So you wanna support organic and local farming — but where to start?
Check out the 100 Mile Diet site, which got started when 2 people in Vancouver — Alisa and James — decided to buy or gather all their food and drink from within 100 miles of their apartment starting in Spring 2005.
Considering that each ingredient in a typical North American meal has typically travelled at least 1,500 miles, this was a huge lifestyle change.
Read about what ensued: Alisa and James documented their year-long experiment here — and are coming out with a book, “The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating†(out Spring 2007).
And they encourage you to do likewise, with a cute 4-step program! Start out by joining the movement, then read the movement guide for ideas, and find out where your 100 miles are. Then, spread the word to friends :)
So — I joined the site a while back, but my efforts at local eating have been rather haphazard…
But! Now I’ll be putting renewed energies into actually hashing out and implementing my own lil tailored plan — which I’ll post here soon –
Update, 8/26/06: My fruits & veggies plan, here :)
Update, 3/12/07: Read the whole series, posted both here and on Treehugger.
I went on their web site and entered my info to find out the 100-mile radius - but…I’m not sure how do-able it is out here. I know that most of the food I buy at the farmers’ market comes from Fresno - not within the allowable range.
I’d love to at least move in a majority-local eating direction…so definitely keep us posted on your progress so I can follow your lead! :)
Comment by Melissa — August 24, 2006 @ 3:19 pm
That’s awesome! I really hope you’re successful. My wife, Cindy, and I were talking about starting the 100-mile diet this spring, but we got a bit sidetracked by life. Still, It hasn’t been hard to increase the amount of local food we eat without eliminating the long-distance stuff completely. We’d like to move forward as soon as possible, now that things have settled down a bit. Bread and grains will be really hard, though. Even so, it’s a beautiful concept, isn’t it?
Comment by parge — August 25, 2006 @ 7:26 am
I love my CSA! It’s a surprise every week.
Comment by Jasmin — August 25, 2006 @ 2:59 pm
Hey Melissa — I wouldn’t worry too mucha about seeing 100 miles as a limit — There are no rules :) Fresno’s way better than like NY or even farther –
Parge — Luckily in Cali, we have Cali grown rice :) Not sure where you are –
Jasmin — I tried to find a CSA, inspired by you –
Comment by Siel — August 28, 2006 @ 3:22 pm