Hunting/Gathering, July 1

Liberty Village market, Sunday morning. I gathered berries, apples, raw honey, a monster romaine, tomatoes, garlic scapes, green beans, yellow and green round zucchini, cucumber, baby squash and flowers. The various squash/flowers are going to be sauteed with scapes in lard or duck fat and served alongside my meat from last week, though I am dreaming of stuffing the flowers with various savoury fillings, dipping in batter and deep-frying. We shall see. The romaine will find itself in salads or serving as a wrap for tuna/egg salad. Tomatoes get eaten as-is in these parts, but I may branch out and do up a tomato/cuke/scape salad. Berries are getting gobbled up with my new favorite thing, my coconut milk vanilla ice cream; the apples will be sauteed in coconut oil, cinnamon and honey til soft, mixed with some almond meal and maybe topped with ice cream for my quick and dirty version of apple pie/crumble. Not too low carb, really, but it hasn't interfered with my weight loss so I'm going for it.

So far, local eating is a breeze. It's easy to get meat, veggies, fruit and eggs. If I did dairy, I could get that too (and I may give sheep dairy a test, when my bowels and I aren't needed for anything outside of the house for a few days). But what about the stuff we don't think about, like condiments and oils and beverages? How local could I go if I tried? I'm keeping my eyes open for more goods. I did discover a locally made laundry soap, of all things, that I haven't tried yet. But are the ingredients local? I don't know.

For me, there are limits to local eating. At least for now. I don't want to give up my tea or my coconut milk and oil. I like olive oil for dressings. I have no immediate plans to make all of my own condiments, though there are a few I'd like to try doing on my own (ketchup, mayo). But I am committed to buying locally as much as possible, for as long as possible. And I am reading up on preserving and fermenting, so I can store some veggies for winter. I don't know where the hell I'll put them, as I'm in an apartment and have no pantry or cold cellar (though I'm not really using my linen closet...hmmm), but I'm enjoying the idea of preserved 'maters and homemade 'kraut.

One thing I haven't done is ask produce vendors about their chemical use. I don't know why. I prefer to buy organic, especially for certain items like strawberries. But I haven't asked. Quite honestly, I'm afraid of the answer. I have all these beautiful local sources of food, and inside I want them to be perfect. I don't want to find out that they douse their crops with chemical pesticides or pump their soil full of chemicals. Doesn't make sense, does it? It's easier sometimes to just not think about it, to just close my eyes and buy. It feels better, cozier, to pretend that I live in a world where food is totally, utterly safe and nourishing and I can eat anything I want without giving it a second thought. Fear and loathing gets tiring. Sometimes, I just want to eat.