Revelation

I've been having a moment of revelation.   I've become a little teary eyed about my first consciously complete 'local' meal.  It can't have been my first- I'm sure I've had many-  A freshly fried trout eaten while camping perhaps. A meal made completely of our own garden grown corn and chiles - others, I'm sure.  But come to think of it- probably not totally 'local'.  There are all the condiments, butter and beverages.  

Even the snacks where local!   How about that Marble Street Brewery IPA?

But I can safely say that my meals this past week have been 95% local.   I know what farm the food item came from or I grew it myself.  That gap of 5% is given over to wine, chocolate and coffee.  Make that 10%- I haven't found a local source for butter or oil. I'm not sure about my math....?!  That would mean 5% of my diet was fat.  Could be!  :-) 

But it is more different than you would think.   It's a strange feeling.
 I'm conscious of every bite having a story.  I'm more thoughtful about what I eat.  The qualities and texture are different too.  I was a little startled by my first bite of local, pasture fed Pollo Real chicken.   If you've never tasted a true pasture grazed chicken the difference from the plump, puffy, moisture injected store bought bird is remarkable.  What have I been eating up until now?!  This was a Real Chicken.  This gal ran after grasshoppers, gossiped with her girlfriends and closed her eyes in the sun- minus any breast implants.   But I wasn't sure I actually liked the increased flavor and texture at first.   It was so non-supermarket, non-white bread, so unprocessed that I almost didn't recognize it as chicken.   But like my own farm-eggs, this was the real deal .   'Honey, baby!  Where've you been all my life?!'

And no iceberg lettuce on my plate either.  Not that I'm dissing a crisp head of iceberg but...given a choice between that and a bunch of Arugula I picked myself?  Guess what I'd choose!

I've been doing a mini-work share at one of our local CSAs, 'Los Poblanos'.  In exchange for a reduced price on a market box I go in and work a 2 1/2 hour morning once a week.  The farm has some fields near my home and its not a problem to go help pick vegetables at sunrise now and again.  In fact- it has been so enjoyable and I've learned so much that I really wish I had more mornings to go help the full time workers and interns.   They're at it all day and like Steven Colbert learned- 'its a lot of bending over!'

Some items from my first LPO market basket.   Yep- I helped pull this out of the dirt myself!

 My revelation while at Los Poblanos has been how productive our valley can be.   No doubt it's taken a lot of work and preparation but the soils are rich and loamy and support the most amazing produce I've seen locally.   It's a pleasure to work among healthy, productive plants so heavy with tomatoes, squash, eggplants.   And the people are nice too!

What does eating local look like? 

 What does eating local look like? Anything you'd like it to be- in this case my light supper was local bread with cream cheese (I made it! More on that later) An arugula salad with apples and pecans and some sweet, sauteed chiles on the side.  Everything local except the Sal de los Incas my cousin brought from Peru.  Thanks Adam!