Eating In Place: 04/01/08

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Chickens!

How could I have forgotten our new feathered friends!?! Last November we adopted two chickens, Ricka (Rhode Island Red) and Flicka (Redstar). You can see them in the fabulous film Mad City Chickens this Thursday in the 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival.

They are a wonderful addition to our family and have been laying two gorgeous eggs a day since just after Christmas. They are affectionate and fun to watch, they efficiently process our compost into food for us and are a constant and tangible reminder that we really do care about knowing where our food comes from--in this case, our own backyard!

What

Chapter 1: One month (August 2007) of eating completely local. Everything we eat will come from within a 100 mile radius of Madison, WI.

Chapter 2: We want to hear your stories! Surprise us, inspire us! We will continue to blog a few times a week, talking about the change of seasons, highlighting local eating in the news and profiling producers in our area. Please keep reading!

Chapter 3: Another growing season is here! Happy spring 2008! Local food news is everywhere, check back to see what is happening here in WI and around the world.

Why

We live in a state that grows a lot of food. We are within walking distance from the largest producers Farmers Market in North America. We know that locally grown food is better for our environment, better economics, better tasting, better for our health and better for our relationships. We want to inspire others to take a leap to local eating. We are an ordinary family who cares deeply for the planet we live on. Eating locally is the most concrete and radical thing we can do to make the world a better place.

Cha-ching! How much does it cost to eat local?

These were our expenditures for the month of August 2007, eating nothing from further than 100 miles from Madison, WI. People still ask us about money so this will stay in the sidebar for now!

Week 1 : August 1-3: $10.50 (dairy), $11.25 (produce)
TOTAL: $21.75
Time: It takes a long time to mill your own grain and make peanut butter!

Week 2: August 4-10: $130 (Farmer's Market), $15.50 (farmstand, winery)
TOTAL: $145.50
Time: 2.5 hours for peanut butter, hours and hours for processing grain and baking

Week 3: August 11- 17: $100 (Farmer's Market), $51.69 (pick your own)
TOTAL: $151.69
Time: Anything involving cereal crops continues to take hours and hours of our time.

Week 4: August 18-24: $80 (Farmers Market), $16 (grocery store--still all local, don't worry!) $???? (meal out -see 8/24--my parents treated us)
TOTAL: $96+
Time: Minimal this week, we had bread products in place and Scott was out of town so meals were simpler

Week 5: August 25-31: $96 (Farmers Markets), $30 berry picking
TOTAL: $126
Time: Tortillas and peanut butter took some time but we weren't stockpiling for the coming week as much

TOTAL MONEY SPENT IN AUGUST ON FOOD: $540.94

Eating In Place

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Chickens!

What

Where Can You Find Us Now?

Fine Print (from August 2007)

Who

Why

Email us!

What we look like

Cha-ching! How much does it cost to eat local?

WI Food Resources

Local Food Resources Worldwide

Other Local Food Blogs

Books: Food for Thought

Who is reading this?

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