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How local can you go?

Posted on July 21st, 2008 – 8:09 AM
By Robyn Dochterman

It was an act of desperation, really. No food in the house, and a hungry stomach got me to go hyperlocal. I went to the garden, pulled an onion and stalk of garlic, found a pepper and rustled through the weeds till I found some pea pods that were hidden enough to escape the deer. I sauteed the veggies together and threw them over pasta, and had a handful of black raspberries for dessert. Viola! A veritable backyard bonzana!

The truth: I might have just hopped in the car and gotten a burger and fries if hadn’t been 15 miles to the nearest Burger King, and I hadn’t looked like the gardening bride of Godzilla. But this was pretty good, and good for me, and the planet, too. With a little more planning, I might be able to do better. And now I’m eager to try.

Have you ever eaten a whole meal that you grew, bartered for, bought locally, or could at least source with just a regional map? What was on the menu?

This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 8:09 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

11 Responses to "How local can you go?"

Annie says:

July 21st, 2008 at 9:03 am

I was also eager to taste the ‘fruits of my labor’ recently. I grabbed some romaine lettuce from my garden, tossed that together with some of my spinach and green onion that I was growing too—and then I decided to add a little sweetness by including some sliced strawberries from my patch! It was a tasty little summer salad (if only I could find a way to grow olives in MN, or distill vinegar—I then my Vinaigrette dressing could’ve been organic and home grown too!

Amber says:

July 21st, 2008 at 10:02 am

My dinner last night sounds like both of yours, Annie and Robyn! Lettuce and cucumber salad from the garden and stirfried peas, pepper and onion from the garden over noodles (the noodles were from the Wedge, so I think they count too!). This is my first summer with a veggie garden, so it’s been exciting to eat garden goodies within an hour of picking them!

Robyn Dochterman says:

July 21st, 2008 at 11:24 am

Very impressive, Annie and Amber! And your dinners sound very satisfying, too. I think you could probably distill your own vinegar, but it would take awhile. Anybody done that?

Barb says:

July 21st, 2008 at 11:25 am

With the farmer’s market in full bloom we had my favorite last weekend, a pasta salad with fresh mozarella cheese from the cheese lady, fresh basil, fresh tomatos and a vinnegrette dressing tossed with penne noodles. YUM!

Robin says:

July 22nd, 2008 at 7:32 am

Dinner last night-Green beans and garlic from the garden, Hamburger from a cow raised by my neighbor, a shredded beet pancake, a salad of cucumbers and carrot thinnings, and raspberries for desert.
Tonight, the planned meal is new potatoes with creamed peas, for desert it will be strawberries.

The garden is starting to produce!

Tricia says:

July 22nd, 2008 at 3:19 pm

I almost have to laugh how far we’ve come when we brag about eating from the garden. I grew up the oldest of 11 kids in the 50’s and many meals were whatever we scavenged from the garden and the fruit orchard. We kids weren’t pleased about it though, we knew how hard gardening, canning and freezing are. Think picking potato bugs when it is 90 out or canning in the same heat. Sometimes I wonder how my mom ever survived it all. She is 80 and still gardens and loves it!

Robyn Dochterman says:

July 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 pm

Robin — I’m so fascinated by the shredded beet pancake. What is that like?

Tricia, you’re right. I remember helping make pickles (and freeze beans and corn) when I was a kid, and wondering why we couldn’t afford to just buy a jar of Gedney’s or can of Niblets. Now I’m proud of what I produce and preserve. Sounds like lots of us are.

Robin says:

July 23rd, 2008 at 6:26 am

Robyn,
The recipe came from Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything”- it was very simple, Just shred about a pound of beets, chop up fresh rosemary, salt, and about a quarter cup of flour.
Mix that all together.
Melt butter in a nonstick pan, flatten the beet mixture in the pan and fry on both sides for about 6-8 minutes each side.
To flip the pancake, you slide the pancake onto a plate, place an inverted plate on top, flip the plates over, and slide the uncooked bottom back into the pan.

My 11 year old daughter loved it, so did my husband.

Tricia, you are right about the hard work. Cooking from the garden takes more time. I get home around 5:30, then I have to harvest dinner, clean it and cook it, so we end up eating around 7:00, 7:30.

Fiona says:

July 29th, 2008 at 1:09 pm

All summer I only make dinners made entirely of vegetables from my own garden. And thanks to Mill City Market and Midtown Market we can now supplement with meats and dairy from Minnesota farms only, which is what I always do. The only non-local addition I use during summer months besides some other spices is my Halen Moen Welsh salt. But I use Brauscher Sunshine Harvest Farm grass fed beef, lamb & chicken and they have lovely eggs too. I use Ames Farm honey, MN Valley Organics Pork, Cedar Summit Cream, Minnesota Creamery Butter, Larry Schultz Eggs & Milk, local cheeses, and berries from neighbors and the farmer’s markets(I gave up my raspberries for more veggie space this year). I haven’t purchased produce, besides citrus or pitted fruit and a few sprouts, from a grocery store, since the growing season began.

Tonight’s menu is a Zucchini Carbonara with local bacon, eggs, cream, homemade pasta (local company’s flour), veggies and herbs all from my garden. I guess that’s about as localvore as you can go.

Claire says:

July 29th, 2008 at 1:19 pm

You may not be able to grow olives in Minnesota unless you do it inside, but there are a lot of other oils, like soybean oil or grapeseed oil, or nut oils that could be made from things grown locally that you can use for a dressing I’d bet. You could easily make your own vinegar with fresh fruit juice. Good site about it here: http://www.vinegarman.com/VinegarMaking.shtml.

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