Local January

I was off to the store.

Every mid month we pick up our West Michigan Co Op food. Now, some cities have winter farmer’s markets. But our winter farmer’s market is different. It’s online.

How does it work? We, as members, sign in, pick out our goods from local farmers, anything from ground beef to squash to honey to goat soap. Then mid month we show up at the designated spot, pick up our booty, pay, and we then can christen ourselves with the new word on the street: We are locavores. What a couple of cheaters, huh? No, just lucky that Gail from Farms Without Harm who created this gem rocks the kazba. Mid December we had purchased what we’d hoped would get us through a month of food.

But the first week of January we realized we were out of food already. Since our goal has become to go “in season” instead of “all local” until the spring thaw I puttered over to Meijers with a grocery list of items such as potatoes, squash, rutabaga, beets, carrots, etc…

To start off my search I found a produce manager. All the books have been telling me to do this. Find the produce manager, the author would direct, tell them what you’re looking for, if they don’t have it, tell them that is what you want. Me, the consumer, will be a kick in the local food hiney, say the wise pioneers of the local food movement.

I haven’t done it yet, because who wants to bother the produce gal? I’m in a hurry. I’m a little shy. I’m just… well, I don’t wanna. But times they are a changin’ and I must too. So I found her. “What’s local?” I ask.

She looked at me puzzled and said, “Hmmmm… some of the apples are, I know for sure. Ummm… we have Michigan potatoes…. Maybe the beets… I guess I’ll have to check.” In minutes my produce angel winged over to me with a 3 ring binder that told her what was local, from the USA, or from some where else that we in Michigan wish we could be some part of our winters up here. Well, she was right the first time: Apples, potatoes, beets, turnips and herbs. That’s all she wrote.

But wait a minute. Is that squash, I see? Big orange, green and yellow bulbs of winter plenty were sticking up, their little produce vibes calling me. I know we have farmers here that grow squash and still have a butt load too. I know this because I buy from Katie at Groundswell Community Farm.

But the sticker on the bumpy orb didn’t say “From Katie’s” with a nice photo of beautiful Katie, dark hair mussed by the fall breezes with farm landscape dotting the backdrop… although that would be sooooo cool! No, it said, “From Mexico.” Mexico, Michigan maybe, I wondered. If we can go to Holland as well as to Hell right here in Michigan, why not Mexico? But, no. For some reason, even though squash would be a cinch to purchase locally, they choose not to. Why I wondered. Probably because we as consumers haven’t seemed to care one-way or the other. I picked up four Mexican Squash and said, “Gracias.”

What else did our first half of the month of conscious food eating, bring? So, ok. We didn’t realize a few things.

We had forgotten that we live with me, a full time nursing mother. I don’t know about all the ladies out there, but there are certain nutritional cravings that I still get, sort of like in pregnancy. Can I hear a hup hup anyone? So I’ve had to make an “I’m Nursing” clause in my exceptions. I won’t try to explain what this means, I’ll just know when it happens.

Next hardship? You know those days. You’re exhausted. Too much happened. You’re teetering on blowing up at your husband for no good reason. The baby’s cries feel like fingernails on a chalkboard. And it’s time to cook dinner. I used to say, “I’m going to Rosie’s for burgers!” Yet, we are very committed to no CAFO meat. This is of unwavering importance to us. So what did I do when this happened? Well, I made Bounty Rice. This is a very simple recipe that tends to have ingredients that are just around. It’s quick and can be loaded with cheese for little ones. (For any of these seasonal recipes that we’ve used this month, check out the www.myspace.com/foodclub08 blog.)

Next obstacle? When you need to just eat a quick breakfast, cereal is the way to go. Now, yes, we’re trying to get away from quick food, be more appreciative of what molecules we decide to ingest to create our inner molecules, but let’s face it, there are those times. In Greece we discovered a quick breakfast for them was a roll, a few tomato slices, a few olives, a couple hacks off the cheese wheel and strong ass coffee. AHHH! We miss Greece. But tomatoes aren’t in season, and olives are gone for a year. (Wiping a tear).

So we have opted to allow ourselves Marie Catrib’s Granola that she makes right in her restaurant weekly. I’m pretty sure, having been one of her bakers for a time, that her ingredients are not all local. But Marie and her son Fouad are the biggest supporters of local farmers that I know of in all of Grand Rapids, and therefore are a great choice. I have also found that when in a bind, I can make Breakfast Polenta – see food blog for recipe.

The biggest question that came up was, what EXACTLY is our purpose here. Are we doing this to be purists? Nothing entering the body that hasn’t been grown outside of our 200-mile radius? Are we doing this to just make sure our produce and meat are local? Are we doing away with 100% of processed foods along with this?

Which is really the whole point of this. It goes back to buying Marie’s granola. We have decided that it’s not just about being purists. For us, it’s about an expanded awareness of where our food comes and having an expanded relationship with our food and who brings it to our table. So, yes, Marie’s granola isn’t 100% local, but it all ties in. She runs a local restaurant. She supports local farmers with many of her recipe ingredients. We benefit both by supporting her. It’s pretty profound and simple all at the same time. So there we have it.

Many more obstacles reared their factory food head, but one thing began to gnaw at our current food system programmed brains... so, we confess. We have deemed January as cheater month. Now wait, we didn’t exactly fall off the wagon a week into our experiment. We have been trying to finish up items that were still in the kitchen from before but will no longer be purchased. Bags of chips, boxes of crackers, jars of olives. So although our meals have been 100% seasonal, we have been dining on these coveted snacks in between meals. We watched the last bag of Tortilla chips go into the trash. Then the cereal boxes started to dwindle. The humus container was rinsed out and tossed in recycling. The shelves began to have a Russian Cold War look to them. What were we going to do for quick snacks and such when all this cheater, sinner fare was gone in February?

After a little searching, and a little better planning, we found it can happen. Creswick Farms makes some of the tastiest jerky around! He also makes his own pepperoni and summer sausage. So a little of that, with carrot sticks, beet slices (a Steve thing I’m still not keen on) yogurt, cheese, hunks of homemade bread with jams from harvest, local nuts (yep, there’s a whole chestnut growers foundation here in Michigan), and dried cranberries or cherries life isn’t so bad… if fact, it’s pretty tasty. Our bodies are already reacting to the absence of chips and the other plethora of boxed niceties in a most interesting way. Oh, and one other snack: If you have 30 minutes try roasting a whole garlic bulb and then spreading it like butter on your bread. Believe you me, it’s like butta.