Close to the finish line

The following is a brief summary of my experience that was posted in the Imprint newspaper at the University of Waterloo last week. Hope everyone is doing better than ever!

Looking for a way to combine your desire to be a more conscious global citizen and the opportunity to include maple syrup in every meal? Sounds like a stretch I know but I’ve found the golden key in a growing movement called the 100-Mile Diet. Based on the principle that you only consume food and liquid that is grown and produced within a 100 mile radius (because 160 kms doesn’t sound as smooth) of where you live the challenge proves to limit your carbon footprint, connect you with local farmers and support your local economy.

Having caught word that the average meal in North America travels 1,500 miles to the dinner table and that a majority of the fruits and vegetable I eat can be grown in my own backyard was the fuel I needed to take this challenge head-on and do it vegan style. I’ve had a solid 7 years of practice living a nutritionally adequate diet as a vegan and maybe the fact that I’d proven my loved ones wrong and not died in the process gave me a bit more confidence than was safe to boast. While the days before the challenge flew by, emails and blogs went up about where to find local meat, eggs and dairy products and the fear began to set in. Was I in way over my head this time? Visions of a life without chocolate, caffeine, avocado rolls, hummus, bananas and rice began to haunt my weekly grocery visits.

Determined to go 100% local for the entire duration I stocked up on baby veggie sprouts, plowed through the weeds in the backyard and set up a garden and began to nurture my survival. I signed up for Baileys, a local food co-op, and in no time my fridge (there isn’t much unprocessed food that goes in the cupboard) was bursting and I was wondering what I was going to do with this cornucopia of foods, some of which I’d never even heard of. Starting one month ahead of time I stopped my purchases of foreigners and began to use up my abundance of planned WWIII food and took the final plunge on July 4th with the rest of the challenge takers.

Just as I was laughing at the simplicity of it all I heard the cruel whisper of bread and my heart stopped, or I cried, or something to the degree. This seemed like the end before the beginning as I scavenged my way through markets, health food stores and barns to find flour that was locally grown and wasn’t meant for animal feed. About one week to the challenge I found local flour and with just one lucky attempt the bread was in the oven and life was rainbows and butterflies again.

Now with just two weeks left before the challenge is over I am reflecting on the rollercoaster this challenge has taken me on. With the odd exception, most meals were made from scratch, which has left me equipped with kitchen skills I never would have learned otherwise. I now have a stronger and almost protective respect and admiration for local farmers and the traditions they have preserved over the decades of expanding imports. But the hardest part of the challenge can be summarized in the words of one of my good friends mothers on learning I was taking the challenge as a vegan ‘oh, she must be lonely’ she sighed. The life of a young 20something in University presents daily invites for social meals of which exist in restaurants that have never seen a local fruit or vegetable, something I hope this 100mile community challenge has influenced. It has been a challenge like no other I have ever taken, one that will forever influence my produce purchases. Only a few more dependency visits to St. Jacobs and October 11th will be here just in time for a Thanksgiving feast of Torfurkey and mashed potatoes (local of course).

If you are interested in hearing more about the challenge come out to the KPL Main Branch on September 29th at 7pm to hear other locavores discuss their experiences or check out these websites:

100milediet.org
Foodlink.ca – for a list of local farms and restaurants that provide local food
Healingpathcentre.com

*scrape, scrape* Yup, that’s the sound of me demolishing my second 1.5kg tub of peanut butter since the challenge began. This could not have been accomplished without the nearly 80 apples (recently switching to pears) that have also been consumed in the nearing 70-day mark. Of all the benefits and surprises that have emerged from this challenge who would have thought it would help brush me up on my math skills.

As the final month is underway and the market is filling up with a growing number of foreign travelers, temptations are getting stronger and the list of “I can’t waits” is growing by the meal. Now is the perfect time to shed light on the wonderful and enlightening gifts this challenge has presented me with.

1. As if it were possible…. I feel healthier
2. My 13yr old hormonal skin has become baby soft and blemish free
3. I’ve met some amazing people, shared some humorous stories on how we are surviving and have been able to educate those around me on the impact our food has on the planet
4. My grocery bill has been cut by nearly 1/3
5. I can now make a meal out of anything and can prepare zucchini in about 8 different ways (zucchini hash browns is now a lifer!)
6. Less packaging!! No bags, no plastic, no cardboard (except for the odd blueberry container). Just dump it in the cloth bag or pick it straight from the garden– my kind of food!

In a months time when all is said and done and pumpkins, squash and apples (do these ever NOT grow) are my best mates I look forward to reminiscing on this awakening experience and can’t wait to sow the seeds for next years crop.

Day 57.....really.....I could have sworn this has been going on for nearly a year. This may be my least enthusiastic post since the return to 'food with fresh dirt' on it after buffeting every night in Denmark has me feeling a little bitter and full of 'rationalizing' temptation. It's like breaking up with chickpeas all over again....only this time cold-turkey.

The first few days were probably somewhere around the 65% mark. Arriving home to my parents house where 'vegan' is a stretch (although my mom tries dearly) the closest to local was the reminisce of Denmark apple on the bottom of my shoe. Just as I was stocking up again we headed camping for the weekend and I probably spent most of the next 4 days at 75%-80% local. Now I'm back at home in Waterloo and just reunited with St.Jacob's yesterday and am getting back into the groove of the challenge.

For anyone who still has yet to make a camping trip this summer here are a few recipes for the fire. When you camp with me EVERYTHING eaten must be made over the fire.

Bannock (Translation: Bun ball on a stick)

Right up there with the butter tart when it comes to native Canadian cooking ;)

4 cups of flour

1 tbsp of sweetener (syrup/applesauce - not really necessary if don't have any)

1 tsp salt

3 cups of water

Mix all the dry ingredients and then slowly add water until a little more moist then regular dough. Find a clean stick, make a ball, shove it on and roast like a marshmallow until cooked through. They taste great with jelly if you have some on hand or make some yummy buns to go with your veggie pockets and add some thyme or basil.

Veggie Pocket

Take a piece of tin foil and mold it to your fist to make a small bowl

Drizzle a small amount of sunflower oil inside

Fill with your favourite local veggies

Add fresh dill, thyme and a pinch of salt

Place in coals of the fire

Pancakes

(you will need a grate and pan for this)

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup soy milk (if you've discovered how to make your own) I just used water
1/4 cup applesauce

Pour oil in a pan, let heat up and then add batter.

Corn

Wrap in foil, throw it in the pit :)

As a final thought, while I too was pulling on a sweater this afternoon with the cold and damp weather we had today I couldn't help but feel a little stir down deep inside that Fall was in the air. Every change in season so far has only made this challenge more bountiful and I can't wait to adventure out into the crisp air and sharp smell of fall as I go skipping through apple fields and pumpkin patches.

Sweet corn and ripe peaches to all!

Greetings from Denmark!!!

First I'd like to say thank you to Praetzel for the link on my last blog concerning protein consumption. After being vegan for so many years I am still learning new things all the time. :)

Second, I did not travel to Denmark on some fly-by-night trip to try and scavenge unusual and exotic foods to spruce up this diet......laugh if you like but the climate and food production here couldn't look any closer to South Western Ontario's. I'm right at home :)

Unfortunately (depending on how you look at it) my budget is tight and I've had to give in to the homemade cooking I've been presented with for the most part. I won't go into too much detail as I'm sure it will make a few of you boil but should I whisper falafel, hummus,rice and avocado! Ok...no avocado but a girl can dream and oh how I dream.

Why am I blogging about breaking rules left, right and center? Well to bring your attention to some important information of course that I am highly confident you will be interested in as my fellow planet loving brothers and sisters. The reason for my Denmark embarkment is the attendance at the International Peoples College in Helsingor where I've been living on an Idealistic Island with some of the most passionate, beautiful and earth cherishing people from around the globe (if only I had known them before I would have asked them to bring their local delicacies so I could bring us all back something to gorge on). Here we have been living for the week sharing the challenges, injustices and guilts that climate change has laid on us all and have been working to develop a mandate of promises to present to the governments of the world in the upcoming Copenhagen Conference in December. As you have most likely come here for alternative reasons I will just leave you with a variety of thought provoking interesting and somewhat entertaining clips pertaining to the issues and activities we have been working on.

100 Places to Remember Before They Disappear

The Story of Stuff

Bjorn Lomborg on where we should direct our energy and $ (AIDS? Global Warming?)

Helsinki Complaint Choir (we are creating one of our own related to the environment)

The following is a list of promises our immediate group has committed to which I hope will serve as some reflection and find some place in your own lives:

1. Through EDUCATION of ourselves and our communities we will bring AWARENESS to the issues the environment faces due to climate change.
2. We shall lead by EXAMPLE in our HOMES AND WORKPLACES by the use of green practices like recycling and saving energy.
3. We promise to CONSUME not more than we really NEED (e.g. eating less meat, using less water, sharing products – carpooling,...)
4. We will use and promote CLEAN TRANSPORT AND RENEWABLE ENERGY.
5. We will pressure our POLITICIANS to make climate change issues a top priority and integrate them into development policies (hunger, diseases, poverty, conflict, gender,...)
6. We will learn from NATURE and build upon INDIGENOUS knowledge and practices.
7. We will live HARMONIOUSLY with nature, RESPECT the Planet and never lose HOPE!

I am off to cycle through cobble streets lined with apple and apricot trees. Until we meet again much love and comforting wishes!

Jenna

Hope not to disappoint anyone

I have decided that posting the following conversation can best summarize my current local state :)

Self: What is UP with how tired and moody you've been?

Self: Seriously! I have been meaning to talk to you about this. You are draggin' girl!

Self: School?

Self: Nope

Self: Lack of sleep?

Self: Nope

Self: Rain drops?

Self: Please, do you know who you are talking to? Check yo' diet!

Really, this conversation went on for a good couple of days. After analyzing my food log for the past month (really has it been a month?!) and wondering just how it is a girl can survive on such low amounts of protein I've changed up the challenge to accommodate for survival:

Keep:

1) 100% local fruits

2) 100% local vegetables

3) 100% local wheat/flour grains

Add:

1) Protein dense vegan substitutes (this includes all of those fun veggie meat & dairy alternatives)

Since the majority of my diet is fruits,veggies and grains the protein substitutes should only make up on average 20% of my daily food intake leaving me 80% local for the remainder of the challenge.

I hope this new rework of my challenge has not discouraged or found disappointment in anyone. If there are any vegans out there that have been able to master the protein challenge and still live an active lifestyle please let me know!

P.s. I want to thank Henry's Tempeh (local tempeh), you have been my protein lifeline up until now.

I bet you thought I was a goner! Quite the opposite my dear friends!

I have been to the depth of temptation and am now living in a world of over-abundance I never thought this challenge would see. The weekend was spent traveling to the 3 most tempting locations imaginable to a vegan-locavore:

1) Brother's house in Toronto where vegan girlfriend has their fridge portraying a spitting image of what mine might look like if I was given a vegan shopping spree. Don't think I didn't notice the homemade vegan lemon squares

SAFE!

2) My favourite vegan in the world's birthday party who has a vegan chef as a boyfriend! YEAH, I KNOW! AND he's Italian! Homemade pizza from scratch, BBQ sauce, vegan sausage and vegan mozzarella....on garlic bread crust! If he wasn't so wonderful as to make me my own little dough and sauce pizza I might have died a little inside.

PASSED!

3) Parents house in London which regularly stocks about 13% vegan and most often this consists of mangoes, avocados and bananas.....All brought to the perfect ripeness by my sweet mother. There was half a chocolate cake (non-vegan) that sat on the counter the entire time asking me to break every single moral I own.

I DID IT!!!!! :)

And now I'm back in Waterloo rolling in an over-abundance of vegetables I've never used in creative ways that make me laugh with excitement!

Day 11 and life couldn't be better :)

Today I met kohlrabi....actually he's been hanging out in my fridge for about two weeks and I haven't had the heart to cut up his sputnik physique until tonight at dinner. Was it worth it...HECK YES! Please, if you haven't tried this funny little delightful veggie give it a try. They come in purple and green so if you are looking for something to give your repetitive potato dishes some colour dice one of these up and throw it in to anything.....seriously :)

Day 3 Menu:

Cream of wheat with chopped apple and apple butter

Large spinach salad with strawberries, flax seed and maple syrup

Peanut butter sandwich on spelt bread

Asparagus with dill pickle potatoes

Rhubarb applesauce

6 Mint Medley Tea

Day 4 Menu:

Cream of Wheat with apple and maple syrup

Large spinach salad, local sprouts, strawberries and maple syrup

Potato salad with green onions, sunflower oil and fresh dill

Apple with peanut butter

Peanut butter sandwich on spelt bread

Kohlrabi, green onions, bok choy, tempeh, mustard pickles in sunflower oil with fresh herbs

Salted popcorn

Mmmmmm 6-Mint Medley tea....no caffeine but nothing could be more soothing after my first weekend of 'eating-out' shutdowns and last minute scavenges. I spent a delightful afternoon at Oakridge Acres in Ayr with dozens of fellow 100milers surrounded by rolling hills of farmland and complete with a tour via horse-led wagon. 'Pleasant surprise' would be an understatement at the selection of local vegan dishes I grinned over as I piled my plate high and nestled under the trees with good friends to discuss the finds we have discovered and how the challenge has been so far. Best of luck to all those met today and everyone who is following along!

Day 2 Menu:

Cream of wheat with apple butter and chopped apple chunks

100 mile potluck lunch (a medley of fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and herbs) 

Large spinach salad with strawberries, flax seeds and maple syrup

Spelt bread with peanut butter

(Late night prediction: Popcorn with maple syrup)

Special note: My friend Brad has started his own blog on his adventure living local as an omnivore. Please take the time to check it out and follow along:  http://bmoggach.blogspot.com/

Smile at a cow :) 

*6-Mint Medley Tea- Little City Farms

Here I Am!

End of day one and I am still smiling, jumping, side steppin' as much as I do any other day! Can't say the temptation and willing 'secret keepers' weren't a slight hurdle but as I sit here eating my maple popcorn (That's right! MAPLE popcorn) I feel a deep anticipation to see what new and exciting food concoctions will become new lifelong favourites. 

100% local, 100% unplanned menu for day 1

Goal: Survival  

Apple with peanut butter

2 Fresh baked spelt bread slices with peanut butter 

Big salad with various greens from the garden with strawberries and maple syrup (still on the lookout for dressing) 

Apple

Sliced potatoes & zucchini, onions and crumbled tempeh pan fried in sunflower oil with cranberries (I had a 'really?' face on too while I was making it but the end product was amazing!) 

And a new favourite - popcorn with maple syrup 

Tomorrow is the 100 Mile Diet kick-off potluck in Ayr and I am really looking forward to meeting with other locavores and comparing challenges, fears and enthusiasm as we set into day 2.

GO LIFE! 

xoxo

5 Days!!!

WOW! 5 Days to go and I become a home-grown-eating-low-carbon-emitting-100 days without avocados-probably going to plan a trip to the tropics-vegan-locavore!!!!

Even though I've been preparing for this now for a month now I still worry that I'm not adequately prepared. I hope my follow veg-heads have been prepping as well because I can't imagine being thrown into this adventure without having sourced some essentials. 

The past week was a lot easier than the first few visits to some local stores. I had my first order of Bailey's Local Foods and the Loft Co-op Program. Bailey's offers the hard to find local goods like 100 mile bread and nut products and Loft has a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

Now nervously stroking off the last few days I have yet to figure out the challenge of taking local with me wherever I go. I never realized how much I depended on quick and easy foods when I am out and about. If you see a girl strolling through the Loo with a basket on wheels and piles of greens and spelt bread please stop and say hello :) 

For anyone who is interested in checking out what local has to offer feel free to join me this Sunday for the kick-off of the 100 days of the 100 mile diet at a picnic potluck in Ayr.

Best of luck to everyone who is starting the challenge this weekend! 

Love

Tempeh, Home Fries and a Sigh of Relief

Yesterday began with a nervous venture into the city after finishing off the last of my grains and a fear I might return empty handed. Success was found at Eating Well Organically where I found the following:

Local applesauce (can be used as an alternative to eggs in baking)
Flour ( I’m a bread maker now don’t you know!)
Oats/Dried Apple/Rasin mix (Mmmmmm homemade granola)
Rhubarb (still could eat that stuff for dessert at every meal)
Potatoes (see excited success story to follow)
Henry’s Tempeh (after contacting Henry I’ve secured a high protein local soy source! WOOT!)

I left with an extra skip in my step and smiled the whole way home in the rain not realizing just how much anxiety I had been carrying. I suddenly felt the deepest empathy for people around the world who wake each day to secure this goal. Day in and day out, the aching of raw innards constantly nagging as the pressure of making it to the next day just to do it all over again. I’ve read it time and time again, “over 900 million people worldwide” are hungry in this very moment! And these people aren’t just hopping on a bus and walking into their local market, they are walking miles upon miles having been starving for days. Even with new found limits to my consumption I am still among the wealthiest….the mere fact that I have the choice to make a decision like this speaks of my blessings.

I hope you will take the time to reflect somewhat on the above and would love to hear your own personal connections/realization you also make along the way.

After getting home and feeling the satisfaction of putting something on my almost bare (still a 2kg tub of PB I’m working through) shelf I was craving grains and starches like no other! I diced up some fresh potatoes and tossed them around with the luxury of leftover olive oil, rainbow peppers and onions and accompanied them with my new bestie asparagus. I wish I could give a potato to the world ☺ Afterwards I tossed my oats/dried fruit mix in with some heated maple syrup and applesauce and made me some good old fashion granola!

Life as a local is going to be rewarding! 15 Days and I’m full time ☺

There may only be a few of us... but we're not alone

Well I’ve said goodbye to a few of my favourites in the last week (bananas, chickpeas, rice, oranges, mangoes) as they’ve dwindled and my commitment to only buying local has taken place. I’ve begun to ration my Earth Balance, agave syrup and remaining Van’s waffles as I realize just what a void will remain after the last few foreigners have been consumed. Sigh

After attending a talk on the 100 Mile Diet at the Clay and Glass Museum in Waterloo last night this exciting challenge as a vegan has me wondering if this is a challenge or a death sentence. This isn’t a reflection of the supportive and educated people in the community willing to help but a potential absence of efficient sources of protein I may be at a loss to find.

On the plus: 100 Mile picnics and potlucks OH MY! I am looking forward to the days of meeting in the great outdoors with other likeminded individuals surrounded by the bounty of our land….or a variation of the same foods that are in season. Either way I’m not alone and I welcome anyone who is reading this and wants to get together to share food/recipes/a day in the sun to send me a msg.

Today I will be compiling a list of the finds I’ve made so far on this mission and am open to hearing suggestions and finds of your own as I go loco in 17 days.

Please hug a tree today

I found a reason to watch television!!!!

WOOOOT WOOOOOOT!! I'm not alone :)

Since I don't have a camera following 'me' around why not watch other people as they say to themselves "the planet is in crisis, what can I do?" and take the plunge of 100 days within 100 miles!!

http://100mile.foodtv.ca/video/watch-episode-1-online-purge

Thank you Brad for the lead :)

Asparagus Pie?

I can’t say these last few days have greeted me with the normal optimism as moments of  “can I really do this?” have been taking over my usual “Whoo hoo life is full of opportunities and wonderful new things to enjoy” space in my head. I realize now that my cornucopia of foods has become sparse and that the only ‘new’ I’ll see is when the seasons begin to change.

I know that creativity will have its place in trying to construct as many alternatives to using asparagus and rhubarb (asparagus pie? rhubarb stew?) in these next few weeks but my main concern has become one of whether or not I’ll get all of the requirements to keep my body healthy and functional. I have always promised myself that regardless of the right I’m trying to wrong or the sacrifice I choose to make for someone/something else I’ll never do it at the cost of my health. But here I am wondering….. can a vegan really go completely local? Maybe it is just that I have relied for so long on the bounty of the tropics and Mediterranean that I can’t see past the big empty spot on my plate where they used to come together and fulfill all of my daily requirements in one nice little package.

Essential Fatty Acids? Pro-biotics? B12? Iodine (since salt is out and I haven’t seen Ontario seaweed….ever)? Are vitamins/supplements acceptable if there is no other alternative? Am I still living local? ( I would love your comments/feedback)

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in these last few years from being conscious of what I eat it is that you can never underestimate just what Mother Nature has packed away in the most seemingly shy of foods. *smile* Just the mention of her name and I feel refueled to let the hunt resume! 

21 Days!

My 100 Mile World

There I am! Right in the middle surrounded by the land that I will be living off of and thanking each day for the next 100 days :)!!! 

Cleaning out the Cupboards

So for those that really know me you are probably accustomed to seeing me eat…ALL the time. Few of you probably know that one of my biggest fears is starving to death. I know it seems absolutely ridiculous provided my first world luxurious circumstances but it is a fear non-the-less and it has pushed me to constantly have enough food to feed a family of 6 for 2 months should the front door of my house ever become locked and such a fate occur. Two months for 6 people or about a month for my never-ending conveyor belt of food consumption.

That being said I’ve got a LOT of food and the majority of it didn’t come from this landmass. Since one of the rules permits me to eat anything that was purchased prior to the start date I think it is only fair that I only have bare minimums and cannot resort to the squirreled away reserves I have. Starting in this very moment I am going to face my fear of starving and my challenge of 100 miles head on! This means no more grocery purchases that aren’t within the rules and a whole lot of meals consisting of rice, olive oil and So Delicious PB Zig Zag ice cream.

24 days…..

Love,

The Rules

With every challenge comes the little voice in your head that says "well...if I just..." or "It doesn't count if...". So, in order to keep myself in check I've outlined the following rules to keep me in line along the way. 

• 100 miles everywhere: 100 miles from wherever I am. This means if I travel to another city for a prolonged period of time (a weekend) I will do my best to eat within 100 of wherever that is.
  
• No 'coincidental' trips: I cannot travel to another city for the purpose of being able to purchase food that is at a 100 mile distance from the new location. A weekend in in Mexico for bananas and mangoes not allowed.
  
• Keep it vegan: I must remain vegan for the entire duration unless death/loss of sight/hearing/mobility occurs.
• No eating out: No meals at restaurants unless they provide 100 mile options/deeply committed to finding local ingredients OR
• Exceptional circumstances: such as conferences/grandma's attempt at making me something vegan
• The leftover rule: Items that have been purchased pre-100 mile diet may be used but only for seasoning/cooking purposes. Yes: salt, sugar, olive oil No: rice, non-local pasta/bread, frozen veggies from U.S. Running out the July 3rd to stalk up on the yes' is not allowed. 

Let the game begin!!

27 Days to Go!!

I just got back from the grocery store and I am getting extremely excited for July 4th to get here!! I was surprised to find that the challenge of eating within 100 miles may not be as difficult as I thought. "Good things grooooow in, Ontarrriooo!" 

I planted an assortment of vegetables in my garden last weekend and I’ve been reading up on what I will and won’t be able to get ‘home grown’ and am preparing myself for new food creations and the void that will come from removing some of my long time favourites.

I hope you will follow me on my adventure as I say goodbye to chickpeas, avocados, mangoes, bananas, rice and olive oil (and most of my vegan staples) and hello to hand picked mint tea, dandelion salad, everything apples and homemade bread. 

In all seriousness though I am extremely excited to take the challenge and learn to recognize just how global our transportation of food has become and what it is like to eat with the seasons. 

If you care to join me on my adventure or have any questions/suggestions I'd love the feedback.

Much Love and Be Well
<3