Yesterday's Purchases, and Last Night's Dinner

As I said yesterday, I had $49 to spend at the Cleveland Clinic Farmers Market yesterday afternoon. Here's what I bought:

- 4 tomatoes, 1 zucchini, 2 pattypan squash, 2 cucumbers, 1 green pepper, pint of sugar snap peas - $12
- 2 bunches of fresh herb pasta - $3
- 1 loaf of multigrain bread - $4.50
- 2 heads of fresh field lettuce - $5
- 1 large bucket of apples - $6
- My splurge items (but so delicious and totally worth the money): 1 quart each of cherries, blueberries and golden raspberries - $16

Grand total: $46.50

When you think about it, this is a lot of loot and will go a long way. Berries are always the most expensive, but the veggies are very reasonably priced. I'm going to do a price comparison at some point to find out how to get the most bang for my buck (and to try and debunk the myth that shopping at the farmers market is much more pricey than at the grocery store!)

Last Night's Dinner
My birthday was yesterday, and my parents arrived from Cincinnati. We decided to have a cookout. On the menu was:
- Burgers: ground beef from herdshare, local swiss cheese from Heinen's, chicken patties from Tea Hills Farm (they have the best chicken patties!), and buns from Breadsmith
- Tossed salad (with fresh veggies from farmers market)
- Local roasted potatoes
- Broccoli salad (not local, from Heinen's, purchased by my mom)

I was excited to see that my parents are supportive of our 100-mile diet. I'm not surprised though, since they really are the ones who instilled my values in me. My dad grabbed some milk out of our fridge this morning, it's Hartzler Farm milk in a glass bottle, and he said: "Wow, I haven't seen a glass milk bottle in a long time. Looks like we're 'catching up with the Amish'." "Catching up with the Amish" is one of my Dad's favorite phrases - he really admires their culture and lifestyle, and he thinks that we would be a lot happier as a people if we were more like the Amish. I can't wait to visit our herdshare Amish farmers in September to see if my Dad has been right all along!

Let's Find Out What $49 Will Get Me at the Farmers Market

One of the most common arguments against farmers markets is: "They cost too much."

How can a family on a tight budget obtain enough food at a farmers market to subsist? I hope that, over the course of the next two months, I can show how its possible! So my challenge today is to spend my $49 (I spent $1 on coffee this morning) at the farmers market, and then reveal what we're eating over the next few days and the cost per meal. (HINT: $49 will go a long way if you spend your money wisely and get creative!)

So stay tuned - I'll be back tomorrow with the goods and how we're using them!

Today's Lunch and An Added Bonus!

For lunch today, I have a sandwich, soda water and melon.

The sandwich: Breadsmith bread; lettuce, tomato and cucumbers from the farmers market; and Mackenzie Creamery herbed goat cheese. This sandwich is honestly delicious. I thought it would be missing something without any meat or condiments, but it rocks my world. Dan agrees.

The soda water: We drink so much soda water that we invested in a Sodastream two years ago. I love that we can make homemade soda water for almost free (need to buy new chargers every few months), and we're producing no waste.

The melon: This is my only non-100-mile item for lunch. (Fortunately for me its not July yet!)

The added bonus: This is a garbage-less lunch! I pack my lunch in a cooler, and use resuable containers, therefore producing no waste! An added benefit of the 100-mile diet means that we'll be eating out less and purchasing fewer items that produce waste (packaged foods). Not only is the 100-mile diet healthy for our family and supportive of the local economy, but its helping us produce less waste and therefore reducing our environmental footprint. A win, win, win!

What Happens When You Send Your Husband to the Farmers Market

I sent Dan to the farmers market today to pick up vegetables and fruit. He came home with one cucumber, two chocolate chip cookies, and this cinnamon roll (almost the size of his head).

Me: Dan, what the hell is that?
Dan: They didn't have many veggies. I LOVE the 100-mile diet.

Last Night's Mostly Local Dinner

As I mentioned yesterday, I went to the farmers market and picked up groceries to last us till the next farmers market trip on Saturday. Last night we had the pierogis with zucchini, squash and onions, and green beans. Here's the recipe/ingredient list:

Pierogis (local-made, not sure about source of ingredients), sauteed in olive oil
Zucchini, summer squach and onions (all local), sauteed in olive oil
Steamed green beans (local)









Total cost of dinner: $10

I also made some baby food for Evan last night, and I'll post some of my recipes and the local ingredient list at a later time.

Today's Farmers Market Finds

Each Wednesday and Saturday this summer I will go grocery shopping at my local farmers markets. I'm extremely fortunate to have a farmers market literally at my doorstep at work. The Cleveland Clinic Farmers Market is a way our organization demonstrates its commitment to the health and wellness of our local communities, including the people and the physical environment.

Each Wednesday about 30 vendors set up on a green space on campus, and thousands of employees, patients and visitors shop for local goods. Today's finds were fabulous, as usual!

- Pierogis and hummus (we'll need to cut these out when the formal 100-mile diet begins as the ingredients aren't all local)
- Bread and chocolate chip cookies (a girl needs to snack!)
- Garlic and Chive fresh pasta
- zucchini, patty pan squash (see right) and cucumbers
- two types of lettuce

Tonight we're going to have the pierogis topped with the zucchini and squash. Tomorrow night we'll have the pasta with a salad, and Friday we'll have some local chicken burgers with some local red potatoes and green beans. Yummy! (Once we get into the actual challenge I'll start posting recipes).

Our First Herd Share Pick Up

I just returned home from our first herd share pick up. Technically we're not part of the herd share because we don't get the raw-milk dairy products...yet. To be in the herd share means to pay each month to have a farmer take care of cows, and then you reap the products - raw milk, butter, cream, yogurt. We sampled the raw milk last week and it was VERY grassy tasting. I've heard that raw milk is the most grassy tasting in the spring though because that's when there's the most grass. So I was told to re-try it again later this summer when the cows start eating more hay. At that point if it tastes better, we'll join the herd share.

Anyway, we're not technical herd share members, but we are part of the group that gets goods from the Amish farmers in Holmes County (90 miles away). The Yoder Family, which I referenced in my last post, is a temperate Amish family that uses technology to help with the family business. So we place our orders online each week, and then one member of the herd share travels to the Yoder family farm each Monday to pick up the goods for all the family. Since it's our first week I didn't order much, but here's what we got:

- Chicken breasts
- Ground beef
- Eggs
- Granola
- Granola Bars

I just finished a granola bar and it was yummy. I'm excited we joined the herd share and am looking forward to the goodies to come!

Exceptions

Some hard-core 100-mile dieters are absolute purists. I am going to make a few concessions for our first go at this. Let’s face it – some things just don’t grow within 100 miles of Cleveland but are kind of necessary. Therefore, those few things will be allowed. After all, this isn’t so much about depriving my family as it is about demonstrating that it’s relatively simple to eat local.

Here’s what we’ll be consuming from outside a 100-mile radius:
- Coffee
- Dark chocolate (I.can’t.live.without.chocolate.)
- Olive oil & balsamic vinegar (for cooking and salads)
- Bananas and avocados for Evan (his developing brain and body need the nutrients from these guys)
- Alcohol (although we’ll try to drink mostly local wines and Great Lakes beer, which is a Cleveland beer. I contacted Great Lakes and found out that their ingredients are from an international supply chain, but the company gets the produce for its restaurant from local growers and is growing local hops for one of their beers this fall.)

We’ll also make exceptions to the 100-mile diet when we occasionally eat out and go on vacation this summer (although we’ll try to choose local foods if available).

Any thoughts/suggestions/substitutions for the items above that we may be able to get locally?

This is how we do it

(Yes, you’re supposed to sing this blog entry title to the 1995 hit song by Montell Jordan!)

How are we going to subsist while eating items from within a 100-mile radius of Cleveland? Here the plan:

- Farmers Markets: The North Union Farmers Market operates farmers markets at several locations around Cleveland throughout the summer. And fortunately, one is located at Cleveland Clinic, my place of employment, on Wednesdays! The other I attend regularly is at Crocker Park on Saturdays. The farmers markets will provide us with:
o Bread from Breadsmith in Lakewood (they try to use as many local ingredients as possible)
o Pasta from Ohio City Pasta (they also try to use as many local ingredients as possible)
o Produce from the various vendors
o Meats, cheese and grains from the various vendors

- Herdshare: I’m happy to announce that as of this week, we’re members of an Amish herdshare run by the Yoder Family in Amish Country, Ohio. While we’re not technically herd owners, more on that later, we are part of the group and therefore are enabled to buy from the Yoders’ online site:
o Beef, chicken, pork, etc.
o Eggs
o Produce
o Grains
o Cheese
o Raw milk*

- Grocery Store: Heinen’s in Cleveland carries Hartzler Family Dairy milk. They also carry Mitchell’s Homemade ice cream, and you can imagine my excitement when I discovered this weekend that Michell’s is featuring flavors made from ingredients within 100 miles of Cleveland :)

- Our garden!! This is the one that excites me most. This year we’re growing tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, squash, cucumbers and herbs.

*You must be part of the herdshare in order to purchase the raw milk. Raw milk sales are only permitted in Ohio if you are a herd owner, aka a part owner of a cow. I’m not ready to jump into the raw milk scene yet.

So this list looks pretty comprehensive, right? It is, but it isn’t. What’s most daunting to me is that our menu will essentially be created for us by what’s available each week. For example, asparagus and lettuce are going gang-busters right now, so we’re eating lots of it. However, later this summer asparagus and lettuce won’t be available at the markets. Which means we won’t eat it.

Like I said, we’re using the month of June to gear up, clean out the cupboards at home and stock up on local items.

Why the 100-Mile Diet?

As the years have gone by, I've taken a greater interest in all-things sustainability. (I don't consider myself a "tree-hugging hippie", but I do go by the nickname Green Kristine.) For me, living sustainably isn't a fad. It's actually more of a step back in time. It's about a return to norms that existed when my great grandparents were living - eating quality foods as a family, purchasing products to last (not be tossed after one use) - thinking about how we can make as little impact during our time here on earth as possible, in order to protect the health and welfare of future generations.

Anyway, this all came to a headway after I finished reading "No Impact Man" a couple weeks ago. I realized that since my son was born in October, I had become pretty complacent in my sustainability practices. (Anyone who has had an infant probably understands why being green got pushed to the back burner.) But now that Evan is getting older - including eating table food - and I've recently started working part-time, I don't have any excuses.

So my husband and I have decided that during the months of July and August, our family is going on the 100 Mile Diet. Everything we consume (*with a few exceptions, which will be discussed at a later time), must come from within 100 miles of our home in Cleveland. We think the 100 mile diet is a great opportunity to support our local economy, reduce our impact on the environment (more about that at a later time too) and ensure that we're getting the highest quality foods.

So stay tuned...lots more to come. We're using the month of June to gear up for the diet, and I'll use June to blog more about the whys and hows of the diet.