Friday, August 17—Day 17

What did we eat today?

Breakfast: Toast with honey and butter

Lunch: Goat cheese and crackers, carrots, cider. (Leftover pork chop for Scott)

Dinner: Sausage and onions, green beans, cherries and yellow doll watermelon.

(no photos today—most Fridays we are on the run, and this one was no exception)

Very excited for farmers' markets tomorrow (2 of them).

I had an email from a friend today—she had been reflecting on an article she read about cutting down rainforests to provide cropland for soy production. It got her to thinking about how much soy she had added to her own diet as a lean protein source, wondering where all that soy comes from.

Well, I suppose it can be hard to know. After corn, I would guess that soybeans are the #2 commodity crop grown in the US. To the extent that people see problems with conventional agriculture, be it in soil conservation, pesticide and fertilizer use, broken subsidy systems, or genetically modified stocks, soy has them all in spades. And taken as a category, soy beans have zero traceablility, which is basically the definition of a commodity crop. When you read your food labels and see "soy protein concentrate", "soy lecithin" and a million other things, this is what you are buying. That's not to say that you can't buy soy products that are not part of the conventional commodity market—I assume that you can, though I'll confess that I do not know for sure. Certainly certified organic soy products are part of a different economy, but as big as industrial organic growing has gotten, that only assures you that some of the issues above are addressed, but not necessarily all. If you care, you have to do the homework and find out.

But another thing popped into my head, and I shared this with my friend—soy is turning out not to be the wonderfood we once thought. There are a lot of compounds in soy that are suspected of mimicing hormonal effects, perhaps causing gynecological problems, among others. I also had to point out that soy is not exactly as lean as we might assume: a 4 oz serving of firm tofu has 6 grams of fat. Compare that to 4 ounces of skinless chicken breast at 1.5 grams.

We eat tofu occasionally, but we normally opt for other protein sources, some leaner and some richer than soy. Why? I'll admit that I like meat better than tofu, but tofu is fine—I'm perfectly happy to eat it. The big thing for us is that we know where the meat comes from. We get chicken from people named Kay and Matthew, beef from Jim and Rebecca, pork from Sue and Tony. If I want to know how fresh it is or how it was raised, I will just ask them, or better yet, go see for myself. But I know for sure that the meat our family eats is not implicated in any way with destruction of rainforests or any of the other issues I noted above.

That's what we care about, so that's what we choose. What do you care about? Do your choices support that?

—SCL

Thursday, August 16: Day 16

Breakfast: yummy tortillas made with corn from the Rengers topped with cheese, tomatoes, jalapenos and onions



Lunch: HONEY!


Dinner: Pork chops (See "Rengers" above), amaranth sauteed with garlic, veggie kabobs and flatbread







A wonderful friend gave us honey from her hives today--Evie ate it with a spoon for lunch! The same friend gave us salsa, popcorn and cauliflower! Scott got more flour today (still has to be sifted but we didn't have to mill this batch) and cider. We also expanded our 100 miles a bit to include Island Wheat Ale from Capital Brewery. Washington Island has a unique micro-climate and they are growing all sorts of interesting grain crops.

Today is the halfway point. I am glad we are not trying this in February! We are all amazed at how much time food procurement and preparation takes. We are eating well, feeling healthy and being amazed. We also really miss chocolate--we used a free coupon from Working Assets to get a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. The ice cream was good, but I felt a little weird eating it. Where did all the ingredients come from? Did the farmers get paid a fair wage? What impact does their manufacturing plant have on their environment? Can I recycle this package? Am I caving in? Can my money still do good here?

Wow! I thought about our food before, but never so thoroughly! I think we are renewed and ready to continue.

Wednesday, August 15: Day 15

Today's theme comes from our observance of two little words seen on our journeys throughout Madison: "coffee chip." It was the flavor and Michael's frozen custard today and it had Scott and I thinking of two of our favorite indulgences--coffee (me) and chocolate (all of us). I think we were all feeling deprived today because we had not laid in enough supplies to accomodate anything but our planned menus. We are out of flour again so cookies or a cake were out, we are low on milk and cream so ice cream was out. Earlier today Scott wanted a salty, crunchy snack he could just grab. The usual popcorn wasn't doing it and we are out of peanut butter. We are eating fabulously, but truth be told it is a lot of work. There really are no convenience foods that fit our rules, so if we want to grab something fast, we either make do with something fresh and whole or we need to have planned ahead.

When we reach for a snack, there are normally just one or two choices. When you eat "normally" there is typically a much greater diversity of choices. Takes some getting used to. And the planning is different, too. When you have fewer choices from which to pick, your consumption of the items you do have goes up as well. With no lemonade (a summer favorite), we are going through a lot more cider (which is also our replacement for orange juice) and milk, our consumption of which is up about 50% since the experiment began.

Today's meals:

Breakfast: Wheat bran cereal, toast with butter and/or peanut butter, cider, milk.

Lunch: Edamame, watermelon, open-face grilled cheese.

Dinner: We ran out of wheat flour, so we had Rhode Island Johnnycakes with edamame and pork breakfast sausage from Willow Creek Farm . The sausage was particularly delicious. Jen admitted that she was considering licking the fry pan, and Scott allowed as how he was thinking of sucking on the paper towel on which they were drained.

Tuesday, August 14: Day 14

How deep do you go? By that, I mean how deep into the food production process do you look to determine what is "local"? For example, we have several good ice cream companies here in town. The ice cream is made here. Most of the milk probably comes from within our radius, but the sugar and many of the flavorings undoubtedly do not--chocolate, coffee, coconut, and many others. Can this still count as local? Sure, if you want it to. For the purposes of our experiment, we decided it did not. But we've always given special status to locally owned companies over national chains.

So how deep do we go? I think we're going pretty deep. We're basically buying pure ingredients for almost everything--we have bought almost no "value-added" foods, or foods which are prepared in any way. The exceptions are yogurt, which is a value-added milk product. We are eating plain yogurt, so we don't face the question of added sweeteners, etc. But our yogurt does list powdered milk as an ingredient. This week I will find out where it comes from. The the elephant in the room for us is certain meat products, specifically sausages. They have a bunch of seasonings in them that we have not accounted for—pepper, fennel, coriander, and some others, depending on the type of sausage. Some of these may be local, but some certainly are not. This kind of snuck up on us—it didn't really occur to us until we were underway, so we have opted not to make an issue of it.

The question of "value-added" foods is an interesting place to study the modern food system. What we have learned is that the realities of business make it nearly impossible to have a prepared or value-added food item that can be 100% traced back to a single local area. There is of course the question of salt, but what if we overlook that? Cheese is probably the closest we can come, but my recollection is that the enzymes and cultures the cheesemakers use are purchased from elsewhere (another one to research this weekend). This is why we like to buy directly from producers—if we want to know something we just ask the guy/gal who makes or grows it.

Of course any sort of baked item is likely to have flour from Kansas or North Dakota, maybe dairy (butter, milk, buttermilk, milk protein, etc) from Wisconsin (or New York or California), oil or shortening made from commodity crops (corn, soybeans, sunflowers, or others) that are grown all over and have no traceability at all, and perhaps sugar, which may come from Florida, Louisiana, Minnesota, or any number of places (and those are just the ones inside the US).

I guess where I am going with this is that the way we conceive of something as basic as a recipe is a product of a very widely-spread agricultural economy. "The system" seeks out areas that have optimum conditions for a given crop and producers there specialize in that. So getting a 100 mile apple pie is a real trick—for the crust you need wheat that comes from a fairly dry place, and you need butter or lard which come from animals that need plenty of greenery—not much overlap between the two. And of course you need the apples, which can grow a lot of places, but not in western Kansas or North Dakota where your wheat came from. And you'll need a bit of sugar, as well. Cane sugar is a tropical crop, but beet sugar is grown in wide range of climates. But if you get sugar at the grocery store, there is only a 30% chance it is from sugar beets. Sure, you can use honey or maple syrup. Each will leave its own flavor imprint on your pie, which may be good or bad depending on your taste. One thing we can guarantee is that the pie will be really soupy, as both maple syrup and honey contain a lot of water. You could maybe add a bit of tapioca or arrowroot starch to thicken it up, but those are both products of the rainforest. . . So where where does this leave us? Nowhere in particular except to make it clear that there is no "purity" to be had, and that if you choose to learn the history of your food it is a complex plot that you may have difficulty following. But it sure is interesting, and you'll meet some great people along the way and learn a lot.

Menu for today:

Breakfast: Wheat bran cereal, yogurt with maple syrup, apple cider.

Lunch: Assorted things from the fridge (hot dogs, veggies)

Dinner: Pizza from the wood-fired earth oven. Whole wheat crust, home-made tomato sauce, Farmer John's cheese and Pecatonica Valley Farms Greenbush Italian Sausage. Yummy! Dessert of whipped cream and preserved rhubarb (probably with some sugar in it, but I am not sure, maybe honey).

Sorry,no pictures. We had good friends in from out of town and they have 4 kids 7 and under. Mayhem!

—SCL

Monday, August 13: Day 13

Breakfast was delicious baguette, toasted with butter and peanut butter and cider.
Lunch for Scott was a hot dog with baguette and cider. Jen and Evie and some friends ate out today (more on that later).
Dinner was fondue made with cheese from Forgotten Valley Cheese. We dipped bread, steamed potatoes, raw summer squash and blanched green beans. We also had a cold veggie platter.







Three observations from the day:

1) We are generating almost no trash right now. The only packaging we are purchasing is milk bottles and yogurt containers which can be returned and recycled respectively. All our organic waste gets composted and office paper etc. also gets recycled.

2) Up until today we have been nearly 100% 100 mile compliant. Today, it was easier for Jen to take Evie and two friends to lunch than to come home and prepare a meal. The three young girls asked to go to a small, local place with excellent fresh food. They are not partcipating in Buy Fresh, Buy Local yet, but we can work on them. The girls specifically requested lunch at this place, knowing that they have yummy, fresh options--the next generation is thinking about their food!

3) Many people have said to us some version of the following: "I think what you are doing is great and we would love to eat like that but I could never give up X." Well, if there is only one thing maybe it is time to evaluate if you really can or can't live without it. Maybe it is time to investigate the most responsible way to obtain X (the big ones we hear about are coffee and chocolate, both of which are available in combinations of organic or fair trade or both, depending on what you value). Maybe it is time to live satisfied and happy with the amount of local goods you do buy. But spread the word. As with so many things, a lot of people doing a little is a far more powerful force than a few people doing a lot.

Sunday, August 12: Day 12

If you walked into our house today you would be bowled over by the overwhelming feeling that you were walking into a giant tomato. I started making sauce at around 5:00 am and by the time I was satisfied with the thickness it was 3:00 pm and I had 12 quarts ready. Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year and it gives me such pleasure to put up food for the coming colder months. Luckily I have an extremely generous friend who lets me share her giant freezer--this means I can can less and freeze more! (Maybe I Can-can less too! Can you tell I have been breathing lycopene all day!)

Breakfast was a modest affair of leftover bread products and cider. Lunch was "things we can grab while we sweat" and included glorious local peaches that brought tears to my eyes with their deliciousness, tomatoes (shocking!), cheese curds, carrots, a tiny melon and apples. Dinner will be out at my parents' house and will be roasted chicken, potatoes, chard, kohlrabi, and our-of-this-world peaches and strawberries (thank goodness for the everbearing variety!)



Scott baked our bread for the week in our wood fired oven today--all 100 mile certified and delicious!

I am posting early today because we are headed out for dinner in the country and watching the Perseid meteor shower. We have been overwhelmed this week with people's generosity of time, knowledge and food. Thank you to all who are enthusiastic about our project, we are thrilled that so many people find this experiment interesting. Some of you eat like this already and want to know that there are "more out there." For others of you these ideas are new--thanks for coming along for the ride

Saturday, August 11: Day 11

Today was, once again, food procurement day. Scott went to the Dane County Farmers' Market as usual. He also went to the Westside Community Farmers' Market (for milk and yogurt) as usual.










We also got food from two new sources today. First, we are lucky to have a friend who goes out of town at this time each year and we get her CSA box from Harmony Valley Farm (click the link for a list of what was in today's box). Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a partnership between a grower and a consumer whereby the consumer pays to cover the farm's operating expenses in exchange for a portion of the harvest. The business idea originated in Japan where the practices is called teikei, literally "putting a farmer's face on food." Belonging to a CSA is great for people interested in eating locally but who choose not to garden or who want more variety than one family's garden can provide. CSA is a relationship that provides a healthy business, healthy land stewardship and delicious food to eat! You can pick a CSA with with mostly standard produce or pick one that throws in the unusual occasionally. We had fresh amaranth greens in our box today and served them as a salad with a warm bacon and shallot vinaigrette (our vinegar is finally ready!) We also got two exotic melons (Butterscotch and Orange French) that we can't wait to try. For more info on local CSA options in Madison contact the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition. Click here to find a CSA anywhere in the US.






The second place we visited knocked my socks off. It is a farm West of Madison called The Tree Farm (thanksKevin!) The place has been in business since 1973 and is a pick-your-own vegetable and tree farm. They have tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, potatoes, herbs, flowers--you name it! The quality is wonderful, the quantity is staggering, the setting is amazing and the prices and fantastic. You must bring your own containers and follow their rules (nothing onerous) and the joy of harvest can be yours. Honestly, after today I feel I never have to yearn for a giant garden again. I can go harvest every year and preserve for winter. We picked a few tomatoes (ahem!) and sauce is reducing in our kitchen as we speak.


It took the whole day and quite a few dollars to outfit ourselves for another week of feeding ourselves from our immediate surroundings. I appreciate the hard work of farmers more than ever and I marvel at the diversity and succulence of what grows right here at home.

Oh yeah--what we ate:
Breakfast: toast with peanut butter and cider and blueberries
Lunch: snacked on produce and cheese and crackers all day
Dinner: cornbread, amaranth salad with bacon, corn on the con, red peppers and cucumbers