking this journey across the state of Georgia with me.

'Til next time... Mercer