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As Real as it Gets

April 2nd, 2011

You know I’m a huge advocate of Real food, especially local Real food. I eat homegrown when I can, local when I can’t grow or make it myself, and small farm/business when I can’t find it locally. My goal isn’t to eat 100% locally, I like to incorporate things like lemons and coconut oil into my diet and will never completely rule them out. It’s rare when 100% of my meal come from within a few miles of my house, it seems like there’s always one ingredient that isn’t local. The other day it happened, as I was eating I realized I had made a meal that was 100% local.

We enjoyed sandwiches made with: local raw milk gruyere cheese, homegrown sundried tomatoes, freshly harvested arugula, on homemade sourdough bread made with local wheat. I grilled it in my vintage Griswold cast iron skillet in some homemade raw milk butter. We enjoyed it with a bowl of homemade tomato soup on the side made with all homegrown ingredients and some homemade chicken stock. It was truly a nourishing meal!

How much of your food comes from your garden or your local area?

14 Comments to “As Real as it Gets”
  1. nic@nipitinthebud on April 2, 2011 at 6:48 am

    brilliant and if you are what you eat you must have been positively bouncing after such a hearty lunch :o)

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  2. kristin @ going country on April 2, 2011 at 6:50 am

    Dunno. A lot. Less than usual at this time of year, though, as we do take advantage of store produce so we’re not reduced to eating nothing but pickles and sauerkraut until May. Modern living has its benefits.

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  3. annie on April 2, 2011 at 10:07 am

    That is fantastic! We try to grow more and more each year but normally most of the vegetables that make up the bulk of our meals are homegrown or local. The cheese sometimes is, the milk is regionally local, and the rice sometimes is.

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  4. risa b on April 2, 2011 at 10:45 am

    We average about one meal a day that is entirely from the premises, and sometimes make it to all three.

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  5. Lynda on April 2, 2011 at 11:03 am

    I’m guessing about 95% if not more is local. Of that over 50% is homegrown. 75% of our meat is from the neighbors’ and the other 25% we raise here on the ranch. 100% of my produce, nuts, honey, fruits, eggs, rice, sunflowers (for oil) are also grown on this ranch. Our milk is local, and I make most of our cheese, some butter, all of our ice cream and yogurts. Our wheat comes from the neighboring ranch. I buy oats, barley, spices, cheese cultures and some sugar…not local…our salt comes from the Bay Area: within 150 miles of here.

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  6. Daedre Craig on April 2, 2011 at 11:28 am

    Very little. Especially in winter, when my vegetable garden is nonexistent. If the city allowed it, I would probably have a lot of farm animals in my backyard to help increase my local food percentage. At least they allow chickens now!

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  7. Lisa on April 2, 2011 at 11:44 am

    This is definitely a great achievement. I am happy when I just have healthy, organic ingredients for the entire meal (which is near impossible where I live).

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  8. MAYBELLINE on April 2, 2011 at 11:55 am

    The majority is local.
    Beef – Harris Ranch (up the valley)
    Vegetables/fruits – my garden or local farms
    Milk – yuck

    I need to work on my chicken source. However, if I was only cooking for me I believe I could be content with whatever is growing in my garden.

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  9. Michelle @ Give a Girl a Fig on April 2, 2011 at 12:11 pm

    Sounds so delicious! It amazes me how much better food sounds to me, now that I know better, when it’s all homegrown and homemade. You just KNOW it’s healthy and good and nourishing… Good for you!

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  10. Sheryl at Providence Acres Farm on April 2, 2011 at 2:36 pm

    That sounds wonderful! I wish more of our diet were local, but that’s just not possible in the wintertime. This year we will aim to grow and store more of our own food for winter use.

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  11. Jennifer Fisk on April 2, 2011 at 8:03 pm

    I guess you could say I’m regionally local for the most part. I have my own eggs and buy raw milk down the road. I use fresh veggies in the winter that are at least from New England except I do buy broccoli which is from CA. I have my own chicken and rabbit meat in the freezer. Any beef is Maine grass fed. My fresh in season and frozen veggies are from my own garden. I have to buy coffee and peanut butter but at least they are organic. I haven’t ventured into bread making so I use an organic from the mid coast area. I do buy pasta and rice which is not local. Most of my cheese is local but I do buy VT Cheddar. My goal is to be as self sufficient as possible.

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  12. Teri @ Love From the Farm on April 2, 2011 at 11:18 pm

    Good for you! What an achievement. At this point, very little of our food is local, but we’re not exactly in a lush growing region, so as much as I’d like to set the goal, we won’t approach 100% here without giving up lots of variety. We are going to plant our own fruit & nut trees (which will vary in success from year to year); have our own garden, chickens, pigs, and herbs will be started this year; buying eggs from a friend till ours start laying; buying locally raised beef from another friend…it’s a start.

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  13. AGinPA on April 3, 2011 at 10:51 am

    We eat at least 75% local, including all meat, milk and produce. I’m really lucky to live in an area where “eating local” is a big deal. There are several farmers markets open all year. But they’ve just run out of potatoes and sweet potatoes so pickings are getting slim. I think I’ll have to throw an asparagus party when the first of the season shows up because I’m getting desperate for something new. At least the chickens are laying well.

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  14. KimH on April 3, 2011 at 3:02 pm

    Unfortunately for me, very little of what we are currently eating is local.. however that has been changing.. Just bought a small stockpile of local grass fed beef & free range eggs, and joined a CSA in the area for the summer.
    There will be another opportunity around the 1st of May and it seems like more & more sources and opportunities are opening up around us.. Yay!! ;)

    Reply to KimH's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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