Going Local: The End of the Beginning

Well, it's been quite a month. The Eat Local Challenge has been both harder and easier than I thought it would be. Harder, in that it takes a lot of planning, investigation and willpower (getting home late from work, I succumbed to eating out more than I would like to admit). Easier, in that California has seemingly endless bounty, and I liked the taste of my salads and leftovers for lunch a hell of a lot more than the frozen Trader Joe's entrees I usually snarf down while sitting at my desk.

This month I've eaten more fresh vegetables than ever before--sugar snap peas, carrots, artichokes, asparagus, and radishes have all graced my table in one form or another every week. While I never wrote about it, I've made multiple loaves of homemade bread, and stocked my freezer with pasta dough.

And as the title of this post indicates, the month may be over, but, for me, eating locally is not. The combination of the challenge and reading Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma made me realize this is not only something I should do, but also something I can and want to do. Plus, there's so many things I didn't get to--a visit to a local farm, making my own ricotta, the art of canning. It's going to be a fun summer.