More than with the article itself, which is pretty good, I’m impressed with the number (24 as of today) and content of comments posted by readers.  More evidence that local food is becoming a mainstream topic all across the country.  And look how many mentions of Cuba and of “The Power of Community” (which Sustainable Ballard screened last spring at the Sunset Hill Community Association, too).

There is only one aspect of the article that I found a little less thought through:  when suburbanites water 30 million acres of lawn, they are using the same kind of energy that will doom our industrial agriculture, namely for pumping the water.  Fortunately, as some commenters have pointed out, some permaculture practices are designed for keeping the soil moist, reflect sunlight, and use less water.

After the post-100-mile-diet month debauchery of frozen pizzas and ice cream, it’s time for me to think again about food choices.  Seeing a friend diagnosed with colon cancer could have something to do with it.  Mind you, even though August had passed and I wasn’t feeling bound by the OHMD pledge, my awareness of food had stayed pretty high, but a few things were just too tempting.

Thanksgiving at Jenny and Scott’s was great. I don’t think anyone made a huge effort to keep it to within 100-miles, and even so it came pretty close. I was particularly pleased with my mushroom farrotto (recipes here and here). It would have been 100 miles-certifiable, except for the stock (which I really didn’t have the patience to make from scratch, this time), and one of the 3 packets of mushrooms (the other 2 were local). All the other dishes were wonderful, too. I wouldn’t know about the dead animals, though.

After Thanksgiving, I decided to embark on a new challenge: the water-only diet. I’m not working yet, so it had to be now or never. And because I’m probably going to start working again next week, I had to keep it to 10 days at most. Today is my 9th day, and it’s probably one of the best things I have ever done. I know it sounds scary - everyone I talk to tells me they could never do it. I just want to say it’s much, much easier than it sounds, and actually pleasant. I feel great. The “hunger” goes away after a day or two. The only caveat is that you can’t really do it while working, or leading an active life. You need a lot of rest. (And as the books say: don’t ever attempt this without medical supervision. Don’t follow my example.)

In order not to squander all the health benefits of the fast, I have decided to renew my committment to a healthier diet. And following the books I’ve read (Fasting and Eating for Health, Fasting can save your life, Eat to Live), my diet will consist mainly of fresh fruit and vegetables, some cooked vegetables, and some grains, legumes and nuts.  In other words, I can probably do it while also following the 100 mile diet.  So, I think I will make December another OHMD month!

I found NW sea salt!

Apparently, Bob’s Red Mill is now producing it. the package even says they dehydrate sea water. The closest produced salt I had found until now was the stuff mined in Utah from an old salt lake. I wasn’t sure mined US salt was more sustainable than foreign sea salt. Anyway, yea for NW Sea Salt!

Also, at Ken’s they have Fairhaven flour. Manufactured in Bellingham of mostly NW grown wheat - another great local find.

One of the things I miss in the OHMD is rice milk, of which I previously was a voracious consumer. Of course, my rice milk is produced in New York state and even if there were a local producer, the rice itself certainly is not grown within 100 miles. Then the other day, after cooking a batch of farro, and letting it sit for a while, I noticed that the excess liquid had turned whitish and creamy, so naturally the thought occurred to me about whether it would be possible to make farro milk. My mother told me a couple of months ago that when she was little they used to make rice milk in her home. You see, my mother grew up in WWII german bomb shelters, and - after the war - doing nightly raids into wheat and rye fields with mother, father and sister, armed with scissors, carrying home in her apron as much stolen grain and produce as they could under cover of darkness. And she still tells me stories of all the strange culinary inventions a starving population can give birth to. She definitely knows a thing or two about foraging and scavenging… So I’ll ask her if she remembers how to make rice milk, and maybe that recipe can be adapted to farro, too.

Chalk up another green point for local eating!

BUT - where do I find one locally?  I went to Dead Meyer, and they only have gargantuan pressure canning kettles.  Right, I have one additional requirement: it has to be the smallest pressure cooker ever made.  With me living alone, and with very tight closet/cabinet space, I don’t have any use for a regular size.  I could order this, but I’d rather give my money to a neighborhood merchant.

I had an interesting short conversation at the farmers market with Wade of Rockridge Orchards about this, sort of. He posited, is it better to run my harvest equipment on diesel, or to use land capable of growing food to grow crops for biodiesel to run the equipment? Well, what I’ve learned recently is that most biodiesel is made out of soybean pods, a waste product of growing soy for food. So ideally you could grow both food and oil.

So much to learn, so little time.

I foolishly stopped at the Couth Buzzard used bookstore before hitting the farmers market, looking for Christine Downing’s The Goddess:Mythological Images of the Feminine, and ended up walking out with Jean Huston’s The Search for the Beloved: Journeys in Sacred Psychology and Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype. (I admit that I am completely addicted to buying books…and music.) I prefer to spend cash with local merchants, because credit card processing fees are so high, and I’d rather 100% of my money go into their coffers, rather than incur additional overhead costs. Unfortunately, I had less cash than I realized which prevented me from grabbing a pastry from Little Prague Bakery (m?am! to si musím dovolit ;-), and a few other tasty treats, such as more berries…but the Santa Rosa plums and Shamrock apples from Tiny’s Organic filled the little plastic bags which I brought with me for re-use, and some tasty cherries will also be on the menu for this weekend.