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.