Time flies in Harvest Season!

Holy Cow! It's September 12 already!
It's been so busy around here I just haven't found time to write. To catch up here's my  daily menu:

Tuesday 9/4 - Having to use up the local bacon is such a pain! I start the day with bacon and an egg, with slices of fresh tomato on the side. Tea of course, and water. Just assume I am having a cup of tea every morning whether I write it down or not!
Snacks these days are generally grazing on snap peas, cherry tomatoes, peaches or Asian Pears, depending if I'm in the garden or orchard.
For lunch a fried pepper, pesto, cucumber and Cypress Grove Fromage Blanc sandwich on the bread I baked from Shakefork flour. This is very good.
Dinner an oriental style stir fry incorporating chicken hearts from the meat birds we butchered earlier this year. Vagrant ingredients were peanut oil, soy sauce and ginger root. I have grown ginger root in the past, and you see it in town, mostly as an ornamental, but this one is an import from??? I'll have to find out.
I am mainly drinking water, but I do have some apple cider & apple cider / cranberry mix we put up and add in now and then. The apples are from our or our daughter's trees and the cranberries came from some folks who were at the Arcata farmer's market last fall.

Wed 9/5 - Breakfast was an Asian vegie scramble (i.e.- leftovers scrambled with eggs). with some homemade yogurt with blackberries and peaches. Eating hearty as I will be in town the rest of the day and going to a birthday pizza part likely to be full of non-local ingredients. Had a small bottle of Clendenen's wonderful cider, too, when I got to town.
Lunched at the Eureka Natural Foods Deli, spinach salad and chicken salad, both of which I was assured were made from mainly local ingredients (I have my doubts about the pine nuts & feta cheese!).
Pizza was at Tom's Sourdough in Fortuna. I know they house make their sourdough crust. Didn't get to ask as to the source of the ingredients, but - Hey! I'm the Grandma and I am not going to spoil the party. And the exquisitely delectable chocolate birthday cake from Ramone's bakery counts as local - doesn't it?!?

In the marinade

Thursday 9/6 - Did a brunch rerun of the rest of the leftover Tuscan Beans with grated Loleta cheddar. That held me nicely until an unbelievable tasty dinner of grilled vegetables: zuchinni, crookneck, eggplant, peppers and corn on the cob. I slice and marinate all but the corn in olive oil, chopped garlic, salt, pepper, a bit of oregano & basil and some of my homemade red wine vinegar for at least 1/2 hour, then grill them up. YUM! Topped this meal off with a nice glass of Coates vineyard Syrah. Yeah, this local food challenge is tough...!

You have no idea how incredible this is!

Friday 9/7 - vegie scramble w/leftover grilled vegies for breakfast, fried pepper, tomato & cuke sandwich for lunch. I am a big fan of fried peppers & grow special Italian Frying Peppers every year just for this. Seed & split the pepper & fry in a dry pan until soft and w/ brown spots on both sides. Have to hold it down with the spatula in the beginning until the soften a bit. De-lish!
Back in town overnight at a friend's, I brought vegies Dinner was sauteed vegies & corn on the cob with bread and Cypress Grove cheeses on the side & some wonderful wine from Briceland winery

Sat. 9/8 - In town for the Natural Fiber Fair, Breakfasted on Loleta Bakery 9-grain Toast with local Zimmerman BlackRaspberry jam & a dollop of Organic valley cottage Cheese. Some of our local Humboldt dairys do send milk to Organic Valley so, hopefully, this wasn't to big of a stretch.
At the Fiber fair were the most wonderful catered delights in the kitchen. I had a lovely local salad & focaccia with caramalized onions.
Once home I supped on Loleta Cheese cheddar and toast with a lovely cup of tea.

Sunday 9/9 - Tea, a vegie/egg scramble to start the day
Another variation on my fried pepper sandwich with pesto, tomato and chevre  for lunch. These are all amazingly delicious! Even my visiting granddaughters think so.

Fresh tomato/zucchini sauce simmering

With the help of the girls we made spaghetti from scratch. Organic flour from Guisto's and our farm fresh eggs for the noodles. tomatoes, onion, garlic, zuchinni & fresh herbs for the sauce and also a bit of fresh basil pesto, made with almonds from near Chico. With a fresh cucumber and tomato salad on the side, dressed with oilve oil and my homemade red wine vinegar, it was a fabulous company feast.

Monday 9/10 - Tea! Lovely Shakefore hot cracked oat cereal with Humboldt creamery butter, honey from Carlotta, & sliced Asian Pear from our tree. Yum!
Lunch was our favorite blackberries with yogurt in a 1/2 cantaloupe bowl. The bowl, of course, is delicious!
Baked a new bread of Shakefork wheat, oat, rye and barley flours, and snacked on fresh bread and Cypress Grove chevre (plain, from a section of chevre log).
A very special dinner tonight of local salmon, steamed fresh green beans, crookneck squash and corn on the cob with a glass of the Coates Syrah. Ahhh local luxury indeed!

Beet Gratin

Tuesday 9/11 - Tea! A fried pepper and egg sandwich with a bit of Loleta cheddar for breakfast. Have I mentioned how much I love fried peppers?
A light lunch of toast and Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog
Dinner was a solar baked Beet Gratin. This amazing all local ingredient dish is easy to make:
On the side I had an artichoke our plant unseasonably produced, corn on the cob and leftover cucumber salad.

Wed. 9/12 - The Beet gratin makes a wonderful breakfast, too, with a slice of melon on the side.
Lunch was another variation on a fried pepper sandwich, with tomato, cucumber and chevre.
I was craving grilled vegies, so dinner was a heaping plate of marinated and grilled zucchini, onion, pepper and eggplant. A glass of the Coates Syrah and a dessert of grilled apple slices with a dash of Humboldt Creamery 1/2 and 1/2. Yeah!

We're really 'suffering' with all this local goodness - Oh my!

2011 - Officially Localvorious again!

Well, we thought we'd sign up 'Officially' to the NorthCoast Co-op's Eat Local Challenge again this year.
 We eat local origin food as much as possible anyway, especially during the end of summer harvest, when dinner often is what came out of the garden that day. On top of this our freezer has a supply of local beef from a neighbor, chicken from birds we raised here, and locally caught fish, as well as canned local tuna in the pantry.

Of the levels available, I inadvertently chose 'Lifestyle Localvore' -

Lifestyle Localvore
For at least one meal per day, eat only locally grown,
raised, and/or produced foods with a few exceptions.
Exceptions may include: non-local spices, cooking
oils, vinegar, and spirits.

part of our 'garden salad bar'

I generally choose a more rigid level, but the type was small and the evening late and the link finicky. Ah well.
But I am content with my choice. If 2011 has been as intense for you as it has been for us, you will appreciate my accepting a lesser challenge.

Part of our inspiration was finally making it to the top of the wait list for ShakeFork Farm's grain share CSA (Community Supported Agriculture - learn more). We have always admired and wanted to support the CSAs in our area, but we give away flowers, herbs, & vegetables, not buy them... But the chance to get locally produced oats, wheat, barley, & more was perfect for our needs.

To accommodate the challenge, I need to make some yogurt, sour cream, and mayonnaise. Other than that, we're good to go, I think. Stay tuned!

So, let us begin.
One meal a day up to now:
Sept. 1: Breakfast - eggs from our hens, poached, on Loleta Bakery Sourdough with Loleta Cheese Pepper Jack

Sept. 2: Dinner at a friend's in town - Local wild caught Salmon, Brio Bakery bread, Arcata Farmers Market broccoli

Sept. 3: Breakfast ( at friend's. In town for Blues on the Bay) - Our eggs, Brio Bakery multi grain bread (Yum)

Sept. 4: Breakfast - same. We're sorry Humboldt Hot Dogs were not at Blue on the Bay this year

Sept. 5: Home again! Picked up some local Cod Cheeks at Eureka Natural Foods on the way home. Wonderful dinner of sauteed Cod Cheeks with my Fish Herb Blend (for which we grow lemon Basil & Lemon Thyme), garden salad & Brio Bakery Bread

Sept. 6: Lunch was a garden salad (literally) with home-canned local albacore tuna and dressing made from Napa olive oil (an exception) and my home made herbed red wine vinegar (see below).

Sept. 7: Just canned our favorite "Zesty Salsa" recipe from the Ball Blue Book, and used the leftovers for Breakfast - Huevos Rancheros of our eggs poached in Fiesta Salsa, over Loleta Pepper Jack on a Bien Padre corn tortilla. YUM!!!

Got Cukes?

Sept. 8: Lunch - Garden classic: Tomato & Cucumber sandwich on Loleta Bakery Sourdough. My all time summer favorite (when I don't have frying peppers).

Sept. 9: Brunch - cleaning out the fridge salad with canned tuna. Loleta Bakery bread on the side (end of loaf )

So far, so good. I should note that we generally drink water with meals. I do have tea in the morning, but not wioth breakfast and always with Humboldt Creamery 1/2 & 1/2 :^) Snacks here often consist of raw peppers or cucumbers or tomatoes, at least THIS time of year.
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Herbs & Garlic drying on the back porch

We have made red wine vinegar for many years. Nothing to it. Pour a bottle of inexpensive red wine into a clean glass jar. I use a gallon or 1/2 gallon jar, depending on what's brewing at the time. Add 1/4 c. Mother of red wine vinegar, cover the jar with a fine mesh cloth so it can breathe, but not big enough to let the fruit (vinegar) flies in. Keep in a warm, dark place. Occasionally add leftover red wine. In about 6 weeks you have rustic wine vinegar. I am happy to share Mother of vinegar (e mail me via Simmons Natural Bodycare), but you can use 1/2 cup of raw cider vinegar instead. Shake well before measuring or, better yet, just use the dregs in the bottom of the bottle. Bragg raw cider vinegar is perfect. For more information on making your own wine vinegar, see the 'Gang of Pour'.

We have many herbal vinegar blends that we make for cooking. I thought I'd pass one along here - a favorite base for salad dressing. We even made a gallon of this to use at the reception dinner for our daughter's wedding.
Again, the important thing is to use enough herbs when you are making the flavored vinegar - 1/2 cup dried mixed herbs to 2 cups of vinegar.

Recipe: For this blend use red wine vinegar with the addition of basil, oregano, garlic and black peppercorns. We use about 12 peppercorns and 6 cloves of garlic per 2 cups of vinegar. Let the mixture steep in a dark place and shake occasionally to mix. Taste after a week and, if it is not strong enough, let sit another 2 or 3 weeks. When it tastes right, strain and store in clean, tightly capped bottles.
To make the salad dressing, mix 1/3 herb vinegar with 2/3 good olive oil or a mix of olive and other salad oil, as you prefer. Enjoy!

Eggplant challenge

One week behind us, not perfect, but not so bad either. Today I will have some time after work for an eggplant experiment.

Breakfast - one of our StarkCrimson Red Bartlett pears. They are slightly under ripe at this point, which makes them apple-crunchy. Still delicious, in fact I rather like them this way. They have a day or two of heavenly perfection between under and over ripe. I prefer under ripe to over, and with so many on hand we have to start eating them now! These are the pears for salad and fresh eating. The green Bartletts are the ones I prefer to can. Good thing, as I have many more of those.

Lunch - We go crazy with a pepper tuna melt. Leftover tuna salad (local canned tuna, homemade mayo, pickles & garden onion and parsley), a fried garden pepper with melted Loleta cheddar on Co-op Bakery sandwich bread. Wholly decadent. A bit of the left over coleslaw on the side and water and lunch is beyond perfection.

Dinner - time for my 'experiment'.
I have 2 'small side of medium' eggplant and the Rumiano Parmesan cheese as my inspiration. First I make a sauce, sauteing chopped garlic and onion in some Tehama Gold olive oil. To this I add chopped bell pepper, yet somehow refrain from adding any summer squash. I sprinkle this with some of my Italian Herb cooking blend (see my blog: All Mixed Up) and cook until soft and onions are translucent, then I add copious amounts of chopped tomatoes. All this is from our garden. A few stirs and I turn it to simmer and leave it to cook while I prepare the eggplant.
I still want the effect of breaded eggplant, but without flour or breadcrumbs. First I sliced the eggplant into 1/4" slices. I beat an egg with about 1/4c. milk in a small bowl and grated a bunch of the Parmesan into another bowl. Then I dipped the eggplant slices into the egg mixture followed by the cheese, with limited success. The cheese did not always want to stick. My answer was to put the cheesiest side down in the pan and sprinkle a bit more on top.
I layered these as I "breaded" them in an 8" square pan, overlapping slightly. When it covered the bottom of the pan I spooned a small amount of sauce over, followed by another layer of the dipped eggplant and sauce, etc., until the eggplant was gone. I got a robust 3 layers! Much more than I expected given the size of the eggplant. Over the top I spread the remaining sauce and sprinkled with more Parmesan cheese. Really more like making a lasagna using eggplant for noodles!
I covered the whole with foil and baked it at 350 for 35 minutes, until the eggplant was tender. I am happy to say it was delicious, even without salt.
Served with a cucumber salad (sliced cucumber, onion, chopped tomato and basil, with homemade vinegar/olive oil dressing) and the last of the Elk Prairie Pinot we would call it a success all around.

No sacrifice at all today... Town the next two days. We will see what that brings.

Origins

I know we have a completely different take on this experiment, living in the rural part of the county, with a big garden, hens, home canned local food, and rancher neighbors. Sometimes I think we may have an advantage - but then I think of all that is grown at lower elevations such as Willow Creek and Orleans, Shively and other coastal areas, that comes to the Farmer's markets and I think, perhaps, those in town have the advantage.

I do have a passion for growing, preserving, and making our basic foodstuffs. From applesauce to vinegar, I love to experiment with food in a way that this challenge allows me to indulge.

The original Humboldt Localvore challenger was Megan Blodgett.
She challenged herself in a much stricter way than I am, with my "Loophole" level.

Read the excellent BLOG of her 2007 challenge eating only Humboldt county foods: My Month of Local Food.

LocalCarnivore...

My husband has been known as a cheeseburger aficionado, so the way to best engage him in this project was via the local ingredients cheesburger. But we will come back to that...

A busy day today, business, canning (tomatoes, as mentioned and turkey stock from a bird we ate just before the challenge started, but never got to the apples), farm chores and afternoon babysitting of our granddaughter.

For lunch I had a cucumber and tomato sandwich on Co-op Bakery bread. My favorite, but sans mayo... I used Lindah's Hot & Sweet mustard instead. I LOVE this mustard... but something was lacking, so I had to make some mayonnaise.
I have not made mayo in a looong time, and then only by hand with a whisk, but I did not have the time. So I brought out my trusty Joy of Cooking (the latest edition - I have 4) and the blender and made a pint + of mayonnaise so easy & fast I couldn't believe it. Cool!
It is done thus:
Place in blender:
1 large egg at room temp
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. salt
dash cayenne
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 c. vege. oil (I did not want to use flavorful olive oil, so I used organic safflower, the other salad oil I keep around.)
Blend on high with lid on until combined well and slowly add 1/2 c. vege. oil followed by 3 Tblsp. fresh lemon juice, white wine vinegar, or a combination therof.
When thoroughly blended slowly add:
1/2 c. vege. oil and blend until thick, scraping down sides of blender as needed.

That's it!
This done and an extra pint size jar at hand. I started some sour cream as well by putting 2 cups heavy Humboldt Creamery cream and 2 Tblsp. of their cultured buttermilk in it and shaking vigorously. After sitting, covered, 24 hours in a warm place it should be thick, delicious, sour cream.

Dinner was our special all-American LocalVore cheeseburger with a side of coleslaw. I made the burgers the same as always, with local to our immediate area organic grass-fed beef, my "Meat Treat" herb blend, garden onion & garlic, but without salt or Worchestershire sauce mixed in. We melted some Loleta Sharp Cheddar on top and served them on Brio Bakery focaccia with garden lettuce & tomato and the new homemade Mayo. The coleslaw was the shredded cabbage & carrot classic with chopped parsley, all from the garden. The dressing was the American classic as well, with a twist: Homemade mayonnaise & red wine vinegar, local milk, honey, and - my exception - salt.
We paired it with the rest of the bottle of Vinatura Red Table Wine. It was much better with a stout burger to balance it.

To meet the challenge as closely as I can, I'm mostly cooking without salt and not adding any at the table. As much as possible, I have been seasoning exclusively with herbs and condiments.
My personal opinion is that most food is really just a vehicle for a good condiment and, because of that, I have always made a lot of them. I also keep good store-bought ones in the pantry. I am delighted that Fred's Horseradish and mustards are from our bio-region. One of them will work it's way into the menu before the month is out.

Federal recognition for Local Food

One thing I like about the Localvore Challenge is making one really aware of the wide variety of food that IS available in their region.
The benefits of this for our health, both physical and economically for the community are full of potential, as evidenced by this recognition by the President and his administration.

"What we've got to do is change how we think about, for example, getting local farmers connected to school districts because that would benefit the farmers delivering fresh produce."
-President Obama, Health Care Forum, August 20, 2009

"There are so many new producers cropping up in America. Their best opportunity to expand is a local market. It's enhanced if they can be joined together with other local producers so sufficient quality and quantity can be established for schools, hospitals, jails and other purchasers."
-Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, The Washington Post, August 26, 2009

With that in mind it is off to breakfast on Lundberg brown rice with garden vegies and some melon I bought (ours are not quite ripe) at Arcata co-op from Newsom (?) farm in Orleans. May have apple cider, may have water.
Lundberg's is actually in Butte county, right on the edge of Tehama & Glenn counties - just over our bio-region line, but it was indicated to me it was OK even so. Rice is a pretty basic staple.
I cook brown rice in our solar oven and keep it around to eat whenever. We love it always, but the long cooking time gets in the way sometimes - no?
The easiest solar oven recipe ever - 2 c. brown rice, 4 c. water.
place in covered pat or glass casserole (my favorite) in pre-heated solar oven.
Cook until all water is absorbed. Voila!

Today I hope to can applesauce (Clendenen's Gravensteins) and tomatoes after I get the orders out, so it is a food oriented day all around.

Day 2 -town trip

Today was educational. I did the long trip to town to deliver soap. I took our Australian Shepard puppy, Kumalie, for a vet weigh-in and to check her ears for burrs and foxtails - the bane of summer.
Vet is in Fortuna, farthest store in Arcata, we live about one hour inland from Fortuna. It makes for a long day.

Figuring it might be harder to eat local while out and about I had my tea and a good breakfast of the leftover tofu with chopped patty pan squash and bell pepper from the garden added. Then loaded soap and dog and, list in hand, we headed out.

Once at the vet we discovered Kumalie had weed seeds lodged right up against both eardrums, so she was left behind and our schedule sped up so we could be back before the vet closed.

First stop, Clendenen's Cider Works in Fortuna. Aside from the Farmer's Market I don't think there are many places to get a variety of local food items in Fortuna. Brio bread at Rays, Bien Padre, some cheeses and Humboldt Creamery milk at Safeway. Maybe more at Ray's, I haven't checked lately. But there are a lot of items at Clendenen's, not including the apples. They had local melons, squash, tomatoes and other vegies as well as honey, jam and dried fruit. They were pressing cider and the aroma was incredible! I picked up a gallon of fresh cider for home and a pint to drink.

My method is to go to the furthest place and then work my way home, so it was off to Arcata. I delivered at Wildberries and Arcata Co-op. Both have plenty of local fare, but I did my shopping at the Co-op.

Following my list I bought plenty of Humboldt creamery milk, buttermilk, and cream to make yogurt and sour cream. a few bottles of Vinatura wine, table red and Heyseus, and one of the Elk Prairie Pinot. Some of Henry's olives (THANK YOU, Henry!), Cypress Grove Chevre log for cream cheese and some Midnight Moon to try as a Parmesan substitute.
As I never did bake yesterday I brought home some Brio Fococcia, olive bread, and a Co-op Bakery sandwich loaf. Another package of Bien Padre tortillas, whole wheat this time. From the bulk dept. I filled a bottle with Tehama Gold olive oil. Karl noted there was one other olive oil from our Bio-region, but I forget the brand now.
Lastly, I hit the fish counter to check out the catch of the day. WOW! There was lots of local seafood to choose from. I left with some ling cod and, our favorite, salmon steak, but there was local rock cod and astoundingly some local shrimp! I wish I had my camera as the seafood display was incredible, with a large whole salmon and colorful Butterfish(?).

Back in Eureka I delivered to Humboldt Herbals and the Eureka Co-op. By this time I was getting rather hungry and so I perused the deli to find something suitable to eat. Uh-oh... I suppose it may have classified as locally produced, but the items I looked at I could not guarantee all the ingredients were of local origin. If I had waited I could have found out, but who I talked to knew the distributor - but not the actual source of the onions, peppers, etc. in the dishes I was looking at. I ended up with a Co-op Bakery Sun Bun. Delicious, but not really what I had in mind.
I would suggest that the Co-op delis have more items during the Challenge that they know are made with local ingredients.

Last soap delivery was Loleta Cheese Factory (for their gift shop). Now we're talking! I could taste my way through their display guilt-free. They have a large block of cooking sharp cheddar on sale right now (not organic, but definitely local), Pepper Jack, Roasted Garlic Jack (my favorite) and some Rumiano Parmesan. It turns out that, while labeled Willows, Ca., this cheese is actually made in Crescent City. I see eggplant Parmesan in our future...

Back to Clendenen's where I picked up a box of Gravenstein apples to make applesauce, got my definitely no-longer-sedated pup and headed back up the mountain.

Once home and unpacked we dined on salmon, fresh from the garden salad, and fresh Brio Fococcia dipped in oilve oil with garlic and fresh chopped basil. All toasted with a glass of the Vinatura Table Red (OK, but not as good as my beloved Menage a Trois from Folie a Deux of Napa), washed down with good ol' H2O.

My experience in town has me concerned for this weekend when we will be at Blues on the Bay. I better pack my own lunch!

P.S. photo is from local food in the S. F. Bay area at a dinner last fall

1st day ends

Well, we've ended the day - food wise, at least.
So far - OK, but a bit of fudging until we can get to town tomorrow and clarify some things.

Lunch was easy. I had a salad from our garden with dressing made from our homemade red wine vinegar and Napa olive oil (will get more local oil in town) with Albacore tuna I bought off of the boat out at the marina on Humboldt Bay and canned last year.

The photo is of the marina at Woodley Island on Humboldt Bay.

Dinner was a house vegetarian favorite (never did defrost any beef), Tofu Tias. These are a tofu burrito that has converted some very anti-Tofu types to gladly eating bean curd - at least in this guise.

As part of the challenge I was told that spice mixes I made myself were OK, and the Tia spice is all mine. I have a fondness for premixing herb and spice blends for my cooking. See my post "I'm All Mixed Up" for some of my favorites. This one is derived from a favorite dish from Toby's Tofu Palace in Eugene, Oregon (and at the Oregon Country Fair). We experimented until we came up with a blend that mimicked the original close enough for our taste.

TOFU TIAS:
Take firm tofu and cut into 1/2 inch cubes and let sit to drain. I use a wooden bowl, but I think a colander might be better.
Chop some onion and garlic.
Sometimes green pepper as well.
Saute these vegetables in oil, then add tofu cubes and fry until lightly golden. Sometimes they don't turn, but just keep sweating. No matter, it's good anyway.
Sprinkle with the Tia Spice at the rate of 1 Tblsp. spice per pound of tofu.
Stir and cook a bit then add a shot of tamari soy sauce.

Serve in heated tortilla with shredded lettuce, green onion, chopped tomato, sprouts - whatever. Top with salsa and a dollop of sour cream if desired. Enjoy!

TIA SPICE
NOTE: All measurements are very, very approximate!
Mix together about 50% nutritional yeast, 25% chili powder, then add onion powder, garlic powder,dried parsley, tumeric, salt, & white pepper.

Our Tias used Tofu Shop tofu from Arcata, Bien Padre tortillas from Eureka, lettuce, tomato and homemade salsa from our garden. On the side was a cucumber salad and corn on the cob - all from the garden. And a splash of that Diablo Sauce (we like to live dangerously!) We drank water.
The ingredient that may have been a no-no was the Tamari Soy Sauce. I buy it from the bulk dispenser at the co-op, so it is in an unmarked bottle. I have no idea at all as to its point of origin, so will find out tomorrow.

Did have a glass of nice Napa wine. A bottle or 2 of Humboldt, Mendocino, or Lake Co. wine will have to wait until I get to town as well.

Not, perhaps, a perfect start, but quite acceptable, I think.

I see tomorrow, having to eat on the road, as being a much bigger challenge. We'll see.

One day down - 29 to go!

Breakfast...

Today is the first day of our month long "Eat Local Challenge", sponsored by the North Coast Co-ops (Eureka and Arcata, California).
They have made it as easy as possible with 7 levels, from the "Hardcore Localvore" (only locally harvested products for every meal & snack - no exceptions) to the "Toe in the Water Localvore"(at least one local ingredient in each meal). In addition to this you can choose from foods from anywhere in the Klamath/North Coast Bioregion, which includes 7 counties (Siskiyou, Del Norte, Humboldt, Trinity, Shasta, Mendocino, Tehama, Lake, Glenn, & Colusa) and a diverse set of climates from sea to central valley.

I have taken on the level of "Loophole Localvore". This means locally harvested & produced products for every meal or snack - no vinegar, mayonnaise, etc., unless I make them or get them from someone who does. Local beer, wine, bakery products and locally roasted coffee, etc. are permissible in this category. Fortunately you are allowed a few exceptions - I would have a hard time without my morning cup of hot tea and may not be able to forgo salt to use in cooking.

My partner has taken on "Lifestyle Localvore" Planning on 100% local harvested/produced food for at least one meal a day. He is in charge of eating all the non-local stuff in the refrigerator before it goes bad!

I must confess, I felt this would be an easy challenge for us, as we produce much of our own food right here and have access to a broad range of foodstuffs in this bioregion. But the more I thought about it, the more challenge I can potentially see. Being an hour and some from town and the stores which carry much of what I want may turn out to be an issue. Then again, we have on our homestead much which town folks don't, right at hand.

As an example - we are starting our challenge with eggs fresh from the hencoop. Scrambled with peppers and onions from our garden, using olive oil from Napa (I'm getting some from more local Tehama Country tomorrow). They will share the table with tortillas made in Eureka at Bien Padre and Loleta cheese. We have some apple cider from last year's pressing should we want more than water. To spice it all up we have a variety of home canned salsas, should I not make some fresh, as well as "Thai-basco" and "Ha-basco" made from our own peppers. As well as the notorious "Diablo Sauce" (or sauce of death - a sort of Tapa Tio made with Habasco peppers in a bottle with a too big mouth. What was I thinking!).

I will be baking bread today (I was told I can be my own bakery). We will see what lunch brings. I am happy always with my summer favorite: tomato; cucumber & fried pepper sandwiches. I haven't made mayonnaise in a long time... looks like I will be now.

Our freezer is stocked with local grass-fed beef and I will find something there to defrost for dinner. Looks like things are lining up OK so far.

Tomorrow I have to go to town and deliver soap (what we do for a living - Simmons Natural Bodycare), and I will be picking up a lot of local Humboldt Creamery milk and cream. There will be yogurt and sour cream to make. Hmmmmmmm... I better go work on that list.

Coming up with meals is always creative enough - this challenge will make it even more intriguing.

Taking the Challenge

We have signed up to offically participate in our "local" (out on the coast. - 1 1/2 - 2 hours away) Northcoast Co-op's annual September Eat Local challenge.

For the entire month we will strive to eat only those foods produced in our northern California bioregion. Fortunately this is a large and varied agricultural area.

This new blog is to chronicle this culinary adventure, recipes and pitfalls alike. Stay tuned!