Model B

I grew up with an old Farmall Model M tractor with a bucket loader. It was a work horse plowing fields in the spring and plowing snow in the winter. It was so involved with our projects that it was almost like a member of the family. Need to reach some pears? Jump in the bucket and up you go. Need to repair the stone driveway? Break out the M. Is it time to plow? Then hook up the M and tear up some dirt.

Its been years since I got to sit between the big wheels. So I was pretty excited to jump up on our 'new' Allis Chalmers Model B.

The Model B was released in 1937 and marketed to small farmers (less than 100 acres.) Its main competition at the time was the horse. It sold for $495 which made it affordable for the small farmer.

We picked up this little classic for a little more. Our purchase bought us into the antique farm crowd. It runs great but needs a little work here and there to make the implements easier to use. That will be a fun winter project for my brother Cody and myself. The Tractor opens up a lot of opportunities and will make next spring easier.

Kristin and I realized that the only time we were spending outside was when we were required to make a presance at the garden. Often as that was we decided that we needed some more time outside. We looked at our dog Russell and asked him if he would like a walk. He responded by running laps around the tiny living room. We leashed him and loaded him in the car. Our destination was Tucquan Glen Nature Preserve.

Tucquan Glenn is a sight were several streams combine before dumping into the Susquahanna river. It is a great place to hike and explore. There are some small swimming holes filled with chilly water even in the summer heat. Russell wasn't crazy about the water but he was in the zone while hiking. It was a great outdoor experience for our little family, my wife, russell and myself.

Sizzle

With no rain for days and temperatures today reaching 99.7 degrees F farmers are starting to sweat. No rain can mean a bad yield and a bad yield is not good for their already stretched finances. Our own garden is feeling the heat but with a little watering and the straw mulch locking in moisture things aren't looking to bad.

Driving home from work today the corn all looked like an army holding sharp, green spears in my direction. Hopefully the weather rebounds and we start to get some of the wet stuff.

27

Kristin picked up a new book today. When I got home I picked it up and browsed through the introduction. It was a book about how to live your life the way you want to. The beginning of the introduction described in brief the process by which the author got his book published. Twenty-six publishers turned him down and even after the book was signed he was told that it would never sell. The odds were against him, statistics never lie. Five days after the book was released it was on the New York Times Best seller list. Eventually it became number one.

Sometimes I feel like that author after 26 rejections. The lifestyle that I want to live seems years away. We want to grow a garden, have a small farm where we don't just grow soybeans and #2 corn. Sometimes making it happen seems economically improbable. Everything else seems to get in the way of what we really want to do.

Sometimes we fail. This year a quarter of the land that we tilled for the garden went to weeds and without equipment it is slow work reclaiming it. Its late in the season. We are getting ready to plant hard-skin squash for the fall. Every time I want to go work at the garden it means forty minutes of driving.

In a lot of ways we failed this year. But there were a lot of peas and lettuce. There is plenty of squash, and there will be tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, potatoes, onions and more. Next year will be more organized. Seedling trays will be labeled better and a clear schedule will be followed. Our greenhouse will be sturdy and not succumb to the wind. We've come a long way from the garden that we grew up in. We were losing a hundred sweet potatoes to White-tails every year and trying to grow carrots in rocky soil. We have a long way to go.

Timothy Ferriss author of the number one New York Times best seller, The 4-Hour Workweek never gave up. Twenty-six publishers told him his book was not worth their time. Someday we'll find our twenty-seven. In the meantime we'll get really good at squashing bugs and pulling weeds.

pieris rapae

It is amazing the things that can be learned when something new is tried. With every plant that we put in the ground we become associated with a whole new universe of hungry bugs. Our lack of pesticide leaves us locked in an intimate relationship with potato beetles, cucumber beetles, squash borers and crickets.

This year, my personal favorite is the cabbage worm. Our particular variety is the larvea of the Small White butterfly (pieris rapae). They lay single cream colored eggs on the underside of our cabbage, broccoli and kale. In five to seven days they hatch and begin to wreak havoc on our plants. I had thought that we could control them with hand powered insecticide, (squishing) but their population seems to have exploded.

They can reduce kale to a sad looking stalk and ruin a cabbage head in an afternoon. However, against this tide of white fluttering wings and munching larvae there is hope. This week I will be investing in floating row covers and some plants that are reported to deter the pesky butterfly. The row covers will deter the moths from laying eggs.

We do have friends to help us with the cabbage worms. Today I say a wasp happily munching away on one. There are also wasps that lay eggs inside the worms. The wasp larvae then consume the worm before developing into adults.

Despite the constant battle between us and our small enemies the garden is extremely rewarding. It offers us our zen moment, out in the sun pulling weeds and squashing bugs.

Today was the first day that members could come pick up produce from our small cooperative. I was nervous. After all of the care and devotion that we gave to the produce as it was growing I dare say that we love it. It was almost as if people were coming to pick up puppies when they came for their produce. I hope they'll give it a good home.

Meals From Scratch

There have been a lot of challenges since Kristin and I started our one-hundred mile diet in April. Ingredients are not always available, meat is expensive, and bread has to be made. The convenience of the grocery store has disappeared now that we depend on the offerings of local farmers. Despite and even because of all of the challenges we have gained many things from our experience as well.

We have both become more proficient in the kitchen. Kristin has become quite the homemaker whipping up yogurt, breads and other tasty staples. We have also gotten a lot better at using what is available. Which is why it might suprise you that we enjoyed Tacos tonight.

Thats right, in the middle of June we had locavor tacos with all of the fixins'. We slow roasted some pork on Sunday and then chopped some of it up for taco meat today. We used a homemade taco seasoning recipe and made our own corn meal tortillas from scratch. The cheese came from Millport dairy, the tomato from a farmer's greenhouse in Mountville and the lettuce from our garden.

We popped some popcorn on the stove-top and let the i-pod serenade us with spanish guitar. Try these recipes from scratch. Get every one involved and crank up the spanish music for a fun family night.

Taco Seasoning

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon of cyanine (optional)

Mix in bowl.

Brown 1 pound of meat and drain.

Mix in half cup of water and seasoning mix. Simmer till water evaporates stirring occasionally.

Done!

Corn Meal Tortilla

1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour

3/4 cup of Corn Meal

1 teaspoon of salt

2 Tablespoons vegetable shortening or oil (I used olive oil)

1 cup of boiling water (measured with a metal cup)

Mix dry ingredients.

Boil water.

Add oil.

Mix in water with fork.

Role dough into a log and cut into ten pieces. Sandwich the pieces in between two cuts of wax paper. Role until thin. Peel off one side of wax paper. Cook in dry skillet until brown spots appear then remove remaining paper and cook other side.

Done!

Back in the Swing of Things

Coming home from far away is like jumping out of a moving car. You've got to hit the ground running. Life has been a whirlwind of jet lag and work days since we returned. We are fortunate to have great people taking care of things for us while we are gone. My brother Cody got a big crew together to spread straw in the garden.

They did a great job and things were looking pretty cheery when Kristin and I went there today to pull weeds in the salad bed.

The little valley that we planted in stays cool longer so our brassicas are doing well. We are just beginning to show the first signs of pest damage, which can escalate pretty fast in an organic setting. With every weed we pull and bug we crush we look forward to the day when we can own some property and have more influence over the cycles that take place in our garden.

Our italian kale looks amazing so we brought some home to simmer down with a splash of vinegar. The Peas are healthy the corn is growing and the squash is getting ready to take off. The expectation of bountiful food hovers in the air.

In three weeks we will begin sharing some of our produce with friends that purchased a share of our harvest. We are excited to show them what we've been up to.

Hawaii Pictures

Check us out on Facebook if you want to see photos and video of our trip.

Island Breakfast

When we arrived in Waimanalo, HI we hit up the grocery store and walked around with Mom Dalgaard (Kristin's mother) to find out what she grew up eating on the island. I love to cook so I wanted to try cooking some of the local cuisine. While I did not get to try all of the recipes I wanted to I did grab a lot of local food from the roadside stands.

Kristin was overjoyed to be able to indulge in all of the in-season fruit. Apple bananas, avacado, lychee, mango and coconut were just a few of

the exotic fruits that we took advantage of during our stay.

Kristin and I started every day before dawn, brewing some coffee from the island of Kona. After a two-minute walk to the beach to catch the sunrise we came back and made breakfast. Our morning meal consisted of Macadamia pancakes, eggs, local mushrooms and onion, and what ever fruit we had that day.

The price of milk is often used as an indicator for the cost of living and it is defiantly high on Oahu. However we just did not buy it. Even though milk was expensive the cost of fruits and vegetables were either comparable or lower. Hawaii is still an expensive place to live but we made out pretty good where eating is concerned.

For me it was a great experience to buy bananas at a roadside stand and look over the shoulder of the farmer to see the banana groves where my produce came from.

Hawaii

Today is the day. Kristin and I got off of work and hit the road for the Philladelphia airport. We'll sleep overnight at the Ramada and take off early tomorrow morning. What food adventures await us as we move our one-hundred mile diet to the island of Oahu?

Egg Soufflé vs. Food Waste

According to a study by the University of Arizona between forty and fifty percent of all of the food in America goes to waste. We look into our overstuffed refrigerators and, finding that it lacks the steaming plate of food that we desire at that moment, go to a restaurant or fire up the microwave. The research was conducted under a grant by the USDA by anthropologist Timothy Jones. He measured loss accrued by growers, transportation, wholesalers, retailers and finally consumers to discover that we throw away nearly half of all of the food that we grow and buy.

Food waste is part of the reason Kristin and I decided to try the one-hundred mile diet. We wanted to limit our exposure to the hidden costs of food waste. It is simple for every family to make an impact on the amount of waste. One of the biggest lessons is to know how to cook with what you got. Learn the fundamentals of food preparation. Like baking bread, using unprocessed foods as ingredients, and growing your own ingredients. Sometimes it takes creativity to figure out what to make out of what is available.

Today Kristin looked into the fridge and complained, "we don't have anything to eat." She closed the fridge and walked somberly back upstairs in defeat. I got up and took stock of what was available. We had not planned very well for company the night before and while we all enjoyed a wonderful meal then, today our pickings were slim.

I opened the fridge to discover eggs, a bag of spinach, part of an onion and milk. We also had organic flour from Daisy Organic. I paused a moment to think of what meals contained those ingredients. Quiche and soufflé came to mind.

We have stacks of cookbooks and yet I continue to scavenge the internet for recipes. I found one that did not appear to fancy and went to work. One hour and a half later a delicious smell filled the kitchen as I removed the souffle. Kristin seemed more optimistic about dinner at this point. I reheated some gravy from the previous night and Kristin started some toast. We both agreed that the meal was delicious.

It is important to invest in cooking skills if we are going to prevent food waste. Food requires preparation. It is boring, impractical and expensive to expect someone else to cook for you. Examine the labels on the food you are about to buy. If you see an ingredient that you can not buy on its own than do not buy that product. Examples include, sodium nitrate, high fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin, potassium sorbate, oligofructose. As I type these words the computer assumes they are spelling errors. What are they and how did they get into our food?

To further explore that topic look up Michael Pollan, journalist, author and food activist. He has a lot of easy to understand information about how food gets from the plant to our table. For more information on food waste look up Tristram Stuart author of Waste. His information is literally shocking but easy to grasp. For many of you it may not be necessary to tread through the mirky waters of food industry and economics.

It is easy to effect change without bearing the burden of all that info. The steps to eradicating food waste are as follows; buy local food from a farmer, cook it yourself and enjoy. You will become part of the food-waste solution. You will also get to experience wonderful things like Spinach Souffle.

Auntie's Pretzils

Sometimes we get a craving that just has to be satisfied. Like today when I got a craving for Auntie Anne's soft pretzels. The problem is we can not always feed our craving and stay committed to eating local food.

So I got online to look up a pretzel recipe that mimics the good Aunt's, broke out our Daisy Organic flour and started to whip together a pretzel dough. We both got in on the action when the dough was done rising. One of us rolled out the dough into long strands and the other twisted it into the classic pretzel shape.

We had a lot of fun and commented on how much fun it would be to do with our kids someday. (when we get some kids.) I asked Kristin, "wouldn't you rather go watch American Idol?" to which she replied, "I hate that show." So the 'bad' food craving turned into a great experience for a couple to share.

While we waited for the pretzels to bake Kristin went to work on tomorrow's loaf of bread (Bread machine style.) When the pretzels came out of the oven a familiar smell filled the air. It was the same smell that had lured us unwillingly into the Auntie Anne's trap so many times before. Our little pastry creations were more plump than we had hoped but the flavor was exactly what we had right on. One of the little secrets must be the sweet butter.

You can't get pretzels like these in the freezer section.

Click on this link to make your own Auntie's Pretzels

Auntie's Pretzels

Travel Afar

We have some exciting news. A trip that had been canceled is now back on schedule. In less than two weeks, Kristin and I are going to take a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and take an exotic vacation to HAWAII!

Obviously we will not be packing a suitcase full of food from Lancaster county to take with us. Instead we are temporarily relocating our base of operations to the town of Waimanalo on the island of Oahu. This creates some exciting changes for our 100-mile food comitment. Our one hundred mile radius pretty much limits us to the island of Oahu. We were excited to discover that Hawaii has a great farmer's market program.

The first day we wake up in Hawaii we are going to take a walk on the beach to watch the sun rise and then go to the Waimanalo Beach Park Market. A farmers market on the beach, that's pretty cool. Every day of the week has several markets scheduled. Fresh local food should not be an issue.

Hawaii markets offer a wonderful selection of tropical produce as well as pond fish and prawns. It will definitely be a great eating experience.

Pancakes

We had a few people ask us how the pancakes were. Well let me tell you they were delicious! What a joy to wake up on Mother's Day and enjoy whole-wheat strawberry pancakes. There are days when finding local food is challenging but there are others when the experience is incredibly rewarding.

Right before we started our local food diet a series of unordinary weather patterns caused most of the Strawberries in Florida and California to ripen at the same time. The result was tons of strawberries being dumped on the market at the same time. Strawberry lovers every where rejoiced when they saw the super low prices.

We could not help but join in the strawberry buying frenzy. It was a week before the beginning of our commitment so we saw no harm. We bought strawberries at a local grocer with a California sticker on the box. They left much to be desired, the insides were mostly white, they were a little tart and they lacked sweetness.

That was a couple weeks before Lancaster's earliest strawberries made it to market. When we began our 100-mile diet sweet food became a rare experience. Lettuce, asparagus, kale, spinach, radishes, and the rare chicken took over our dinner table. So when Kristen saw the first strawberries of the season she was stoked. She was a child showing dad a wild flower bouquet when she brought them home to me. I was even more excited to find that these strawberries were absolutely amazing! They were sweet with a little strawberry zing. They were red all the way to their cores and bursting with juicy goodness.

The strawberries are one more example of how we think this 100-mile diet is creating a deep appreciation for food in our little family. Kristin is thoroughly enjoying cooking and baking. It seems to saturate her with a deep satisfaction. She bakes all the time and just ordered a twenty-five pound bag of whole wheat flour since the smaller bags run out so fast now. The baking is one way that we save money now.

Thanks for checking in. Tomorrow we'll talk about the Fair Trade label.

Strawberries... Pink Diamonds

Typically you read my husbands writing but today it's my turn.

This morning I was driving down the long lane to visit our Amish friends to buy our eggs, cheese, and milk and their sign was a little different. Something was added, something wonderful! Fresh strawberries picked this morning. I could hardly contain my excitement. I've been craving fruit since we started this new way of eating and today is the day that I can satisfy my taste buds.

"How much do they costs?" I asked my little friend of no more than 10 years of age. In her sweet voice with a slight dutch accent she answered, "four dollars a quart". All I could think of was, you got it sister! These quarts are overflowing and to be honest, I don't care how much they cost I'm taking them. "Great! I'll take four."

While packing all the berries, and dairy products in the car I couldn't contain the smile on the face. I went to call Kyle to tell him but quickly remembered that he is at his permaculture class today. Called my mom to tell her but no one answered. So I snapped the picture above with my phone and off I went. The sweet smell danced in my car and I felt like a child at christmas, dreaming of everything I could make.

Tomorrow morning, strawberry pancakes!

Thank You

When Kristin and I were encouraged to do this web log we were a little hesitant because of our busy schedules. Now that we have committed we are finding that this is a great way for us to share all of the exciting things that happen in our lives.

What we did not expect was all of the excited feedback. We are passionate about local food and the lifestyle that goes with it. I hope that if people read this that they will be inspired to grow heirlooms, buy local, cook exciting meals and fall in love with food again.

Thank you, to every one that comments and follows us.

You can look forward to more logs with recipes, articles and our little adventures.

Mash

Sometimes there is not a lot of food in the house and the leftovers are slim pickings. One of the great lessons I learned from bachelor-hood was how to throw food together and hope for the best. I was glad for that skill tonight.

When I got home there were few things in the refrigerator to call food. I ate one of Kristin's homemade yogurt cups and started digging out leftovers. I found one burger patty, a few steak fries and a going-stale, spring veggie and bread casserole. Hm... what could I make out of that?

I got a cheese sauce going on the stove-top and crumbled the casserole and burger into a pyrex baking pan. The fries got diced and mixed in. Then I beat some eggs and poured it on top. Once that was mixed I poured on the cheese sauce and cooked it covered for thirty minutes and uncovered for ten.

As I pulled my bubbling creation out of the oven a pleasant aroma filled the kitchen. I felt a little like Dr. Frankenstien as I cut out a slice with a spoon. What had I created?

I don't really know. I called it the "Cheese Burger and Fries, Spring Veggie, Bread Casserole Quiche." Mmm good.

Heirloom Produce

I spent a whole afternoon absorbed in writing a post about genetically modified seeds. It was a good little piece that gave a representation of what has happened in the agriculture industry around the world. When I was done I looked at it and decided that it really did not have a place in this web log. So instead of talking about all of the depressing things that are going wrong in agriculture I decided to write about all of the exciting things that are happening. So let us talk about Heirlooms.

Strictly and heirloom is a variety that produces seed that is true to that variety. Some say an heirloom has to be fifty years old but it really only takes about seven to eight seasons to establish a new variety from a first generation hybrid. Kristin tells people that heirlooms are the endangered species of produce. She is right, heirlooms are becoming increasingly rare compared to the agribusiness hybrids. The ability to reproduce is not the only thing contributing to the culture of dedicated heirloom seed savers. The remarkable flavor and texture is what most of heirloom produce was bread for.

When my brother and I discovered that most of the seed varieties today are grown more for their shelf life than their flavor it bothered us. We wanted flavor and texture that would excite a child to eat things like kale and zucchini. Old varieties had been bred for their flavor and usefulness in cooking. As we began to talk to people about these heirloom seeds it was exciting to find so much interest. The sad truth is in America we have lost ninety percent of our agricultural-biodiversity. Besides the ecological dangers of limiting bio-diversity, having only two or three kinds of tomatoes is BORING!


I fell in love with Heirlooms when I had my first Brandywine tomato. The history behind the Brandywine is a little cloudy. What we do know is that Ben Quisenberry introduced the seeds to the Seed Savers Exchange around 1982. According to his account he had gotten the variety from Doris Suddeth Hill. She had told him that the tomato had been in her family for eighty years. (Rosa Bianca Eggplant>)

We grew some of Doris's old seeds in our test garden. I waited with anticipation watching that first tomato start out as a flower, then plump up to the size of my fist. Then it began it's magical change from green to red with the summer heat. I watered it and mulched the plant with hay. If ever a plant could reciprocate love it would have been that Brandywine, for all the devotion I gave it.

The day finally came when it was time to harvest the first of the brandywine tomatoes. I noticed something disturbing. A groundhog had gotten to it before me. (Are you kidding me?!) So, I waited a few more days for the second picking. When I sliced it, it cut like butter. The skin was thin and the inside a watery-meaty texture. We put thick slices on toast with mayo and sea salt. When I took that first bite I literally closed my eyes. The tomato had no sinewy feeling and no grainy texture. It just melted into a wonderful tomato flavor. It had no harsh acids and the flavor was complex. It is a shining example of what we have lost when we traded heirlooms for the convenience of the supermarket.

Someone once asked me in confusion, "why wouldn't you just go to the grocery store to buy a tomato?" For me the answer to that question is, "Brandywine."

I will grow it every year for the rest of my life and every winter, have longing thoughts about it. The Heirloom excitement does not stop with tomatoes. We grow delicious peppers, eggplants and onions. When you think of string beans you think green. Now imagine yellow, purple and red. Tomatoes are red, green, yellow, orange, pink, purple and white. Heirlooms offer wonderful variety and contribute to biodiversity.

Check out this link. Most of our produce comes from the Baker's Creek catalogue. Their website is a wealth of information about heirloom produce.

Bus Stop

I'm up early today. The air is warm for early may. I'm eating leftover french toast sticks, made with our own bread, eggs and dairy from our amish friends. I'll finish one of Kristin's homemade yogurts. There is something quiet and unhurried about the early morning. I would like to say I am diligent enough to get up early every day, but I am really up for a reason.

My car has a problem. I ordered the parts this weekend. Today I will have to walk twenty minutes to the bus stop to get to work. Its raining outside. I should be upset but I am thoroughly enjoying the quiet and this fulfilling breakfast.

Yogurt at 2am

At two o'clock Thursday morning our alarm began to ring. Normally we hit the snooze button and avoid thinking about the hectic day for another ten minutes. This was no ordinary alarm and its exciting purpose drug us both out of bed. We descended the stairs in a sleepy fog and turned on a single light with the dimmer low. Then, we huddled around a little device that maintains a constant temperature, a temperature perfect for making yogurt.

The clear dome was covered in humidity. When we lifted it the slightest puff of warmer, moist air escaped into the room. Underneath the lid we discovered six little containers of yogurt where six little containers of raw milk had been before. The smell of vanilla was intoxicating but it was not time to eat these little treasures yet.

We stowed them away in the refrigerator and crept back up to bed. As we settled in, our dreams drifted away with the anticipation of vanilla, maple yogurt.

We woke up late. I had to leave for work without a proper breakfast. We kissed goodbye. Kristin handed me a lunch bag and a convenient little container filled with vanilla, maple joy. When I got to work I took a few moments to savor the yogurt. It was creamy but not thick. It had just a hint of maple yet seemed to carry a sweetness all it's own. Yum-O!! As I licked the spoon I realized that I had never appreciated a container of yogurt as much as this one. It made me think of my wife and how much I appreciate all of her talents and love of good food. I will have yogurt again. I may even have better yogurt, though I doubt it. I will never appreciate a cup as much as I did Kristin's first batch of vanilla, maple raw milk yogurt.

Magical Yeast

When I told someone that Kristin made vanilla, maple,raw milk yogurt, their response was, "thats made with cultures, right? Isn't that dangerous?" Contrary to the heebie-jeebies some of us get when we think about the process of fermentation it is very safe and exciting. Start off with milk or juice and end up with yogurt, cheese, kefer, kombucha, beer, wine, vinegar or liqueur.



Yeast cultures have been used for thousands of years to preserve, sanitize and to make bread. The fermentation process allows us to store liquid products that would normally expire quickly. Historically we would save a portion of our last batch and us it to start the next batch of whatever we are brewing. By choosing the best performing cultures each time we had domesticated and selectively bred yeast for thousands of years. Now science has allowed us to isolate cultures making fermentation extremely safe (and idiot proof.)



Almost every one uses yeast at some point to bring a loaf of bread to rise. If you have ever made a loaf of bread you are just a hop, skip and a jump away from making your own wine and cheeses. Last year we made thirty bottles of Australian Chardonnay, today we racked five gallons of a Pomegranate Zinfandel (not local ingredients but...) We are even brewing our first batch of kombucha.

While wine and fermented tea may seem a little complicated yogurt is not. You can get started buy ordering yogurt cultures online at www.customprobiotics.com or check out Radiance at 9 West Grant St. Lancaster, PA, across the cobble stone from Central Market.

If we can make yogurt, then you can make yogurt. Just start off with wholesome ingredients. We get raw milk from a local amish dairy with a roadside sign, (pictured above.) When I pull that gallon container out of their refrigerator in their little store I am standing no more than fifty feet from the milk pump. That's fresh milk.

Use the right ingredients and yogurt making will be a rewarding experience. It would be an easy project to do with little kids or as a couple, like us.

While Kristin watched the thermometer diligently waiting for the milk to cool, the smell of vanilla and maple syrup filled the kitchen with sweet anticipation. Tomorrow morning we will enjoy our first batch of vanilla, maple, raw milk yogurt. We will be sure to tell you how it goes.

Coffee Break

There are a few things that we decided early on that we were going to make exceptions for. Coffee was the first. Our inspiration for trying the 100-mile diet was the Kingsolvers as chronicled in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. They made an exception for coffee but stipulated that it be fair-trade and organic. We already bought a fair-trade organic label from BJ's Wholesale club and we wanted to add a local twist to our selection.



Lancaster has many great artisan coffee roasters. Our favorite by far is Square One on Duke Street. Josh Steffy and his wife Jess run a coffee shop that goes beyond atmosphere and creates a whole coffee experience. They care for people by using only fair-trade certified and organic beens. They strive for a quality roast every time and it is apparent in the smokey flavor of their artisanal coffees.

Today we jumped in the car and headed over to Duke St. When you walk inside Square One it gives you a casual feeling. It is all exposed brick and recycled lumber. Edgy young artists have there art showcased on the walls and the music is chill but with a beat. Their website packs just as much fun and attitude as the cafe. Check it out: www.squareonecoffee.com

We bought a bag of Columbian and a bag of Peru which we shared later that night with my brother and his wife's family. It was exceptional. If every part of our 100-mile diet is as rewarding as Square One Coffee than this is going to be a great year. Thanks Josh and Jess.

Hospitality

There are some rules that we never ironed out before we started our 100-mile diet. One of them is how do we deal with hospitality. Our pride wants us to make it three-hundred and sixty five days without once cracking for a dark chocolate or a Dr. Pepper. The reality is that we will be guests at other people's tables. At some point we were going to be faced with the decision to turn down dinner invitations and become hermits or make some concessions when hospitality is involved.

It did not take long for an opportunity like this to come up. Kristin was away to New Jersey to visit for her Goddaughter's birthday. My meals were reduced to pieces of cheese and eggs in her absence but I stuck to our commitment diligently. Sunday came and my brother called me to see if I could help him tear down a tree in our grandfather's backyard. It was a big tree and I was hungry in the end. My grandfather wanted to order pizza to repay us for the mess we had created in his backyard. I did not know what to do. I did not want to throw it all away on Papa John's. My dignity was on the line. I did not mind going hungry a little longer, waiting to eat at home. What had me stuck was that I did not want to turn down my grandfather's hospitality. So I obliged. I ate Papa John's pizza.

This created an interesting conversation between Kristin and I. We want to follow through with our commitment so that we can show other people that is possible. However, if we hold our nose up at the food that people us offer we will just upset every one. Every week we try and make it to dinner on Tuesdays with my brother and his wife's family. Strange I know, but they're great people and we all like each other. Our parents live a couple states away. This weekly tradition was the centerpiece of our consideration Sunday night when Kristin got home. We tussled with all of the options. First, we stop going on Tuesdays. Second, we bring our own food and eat it while everyone else stares at us with funny faces. Finally, we still go but offer to cook at our house on occasion and bring side dishes made with local ingredients.

In the end we decided it was much more important to maintain our friendships than be snooty about where the food came from. We set some guidelines for these situations that will keep us in line with the main goal of our new way of eating. Like we drink water instead of juice or soda. We can offer to bring sides with local ingredients. We want our friends to see how flavorful and practical local food is. To accomplish that we need friends. When local food goes head to head with the rules of hospitality, hospitality wins.

Fries without Ketchup

When we were planning our One-Hundred mile diet we knew that we would be forgoing a lot of foods. One of the first things that we realized we would miss dearly is condiments. Most of our favorite refrigerated sauces are riddled with extra sodium, sugar and fat. Thats why we love them so much.

For our sake they pose a problem because they are decidedly not local. Our mayonnaise and salad dressings found their way into the trash. The hardest for me to give up was the ketchup. Like an addict I never realized my dependancy until the threat of losing it. Its not so much that I like ketchup on my fries. Rather I consider fries an edible utensil for scooping ketchup into my mouth.

Once called ‘katsiup’ the chinese recipe got its origins as a fermented fish sauce. In the 1600s sailors picked up the recipe and it began to change as it traveled around the world. It was not until the two hundred years later that we find recipes printed that included tomato. Now most bottles have a hefty dose of high-fructose corn syrup.

No more sugary tomato sauce for us. So what did we whip up quick as a replacement when Kristin made Grass-fed burgers and fries? We made an old favorite from my childhood.

Sweet and Spicy Honey Sauce


2 Tbs Honey (Local aviary)

1/4 tsp Hot sauce (Made in Lancaster with local peppers)

This is a simple inexpensive recipe for dipping and it makes a good BBQ replacement when grilling. Look for more advanced condiment recipes after we master the secret art of mayonnaise, mustard and ketchup.

Day 1

Today is the beginning of a new lifestyle for my wife and I. We chose Earth Day to be the first day that we eliminate all of the thousand-mile-salads and January-tomatoes. Starting today and continuing until April twenty-first of 2011 we will consume only food that is produced within one-hundred miles of Lancaster PA.

Inspired by Barbara Kingsolver and her family's adventures with local food in Animal, Vegetable Miracle, we decided to try out the one-hundred-mile diet ourselves. So for one year we will eat produce grown in the very same soil that dirties our hands and gets in our eyes. A large portion of our diet will be sustained by our garden which we cooperate with my brother Cody and his wife Chelsea on. The rest of our food we will buy from produce stands, markets and local food stores.

We awoke early and had local free-range eggs and pancakes made with flour from Daisy Organics. Daisy breaks our rules a little bit but most of the wheat is sourced near by and if not than it still comes from the east coast instead of from out west. It is also milled in Lancaster County.

Which brings up a good point. Not every thing grows in Lancaster, Berks, Lebanon, Chester... one hundred miles goes along way. However, nowhere within one hundred miles will we find a fruiting banana tree, or a citrus grove. So where do we draw the line? Well we had to sit down and decide what our purpose was and what foods do not comply with that purpose. We'll explain our decisions another time. But for an example; we decided to purchase only fair-trade coffee from a Lancaster City roaster, Square One Coffee. The coffee farmers get a break, a local business gets a break and we get really good coffee. So we tread a line between what works for our diet and what does not. Basically any major calorie food will be grown and processed within one- hundred miles of Lancaster.

Today was rough. We got hungry. We got grumpy. At the end of the day Kristin made an amazing meal with spinach, mushrooms and a cheese sauce. Local food at its best.

Final 4

We are four days away from the launch of our new way of eating. Starting April 22nd we are going to eat only food grown within one-hundred miles. (with exceptions like salt, etc.) Last night we wandered through the aisles of our neighborhood grocery. We bought a bottle of kombucha tea so that we can start brewing our own. As we passed the rows of over-packaged food we realized we wouldn't be visiting places like this very often this year. It was a strange feeling turning down our usual treats. Even the produce section offered little for us to partake.

We liken this feeling to when we are getting ready to go on a big trip. I do not know why but it feels like we are going away and things will be strange when we get there. We have done our research so food will not be scarce. Still its odd to think that we will not be able to stop for a quick chicken sandwich at Burger King. We can not even eat bananas. A nervous feeling is setting in.

These last four days we are consuming a few things that we can not bare to give away. The last of our International Delight gave Kristin's coffee a smooth farewell goodbye.

Kristin went to one of her favorite farm stands today. It opens early and offers asparagus and last season's potatoes. Both found themselves welcome on our plates next to the pre-roasted chicken that I picked up from the grocery store.

We emptied our pantry and put all of the unqualified food in a box for family or charity. Soon our refrigerated condiments will find there way into the garbage. Goodbye Hellman's. See ya later Heinz.

Breaking Ground

You will be hearing about our garden now and again within the posts of this blog. It is closely tied in with our commitment to eat local food. Both of our families had gardens growing up. My family had at least an acre and it provided for most of our produce. My brothers and I did not realize how lucky we were to grow up eating fresh organic produce. Back then we wished we could just buy our food instead of weeding for it. Now we rent land to grow because we love gardening.

My brother cody is the mechanical type. He is six foot seven inches of sunburn and broad shoulders. I am the thinker and tinkerer. I love plants and I am fascinated with how garden and agricultural plants fit into the natural world. It is not unbelievable to see me out in my yard with a flashlight observing worms go about their work with fascination. We make a good team and this project gives us plenty of time to spend together. Our lives revolve around the garden and its cycles.

From the garden we intend to harvest much of what we need this year. Last year we did some canning for the first time since we left the farm that we grew up on. Hopefully we will be ready for the canning mayhem come August when the tomatoes and string beans are overflowing our kitchen.

Today we tilled the soil that will grow our food. With the no-till methods that we plan on using hopefully we will not have to do that again. Even though I regret the vermicidal (worm-death) practice of blending the top soil like a smoothy, it was exciting to break ground. The long winter is over. Three feet of snow has melted and every thing is in bloom. Soon we will be munching on fresh lettuce and sugar snaps.

Elephant Bones

Yesterday I (Kyle) got home from work and got a phone call from my brother. We are cooperating on a eight-thousand square foot garden this year. We had lovingly potted seventy-five heirloom tomatoes, about three-hundred onions, peppers and eggplants who had sprouted happily in our backyard in a makeshift green house. For four weeks I watered them daily and constantly monitored the temperature and humidity.

On easter weekend we spent a day and a half building a larger greenhouse before moving our little green babies into it. They were all tucked away safe in the new greenhouse in Cody's yard (my brother.)

I got a call from him a week later. Winds had taken the wooden framed structure and flipped it upside down along with the built-in shelf. All of our lovingly tended seedlings got dumped upside down. "I think they'll be ok." he said, but I was not very optimistic. I told him I would be right over.

When I pulled up the twisted frame of our greenhouse stuck into the air like the ribcage of an elephant. My heart wanted to break. I wanted to be mad but what would that get me? I had no one to be mad at. The wind does not care who its enemies are. God hadn't conspired to kill our Brandywine tomato seedlings. So I helped Cody and his wife Chelsea clean up the mess and we repotted most of the plants. They spent today in the back of his pickup with clear plastic tarp pinned over it creating a makeshift cold-frame. Meanwhile Cody is building Greenhouse number two.

Permaculture

(Permanent Culture)

When we decided to be more active about living a "greener" life we were stumped. Our goal was to make personal steps towards addressing the many environmental problems created by such a large, consumerist society. We were ready to go "green" the problem was we did not know how.

There are so many "green" products today that it almost seems like "green" is its own brand. What does it actually mean to be "green"? Are organic strawberries that travel two-thousand, six hundred miles to my refrigerator really good for the environment and economy?

To answer these questions we sought out Lancaster's permaculture experts and signed up for an introduction to a permaculture workshop. Ben Weiss and his business partner Dillon Naber sponsored the class and explained the basic principals of permaculture.

Permaculture, as defined by one of its founders David Holmgren, is, "Consciously designed landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature, while yielding an abundance of food, fiber and energy for provision of local needs." Permaculture addresses the needs of finding renewable resources while eliminating waste. It offered to give us, as a couple, the tools to evaluate "green" products and technologies and qualify them as legitimate or not. The foundation of permaculture is analyzing and evaluating so that one can build a sustainable system. We were excited after the workshop and decided that it would be important to send one of us to take the permaculture certification course.

I (Kyle) signed up for the course and today was my first day. It was exciting to have discussions with people who see the importance of a low impact lifestyle, some of whom. I am mentally exhausted and excited. Ben and Dillon are very excited about what they do and that energy was apparent in their teaching. Some of the subjects were tough and even depressing.

The beginning of the class discussed the topic of energy descent and all of the implications that it could have on our society. It was all doom and gloom, a world with rising food costs, lost farmland and exploding gas prices. (Basically the apocalypse.) The mood changed as we began to discuss all of the possibilities that permaculture offered. We saw video of projects that reaped amazing results in some of the most inhospitable environments. The lesson was, if we can take arid, salted hardpan and grow figs and citrus fruit then systems can be set up anywhere to provide for all of humanities needs.

This class is an important part of our decision to eat local. Both our local diet and the desire to get a permaculture certificate stem from our desire to make this world a better place for our children. We want to stop sending our money to the oil wells and keep it in our local economies.

Tomorrow the class resumes at Reed's Run Nature Preserve. It will be a day of mixed emotions for me because the property was bought from my grandmother. I lived there with my mother, father and two brothers for eight years, while I was in high-school. To me it is, "back home on the farm." Our asparagus patch lives on along with the pear trees and the chestnut trees that our grandfather planted. We still go there to harvest the abundance of wild raspberries to make preserves. It will be interesting to learn what insights Ben and Dillon have for this place.

April 22nd gets closer every day. Many people are excited to hear about our progress. From now until then you can catch random posts as we say goodbye to some of our favorite foods in favor of local fare. We did take advantage of the cheap strawberry crop this year. They were enjoyed with a batch of Kristin's hand whipped topping. Those strawberries came from more than two thousand miles away. Besides many small operations and CSAs with strawberries, there is a farm that grows several thousand bushels less than fifteen miles away.

Twelve days left and counting.

We are Seeds

Follow us as we live out our commitment to consume exclusively local food for one year. To keep you updated we will be posting a short entry on our progress every business day during that time. Share with us the ups and downs of relying entirely on seasonal produce, local meat and raw dairy. Along with our five weekly entries you can look forward to mini-articles on green-living, seasonal recipes, important resources, 'big ag' and Earth Warriors!

Our local food commitment begins on Earth Day, April twenty-second 2010. From that day until April twenty-second 2011 we will eat food that is grown within one-hundred miles of Lancaster City, PA. There will be exceptions like fair trade coffee and olive oil, which do not grow any where near here. As part of this commitment, all meat, eggs and dairy must be raised humanely.

What are we getting ourselves into? Find out by reading our posts and checking out our links. We have spent the past year researching our decision and preparing for a simpler, more fulfilling way of life.

This is our commitment to grow roots and make a difference for local agriculture.