So we did it! Part One: The Apology

Hello Faithful Readers,

We would like to apologize for our lack of postings during the past 7+ months. We apologize for slowly stringing you along with the posts we provided, giving you just enough of a glimpse into our locally living lives to get you hooked. And then snapping away your front row seat into our lives at the source. And all without warning. I’m sure it was tough for many of you, checking everyday, only to be disappointed time after time after time. I especially apologize to the people who asked us personally “When will the next post be up?” and we straight-faced told you, “oh I’m sure we will get one up this week.” Yes, we lied. I apologize for the withdrawal, the sweats, the aches. But mostly I apologize to those who have learned to carry on without us, those who have become functioning members of society once again. The people who are driven to push the economy forward by buying useless Chinese made products at the Dollar Store. I apologize to you most of all, for with this post we offer you the mother of all relapses. For the drought has ended and now comes times of floods. We have finished our trial  year. Today I offer you an outline of our adventures, our accomplishments, our challenges and mostly our plan for the future. Shortly Kyla will offer a post with our favorite local items from the past year.

The main reason we started this project was more of a curiosity. We wanted to see if we could do this, and to see if it would be hard. There were obvious benefits from the start; less impact on the environment, and supporting the local economy. But there were also a lot of hidden benefits. We are both healthier and in better shape today than when we started a year ago. This time last year I weighed 25 pounds more than I do today. This was done without a reduction in the amount I eat or in my lifestyle choices. Now this might be a different story had I lived in Hershey Pennsylvania and decided to do a local living project. But, for the most part the foods available to us locally were much healthier than the foods not available locally, and eating fresh in season produce is much healthier than eating processed or canned variations of the same food that is available in the supermarkets. To top it off, the food tastes better, which is my next hidden benefit. By eating locally we are forced to eat seasonally a lot more. By eating seasonally we got to eat fresh food. If you compare a tomato or strawberry picked in your back yard to something that is grown in California or Mexico you will notice the difference. How can something that has been picked early, sprayed to keep from rotting and spent a week on a truck be as good as something is fresh. I won’t even go into all the negative externalities of the large agricultural industries. It is no wonder that  all the top chefs believe that having quality fresh ingredients is the most important aspect to making good food. Another great thing has been having to improve our variety and not cook with common foods. Finding replacements for rice has lead us to using Barely and Spelt, which we will be using lots more of in the future. We have also been able to find great/new uses for things like Daikon, Celeriac, Kale, Sunchokes all of which will become staples for us in the future. One of my favorite benefits has been getting to know the people who grow our food, and happily supporting them. There is nothing better than going to the farmers market or bakery or local Pizza place and buying great food or goods from nice people who live in our community who we get to know and they get to know us and mostly who are happy to have our business.

This post will be continued…. I Promise