Local Food Challenge - Update

Ok. The local food challenge is over, but mommy learned something really interesting last night. She went up to an old theater up on Marietta Square that has been renovated. She saw a band play, then saw a movie afterwards called "Food, Inc." (http://www.foodincmovie.com/ ) Then there was this thing called a panel (Q&A Session) after the movie which had a bunch of people talking and answering questions.

A woman from Atlanta Magazine was there (we just got her magazine the day before last and it was about local food). A guy named Farmer D was there. A guy who is a local, sustainable cattle farmer was there. A guy who is a local, sustainable hog farmer was there. A guy who is an organic vegetable farmer was there. A woman who has a small farm, but runs a group called Slow Food Atlanta was there. A woman who is heads up a farm-to-school program for Georgia Organics was there. Mommy said she learned a lot from the movie, but she learned a couple of really pertinent things specific to our state of Georgia from this panel. One of the things that we as a family were curious about was addressed in this panel last night: why we were not able to find local, sustainably produced chicken.

During the movie mommy learned about how there are just a handful of chicken companies that control the majority of chicken production in the country. Georgia is one of the largest poultry producers in the nation... and politics play a part in the reason. Supposedly, farmers are not able to "process" chicken in this state. They can raise them, then have to take them to South Carolina, for instance, to process them and then bring them back.

Interesting, huh?

Mommy said it was a good movie and would recommend going to see it.

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

Local Food Challenge - Day 7

Today is the last day of our local food challenge. One week.

It's been a little bit of an adventure, but nothing that's been too hard -- especially for me, as I'm just here for morale support. From what mommy & daddy say -- they think that it would be difficult to go 100% local, but as awareness grows... and as demand increases... it may become easier to get to that 100% mark. I wonder if anyone else doing the challenge hit 100%? I wonder if there are any cute girl babies around 1 - 1 1/2 years old who have taken the challenge on that would want to compare notes over a bottle one night?

I diverge.

Mommy, daddy, and I all ate the exact same breakfast. Mommy made a Spanish omelette - known as a "tortilla espanola." She used local Vidalia Onions, red potatoes from our CSA, eggs from the guy she works with who raises them here in Marietta, rosemary from the bush on the side of the house, and added tomato from our raised bed garden. It was almost 100% local. We all drank milk from Sparkman's Dairy in Moultrie, GA.

Daddy had left-over lasagna -- which was chock-full of local pasta as well as local and regional vegetables (as described Friday).

I had applesauce as a snack with fresh blackberries from the Farmer's Market and I also had yogurt today with blueberries from Byne Blueberry Farm.

Mommy, Daddy, and I went out to eat tonight to celebrate the close of the challenge. We went to a restaurant called 5 Seasons. They have an arrangement with 18 local farms to produce their vegetables and 2 farms to produce their meat. The waitress said that the vegetables were organic, although they weren't featured on the menu as such. If so... bonus!

Mommy had a roasted yellow beet and strawberry salad... and she had some of the local beef as well in a fancy corn-dog. (Really mommy & daddy try not to eat red meat, but once a month, mommy will sometimes eat it (she says it's a girl thing -- that I wouldn't understand)... and... with the local food challenge she's finding out that's all there really is available relatively easily. No poultry.) She hasn't gone to great lengths to find local poultry this week (that's more "sustainable" -- something not full of antibiotics and hormones.) But, she does see that is an opportunity for a store and/or restaurants to ask for and provide. It has to be available! She'll keep looking.

Daddy had an iceberg wedge salad (I can't imagine that was produced locally-- it's too hot here for lettuce now, as I learned earlier this year.... they say a baby's mind is like a sponge!). He also had a crab cake from the gulf. I ate off of mommy's plate -- little bits of roasted yellow beets and little bits of cornbread for dinner along with my bottle. This is the first time I have eaten beets... and... I liked them!

They both, of course, had to sample the local brews that 5 Seasons produces. Daddy had one called 7 Sisters. Mommy had one called Farmhouse Ale -- as barely visible in this sign, it looks like the Farmhouse Ale was a collaborative brewing effort with the Terrapin brewery out of Athens GA. We practiced playing "cheers" towards the end of the meal. It's something daddy started when I'm not finishing my milk. He and mommy clink glasses, say cheers, and I have to join in the fun! I think they're trying to trick me, but it's a lot of fun, so I'm not going to question it for awhile.

Well, it's been cool blogging about the journey our family has taken. I may recap the events in one succinct document.... later.

Good night!

Local Food Challenge - Day 6

We didn't do as well today as we have been the rest of the week regarding eating local foods. Today is Saturday and we had a pretty busy day. Mommy went to a street clean event where they pick up trash in our neighborhood. Daddy and I walked up to the square (well, I rode -- in style of course) and we went to the farmer's market. I helped daddy out with picking up vegetables. (My stroller carried the heavy bag back home.)

We got some okra -- which I've never had, but since I like slimy vegetables.... I think I may have found my perfect match. We got more zucchini -- which are half as tall as I am; they're huge! We got more potatoes (yum) and a thing called a Patty Pan Squash which looks like a green UFO. It looks like something that I can play with! There are some new things, so looks like mommy & daddy will be experimenting this coming week with incorporating these foods into our menus.

Daddy also bought some fresh blackberries from a woman at the farmer's market that people always call "egg lady." We have bought eggs from her before, but now that mommy's co-worker has them, she's buying from him instead. The egg lady has sold us blueberries before too -- but today, it was blackberries. I was allergic to the blackberries before -- I broke out in a rash. (Raspberries used to do the same thing, but I tried them again when I was a little bit older and it worked out. Maybe the same will be true of Blackberries? I hope so.)

Mommy drove up to the farmer's market right before they closed because we ran out of locally made bread. She took me with her -- so I got to go up to the square twice! I love going to the farmer's market because I get to see puppy dogs. Oooof oof! Lots of people bring dogs. Also, we ran into a bunch of neighbors while up there. AND... I saw a choo choo train go by. It was a perfect visit.

Food-wise, I only ate snacks throughout the day because we were on the run.

• I had some of the "egg lady" blackberries in my yogurt.
• I had the Byne Blueberry Farm blueberries in my apple sauce mid-day.
• I had the local CSA cucumbers in yogurt around dinner time.
• I also had the Sparkman's Dairy local milk in my bottles morning, noon, and night.
  

Mommy and daddy took me across town to play with some friends. To give me some play-time, they went to go see Harry Potter. Wasn't that nice of them to set up a play-date with my friend Rune? He's older than I am, but can do some cool things. I climbed on top of a chair today all by myself to impress him and his grandpa who was watching us both. Mommy and daddy came back with their friends and we all hung out for awhile before they put me down for a nap. When I woke up, i found out that they had eaten dinner... but because they were guests at dinner and the hosts didn't know about the local food challenge, the meal was conventionally prepared - but very delicious!

• Daddy made some home-made guacamole to take to the dinner party. Avocados aren't local, but the Serrano peppers and cilantro came from Whole Foods and were "regional" -- from Florida. The onions (instead of red) were sweet Vidalia from Georgia. The tomatoes for the dish came from our backyard garden.
• They also brought some peach salsa -- which is their absolute favorite that they buy by the case from Whole Foods too. (It says on the bottle that it's made in Roswell, Georgia.)

I stayed up way past my bedtime last night... and tonight too. What a fun day it was.
Mommy and Daddy sometimes feel bad that they "push my limits" on keeping me up, but I really like it. I'm a social baby, so "bring it!"

Local Food Challenge - Day 5

I'm up way past my bedtime tonight. I was at my girlfriends' house (yes, that's plural). There are a couple of girls that live up the street -- one is 6 and one is 4 -- who I've been running around with, tumbling with, playing with. We all have a great time together. They also have a little brother, but he's just a baby. He's 5 months younger than I am and can't walk yet, so.... for now.... I'm content chasing the girls. I know he & I will be good friends sometime soon.

I am a little off-schedule all day, but I managed to get some local food into my diet. I did eat a little bit of my french toast from Good Harvest bakery in Duluth, but not much. I did drink one of my 1/2 local (Sparkman's Dairy) milk - 1/2 formula bottles. And I did have my left over corn-on-the cob from the CSA, but just the kernels mixed with summer vegetable puree for lunch. After that point, however, I missed a bottle, missed a snack somehow, and ate my 4:00 meal at 5:30~! I had the cucumber (from our CSA) mixed with yogurt and pears. That was pretty much my last meal (not including bottle) -- although I have been up for 5 more hours! As seen below... I did also munch on my taxi after lunch. Maybe that held me over for awhile?

We went down to meet Daddy for lunch today, actually. This is the first time that we've done that since he's changed jobs several months ago. We went to a restaurant that mommy & daddy like, called Muss & Turner's. It's in a town called Smyrna which isn't too far from our house. Mom ordered something off of the menu that was local -- from Riverview Farms. But- it was meat. They thought that they could get local poultry from there, but they don't have it either. We as a family are wondering why is it so hard to find "sustainably harvested" local poultry here in Georgia?!? Oooh... I'm distracted here. I saw a puppy dog. oof ooof!

Aside from mommy's lunch, they did eat a bit of local & regional foods tonight. Eggplant and green pepper from Florida. Vidalia Onion from GA, Zucchini from our CSA, tomatoes and basil from our raised bed garden. Beautiful squares of pasta from Via Elisa (http://www.viaelisa.com/). And milk / eggs from Moultrie and Marietta - respectively. By pooling all of those ingredients together -- mom whipped up a really really really really good white veggie lasagna. (Mommy & Daddy also drank some local beer with it -- mommy had a Terrapin brew from Athens and daddy had some 420 from Sweetwater brewery in Atlanta). Isn't the package for the lasagna squares pretty? Mommy said it made her feel inspired to do something unique with the lasagna tonight.


It's been a pretty busy day. We had some friends stop by as they were passing through our area from Tennessee. Susan, Chad, Hunter, Caeli, Rune, and Saber. I was stunned for awhile when they all came - as I was just waking up from my nap - but we had fun / burned a lot of energy. Then we went to our friend's house with the 2 girls and the baby boy. It's been a very social evening. Good friends, good food, good fun.

Local Food Challenge - Day 4

I tried a new food today. Since I was about 6 months old, I've been trying a new food each week. That's 10 months. About 40 different fruits and vegetables so far. There have only been a few things that I've reacted to -- basically, I break out with a rash when eating some foods. Unfortunately, one of those is a very "popular" local food: peaches. Maybe I'll try them again this month to see if I still have the same reaction as I did when I was just a little baby (a few months ago)? I'm a lot bigger now and much stronger than I was back then. A few months ago, I couldn't even walk!! (now I can run and climb a little bit)

Today, the new food that I tried was cucumber. It came from our CSA. Mommy looked up recipes and couldn't find too many. Most everything was in yogurt (which I love) or little finger sandwiches. She found a yogurt, pear, and cucumber recipe on www.wholesomebaby.com. Sounds weird, but it was actually pretty good. I ate it all.

• For breakfast, I had some of the leftover cheesy eggs with tomato (eggs from the guy who lives near us... tomatoes from our backyard raised bed garden). I also had a little bit of the leftover french toast too from Great Harvest Bread in Duluth, GA.
• For a snack, I had yogurt with the blueberries from Byne Blueberry Farm here in Georgia.
• For lunch, I had potatoes from our CSA smashed with broccoli -- which came from our CSA also.
  

THEN, for a late snack / early dinner, I had the yogurt mixed with pear and cucumber from our CSA. I also ate a little bit of corn on the cob that daddy grilled. (That's mommy helping me eat the corn -- which came from our CSA as well. That CSA is providing a lot of food for us. I think mommy & daddy only signed up for a "half-share" of Mr. Craig's vegetables from Resaca, GA. We'd be swimming in vegetables if they signed up for the full share!

• Of course my daily bottles are filled with some formula and some of the local milk from Moultrie, GA!

The local foods keep coming!

• Mommy ate some of the leftover french toast from the Great Harvest bakery for breakfast. Daddy had his organic granola made here in Marietta in his yogurt.
• For lunch, mommy had a big serving of those marinated vegetables from last night. (Cucumbers from the CSA, Vidalia onions from Whole Foods, and Tomatoes from our raised bed garden.) She also shared a bunch of the marinated vegetables with her co-workers who all really liked them.
• For dinner, she & daddy ate turkey burgers for dinner. (The turkeys were not local -- but they weren't able to find any local poultry on such short notice when signing up for this challenge on Saturday. They could only find local pork and beef... and really try not to eat either very often.) On the turkey burgers, daddy slathered on some Williamson Brothers BBQ sauce. That's a local restaurant that makes a whole line of sauces and seasonings for retail sale in Marietta. They sell it at the restaurant as well as across the street at Whole Foods. Supposedly that stuff is really really good. I've never tried any, though. They put some of our back-yard tomatoes on their turkey burgers too.
• Mommy & Daddy also had for dinner some sesame & garlic green beans (from the CSA) and grilled corn on the cob (from the CSA too). They were able to finish their whole piece of corn on the cob. I only had a few bites of mine. I saw mommy cutting the corn off of the cob and putting it in a bowl. I think that the grilled corn will be on the menu tomorrow!

Today was my last day of school for the week. 3-day weekend ahead! Woo hoo!

Local Food Challenge - Day 3

Sometimes mommy works from home (usually Wednesdays & Fridays). We ate breakfast together. Well, she ate breakfast. I mostly played with mine.

We had cheesy scrambled eggs with tomatoes. The eggs came from Marietta -- a few miles from our house. A guy that mommy works with raises the chickens in his back yard. I'm hoping that one day we get to go over there so that I can see them. The tomatoes came from our back yard raised bed garden. I sometimes help water them.... well, really, I play in the water while mommy and daddy water the plants.

So... I don't know if it counts today that I ate a local foods breakfast. I "wore" a local foods breakfast!

Some things were the same today:

• Milk in my bottles from Sparkman's Dairy in Moultrie, GA
• Yogurt with blueberries from Byne Blueberry Farm in Waynesville, GA
• Zucchini from our CSA for lunch (with applesauce... yes - it's mixed with my zucchini. I don't know why - but I like my veggies "slimy" still... not quite onto complete solid foods yet. But applesauce?!)
• I had a little bit of smashed potatoes (from our CSA) mixed with broccoli (from our CSA a few weeks ago which mommy steamed, froze, then defrosted tonight) I didn't finish it, though. I was "upset" at watching mommy and daddy eat their dinner -- which I didn't get ANY of. They kept telling me that I am not old enough to eat it. Whatever?!

I had to eat the "same ol stuff" while they got to eat something that looked really good.

• Mommy & Daddy had grilled shrimp skewers tonight (gulf-coast shrimp... more local than that from Belize or Peru that was at the Seafood counter). They put cherry tomatoes on it -- two different kinds. Little yellow ones from our raised bed garden and Little red ones that came from my mommy's office.

She works at a place where they teach people about saving energy, water, and resources in their homes and buildings. They have an "Urban Garden" there. So, the red cherry tomatoes came from Southface's garden in Atlanta, GA. www.southface.org

• Mommy had a Terrapin Sunray Wheat Beer with her meal. It says on the bottle that it's brewed with honey from the Savannah Bee Company. http://www.savannahbee.com/ Cool! I've been to Savannah before. (Daddy had heart-healthy red wine with his shrimp skewers.) They taught me how to "clink" my bottle against their glasses. They keep saying "cheers" and tell me to drink my milk. I can almost say it. "Chee" is about all I get out right now.
• They also had balsamic marinated onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers. (Vidalia, GA for the onions, our back yard for the tomatoes, and our CSA for the cucumbers.) They tried feeding me some of that, but I'm holding out on them. I may eat it another time, just not tonight!
• I forgot... speaking of honey... daddy drinks coffee every day. Instead of sugar, he uses local honey to sweeten his cup o' joe. He buys it at the Marietta Square Farmer's Market. http://www.mariettasquarefarmersmarket.net/

I go to school tomorrow... I bet you I'll be eating left overs. We'll see. Maybe they'll throw in something new?