Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Add local foods, save some miles

Many of you have pledged to eat local this Thanksgiving, with approximately 116 plates worth of food coming from local sources rather than shipped in products from afar.

An estimated 255 pounds of CO2 has been saved just from these pledges alone. Just to put that in perspective, this is the equivalent of driving 313 less miles in your car.

Although that may not seem like a lot, if the 15,000 unique visitors that visited my blog in the last month replaced one plate worth of food at their Thanksgiving table with local products, that would be like taking the average vehicle off the road for 40,500 miles. I think that's a number that really makes a difference. A huge difference that just you Crunchy Chickens out there can make without much effort or extra cost.

So, even though many of you may not have pledged to do so, it's not too late to add local produce to your table.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

11 comments:

Sally said...

Hi, I learn a lot from your blog. I had a question: Where would I go to find out what eating locally would mean in Chicagoland? I'm not even sure how to start looking into that. Thanks.

Crunchy Chicken said...

sally - I would start with your local farmer's markets. Green City Market is one that runs Wednesdays and Saturdays during November and December. You can find out a wealth of information by talking directly with the growers. Here's their November calendar.

The other big place to poke around is Local Harvest. You can search for farms, farmer's markets, grocery stores that carry produce, etc.

Good luck!

Annie said...

Most of our meal is what we raised or canned over the summer! So it is very local!!
Wishing you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving together!

Anonymous said...

I think I'm at about 55% local for Tday. I made a pumpkin pie from the PCC website that didn't use sweetened condensed milk, but milk and cream instead. That made me feel like a rock star! I hate to admit it, but the cranberries are my favorite... do we have any local bogs around here?

Crunchy Chicken said...

rachel - I have that recipe from PCC taped to my fridge. Are you sure you didn't steal it?

As for cranberries, WA is one of the few states that produces them. Unfortunately, they all get sold to Ocean Spray and repackaged at the national level along with cranberries from OR and MA. But I did find some frozen berries from a local source at Ballard Market.

QT said...

I just have to say - did you know that Wisconsin is the number one producer of cranberries in the nation? I didn't believe it myself, being from Washington and all, but I looked it up and lo and behold, its true.

Too bad I am only serving one cranberry based dish ~ have a good one, crunchy, and try to relax a little tomorrow, you deserve it ~

Eva said...

Isn't it amazing how huge of a difference eating local can make? One person, influencing others, turning into many people? My husband always says... 'you are only one person, it won't make THAT much of a difference.' HAAA I'll show him.

He's coming around, slowly but surely. Hope you and your family have a wonderful, safe Thanksgiving!

Chile said...

I posted about this today and then headed to the store(s) for the couple of items I chose to buy non-local. Yikes, it really drove me nuts. I'll be better prepared next year for all local. (Note to self: make orange marmalade this winter, plant celery/carrots/parsley in time for Thanksgiving harvest, and learn to love pumpkin pudding instead of pie. Oh yeah, find substitute for cranberry sauce. Maybe pomegranates?)

Anonymous said...

It is really hard to do this in Colorado. We have a very short growing season. The farmer's markets only run from July to September. I tried to have a garden a couple of years ago but I wasn't real smart about researching it first. You have to start your plants inside and then transplant them at the end of May if you want to be successful. I guess what we should do here is can and freeze what we can while it is available and then eat that during the off season. I am going to try another garden this summer.

Happy Thanksgiving to all you Crunchies and I pray your husband is doing well.

Anonymous said...

I would like to eat more locally, too, but it is difficult with a large family. We have two large freezers in our basement, one full of local beef, and one full of frozen veggies/fruit for smoothies. There is still no way that this would ever be enough for two adults and four children who eat at home everyday. We would quickly use it up if we ate our 5 a day at the least. I also have a toddler who is addicted to bananas, which is a whole other issue, lol.
What I have started to do is buy what I *can* buy locally, and not worry so much about the rest. We are not willing to give up coffee at this point, so that is one thing I buy that isn't ever going to be local in MD. I just bought a wheat grinder, but there is no local grower of wheat here. There *is* a supplier, though, a little Amish store, so I am still helping the *little man* per se.
I found some local honey on clearance, and I bought a ton. I frequented an awesome Amish stand near our house, and we had tons of fresh produce during the summer.
I have tried to buy fresh if I can, and make more from scratch.
For instance, I made sweet potatoes today, and I used real ones, not the canned ones. I'm not sure if they were local, but they were not processed, so... Closer, anyway.
We garden, but usually just end up with lots of tomatoes and peppers. Great, but not a variety. I am hoping to grow a lot more next year. Legumes and winter squashes, maybe some peas, too.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Lea

deconstructingVenus said...

Have you red Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver? She is absolutely inspiring. I've already decided to raise turkeys in the spring after reading that book. Most people just don't THINK to eat local food. As Americans we feel entitled to anything we want at any time. Keep it up!