New Life: Eating locally and food preservation

Well, it's been a long time since I've last posted but it seems as though it's time for me to do so again. It would be hard to encapsulate all of the changes that have happened in my life over this past year, for they have been varied and great. So, I think I'm going to create a few entries over the next few weeks each based on a different and important event/topic/idea that has sprouted during the months I've been away from this blog. The first of these will be about what perhaps could be considered the event that lead to or helped shape all of the others in many ways and that is my introduction into the world of farming and getting hired to work on Wright Way Farm, an organic produce farm based just outside Beloit, Wisconsin. I am currently working on a longer piece based on the whole farming season of 2014, that is more philosophically based, so I'd like to make this one more specifically on the idea of sustainable living and some simple anecdotes of the ways farming has lead me towards that goal of mine.

When one thinks about ways to reduce their carbon footprint, live more sustainably, be more self-sufficient, reduce your waste stream and the like, food is arguably the most important and crucial aspect that needs to be addressed. One can live a minimalist lifestyle restricting one's self to the most ascetic refrain for consumption possible, but food is still a daily necessity to live a healthy life. So if one's goal is to break free from the role of consumer in the modern sense, it is necessary to start growing one's own food. I was lucky enough to have that opportunity this year. I, along with a few friends and my current girlfriend Leeanna, planted from seed the bounty that Wright Way Farm would produce throughout the year. Through conversations with Denny Wright, the owner of Wright Way, as well as my fellow farmers I got for the first time and inside look at how important working toward and sustaining a local diet is to living sustainably. I was already well aware of the environmental importance of eating organically, but for some reason eating locally had always seemed out of reach and somehow less important. I laugh at the thought now because it is so obviously and clearly not.

Think about an average trip to the grocery store and think about all the times you may by. The chances are most of those items were shipped here from thousands of miles away, individually, by carbon emitting vehicles contributing to the man-made pollution problem our planet is being so woefully injured by. Now think about the fact that groceries stores all throughout our country are filled with items that undergo that same lengthy transportation process, and they are items that we consume daily! The amount of pollution from this system is simply staggering and this is not even taking into account the massive amount of plastic, non-biodegradable packaging that food often comes in that is from beginning to end terrible on the environment. So, how do you reduce your participation in this harmful system? Grow your own food as much as possible and buy from local farms as much as possible. It's as simple as that.

This year I was able to bring home food regularly from Wright Way that ended up consisting of well over half my diet during the Summer and Fall months, lessening my participation in this system and it felt amazing to do so. It also inspired me to start looking for local alternatives to the few things I wasn't able to get from the farm, like peanut butter, bread and fruit. Also, considering I live in Wisconsin and farm fresh food is seasonal, I started venturing into the world of food preservation. I would see a few fellow farmers earlier on in the spring still enjoying the food that they grew last season, reducing the amount of non-local food they had to buy. I was envious to say the least. It became frustrating to even go to the grocery store for no local food options were even available in the early parts of the season, and I told myself that I would preserve as much as I could this year so next spring I would be able to do eat locally the way in which my friends still were. So, Leeanna and I went to a food preservation class at another local farm where we learned about blanching/freezing, canning, fermenting, etc. and I felt so excited to get started. Throughout the season I was able to freeze about 30 gallons of various vegetables, make about 10 pints of tomato sauce, 16 quarts of cucumber pickles, 6 summer squash pickles, 2 quarts of pickled carrots, 4 quarts of pickled beets, 2 quarts of pickled green tomatoes, 1 quart of pickled peppers, along with about 20 pints of fermented Kimchi and 2 quarts of sauerkraut. Along with these things I was able to dry a bunch of home grown oregano and sage as well as stock up on a bunch of onions, potatoes, and squash that I'll be enjoying throughout the colder months. It feels incredibly to think that every bit of food that I saved is going to subtract that much from what I'd have to buy in the winter, being shipped from warmer regions. Also, considering the fact that all of the produce was organic and most of it was free I saved myself a lot of money on top of the environmental benefits. It was a really beautiful experience and I'm so glad that I had it. I implore anyone who would like to take steps towards living more sustainably to start with your diet. Grow some tomatoes in your back yard, shop at local farmer's markets or local co-ops, get a CSA membership to a local farm or even better yet, volunteer or work on one. The rewards are many. It will help the environment, you will almost certainly eat more healthy, you will be inspired to cook for yourself and be more creative with your meal plans and chances are you will meet some really interesting people.

As I said before I'm writing a longer, much more thorough piece on my experience this year that goes far beyond the little I've written here about food preservation and some brief advice on the importance of eating locally, but for now I'll be working on a few short entries like this to organize my thoughts on all the experiences the past year has held.