Our Local summer

This summer we have had fun working at eating local foods as much as possible. I especially inspired to do that after reading Animal, Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Local eating probably comes a lot easier to me than to many as I was raised by parents who raise their own meat, milk and eggs and grow large gardens, enjoy berry picking and have their own maturing orchard. That said I still did a lot of buying at the regular grocery store including much of my produce. Though I cook mostly from scratch there was still room in our diet for getting rid of preservatives and other stuff that isn't so great for us. I am not out to change the world or to say that I think everybody should eat only local but I thought I would explain some of the reasons I wanted to try heading that way:

• You get fresher food! No fruit that ripens as it travels to you or sits on the store shelves.
• A lot of times either you are the producer or you can visit with the farmer to make sure that you are getting food that is chemical free.
• You support the local economy.
• If you train your way of thinking you can eat things that are in season and save money.
• Getting food without hormones. This is something I am really working on for my maturing children.
• Less gas is wasted in transportation.

I had planned on being fairly strict in my eating locally this summer. That didn't quite happen (I did still go to the grocery stores every so often though I didn't visit Walmart from the beginning of June to Sept.) but I did make progress. Here are some of the ways we eat locally:

• We have ordered (from a local farmer) 1/4 of a steer that is hormone free and grass fed. We are getting for around $2 a lb. so I think we are getting a good deal.
• We get most of our milk from either my parents (goats milk) or a local dairy (which is hormone free). I have tried some to make my own cheese. I have also made butter and ice cream a few times. We regularly have homemade yogurt. (lately I have been spoiled because my mom has been making it for me!)
• We have a garden and also have been frequenting the local farmers market. We have also been blessed with friends and family sharing produce with us.
• We picked lots of wild berries!
• I have started using more honey which I bought from local beekeepers.
• We buy local grain and grind it ourselves.
• I talked to a friend that loves to hunt and he said he would be glad to share if he gets a lot, we will pay for his tags.
• Today we picked a bunch of apples that I got after posting on Freecycle that I would be interested in any apples that people might let go to waste.

That is some of our methods of eating locally, what do you do?