How do you define local? One Local Summer defines local as from within 100 miles. Our local food co-op stretches their definition to 300 miles, encompassing the wheat fields of the Dakotas and the dairy barns of Wisconsin. I look at my pantry and I see the remaining few quarts of the tomatoes I put by last year - these were purchased directly from a farmer with whom I spoke for a half hour about her farm, her flock of sheep and how the growing season had unfolded for her and her plants. But the tomatoes were grown over 225 miles from my home and purchased while I was visiting another part of the state. Local?
And what about sustainably grown and conventional? There's a greenhouse located within ten miles that pumps out peppers and tomatoes year round, but I don't typically purchase these vegetables because they're conventionally grown. I do purchase the organic ones from Mexico with regularity. Lesser of two evils? Or not?
And what about packaging? I can buy Minnesota grown portabella mushrooms from my food co-op that are packaged in a plastic-wrapped fiberboard carton, or I can purchase the bulk ones that are grown in Pennsylvania. The fungi from the other state seems like the better choice, but is it really?
Clearly this week's One Local Summer meal (which I packed and ate for lunch through the week) has me thinking about the complexity of food systems and eating local. I made chard, garlic greens and feta quiche with a whole wheat pastry crust and served it with mixed greens. Mixed greens grown by my family, right here. Eggs, butter, milk, chard and garlic greens from within 75 miles. Cheese from a farmer's co-op based 250 miles away. Wheat grown within 300 miles, but ground into flour within 200 miles. All local by someone's definition, which will have to do until I figure out one that makes most sense to me. I'd love to hear if/how you struggle with the local food quandry.
