New Focal: Local

I am currently reading (okay, fine, listening to a CD of) Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kinsolver on my commute to work in the morning. It is a little preachy, but still very inspirational. It is all about her yearlong adventure in eating locally. Some interesting facts...for each 1 calorie of food produced, 11 calories (of energy) were used to produce it...the average trip for everything on your plate? 15oo miles...We use almost as much fossil fuels in our fridge (transport, fertilizer, etc) as we use in our car. Pretty crazy, right?

As a side point, buying organic is fabulous, but buying conventionally farmed local fare has less of an environmental impact since it didn't need to be refrigerated and shipped from far away. Obviously, buying local, organic produce is the best, but its not always possible.

I am a weekend gardener. I have a few vegetable plants in my backyard and a plot at the community garden. I recently planted a Fuji apple tree and a grapevine along my back fence. It is great for my health and sanity to be able to dig in the dirt on the weekends. I try to eat locally from my garden and from the Farmer's Market (find yours at http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/farmersmarkets), but sometimes I get lazy and I just want the easiest thing from the grocery store.

I want to take it more seriously this year. I want to eat locally and healthy throughout the winter. This means lots of prep work in the summer and fall. I will buy things when they are in season and can, freeze or dry them so they are available throughout the winter.

This is, of course, intricately tied with losing weight and staying healthy. I always do great in late spring, summer and early fall while fresh food and warm weather make me want to get outside and stay healthy. As the bitter Maryland cold sets in, my morning runs cease, the yummy fruits and veggies disappear and pizza delivery starts to look really good. If I have the remnants of summer available, I will be more likely to pull them out of the cupboard or the freezer and make a soup, chili or healthy homemade pizza...not to mention cut my reliance on fossil fuels and support local farmers. It's a win-win situation all around.