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Redefining local (again and again)

Posted at 7:46 AM on June 5, 2008 by Cher Stuewe-Portnoff (2 Comments)

Is it just us? Or is it getting tougher to know what you'll be doing, day to day? Plans mean nothing any more. The universe sweeps us up and drops us wherever it chooses, usually responding to something going on with one of the families we care most about -- our scattered parents, children and friends. Or to our own sudden, sharp need to see their faces and hear their voices, not just read their emails.

And so accordingly, we've become unreliable. Case in point: Recognizing now that our visions of stillness and stability this year were more nostalgic than realistic, we've just put our CCSA membership up for sale. No harm done: The CCSA sold all of its memberships and has a waiting list; we can find local products in the summer at farmers' markets and enlightened shops like Local Harvest and Winslow's Home. But this was an all-too-short whirlwind relationship that started last spring with our volunteering to be a pick-up point (visions of stability) and is ending now with a premature severing of ties (reality of unpredictability). This year, anyway. And the "big garden" we were expecting to grow will consist of tomatoes, herbs and nasturtiums (for salads), provided our neighbors will water them in our absences.

Life's center of gravity eludes me these days. I felt it last when it was firmly planted in our own kitchen and garden, where family and friends circulated. At any one point on a map of the world today, we cannot find more than one household of family members or old friends. We spend a lot of time either missing others or traveling like the weary nomads we have become (although that avenue is closing down, too, with the impact of energy prices). A couple of times a year, some of us mount the logistical feat of arriving all at one spot, roughly at the same time, for a semblance of a family gathering. It's never easy.

Good food is an essential element of being together well, and as someone who equates fresh local food with "good" food... well, enough said. When we're on the road, I miss cooking at home in the familiar comfort of my kitchen, the deep satisfaction of serving whatever is ripening in the garden and fresh at the market.

Okay, so we, our families and friends are getting older, and change happens. I don't think that's the whole story, though. Eating local, supporting local production, is like making home... it depends on so many parts coming together, on planning ahead, on a growing knowledge and network of local people, resources, methods, skills - it's a process, and a clear center of gravity -- a stable place -- helps enormously.

I know what I need to do in 2008. Keep my eye on the commitment, remain attached to the "what" and the "why," not to the "how" and the "where." Let go of what was. Explore and understand what is. Look up the road to what may be coming next. Plot a new strategy. Specifically, anticipate discovering local treasures in the places we visit, get those families involved in scouting for us, and for themselves. It's just different. We might need another year or two to get it right.

Comments (2)

Hello Cher,

I understand completely. Thinking about 2008 in December I thought it would be so easy to maintain local eating habits. How wrong I was. Eating local is so satisfying, and like most satisfying endeavors, requires planning and stability. I hope you find a happy balance. It sounds like you're getting towards one.

April

Posted by April | June 5, 2008 1:48 PM

Cher, It sounds like the inability to predict/plan is a particular challenge now, esp with friends and family scattered about. The strategy you've laid out in your last paragraph sounds right as you try to migrate back to something stable ... I hope that happens sometime soon.
Donna

Posted by Donna | June 7, 2008 2:03 PM