The Challenge-Mel's Perspective!

I'll be honest, I never put much thought into the food I ate before working with Extension. Eating local to me meant getting KFC...after all, it is Kentucky, right? Well...in working with the Farmers' Market, I started learning about what really goes into this food that travels across the country-or across the world to get to us. Did you know that a tomato grown in Brazil is bred to be hard, because its sole purpose is to travel for days and days before reaching you? Kinda cuts down on the flavor, huh?

Over the past year, I've been more and more involved with finding local foods-but never decided to go exclusively local. But from Saturday on, I'm gonna be a local-only girl. I'll letcha know how that goes. :) The goal is to be more aware of what I actually eat, see how I feel about cutting processed, preserved, and transported food out of my diet... and then bonus points if I lose a few pounds! ;)

So what exactly is an Eat Local Challenge ?

When: June 26-July 26

What: Eat locally grown and produced foods for a meal, a day, or for the entire week - you decide what is a challenge for you. --We went with 30 days!

Exceptions: Marco Polo Rules apply (salt and spices that sailors could carry in their pockets for 6 months while at sea) --I dunno who invented this rule, but I love it.

Wild Cards: Choose from 0 to 3 wilds cards for foods that you will eat during the challenge that are not local. --This makes it possible for people who have to have their coffee or tea able to participate. I havent decided on my Wild Cards yet...I'm saving them for if I get an awful craving for something non-local--I'll keep you posted. :)

If you wanna join in, for a day, a week, or a whole month--you're more than welcome! Jump in with us, the more the merrier!

~Mel