June Challenge – One Local Ingredient a Day

This is such a great challenge. I'm in. I think it'll really make me aware of what I'm using and where it comes from.

I'm so in! It's also easy in Oregon this time of year. I love my kale and carrots!

Love this idea, which I'll admit isn't that hard in California this time of year. But I always struggle with the idea of local - most of our fruit, for example, comes from the Central Valley, about 100 miles away, which they truck in and sell at my local farmer's market. It's just not warm enough here on the coast to grow cherries, peaches, etc. Is that local enough?

I love this idea. Making it one daily breaks it down so it isn't such an overwhelming commitment.

I'm in, though this is ridiculously easy in my area, Northern California. I look forward to hearing from other readers for whom this presents a real challenge. Great idea.

Great idea!

Since I just planted veggie seeds last weekend, I'm not sure I can do this challenge *this* month ... but I will later this summer.

I like this. Great idea. And it shouldn't be too tough to find some great locally-grown stuff in Connecticut, especially this time of year.

Great idea! An easy way to do this is to buy some locally made bread (from local wheat) and keep it on hand for sandwiches. Make breadcrumbs from the leftovers and you have products on hand you'll use often.

Kelly, no need to write about it; just join in. You make good points about what's local. It's a little more cut and dried for me here on an island. Grown on island? Local. Off island? Not. Except in the case of eggs for people who don't buy from local farmers and buy at the grocery store instead: the only Hawaii-based egg farm is located on Oahu. Still a plane ride for the eggs, but better than buying from the mainland, IMO.

This is a big question at our farmers market right now - what's the definition of local? Is this in the 100 mile radius? or hyper local like Athens Ohio is doing with their 30 mile diet? From your state, or from your region? If it's an item that you can't get from anywhere but 500-1000 miles away and is grown on a small family farm, and that's the best place for it to be grown, is that still considered local? We're grappling with this as we try to define what local means for our producers only market. A lot of people think that if you buy it locally, it's local, no matter where it's produced. True that the money circulates better in your local economy if you buy from a local purveyor instead of a big box store. It's all so interesting! So, I'm going to think about doing this challenge, but I don't know where I'll find time to write about it. Maybe while I'm sitting at the market watching people buy local!