Food for Thought

So the concentration on blogging about eating local food has come to an end. And since we like to talk about feelings, well here they are.

Sarah: Today I ate a locally grown concord grape. Alright I ate more than one. They are divine. I don't think people know how grapes can taste until you have one. It brought me right back to being at my grandparent's farm picking grapes off the vine in the hot sunshine and pretending that's all I had to live off of as a self-proclaimed explorer of the land. One of my many imagination-filled adventures in this humble and beautiful property. Honestly,  I was most nervous about eating only local food when it came to the idea of the Indian Summer. And to be frank, I'm very much appeased on the matter. Seriously, it really isn't that hard. You spend the extra time preparing yourself by buying fresh food and making it. And it just feels right. I  was scared I was going to be hungry all the time, or wouldn't be able to live without chocolate or cereal or sugar, etc. But I'm not.  I'm sure as time goes by, there might be some small problems, but I think we can handle it. We eat exactly what we buy. We don't waste anything that's for sure. And no junk food. I feel better. I just feel like it is real food. From the earth. Everything is so much more tasty. And I'm even learning to cook things I didn't know how to prepare! Arley's the real cook, but I'm learning. And I'm learning more and more about how eating locally is just so much better for the world and for yourself. Like our previous post on the theory of this practice mentions, I feel better about putting local food in my body for health, energy saving,  and so many more reasons. Being involved with the UVA garden also brings me to form a physical close relationship with the earth. And I love it. Seeing how small a seed is brings a sense of mysterious wonder to my thoughts on the magic of growing and creation. And the cost of it all? Well yes it's more expensive, but if there's one thing to spend money on, shouldn't be what is going into your body rather than on top of it or on whatever we spend high dollar amounts on?

Arley: COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE. I've been drinking coffee, to varying degrees but definitely regularly, since I was 11 or so. No good for my body.  And I'll be completely honest--not drinking coffee all of a sudden is very hard.  Its one of those things that I could justify--what's wrong with getting fair-trade, locally roasted coffee from Shenandoah Joe's? Nothing, really.  But the Indian Summer is all about cutting excess out of our lives, and getting down to the basics. And basically, my body doesn't need coffee. I just made it think that it does.  I don't want to "justify" all the little things I sometimes want to do--borrow milk from our other roommates, use another roommate's left over cheese; I'm just excited to explore what it means to really live radically-even if it's just for 80 days.  Echoing what Sarah said, eating locally really is great.  I'm pretty sure we make our roommates jealous over our dinners pretty regularly.  My favorite dish to cook is homemade pasta + noodles! It's just a classic, and absolutely delicious when everything is so fresh.  And it's way more filling too! My favorite times are when people say, "Wait. Where did you get that?".  Another awesome thing is how helpful people in Charlottesville are.  Its amazing the time and effort people are willing to offer us, even when they know they won't get anything in return. In places like Albemarle Baking and Integral Yoga, even after it was pretty clear that I would necessarily be able to buy their products (like with flour), managers were still willing to talk to me for a good 10 or 15 minutes on where I should go to find things I need for our diet.  That has probably been the most awesome thing for me--getting to connect with different people around town who are selflessly interested in supporting us.


So there you have it. Feelings. Share yours. Maybe go to the market and prepare yourself a gourmet tasty fresh meal. Invite friends. We guarantee you'll enjoy it.

next topic: recycling and composting and trying not to make trash. pretty interesting stuff. check it out in the days to come.

Amuse Bouche

We bet (or at least we hope) you are wondering how you can make a difference.
Here are some tips, tricks, and places (in Charlottesville) for eating local.

TIPS:
-Cooking fresh food can be time consuming, but if you make double the amount for dinner, then voila you have a quick tasty lunch for the next day.
-Buy only what you need for about a week, because it will go bad.
-Baking with honey is the bomb. In baking, you use about half the amount of honey that the recipe calls for sugar. And reduce all other liquid ingredients by about a quarter of a cup each.
-WADE'S MILL has local grain aka FLOUR, which apparently everyone knows about because it's always out of stock. But if you find it, it's worth it!
-Yogurt making is fun. You basically heat up milk and add a tablespoon of live-culture yogurt. You can find recipes all over the internet. Don't use skim milk. It's chalky. Or spend way less time by buying it for pretty cheap at C-ville Market.


Which brings us to PLACES:
- THE city farmer's market- everything is there. pretty obvious right? some things available here that you can't necessarily get in local food grocers.
- Integral Yoga- people are nice and helpful. nice selection of local produce.
- UVA student garden- we love them. we shall be involved. learning. food. yum.
- Rebecca's- random local products, maple syrup, salsa, and some meat, etc.
- Main Street Market- it's a cool place. check it out. Feast, local butcher, local flower shop Hedge.
- C-ville Market- really inexpensive local foods. we love.
- The Virginia Store- nuts, wine, jams, etc.
- Whole Foods- good place for people who live in the north part of town.
- Kroger- voted by Arsdale as best place to buy local milk and butter, believe it or not.

RESTAURANTS:
- Brookville Restaurant
- The Local
- Fine Arts Cafe
- Feast


As always, try to bring your own reusable grocery bag when you go grocery shopping. If you have any other tips and favorite places, please share in comment section. We love sharing.


Peace, Love, and Everything Local!

Arley+Sarah

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD

SO for the first segment of our Indian Summer, we are concentrating on, you might have guessed it, FOOD!

And if you've asked yourself why are these crazy girls concentrating on only eating local food, well hey you are in the right place to find out!

1. It's just better for the earth. It's the right thing to do to make everyone happy and healthy. SO much oil, water, and other fossil fuels and resources (including food) are wasted in the production of food.
example: for 16 lbs of grain and soy fed to beef cattle, we only get 1 lb of meat on our plates (the grain has 21x more calories, and 8x more protein, but only 3x more fat than the 1 lb)

2. So much is wasted in the production of food when there are people starving everywhere.
  "One billion people in the world are chronically hungry and one billion are overweight. "

3. Fresh food uses less water.
example: the ratio of water to produce 1 pound of protein from the food source from fresh to processed food in
        corn to canned corn 1/390mgs
        hamburger to hotdog 60/880mgs
        rice to minute rice 1/700 mgs

4. HEALTH "So many of our most dreaded diseases are related to the 'food' we now eat--the good news- we can reduce our chances of getting these diseases [obesity, cancer from antibiotics, heart disease, hyper-tension] when we control what we eat."

5. The definition of food has changed in our society. Now children answer that food comes from a box or a store. Some cannot identify vegetables in their natural shape. Do not realize they come from the ground.

6. We are constantly consuming hidden sugars, instead of eating more raw and local food.

7. "Whenever you eat what might be called inefficient food [ex. beef], you're consuming more of the planet's energy than you need to live well."
example: "Eating a typical family-of-four steak dinner is the rough equivalent, energy wise, of driving around in an SUV for three hours while leaving all the lights on at home."
-free-range, humanely raised beef is important (for ethical, environmental, and health reasons), but we need to consume less meat in general. "Eat less meat, but eat better meat."


Stay tuned for tips on what YOU can do to make a difference (specifically in Charlottesville), and reflections on our personal experiences.

In the beginning.

The Indian Summer has officially begun. On our first night, we had lots of friends over for desserts made a la local.  Check out the pics below!

What we used to eat.

What we're eating now!

Local eggs + honey for baking!

Our first Indian Summer lunch.

Good fruit.

Our friends started arriving!

It's dessert, not desert, because you want more.

Apple cobbler/peach cobbler.

Carrot cupcakes!

Our friends, enjoying some dessert and company.

So many people!

One of the guests signing the guest book.

Yeah. That salad was good.

Stay tuned for our official carbon footprint calculation!