So the weekend has been super busy and I don’t have a lot of time to update the blog. I’m going to lump two days (Day 8 and Day 9) into a single post.

Day 8:
Daily Challenge: Shop at a Farmers Market or Farm Stand
Food of the Day: Grapes

Day 9:
Daily Challenge: Try Food Preservation (Can, Freeze, Dry)
Food of the Day: Pickles

One of the big projects I have every weekend is picking up and prepping my CSA share. While this might sound like a simple task, as you can see from the photo, there is a whole lot of bounty in that share and if it isn’t prepped, I might as well just transfer it to the compost bin from the pick-up, because it will go bad before I eat it. This is not factory farm produce that seemingly lasts forever. A head of lettuce from Whole Paycheck may last a night on the counter or poor placement in a refrigerator; family farm produce isn’t engineered to withstand being too close to the refrigerator wall or a night at room temperature.

I wasn’t even sure I wanted to venture to the Farmers Market yesterday. The tornado in my neighborhood aside, I had plenty to contend with from my CSA (which held collards, eggs – including one blue egg, lettuce, sweet potatoes, peppers, beets heritage tomatoes, mizuna, zucchini, garlic and onions). However, I did need butter and cheese, and I hoped to find grapes, so off to the greenmarket I went. There were no grapes, however, so I had no FotD to consume. Other than that, I spent the majority of the day working a local beer event, so it was a good day all-in-all from a locavore perspective.

Today was a “throw the local out the window,” as I was invited out by one of my best friends for the day. I haven’t seen her in months, and she generously offered to pay, so it was imported beer and crab cakes sourced from who knows where. But sometimes you have to hang with a friend, and it’s inconsiderate not to eat the food from your host’s table. As for today’s Daily Challenge, I have dabbled in pickling (and I did have a bit of pickle today, so I guess that counts), but I didn’t have time to do a full-scale preservation. Instead, I made celery salt, a recipe that is quite simple to do at home: Dry the celery leaves, either in a dry space or in a low oven until crisp; crumble and mix with an equal amount of kosher or sea salt.

Where I Soared: I did both daily challenges, and I even picked up some local sunflower oil from the greenmarket.

Where I Sunk: Today wasn’t a good day at all with regards to staying local, but I feel a lot better in general having spent a lovely day outdoors with my friend.

My Grade: Day 8 I’ll give myself an A- (hey, not my fault no one was selling local grapes!); for Day 9, well, C-.