Local Eggs

Meet "The Girls". This is Iris and Tulip, our backyard chickens. Eggs don't get any more local than when you walk out behind the garage for breakfast. Three years ago we decided to expand our garden to include eggs as well. The eggs are so beautiful (bright orange yolks that hold together) and so much more tasty, that I could never go back to the factory eggs. I have read lots of great factoids about health benefits of "free range" eggs as well. If I want Omega-3 eggs, I give them a scoop of flax seed or let them bug hunt a bit more.

Our girls spend much of their time in their coop and run, but when we can, we let them out so they can forage for bugs in our lawn and garden. They practically hyperventilate with excitement. Chickens make great pets that require no more care than a cat and are surprisingly entertaining with their own little personalities, and, of course, "pecking order". Their poop makes such a great additive to the compost pile that friends actually have a waiting list for taking the discards from the coop cleanout. The other day I actually saw chicken poop for sale at Stein Gardens.

If you are interested in backyard chickens, don't think you need to live on a farm. Many municipalities allow a small number of hens (although we did have to get a permit) and since they need such small space, they can be happy even in an urban setting. Roosters are usually not allowed for obvious reasons.

If you are interested in backyard chickens, there are lots of good websites and books. We found
the book "Keep Chickens! Tending Small Flocks in Cities, Suburbs, and Other Small Spaces" by Barbara Kilarski lots of fun (there was no turning back after I read this!). Also, the website www.backyardchickens.com is really helpful. Locally you can get feed and chicks at a variety of places. The Merton Feed Mill in downtown Merton and this is worth a trip just for the feeling like you are walking back in time.

Cheesehead pride

Our friend Jill doesn't like cheese, but we let her stay in Wisconsin anyway. I admit that I have not been a fan of milk ever since they served it to us warm and in a bag in Kindergarten. I had a friend in 6th grade that was allergic to ice cream (she would actually throw up). In this state of proud dairy lovers, these stories come as a shock to us. I heard that when margarine was first created it was illegal to sell it in Wisconsin (that may be rumor, you can fact-check it yourself).

To me, buying Wisconsin dairy products is a consumer decision that carries a lot of bang for the buck (yes, even when the organic milk is $6/gallon). Buying local milk supports the local economy, family farms, a rural landscape and reduces energy usage by less transportation. After all, do we really want to be second to California?

Milk and cheese are pretty easy as there are many options just at local grocery stores for conventional products. If you are looking for organic milk, it is Organic Valley and Wisconsin Organics (Horizon is from California). When I looked for locally made yogurt, it was harder to find a Wisconsin producer. I recently found a yummy local and organic yogurt produced south of Madison called Sugar River Dairy. I have found this locally at Hartland Market.

If you are interested in Wisconsin dairy artisans, check out this directory http://www.wisconsindairyartisan.com/artisans.html

Summer Must Reads

If you are interested in learning more about where your food comes from or eating more locally, there are two books that I know of that should be on your summer "must read" list.

The first is Animal, Vegetable, Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver. She chronicals the journey of her family as they take a challenge to eat food that they produce themselves or purchase from farmers within 100 miles from their house. It is informative, and filled with lots of good stories as you'd expect from Kingsolver. Some of the recipes and tips are on her website and one of these days I am really hoping to try my hand at making cheese http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/

The other is Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan. This books is also combination information and personal experience. The author dives into the origin of our food from the politics of corn to the hidden secrets of mass-produced organic food, to the question of whether or not to eat meat and finishes with foraging for mushrooms.

I'd love to see comments of any other suggestions of books that you've read on this month's food topic.

reusable bags update

Just a quick FYI to let you all know that the Piggly Wiggly in Hartland is now selling reusable bags for 99c. I was there today and saw lots of folks using them. They look nice and are the kind with bottoms.

Dandy Dandelions

The other night I fed dandelions to my family for dinner. I was starting to panic over the army of tall naked dandelion stalks marching across my property. I found myself avoiding inviting people over unless we had just mowed. I started thinking that maybe a little herbicide might be a good thing. I needed to regain control before these pests made me do something that I regretted.

So I went out and cut off their heads, deep fried them and ate them. The recipe came from the La Leche League cookbook, Whole Foods for the Whole World. You basically dip the flowers in a mixture of milk and egg, roll in flour with salt and pepper and deep fry. They were actually pretty good-tasted like any other deep fried veggie you might order at a bar with a cold beer. My daughter said they were good but had trouble getting over the fact that she was eating a dandelion. My son asked if I could send them as a school snack and ate them all up. My husband had seconds on the main dish. My youngest wanted to know if that counted as her vegetable.

I am not sure we'll be eating dandelions every day, but it did shake me out of my feelings of defeat and was a great way to launch the June "eating local" challenge. Now I am curious about what else my backyard has to offer.

Farm Fresh Atlas

If you are ready to take the local challenge, you will want to get a copy of the Farm Fresh Atlas. This is a wonderful resource of farmer's markets, farms that sell direct, meat and poultry producers, orchards, community sponsored agriculture and other businesses that sell locally grown food. They are published by region so you want to get your hands on the Southeastern WI version. The 2008 edition is out at your local library, chamber of commerce, etc or you can go to www.farmfreshatlas.org

June Challenge - Eat Local

Last June a few friends of ours decided to challenge ourselves to eat local for one month. It was this challenge that eventually led to this blog and the idea that it is good... and fun... to challenge ourselves to do better each month and rethink how we do things. So here we are one year later and it is time to once again challenge ourselves to eat local. How will you challenge yourself?

• Will you grow a backyard garden? (I have high hopes for my garden, pictured above)
  
• Will you plan to visit a farmers market each Saturday?
• Will you plan to make one completely local meal once a week?
• Will you go all out and only eat food that has been grown in Wisconsin?
• Will you decide to be inspired and read "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver?
• Or will you really go all out and be like this guy who is foraging for all his food in a forest for one year? Yeah, me neither.

Let us know in the comments section how you will be eating this month!