What Have I learned?

Through this experiment, I realized how difficult it is to eat food directly from the farm. For one, I did not have the cooking knowledge to prepare the food that I bought. Secondly, there is a limited variety of food available at the market. For example, I drink a lot of milk, but it's not available at the market.

Could I have made it a week with those groceries? Maybe, but it would have taken a lot of discipline not to eat anything else.

Although I may have failed my initial experiment, I learned the reality of eating local food, I had a great time shopping at the market, and I got to eat some really banging food. I have lowered my personal expectations, and now I will use local food mainly to supplement my regular groceries.

In Over My Head

Well....

Today is Tuesday, which means it is Day 4 of my farmer's market experience.

I knew it would be difficult only eating food from farmer's markets, but I didn't realize how difficult.

My first attempt at cooking was Saturday after I returned from the market. I started talking with David Zuckerman, who runs Full Moon Farm in Hinesburg, VT with his wife Rachel Nevitt, and I explained to him that I was trying to sustain myself on food from farmer's markets. I asked David what he suggested, and he just started piling vegetables in front of me. A minute later, I had a small pile of black beans, carrots, onions, potatoes, green garlic, parsnips, and a vegetable I had never seen or heard of, called celeriac. After paying for my small mound of vegetables, I asked David, how do I cook all of this? To this, he replied, chop up all the veggies and throw them in a pot of boiling water and beans. Fair enough I thought, I had no clue what I was doing, but isn't that part of the fun?

So off I went, ready to make some stew. When I got home, I immediately began chopping the vegetables. I planned on making a large batch of stew, and freezing the left overs, so I chopped up all of the veggies. I threw the veggies in a crock pot and boiled water for the beans.

6 hours later, I realized how little clue I had about cooking vegetables. I assumed that the fresh vegetables alone would make a good soup, and there wasn't a lot of cooking knowledge required. The beans were cooked way before the vegetables, so I had a enormous pot of beans, and a lot uncooked veggies. The vegetables weren't bad, but I know they could have been

Back from the Market!

March 31st, 2012

Saturday

Well, I just got back from the Burlington Farmers Market, and boy it was fun. I like to attend markets as frequently as possible, but being the broke college student that I am, I'm usually limited to window shopping. Today, I went crazy, spent all of my allotted grocery money for the next two weeks. Instead of looking at the delicious food and daydreaming, I was able to actually buy the food that I always imagine buying. Besides being able to actually purchase the food, I felt genuinely good handing my money to the people selling their goods. I felt like I was helping support another human being. All in all, it was a really fun way to spend a Saturday morning, I felt like I was doing a good thing, and on top of that, I came out with some really delicious looking food.

My Loot

Jericho Settlers Farm

• Eggs
• Bacon
• Baby Back Ribs
• Green Garlic

Full Moon Farm

• Red onions
• Yellow Onions
• Yukon Potatoes
• Celerica 
• Carrots
• Parsnips
• Black Beans

Shelburne Farms

• 1 yr Cheddar

Boutin Family Farm

• Elderberry Jelly

Sylvie L Hand Crafted Soaps and Lotions

• Patchouli 

Bread and Butter Farm

• Sandwich Rolls

Naga Bakehouse

• Smoked gouda and caramelized onion crostini

Grand Isle Pasta

• Organic Hot Pepper Fusilli

Lewis Creek Farm

• Kohlrabi

Tamarack Farm 

• Ground Beef

(Not Pictured)

Grand Finale!

Now, I guess it's time to begin the experiment, more updates to come!

Peace!

-Scott

Late Night Follow Up

It's been some time now since my late night inspired idea, and I've given it some more thought.

Deep down, what I really want to know is, "Is it feasible/realistically possible to eat food only from local farms and farmer's markets." Unfortunately, it's not yet April, so I'm not sure what to expect for produce being available, but I'll find out more when I make the trip to the Winter Burlington Farmer's Market on Saturday.

Here are my pre-experiment questions/concerns/doubts about sustaining myself on only locally farmed food.

1. What is the cost difference between food from a farmer's market versus a traditional grocery store. Can I even afford to sustain myself on locally produced food?
2. What foods are not available from local farms, and can I manage without them, or am I going to break and shop at a conventional grocery store?

Anywho, I'll post more after I'm done gathering groceries at the market on Saturday!

Peace!

-Scott

Late Night Inspiration

I once had a professor that instead on keeping a notebook on your night stand, because some of your best ideas are manifested during night time, which is when your brain works on different subconscious levels. It is four o'clock in the morning saturday night (sunday morning), and I was pondering what direction to take in this project.

I'm interested in studying the cost differential between food from local farms (<25 miles), and traditional mass-scale grocery stores. Proponents of local agriculture make a compelling argument to grow your own produce, or obtain your food from a local farm. Produce in traditional grocery stores is often grown in a far away state, and sometimes another country. Two of the most obvious problems with this is; it requires a large amount of petroleum and other resources to transport, and large scale farming is notorious for being environmentally harmful.

I would like to measure the difference in cost between food products purchased at the following three locations:

1) Farmer's Market/Farm store < 25 miles

2) City Market Co-Op

3) Major grocery store (i.e. Shaws, Price Chopper)

Methods

Starting on Saturday, March 21st, I will purchase products only from farmer's markets, or directly from a farm within 25 miles via farm stand or farm store, and record the purchases. Then, I will record the total cost of purchasing a similar "basket of goods" at a major grocery store. I will then analyze the cost differential, as well as my impression on overall food quality/satisfaction. Lastly, I will analyze whether you or not you can tell where your food comes from at a major grocery store, and if so, how far away the food is prepared.

Anyways, this is a late-night concept, but I'm excited by the idea of doing this experiment, and will provide up dates as I go.

Peace!

-Scott

Sub-Blog

*Disclaimer


This blog is somewhat of a blog within a larger blog. This was originally a part of the blog titled "How Does My Food Come From?" The objectives of the original blog was to analyze how people connect to their local food systems, and to examine different models of community agriculture. My group partners studied examples such as Lewis Creek Farm and Pitchfork Farms. I chose to take a slightly different approach, and try a sort of hands on approach. 


Therefore!


For the sake of clarity and continuity, I made a separate blog to document my experience.