Despite our lack of registration, we still needed to prepare for a month of local eating. Just like last year, local still means food produced within 250 miles of where the participant lives, and participants are still allowed five exceptions ("Wild Card Items"). On Saturday, my parents and I sat down over a lunch of Swiss chard fettucine (made with Swiss chard from my garden, basil from the farmers' market, and ricotta cheese from a friend), and talked about our five Wild Card items. We agreed that we'd share four wild card items (olive oil, lime, lemon, and chips), while my dad's fifth wild card item would be fair trade coffee and my mom's fifth wild card item would be fair trade tea.
I wish organic canola oil and all-purpose flour could have made the list, because all-purpose flour give me more options with baking and I've never found a local oil with a flavor I like that I can use in place of canola oil. However, I'll have to make do with just using whole grains in baking and olive and and butter in place of canola oil for a month.
My dad's big sacrifice is almonds. Having nuts to bring to work for lunch was a non-negotiable for him, and my dad nearly gave up on the Locavore Challenge before it had begun because he couldn't have almonds. Thankfully, my mom remembered seeing local walnuts for sale at Farmers and Artisans, and my dad agreed that he could live without almonds for a month if we could find some local nuts for him.
Today (August 31st), my mom and I went shopping for the foods we need to stock up on before the Locavore Challenge begins. The local items on our list were nuts, oatmeal, butter, and pasta, while olive oil and fair trade tea were the wild card items needed.
After I took care of my poultry this morning, my mom and I did our rode our bikes around our large country block, which goes through three townships and is about eight mile trip. We've been trying to do this before we go to the farmers' market every Wednesday and Saturday, so we can get as much of our food as very locally as possible. We ended up only getting bell pepper and cucumber today.
We then proceeded to the East Aurora Farmers' Market, where we purchased broccoli, wax beans, lettuce, and -- joy of joys! -- the first grapes of the year! I've been anxiously waiting for local grapes for a couple of months, and was it was so worth the wait. I've decided that the hard, flavorless things from California and Chile have absolutely no right to call themselves grapes. The grapes we purchased today were a purple grape called "Fredonia," which comes in before the famous Concords do. They've got the sweetness of the purple grape, along with a hint of the tartness of the green grape. I do believe that they're the best grapes I've ever had.
On the way home from the farmers market, we stopped first at our town's supermarket to purchase fair trade tea. I was surprised that there actually was a decent selection, from which my mom chose to try the organic and fair trade Numi Breakfast Blend.
Next, we stepped at Tuscany on Main, one of two (two!) new olive oil stores on Main Street in East Aurora. We ended up purchasing the Organic Estate Fratoio Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which we both thought was the best after sampling about eight different options. It had a strong but not overwhelming flavor and a distinct aftertaste, neither of which we were accustomed to from the olive oil we've purchased from the supermarket.
After a stop at home for lunch (potatoes from my garden, broccoli from the farmers' market, and green beans from a nearby farm stand), we went blueberry picking at Thorpes, the organic farm from which we get our fruit share. The blueberry season is definitely winding down, and the blueberry field was full of the gigantic poke salad weeds. (As my mom said, it was as though the it were a poke salad field with a blueberry weed problem.) Still, we managed to pick over four quarts of berries, and we had enough fun doing it that we plan on doing it again tomorrow (Thursday) or Friday.
We brought the blueberries home and headed out again after my mom finally got to take her shower. We purchased a birthday present for my younger cousin, then went to Farmers and Artisans in Williamsville. I was disappointed due to Flour City Pasta moving to a larger facility, they won't have any local pasta until the middle of September at the earliest. How I am supposed to live without pasta in the middle of tomato season for at least two weeks? I've have to work on figuring that one out in the coming days. Thankfully, we were able at least able to get local walnuts and butter from grassfed cows.
Once home, I stir-fried bok choi with soy sauce, which we at for dinner over rice my dad had been kind enough to cook prior to our arrival home from Farmers and Artisans. We went out for ice cream, as it was our last opportunity to do so for a whole month. By the time we got home from getting ice cream, I was ready to flop into bed from the busy day, but I had some other non-food related things to get done. Then I remembered something local for breakfast, so I just took whole wheat blueberry muffins out of the oven.
I can finally go to bed and rest of for my first day of the challenge, which promises to be just as busy. Possible activities include apple picking, more blueberry picking, CSA share pick-up, and an expedition to Five Points Bakery in Buffalo to get local rolled oats. I feel even more tired (if that's possible!) just thinking about it!
After I took care of my poultry this morning, my mom and I did our rode our bikes around our large country block, which goes through three townships and is about eight mile trip. We've been trying to do this before we go to the farmers' market every Wednesday and Saturday, so we can get as much of our food as very locally as possible. We ended up only getting bell pepper and cucumber today.
We then proceeded to the East Aurora Farmers' Market, where we purchased broccoli, wax beans, lettuce, and -- joy of joys! -- the first grapes of the year! I've been anxiously waiting for local grapes for a couple of months, and was it was so worth the wait. I've decided that the hard, flavorless things from California and Chile have absolutely no right to call themselves grapes. The grapes we purchased today were a purple grape called "Fredonia," which comes in before the famous Concords do. They've got the sweetness of the purple grape, along with a hint of the tartness of the green grape. I do believe that they're the best grapes I've ever had.
On the way home from the farmers market, we stopped first at our town's supermarket to purchase fair trade tea. I was surprised that there actually was a decent selection, from which my mom chose to try the organic and fair trade Numi Breakfast Blend.
Next, we stepped at Tuscany on Main, one of two (two!) new olive oil stores on Main Street in East Aurora. We ended up purchasing the Organic Estate Fratoio Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which we both thought was the best after sampling about eight different options. It had a strong but not overwhelming flavor and a distinct aftertaste, neither of which we were accustomed to from the olive oil we've purchased from the supermarket.
After a stop at home for lunch (potatoes from my garden, broccoli from the farmers' market, and green beans from a nearby farm stand), we went blueberry picking at Thorpes, the organic farm from which we get our fruit share. The blueberry season is definitely winding down, and the blueberry field was full of the gigantic poke salad weeds. (As my mom said, it was as though the it were a poke salad field with a blueberry weed problem.) Still, we managed to pick over four quarts of berries, and we had enough fun doing it that we plan on doing it again tomorrow (Thursday) or Friday.
We brought the blueberries home and headed out again after my mom finally got to take her shower. We purchased a birthday present for my younger cousin, then went to Farmers and Artisans in Williamsville. I was disappointed due to Flour City Pasta moving to a larger facility, they won't have any local pasta until the middle of September at the earliest. How I am supposed to live without pasta in the middle of tomato season for at least two weeks? I've have to work on figuring that one out in the coming days. Thankfully, we were able at least able to get local walnuts and butter from grassfed cows.
Once home, I stir-fried bok choi with soy sauce, which we at for dinner over rice my dad had been kind enough to cook prior to our arrival home from Farmers and Artisans. We went out for ice cream, as it was our last opportunity to do so for a whole month. By the time we got home from getting ice cream, I was ready to flop into bed from the busy day, but I had some other non-food related things to get done. Then I remembered something local for breakfast, so I just took whole wheat blueberry muffins out of the oven.
I can finally go to bed and rest of for my first day of the challenge, which promises to be just as busy. Possible activities include apple picking, more blueberry picking, CSA share pick-up, and an expedition to Five Points Bakery in Buffalo to get local rolled oats. I feel even more tired (if that's possible!) just thinking about it!
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