Apparently I think WWII took place entirely in the months of November and December. In my mind, it’s always freezing as the folks on the homefront bake cookies for their soldiers and stockpile their ration coupons for the big holiday meals. So when the temperature drops and the fireplace is glowing, visions of women knitting socks for the troops start dancing in my head.

In the past, I’ve had to indulge my nostalgia with classic movies from the 1940s. Most of those focus on the battles, which interest me not one little bit. I am far more intrigued by the determination, patriotism, and stamina of the homefront heroes — specifically, the women who held it all together during those dark days. The clothes are nice, too.

I& #8217;ve recently read several books that highlight the women who contributed so much to the Allied war effort, and I decided to share information about some of those books with the readers of this blog. (Most of these books have been or will be given to the young women I know who can use a reminder that females are capable of so much more than entering beauty pageants and snagging boyfriends. Honk if you think that’s important.) I’ve linked the titles to amazon.com for your clicking convenience, but I’m sure they are all available -or should be!- from your favorite bookseller.

Escape From Paris by Carolyn Hart - The story of two American sisters in Paris who help downed airmen escape from the Gestapo. Hart really captures the atmosphere of deprivation and terror that burdened the people of France during 1940, and she does a masterful job of showing us how ordinary people put themselves in danger to save others. This is actually one of Hart’s earlier books, but was first published with heavy editing (cut by almost half!). It’s now available in the complete version.

Miss Dimple Disappears by Mignon Ballard -The quiet little town of Elderberry, Georgia is still reeling from the attack on Pearl Harbor as Thanksgiving 1942 approaches. For the town’s Gold Star mothers, there is little to be thankful for, and for the rest of the town the constant threat of enemy attack and fear for their loved ones serving in the military casts a gloom that has little to do with autumn’s long nights. The war isn’t just over there, either; Elderberry is about to learn that there is just as much danger on the homefront as anywhere.

Th is is the first in a new series by Ballard, who works her literary magic once again.

Mare’s War by Tanita S Davis - You’ve probably heard of the Tuskeegee Airmen, but have you heard of the 6888^th, the African American battalion of the Women’s Army Corps? Thought not. This young adult novel is so smoothly written and so full of fact-based events and people that I couldn’t stop reading. It’s a perfect book for those snowy days when you want to curl up with cocoa and a great read.

Women Heroes of World War II by Kathryn J. Atwood - This is a nonfiction collection that tells the stories of women who were not part of an organized military effort but fought alongside their male counterparts in the Resistance movement or who simply did the right thing as individuals. From teen girls to world-famous celebrities, these are the women we want our daughters to emulate!

Nella Last’s War by Nella Last - Here’s the cover copy: “Writing each day for the “Mass Observation” project, Nella, a middle-aged housewife from the bombed town of Barrow [England], shows what people really felt during this time. This was the period in which she turned 50, saw her children leave home, and reviewed her life and her marriage - which she eventually compares to slavery. Her growing confidence as a result of her war work makes this a moving (though often comic) testimony, which, covering sex, death and fear of invasion, provides a new, unglamorised, female perspective on the war years.”

Ne lla doesn’t hold back! Her journal entries for the Mass Observation project are detailed and honest, from the gossip about neighbors and friends to her creative dinner menus. Most of all, it’s the genuine emotion infuses her diary that takes the reader right into the heart of Britain’s nightmare years.

Th is short list of books is my gift to you who share my fascination with and admiration for the everyday folks who are so often overlooked when we talk about war heroes. I know you’ll enjoy reading them as much as I did, and I hope you’ll pass them along to others who appreciate the spirit and sacrifice of that Greatest Generation.

Filed under: Books and writing

Many thanks to Amanda Tradwick for this eye-opening guest post.

Most readers of this blog are likely to understand why eating locally
raised, whole foods instead of processed and industrially manufactured
foods is best for individual health and economic vitality. Sometimes
we need to be reminded of those reasons and have them spelled out in
clear terms. Whether you just need a gentle reminder or you would like
to pass along an introductory primer to a friend or family member who
needs some convincing, here are the top 10 reasons why you should
never eat fast food again:
It’s Not Real Food
Fast food is a chemically created product that contains numerous
chemicals and preservatives. Even the “food” ingredients that it
contains — namely soy and corn — have been highly processed and
often genetically modified. This is slop that does not contain needed
nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.

It Contributes to Health Problems
The high fat, salt and sugar content of fast food has been shown to
lead to a number of adverse health outcomes including obesity,
diabetes and heart conditions. Fast food is also especially high in
trans fats, which have a more insidious impact on health.

Soy and Corn are the Primary Ingredients
In Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, he tested a typical
fast food meal of a hamburger, fries, and soda and found that it was
comprised primarily of corn. Soy and corn are used to feed the
animals, make the oil to cook it and are used to make fillers to mix
with the food. Both of these are already grown in excess and have
shifted the market for farming.
It Supports Unsustainable Agriculture
Most fast-food companies get their ingredients from industrial farms
that are grown with harmful chemicals and pesticides and without
regard to the care and preservation of the land.
It Endangers Resources
Some fast-food companies have been found to purchase ingredients that
are grown in endangered or protected areas. For example, McDonald’s
gets soy-based feed that is grown in the Amazon rainforest to feed its
chickens.
It Encourages Overproduction of Meat
Hundreds of thousands of animals are grown each year for slaughter and
are grown quickly in poor conditions and without regard to the
sustainability of the land or the humane treatment of the animals.
Meat is Grown with Unhealthy Methods
Chickens and cows are fed corn- and soy-based feed — neither of which
is part of their natural diets — to make them grow fatter and
quicker, leading to health problems for the animals and those who eat
them. They are also fed hormones, to encourage growth, and antibiotics
to treat the inevitable health conditions that arise because of their
poor diets. All of this makes it into your meal when you choose to eat
fast food.
Poor Working Conditions
Poor conditions have been documented in slaughter houses and on farms,
including worker injury, over work and unsanitary conditions. Many
immigrants are employed in factories and slaughter houses and some
reports have suggested that they are paid poor wages, given poor or no
benefits and offered no protections (either for employment rights or
safety).

Companies Contribute to Overconsumption of Natural Resources
The growth of the vast quantities of meat and crops needed to create
the food and the transportation of that food to points around the
country and the world consumes excessive amounts of natural resources
like oil and produces harmful emissions.
What are some of the reasons that you avoid eating fast food in your
own life? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

Amanda Tradwick is a grant researcher and writer for
CollegeGrants.org. She has a bachelor’s degrees from the University of
Delaware, and has recently finished research on alabama
education grants and student
grants in california.

Filed under: Food, Guest bloggers, Health

In a desperate bid to fan the flames of consumerism, a number of retailers have announced that their Black Friday sales will begin on Thursday, also known as Thanksgiving. While half the population is elated by this opportunity to get in line a day earlier than usual, the other half is enraged by the intrusion on the holiday.

If you read this blog regularly, you are probably among the few sensible people who 1) didn’t plan to go shopping on Black Friday in the first place and 2) won’t go shopping on Thursday just because the sales are on.

In fact, if you read this blog regularly, your holiday shopping is minimal and already completed. You’ve pared your gift-giving list to immediate family and you recognize that gifts should be about the honest intent- not about the dollars spent.

Bu t if the universe has conspired to interfere with your financially sound and efficient gift shopping this year, please keep this in mind:

SH OP LOCAL

In one of the most ironic twists outside of political campaigning, American Express is backing Small Business Saturday. They encourage us to shop at small, independently-owned shops on Saturday, November 26, 2011 — the day after most of the herd will have exhausted themselves in the malls.

Su re, it’s good for the small business owner to get an extra burst of sales. It’s good for the shopper, too! Build a relationship with your local shops and you’ll probably get some discounts you haven’t thought of. You’ll certainly get a stronger community, and you’ll contribute to the health of your local economy.

Th e bonus is that, when you’re shopping for gifts, the small local establishments are going to offer unique items, high-quality items, handcrafted items. This is where you’ll find gifts that will stand out and leave the recipients wide-eyed and appreciative.

Sk ip the mall madness and shop small and find gifts that embody the spirit of the artisan. And then, if you don’t mind, leave a comment here and tell me about the coolest item you found. (For me, it’s the new Scent Sticks from Totty’s Bend Farm)

If you’re a small business owner, be sure to include your town and state, so that visitors to this blog can find you.

Filed under: The path of sanity - simple, green, compassionate living

Primary victims aren’t the only ones who suffer from abuse. Friends and family members of domestic violence victims are also trapped in a world of fear, concerned about the people they love and unable to stop the abuse.

Friends and family are not entirely helpless, however. There are things you can do to help an abuse victim.

• Believe her.

• Trust her to make the right choice. She knows her situation better than anyone, and if she chooses to stay with the abuser, she has reasons for doing that. Only she can know when she’s ready to leave.

• Stress safety. Help her create a safety plan for herself and the children. Make her aware that her computer and cell phone activity can be traced. Help her develop a signal, an escape route, or other plans of action to use in an emergency.

• Help her to understand that the abuse is not her fault. She does not deserve it and she does not bring it on herself. Abusers alone are responsible for the harm they do.

• Stay in touch. Abusers often isolate their victims from anyone who may support or help the victim. She may feel pressured to stop visiting or calling you. If that is the case, you can still visit or call her. Knowing that you are there can make all the difference in her efforts to end the abuse, even though she may not tell you so.

• DO NOT tell the victim what to do. Remember — she already has someone trying to control her thoughts and actions. What she needs from you is support and understanding.

• Protect yourself. Never go into a situation that you believe may be dangerous.

The more you know about the dynamics of domestic violence, the more you will be able to help. Your local DV shelter almost certainly has training for volunteers and they will probably be happy to let you participate even if you don’t want to join their volunteer program.

To find the shelter nearest you, call the National DV Hotline :

1-800-799-SAFE (7233)

Domestic violence is one small part of a greater culture of violence. If you want to make a difference, you can work to end all violence in whatever way is best suited to you — through donations, volunteering, or simply by eliminating violent acts and words from your own life.

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. ~ Salvor Hardin

Filed under: The path of sanity - simple, green, compassionate living

Victims of domestic violence often believe that they are alone in the world, that no one would believe their stories, that there is no way out of the abusive relationship.

Batterers often isolate their victims from friends and family, sometimes from the entire world. Victims may be literally locked in their homes without transportation or telephones, with no way at all to communicate.

Other victims of violence appear to have all the freedom in the world — they attend church, hold jobs, socialize- and yet they, too, feel that they can’t escape the abuse.

The dynamics of domestic violence are more complicated than I can explain in a single blog entry, but the Women Are Safe website contains a lot of information that can clear up questions.

Here, though, is a simple but critical piece of information: Domestic violence shelter programs are bound by confidentiality. If you call the hotline number or speak to an advocate in person, everything that you say will be kept private. No details about you or your situation will be shared with anyone outside the program.

If you’re a victim, please call and talk to someone about your situation. Even if you don’t feel that you need shelter or support groups, just talking to an advocate on the crisis line may help you to better understand what is happening.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline can put you in touch with the domestic violence shelter program nearest you:

1 -800 - 799 - SAFE (7233)

1- 800 - 787 - 3224 (TTY)

Filed under: The path of sanity - simple, green, compassionate living

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. You’d think with all the stories in the news about intimate partners killing each other that we wouldn’t need any more awareness. And yet….

A lot of people do know the problem exists, but there are so many myths and misunderstandings surrounding domestic violence that the real answers get lost. (Let me point out that both women and men are victims of domestic violence. The thing is, the great majority of victims are women and so we use the feminine pronoun. It’s simpler, but it is certainly not intended to exclude men.)

Instead of asking Why doesn’t she leave?, the question we should be asking is Why doesn’t HE leave? As has been pointed out many times, until we hold the abuser responsible for his crime, no progress will be made.

But if you insist on knowing why she stays with him in spite of the injuries to her body, to her mind, to her soul, here’s the short version:

• She has nowhere else to go
• She has no money, no job, and no way to support herself and her children

• She fears he will take her children
• She has no support from family, friends, or church
• She believes she is over reacting to the violence

• She can’t believe that the man she loves would really hurt her
• She believes his apologies and his promises that it won’t happen again
  

• She believes his excuse that drugs and/or alcohol make him violent 
• She believes his excuse that he loves her so much he just can’t help hitting her

All of these are very real and very good reasons in the mind of a victim of domestic violence for staying put. Her feelings and her situation are far more complicated than any outsider can understand or than she can explain.

Ther e’s one very simple and understandable reason that she stays: Victims of domestic violence are far more likely to be killed after leaving the situation.

Dome stic violence is about power and control. When an abuser senses that he has lost control of his victim, that his power is waning — that is, when she takes charge of her own life and leaves the violence behind– the abuser gets scared, angry, desperate. That’s when he presents the greatest danger to his victim.

It is pointless and heartless to ask why a victim doesn’t stop being a victim. Instead, let’s all ask How can I help?

Filed under: Domestic violence

“I wouldn’t put up with a man who hits me.” I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard that. The speaker always seems to assume that victims of domestic violence say hello to a man for the first time, get whacked in the face, and hang around hoping for more abuse.

Domestic violence is considerably more complicated than that. It’s also a lot harder to spot than many think. On this first day of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, please take a moment to read my earlier post When is it domestic violence?

Filed under: Domestic violence

October is upon us and that means that domestic violence prevention programs all over the country are gearing up for a major awareness campaign.

Want to help get the word out that victims have a safe place to go? That abuse is not normal nor acceptable? Here’s a replay from one of my earlier posts that might interest you: October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Filed under: Domestic violence

A while back, The Outlaw Farmer asked: Is it possible to feed the world on locally, sustainably grown vegetables without the use of insecticides and chemical fertilizers? Could the earth produce enough “organic” plants to feed 6.92 billion people?

For almost all of human existence, family farms fed the world as a matter of course. Times have changed, though; the population has exploded, fewer households grow their own food. Is it possible to grow enough food to feed the nearly 7 billion people on this planet using sustainable practices?

The answer is yes, but… drastic and immediate change of strategy and perception is required.

The World Watch Institute, a non-profit agency dedicated to promoting an environmentally sustainable society, focused its 2011 State of the World report on the problem of hunger and innovative solutions to solve that problem. In the foreword, Olivier De Schutter writes:

“We live in a world in which we produce more food than ever before and in which the hungry have never been as many.” As it turns out, we are quite adept at producing food, but our delivery system fails on a grand scale.

What happens to that glorious abundance of food? Jonathan Bloom author of American Wasteland, reports that “Americans waste more than 40 percent of the food we produce for consumption.” It’s tossed out because it isn’t perfectly round or perfectly red, much of it rots in storage while waiting to be delivered to hungry people, or it rots during transport across continents and oceans. The obvious course correction is to return to a local-food system; in other words, eat it where it’s grown.

State of the World 2011 reports on a number of strategies aimed at eliminating hunger through just this sort of local strategy. The One Acre Fund, founded in 2006, provides rural farmers in Kenya and Rwanda with resources to help them grow enough food to feed their families with surplus to sell. “After one growing season, Kenyan farmer Lydia Musila sold enough beans to build herself a new house.” Others sent children to school, purchased livestock, and increased the ability for local growers to become self-reliant.

In Kenya, produce grown by students in school gardens is used for school meals while any surplus is made available for local families. These gardens not only produce healthy and fresh food, but contribute to the success of communities in a myriad of ways: knowledge of gardening skills is passed on to younger generations, awareness of local food is encouraged, entire communities learn sustainable use of soil, and everyone gains respect for the environment.

But what about urban areas? Can growing a tomato plant on a balcony or in a postage stamp-size yard really make a difference in the fight against hunger? In Africa and Asia, surveys have shown that people involved in growing at least some of their own food ate more meals and had more balanced diets. According to State of the World 2011, “Children in farming households were better nourished than those in non-farming households….” And “By growing their own food, city dwellers gain an important source of employment and income that can be spent on school fees, clothes, and household necessities.” It’s estimated that approximately 800 million people are producing 15-20% of the world’s food.

Some of us grew up with the admonition to clean our plates because children in third world countries were starving, and we wondered how eating lima beans in Illinois or Montana made anything better for kids in countries on the far side of the world. What our mothers really meant was Don’t waste that food; you’re lucky to eat three meals a day because lots of people don’t even eat once a day. As it turns out, the lesson still waits to be learned.

We know the current system does not work. We have examples like Kenya to prove that locally grown crops and sustainable practices can feed the village as well as support a healthy local economy. How long do we have to watch failure before we change course? What can we do to transition to a sustainable and workable system of food delivery?

• Break it down to the basic unit — the village, the community, the neighborhood, the backyard.
• Recognize that there is an abundance of food; we don’t need more factory farms or genetically modified organisms; we need more efficient distribution and recognition of of the importance of nutrients over calories.
• Recognize that nothing is more efficient than eating it where it’s grown
• Eliminate spoilage and waste by going local
• Return to traditional organic methods, plus innovation sustainable practices like permaculture and microfarming
• Use biodiversity as insurance against blight
• Remember that smaller amounts of nutrient-dense food nourishes and fills better than excessive consumption of artificial fillers
• Recognize that a significant percentage of food cost is transportation
• Remember that soil is the foundation< /span>

Filed under: 100 Mile Diet, Food, Gardening, Health

It ’s time! Our county fair starts this week and in a burst of uncalled-for energy, I’ve decided that I simply must enter as many categories as I possibly can.

&# 8220;What is she talking about?” you city folks ask.

Th e annual fair is a cornerstone of small town and country life. There’s always the Midway — that long stretch of property filled with roller coasters and other rides that bring you to the brink of adrenaline depletion as well as games of chance and all manner of food that no one should put into their bodies — cotton candy (yum!) and the delights of the year such as deep-fried Kool Aid.

Ov er in the ag area, you’ll find pigs and cows and goats and chickens. FFA and 4H students raise these animals from infancy and enter them in the fair hoping to win the blue ribbon. (You remember Charlotte’s Web, right? Think ‘Wilber.’

An d then there are the domestic entries, which is where I’m placing my hopes. Categories range from arts and crafts to knitting and sewing, from baked goods to houseplants, from eggs to giant pumpkins.

I& #8217;ve got my goods lined up on the table in my office — a crocheted lavender vest, a daffodil yellow crocheted baby sweater and cap, jams and jellies, pickled okra, handmade jewelry. At the last minute, I’ll gather the most perfect peas and okra from my garden, the ideal eggs from the chicken coop, and I’ll bake a cake. Once I’ve delivered them to the fairgrounds, I can only sit back and hope that the judges are sufficiently impressed to award me a ribbon. I don’t even care whether it’s blue, just please don’t let me embarrass myself!

Pr ovided that my domestic arts receive good marks at the fair, I’ll donate them to a United Way fundraiser that’s coming up in a few weeks where they will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. (Not the cake, of course.)

So wish me luck, please. If you’re in the area, drop by the exhibits and see how I did. If you notice that I don’t have any ribbons, feel free to grumble loudly about the injustice of it all.

Filed under: Down on the farm, Small town life

There’s a thought provoking article in the July/August 2011 issue of Countryside Magazine by Gigi Stafne. (Stafne is an yerbalista wilder and borderlands woman with years of experience in the field of natural and botanical medicine.)

Her article, entitled “Homeland Food Insecurity and Down-to-the-ground Food Activism” came along just as I was wrapping up my month of local eating, and it is an excellent summation of the food and nutrition issues we face. If you can get your hands on a copy of this issue, I urge you to read the entire article.

A sidebar contains Stafne’s “30 Ways To Get Involved in the Ground Foodie Movement”, and with her kind permission, I’m including that here:

• Buy from organic farms

• Purchase food shares, join a CSA

• Get active with a local food co-op

• Visit and support farmers markets

• Eat whole foods & local produce

• Shop for value-added products

• Donate healthy food to the Food Pantry

• Serve up meals at Community Kitchens

• Transform the menu to include local food and organics

• Schools, colleges, nursing homes, employer food services

• Eat out at locavore food establishments

• Host events with local organic caterers

• Read what food bloogers are saying

• Transform your backyard: food not lawns

• Grow anarchist plots: guerilla garden

• Restore native plants

• Grow a medicinal herb garden

• Take a wild edibles or weed wealk with the local herbalist

• Volunteer to co-create gardens with kids

• Shop local, grow community economy

• Save seeds (heirloom, non-GMO, native)

• Preserve culturally diverse heritages & traditions

• Be active in the small farm revival

• Support biodiversity, organics, permaculture, biomimicry projects

• Support urban agriculture

• Volunteer at a prison garden

• Build raised beds for elderly neighbors

• Become a wild forager!

• Ensure egalitarian access to whole foods

• Join a food justice organization

Filed under: Food, Gardening, Health, The path of sanity - simple, green, compassionate living

I& #8217;ve been a member of my local Humane Society for several years but never went beyond sending them checks. A few months ago I decided that I’d really like to help out at the Waverly Animal Shelter, and now I show up there once a week to clean litter boxes, walk dogs, pet cats, scrub floors — whatever they need.

It ’s gone well. I haven’t adopted a single critter, largely because I know this is an excellent shelter that will do whatever it takes to find good homes for the animals. None of that ‘three days and they’re sent to the farm’ stuff around here, no sirree. The animals stay as long as they reasonably can (some stay for months!) and many of them move on to rescue groups where they are adopted by loving families. This week, in fact, the shelter staff received a pic of one of their former dogs enjoying a cruise on his yacht!

Ev ery time I go there, I learn something new. I’ve learned that there are two different kinds of mange, that nursing mama cats will happily take on a motherless 2-week-old kitten, and I’ve learned that some people think it is appropriate to drive around with a dog in the car trunk.

Th is week I decided that I can be trusted to foster animals. That just means taking a shelter animal to my home for a few days to give it a break from the shelter and to help it gain socialization skills with different humans and other animals.

Se e that adorable face in the pic? That’s one of the triplets who are visiting me this weekend. They’re four months old and totally laid back. I’m calling them Bashful, Sleepy, and Chubby but when they go to their new adoptive homes they’ll probably receive new names. I’m sure they don’t care what they’re called; as I said, they’re laid back.

I& #8217;ll bet you’ve often thought that you’d like to help those sweet babies at the animal shelter but you just don’t have room for a new dog or you’re not home enough to care for an animal or the cat you already have is too old to accept a new step-sibling.

Bu t have you considered fostering? Have you considered donating food to your local shelter? Have you considered volunteering to walk dogs and play with kittens at the shelter?

Se e? The title of this post is not just pretty words to lure you in. You really can improve your karma while having fun and doing something you enjoy. If you decide to give it a try, please share your stories here.

Filed under: The path of sanity - simple, green, compassionate living

It ’s a good thing my garden held off until after Local Eating Month! I don’t have time to eat right now — I’m busy canning tomatoes, pickles, peas, and everything else that has popped up out there.

Last year I shared my recipe for Cinnamon Pickle. I’m fully stocked on that now, and I will not want for Bread and Butter Pickle, either. Still the cucumbers sprout. The bell peppers are keeping up with them, too, so I went looking for a new way to use the bounty.

I found a recipe for Amber Relish, tweaked it just a bit, and came up with a mouth-watering accompaniment to beans, peas, or whatever else lands on my plate.

I don’t have a name for this variation, but suggestions are welcomed.

De b’s Experimental Relish

• 12 ripe cucumbers, grated

• 6 large bell peppers, diced

• 1 onion, diced

• 1/ 2 cup salt

• wa ter

• 1 quart cider vinegar

• 2 cups sugar

• 1/ 4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon ground mustard

• 1/ 4 teaspoon ground cloves

• 1 Tablespoon turmeric

• 2 Tablespoons curry powder

Co mbine the cukes, onions, and peppers in a bowl. Add salt and enough water to cover. Let stand 1 hour then drain off brine.

Bo il vinegar, sugar, and spices together for 20 minutes.

Ad d vegetables and cook slowly until tender.

Pa ck hot into clean, hot jars. Seal.

Pr ocess in simmering water bath for 10 minutes.

En joy.

I& #8217;m sharing this post on the Weekend Gourmet Blog Carnival, where you can also find links to other fabulous REAL food recipes.

Filed under: Food, Gardening, Recipes

The fine people at Food Freedom asked for a report at the end of my local eating month. What came out was probably not what they were expecting, but it’s there for you to read at The Freedom to Eat Food.

Filed under: 100 Mile Diet, Food, Freedom, Health

I thought there’d be fireworks. Balloons, at least. Instead, the first day of August looks remarkably similar to every day in July.

Oh, there was coffee first thing this morning, but it didn’t taste as good as I remember. There was whole wheat toast with butter.

Lunch, however, will be a different matter. In anticipation of the end of my 100 Mile Diet Challenge for July, I picked up organic baby spring mix greens. I’ll have it with cucumbers from my garden and the last of the feta from Bonnie Blue Farms.

Tomatoes are ripening faster than I can keep up with them (the Vorlons have arrived, Julie!) so while I’m cooking up marinara for the cupboard shelves, I’ll keep a little aside to have with my whole wheat pasta this evening.

Throughout my month of local eating, I made mental notes about my meals for this first day without restrictions. Cake with buttercream frosting for breakfast. Fried cheese sticks. A glass full of refined white sugar as a snack.

And now I don’t want those things. My body rather enjoys feeling clean and healthy, and it’s lobbying for more fresh local food. Not all the time, of course. One day soon I’m going to hit Waverly Cafe for some of the to-die-for carrot cake.

At this point, though, I anticipate changes. I see more organic food, including coffee, in my life. I expect that coffee to be strictly a breakfast thing, with rare exceptions (see Waverly Cafe, above). And refined white sugar and flour? Not so much.

Honestly, I didn’t expect a single month of local food to have much impact on my life, but I got that wrong. The simple act of paying attention to every bite I ate has made me more aware of the need for keeping small farmers in business, and for educating others about the joy of real food.

I hope some of you are inspired to give this a try for yourselves. If you do, I hope you’ll share your thoughts here. Even if you don’t go all local, all the time, I hope you’ll get out to the farmers market now and then, show some love for the folks who feed you, and maybe try your hand at a tomato plant on the balcony.

Filed under: 100 Mile Diet, Food