Self Reflection on Eating Locally

My original goals for the project
• Learn how to preserve food that is locally available
• Learn where my food comes from and find local sources
• For food that can only be imported, find local alternatives to replace them in my diet
• Plan for spring where I will assist my mom in her garden
• Start an indoor herb garden
• When I cannot control my food options, eat the healthiest option
• For foods I am not allergic to, exclude them from my diet if a local source is not available
• For foods that I am allergic to, if a local source is not available eat only once a week.

I thought spending the Thanksgiving weekend at my grandparents’ farm would be the perfect opportunity to learn about how to eat more locally. I was a little discouraged because it seemed like only the “old timers” are the ones who eat locally. My cousins and friends who are around my age buy most of their groceries. They are busy with work, family and children and there never seems to be enough time. I felt like I was trying to take on too much with my prairie diet. It feels like if you don’t have the money to buy more locally produced food (which is usually more expensive) you need the time, effort and land to produce your own. It all seemed so overwhelming. I am so busy with school and I was worried that I am doing too much for the Action Learning Project. I needed to rethink things my short term goals. My refined goals for the project
• Learn how to preserve food that is locally available
• Learn where my food comes from and find local sources
• Plan for spring where I will assist my mom in her garden
• Start an indoor herb garden
• When I cannot control my food options, eat the healthiest option
• For foods I am not allergic to, exclude them from my diet if a local source is not available

I decided I needed to be a more proactive and less frozen in fear about starting to eat more locally. I cannot start a garden this time of year but I can certainly plan for one. During our class camping trip, I started reading the book Carrots Love Tomatoes to start planning my future garden. I found out from my mother that due to some neighbouring trees there is not a lot that will grow in the garden. Currently my goal for next year is for our family to become self-sufficient with carrots and potatoes. A garden with more variety will have to wait until I have my own place.

In the meantime, I started growing a little indoor garden. I realize that seeds are not in great demand this time of year but I was able to find seeds for Summer Savory, Thai Basil, Chervil and Sage. I really wanted mint but there was none.

I got the bright idea to buy some peppers to harvest the seeds to grow my own. It is a small start but at least I’m heading in the right direction. The herbs have started to sprout but the peppers have yet to do anything. I might have to wait until spring and buy some pepper plants to grow inside.

In addition to starting an indoor garden, I also learned some cooking methods that would help me to eat more locally. I bought peppers so I could plant the seeds but then learned how to pickle the peppers. It was interesting to learn but I felt like it was such a waste of water to pickle such a small amount of food (lesson learned). I’d like to try canning again next fall but I’ll wait until I have a larger amount of food to preserve.

Both Brooklyn and Michelle had done some research about food waste that opened my eyes to the issue. I came across a new report that the US could save the energy equivalent of about 350 million barrels of oil a year — without spending a penny or putting a ding in the quality of life: Just stop wasting food [Wasted Food, Wasted Energy: The Embedded Energy in Food Waste in the United States, Amanda D. Cuellar, Michael E. Webber, Environmental Science & Technology 2010 44 (16), 6464-6469]. I try not to let food go to waste but I felt I needed to do more. It always bothered me that my family did not compost in the wintertime. I persuaded my parents to let me start a vermi-compost for we can compost year-round. The vermi-compost will serve two purposes: less household waste and fertilizer for my indoor plants.

Some of the food facts that Jenny and Sophie had shared with us had our entire group reading our food labels more. I had always been bothered by how much packaging is needed to keep cheese fresh. Once in class, our instructor Peta had mentioned “cheese isn’t naturally orange”. This made me start to look at the ingredients of a food I always deemed healthy. I found it a little off-putting that rennet, an enzyme used to separate the curds and whey, is usually made from the stomachs of calves. [Rennet. (2010, November 15). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:45, November 23, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rennet&oldid=396994098]

I was recently watching a chef on TV make ricotta cheese from scratch and thought it looked pretty easy. I found a recipe for Farmer’s Cheese seemed simple and had readily available ingredients. Following the directions, it turned out more dry than expected but it still tastes good. Next time I try to make it I will use some comments from the website where I got the recipe so it has a more spreadable consistency.