Eat Locally - Part 12, Day 7 The Final Supper

The last day of 7 for eating locally - It is almost over, or is it?

What did I eat on Day 7?
Breakfast: coffee and milk, strawberries
Lunch: fried rice made with leftover rice, pork chop, bacon, scallion and hard boiled eggs
Snack: a nap cuz I can
Dinner: chicken stir fry with shitake, baby bok choy, asparagus with a side of roasted root veggies

I went back to the Franklin Farmer's Market this morning for the Strawberries (Delvin Farms) that made my breakfast, and for other veggies to cook up for dinner. I went straight to the Hungry Gnome Farm again because I got awesome bitter greens from them last time, and I want to see what they would have this time. I am so excited, I got Forono Italian red beets, golden beets, a turnip, and kohlrabi to roast up tonight as a side dish to the chicken thigh stirfry with shitake and baby bok choy. We love roasted root veggies made simply with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Today will be roased root veggies with melted butter and bacon fat with a little salt. What was the rundown for these veggies and strawberries?

Turnip $1, Hungry Gnome Farm, Whites Creek, TN 10 miles
Kohlrabi $1, Hungry Gnome Farm, Whites Creek, TN 10 miles
Golden beets $4, Hungry Gnome Farm, Whites Creek, TN 10 miles
Forono beets $4, Hungry Gnome Farm, Whites Creek, TN 10 miles
Strawberries $5 1 quart, Delvin Farms, College Grove, TN 20 miles
semi-total- $15
total to date - $114.52

my fried rice lunch

I really need to thank Cookiecrumb for living a week of eating locally at her house because it inspired me to eat locally at my house. For this experience, I feel like I have emerged from Plato's cave, and I can see things so much more clearly now. I am transformed to seeing the value of seeking locally grown and organic foods for my table. I was reminded what real milk tastes like, what real bacon tastes like, and what real eggs are like. I am interested in keeping these fabulous fresh foods on my table. I cannot wait until the local eggplants come up because I remember the extreme bitter flavor as a child, and I want that again. The industrial eggplants have been GMed so hard that they are just off-white fleshed mushy things without any flavor at all.

Before I started this week of eating locally, I had notions of what I thought this week was going to be all about. I thought it was the challenge of staying under budget, can I really eat locally for a week, the hunt for local foods, and supporting local farmers. After Day 1, all of these goals were easily obtainable? Now what is what I thought.

Well, the part about, "can I really eat locally for a week?" was weighing so heavily on my mind before I started. I was going through my mind what I would give up because it wasn't on my exemption list with salt, coffee, rice and a little spice. I was scared to give up popcorn, crackers, bread, corn syrup (I too am a gummi bear eater Cookiecrumb), my morning routine of homemade granola and soy milk, bananas, my great imported cheese, and any other snack food. I love the international flavors of spices and ingredients in my home that would have to go on a break for a week. I was addict to all these different foods and my old routine.

What the 1st day of this challenge came, I felt like was like the 1st day I gave up Walmart years ago. When I gave up Walmart, I didn't know how I would get along without it. I felt resentful that others were getting better deals than me, other people are wasting less time than me shopping because they only have to go to the big W, and I was I was going to go broke by going to local vendors who sell on a small scale. The psychological hold the big W had on me was tight, and I had withdrawl symptoms and I was irritable. The reality of the matter is that I am not broke, I consume and waste less, I don't shop any more often, I don't have to fight the Walmart parking lot traffic, and I don't have huge volumes of product wasting storage space in my house. For example, the last time I needed nails I spent less time going to my local hardware store (2 mile walk), and less money too. Had I gone to Walmart (20 miles and about 1.5 gallons of gas $4.50 ), I would have had to buy a box of 250 nails for $5, and ended up with an open box of nails wasting space in my house, and no good for any other job than needs nails of a different size. That trip would have cost about $9.50 for those nails. Since I only needed only a few nails, I went to the hardware store and spent $0.12 on exactly what I need. I even got 4 miles round trip of walking exercise (note, this is normal exercise for me as I jog at minimum 3 miles per day, so check with your health professional if you want to start an exercise program) reducing my risk of heart attack, diabetes, and obesity.

When I started this challenge, I had the same withdrawl symptoms that I had with giving up the big W. How was I going to get along without the convenience of my local "Big Box" chain grocery store? I was resentful that others were spending way less on meat than I was. That fact is true, but the quality of local, fresh killed chicken, and other meats are so much better, and I only bought exactly what I can eat, rather than buying a giant pre-wrapped pack of industrial meat that may go to waste. The quality of eggs is so much better and fresher. The quality of milk is on a completely higher plane than industrial milk. I was scared that I could not give up corn syrup products because nearly everything has corn syrup in it. I did it, no processed food, not one candy and not one dessert. I was irritated that I could not make a traditional chicken stock because of no local carrots and celery. The reality was that I did make a good chicken stock with local herbs, scallions and country ham to flavor the broth. It tasted different than the tradition stock, but it had a good Middle Tennessee flavor that was heart warming. Who said all chicken stock had to have carrots, celery and onions in it? It doesn't.

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