Local food research

Over the past few weeks I have been researching local foods in preparation for our participation in the Penny-Wise Eat Local Challenge. I've inventoried our stores of canned and frozen local produce, bought a 25 lb. bag of whole wheat flour from a local mill, started sourdough for the first time so we can make bread (can't buy yeast), and asked at local stores about the origins of several foods.

I've been surprised in several ways during this process. First, I was pleased to find how much food we actually grow and store ourselves. If we had to, we could eat fairly well solely from our own garden and stores of food. Our three hens are laying 2-3 eggs per day, we have onions and greens growing in the garden (and yard), and have home-canned or frozen pumpkin, pickles, tomato sauce and juice, salsa, jam, peaches, and berries, not to mention enough frozen hot peppers to last a lifetime!

However, this inventory process brought up a second surprise that presents a difficulty. Certainly not all, but many of our home-preserved foods contain sugar, salt or spices that are not local. To truly eat all local food, we should not eat our jam, pickles, sauerkraut, salsa, or peaches. I also encountered this problem when trying to purchase local products. Should we consider the goat cheese at the farmers market local if it contains salt?

Next, looking for local products that we do not grow has been difficult. Many foods that I normally buy are labeled with the location of the parent company of the brand, with no way of knowing where the food actually came from without extensive research. Others appear to be locally produced, but on closer inspection come from much farther away. For example, in my search for local salt I found a company located on the Chesapeake Bay (just barely within our 100 miles) that sells seasonings, including sea salt. I emailed them to ask whether their salt was actually harvested from the bay. A representative replied that sadly, it was not, and it was her understanding that no salt is harvested in Virginia. Another example occurred when I visited a mill advertising locally milled grain. Though they sell a wide variety of flours and grains that they grind, only their wheat is actually grown locally.

Finally, though perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised by this, local people have been a better source of information than my Internet research. Many local food producers are by nature small and have a limited or nonexistent web presence. I have found by talking to friends or driving to local stores where to get butter and maple syrup, what's likely to be at the farmers market, offers of beef, and rumors of a cow owner who sells cow shares for milk.

With two days to go, the search continues...