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Margaret Hochla
El Reno, Oklahoma
I have been married for 27 years to Victor and have 4 children. The two girls and two boys range in age from 25-10 years. We are pleased to still have one grandparent from each side of the family ... More about Margaret
Sareen Dunleavy-Keenan
Minneapolis, Minnesota
I live in Minneapolis, in 1.5 story craftsman bungalow with beautiful woodwork, but a tiny lot. Sharing this space is my husband Brendan, 'baby' (5/07) and 'new baby' who is expected to join the fold in August. More about Sareen
Gina Keenan-Klages
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
My name is Gina, and my husband's name is Patrick. We have three children, ranging in ages from 1 to 5 years. Our household also includes my mother, who is living with us from September to May. More about Gina
Donna McClurkan
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Early January may seem an inauspicious time to begin an "eat local" project in Southwest Michigan. As if to underscore that point, nearly a foot of snow fell in Kalamazoo on January 3. More about Donna
Cher Stuewe-Portnoff
St Louis, Missouri
My first father-in-law taught me to garden in the mid-1960s. Over the next few years, with a family of five to feed, I read everything I could find about nutrition ... More about Cher
Vera Schabicki
Ashland, Mississippi
Four years ago my five children, one husband, two dogs, one cat and I moved to the rural South from a large northern California city. We went from .12 acres to a rambling 57 acres. More about Vera
- oh yeah
- Love
- successes and failures
- Hurrah for (kind of) local juice!
- Wow, it has gone fast!
- You must be brave
- Perhaps to give you some insight
- Finale: The Meaning of Life
- Meeting Joel Salatin ... and other posts from the cutting room floor
- The snack that does what?
< Free range chicken | Main | Mileage commitment >
Defining local foods
Posted at 6:27 PM on January 15, 2008 by Gina Keenan
When we were asked to participate in Locavore Nation, we (me, my husband, and my mom; the kids, as they are all under five years of age, didn’t care) began to ponder what was going to define local foods for us for the next year. We have received many opinions from friends, relatives and co-workers about the mileage radius to use to define local food for us, usually after they say, “and why are you doing this?”. Most say make the mileage radius large enough to include California. This includes my mom who has been having bouts of panic over going local with our food.
After discussing the issue, we agreed to a 500-mile radius. Our rational for deciding the 500-mile radius was:
1. A 500-mile radius is a considerable mileage savings over the 1300-miles an average piece of food travels to our dinner plates in the United States.
2. A 500-mile radius guarantees staples in our diet, like some cereals, pasta and bread, can be included as at least partially local (I have e-mailed these companies to find out the source of the grains they use in the products to find out how much we can consider local).
I feel that a 500-mile radius is too large-I almost feel guilty making it this large. I like to think it would be a much smaller radius if it were just me and my husband. A 500-mile radius will still make it a big challenge for our family, especially during the winter months up here in the upper Midwest. Right now we are only at about 50% local foods; fresh fruit and vegetables are killing our numbers.
The reality is that I do not have a lot of time to make things like bread and pasta, and the kids and mom are already giving up a lot of packaged products by participating (mom LOVES packaged foods). A 500-mile radius is a step, not an extreme step, but a step and it is a good compromise within our family.