the hundred mile diet

[lauradi7dw]

I pay as much lip service to eating locally as many people, but aside from patronizing farmers' markets and scrutinizing labels in the supermarket, I haven't done much about it. I may up the ante and try to do one or two days a week on the only food within a hundred mile radius plan (see
http://www.100milediet.org/). After determining that Quabbin is only about 50 miles away or so (I'd hate to do without water, after all), I've started a list of stuff I consume several times a week that I'd really miss were I to devote myself to it totally (which I'm not):

Rice (I'm closer to the opposite extreme, buying Fair Trade rice from Thailand).
Tofu (the tofu we buy is made in Jamaica Plain, but I'm pretty sure the soy beans aren't local)
Wheat products (some wheat is grown in New England, but I don't know where to buy it)
Oats (ditto)
Almonds
Prunes
peanuts
Citrus fruit or similar (what's the category for pineapple?)
Cinnamon
Cumin
Bananas

There are also lots of things easily available around here in the summer, but not in the winter, including many of my frequent foods, like carrots and peas. The last farmers' market visit was on Wednesday (Davis Square), although there are farm stands around somewhere that stay open all year round, selling animal products and produce that I presume is grown in a greenhouse. Stocking up with enough summer produce to last until the following June would be problematic. I don't have a root cellar or a huge freezer and can't imagine canning (an odd word for preserving in jars), although I have made jam a couple of times (not recently).

The absence of local coffee and chocolate and other exotica like that wouldn't be a problem for me.

Comments

[helwen.livejournal.com]

I have some similar problems with faraway foods, although we're working on a few substitutes. There used to be some soy farmers here in MA, but I haven't been able to find them, so maybe they're gone.

On cold storage, do you have any place in your apt. or garage/storage space that stays around 40-60 degrees? How about 50-70 degrees? I get them a little mixed up, but I believe apples and potatoes are colder storage (but can't be stored right next to each other), most squash can store at the warmer range for several months. Our "storage" for butternut squash last year was a corner of the kitchen on the floor. Since the floor was over the basement -- and since our house is below 70 degrees anyway, it worked fine.

If you live in an apt -- and I'm guessing you do, since you're in Cambridge area, it's true you don't have enough space to store enough food for the winter. Heck, we live on a farm and don't have enough space (yet). The old root cellar in the barn needs to be renovated for one thing.

So, maybe think in terms of storing what you can, and have that at least be an improvement? I know Sharon's big into the roots thing, but a lot of people don't have that kind of storage. Squashes are easier to store, and don't mind a dry room. Just keep them away from the radiators and other warm things.

I'm planning on growing and storing more potatoes next year, since our little experimental batch worked out pretty well. I'll be using up the last of them this coming week -- I forgot to check on storage and washed them, which you're not supposed to do -- but they've still lasted into December, so I'm happy. Next year I'll leave a light coating of dirt on them, and have more too, so that hopefully I can re-plant from a few of them.

That's strange that you can't get carrots locally in the winter -- maybe they don't grow enough of them for winter supply? On peas, how do you feel about pea soup? Next year maybe buy peas to dry? I gave up on finding local suppliers for some things this year, but I figured if I was at least buying dry goods at the harvest time of year, that I would at least be getting into the idea of seasons. Or maybe I'm fooling myself...

Oh, and I tried some higher end soup earlier this year that had everything in it dried including carrots and onions, and it was pretty good. So I might try growing and drying some carrots and onions next year, as I don't think we can keep those all the way to next summer. We dried some kale this year and turns out it's pretty easy to eat without cooking, and has a slightly nutty taste -- discovered a new snack by accident :D

[lauradi7.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the delay in replying. We live in a house in the suburbs (Lexington). We have a basement that is permeable to rodents, so I can't really use it as a root cellar. We keep the house under 67 degrees, but apparently that is still too warm - one of the squashes I got near the end of farmers' market season only lasted a couple of weeks before starting to rot. The last of the apples of that vintage has gone mushy. The onions did fine (we're on the last one now). We used up the last of the potatoes and bought a bag from Wood Prairie Farm in Maine. It's possible that things would keep best in the attic. It is dry there, but gets quite cold in the winter and very hot in the summer (almost nothing outside the fridge keeps long in the summer - we don't have air conditioning).
I am going to go to a local year-round farm tomorrow, but I suspect that it growing greens or whatever around here in the winter requires as big a carbon footprint (from powering up a greenhouse) as shipping them from warmer climes.

I buy dried (and canned) beans - don't dry my own. The idea of dried kale is interesting.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Ah, Lexington -- pretty place! That's to bad about the rodents. There's a root cellar here on the farm but it needs to be renovated as we'd have the same problem as your basement. In the apartment it's less of an issue, as we have two cats. We had one visitor this fall and that's been it, thank goodness. Although, maybe a chest box would work... hmm. I know they were used in the old days, but that's all I really know. Big insulated/thick-sided box with a lid, so nothing could get in, kept in a cool room.

Our last squash half went last week, so we saved what we could... good thing it was a big one!

Hm, I suppose you could keep potatoes and such in the attic just during the late fall/winter/spring time.

That's a good question as to whether a greenhouse or shipping from the south has the bigger carbon footprint.... I think if the food from the south is grown conventionally the the food from the greenhouse is grown naturally, then the greenhouse would be better, but.... hm. Also, depends on what the greenhouse uses for power. Most of them use conventional heating (generally propane), but some use alternative sources. There greenhouse at Hampshire College uses this funky green biogel in big containers -- collects heat from sun during the day and slowly releases it at night.