We Challenge You!

21 local foods in 21 days: do you think you can do it? We think we can!

The Piedmont Environmental Council is sponsoring an "Eat Local Challenge" from September 21 - October 11, 2009 encouraging folks to be conscious of of what they eat and where it comes from. Participants fill out a personal scorecard daily on which they list the local food item they've eaten and its source (where you bought it and the farm on which it was produced). "Local" is defined as having been grown and sourced within 100 miles of your home. When your scorecard is submitted, you are entered into a drawing for prizes, the grand prize being 3 cooking classes from the Charlottesville Cooking School.

While we (sadly) don't live in the Piedmont region, where opportunities for local eating are bursting at the seams, we are still going to jump on this challenge. Local eating would have been uber easy for us this summer when our garden was erupting with fresh goodies, but I suppose that would have been TOO easy, now wouldn't it? The point is to make the effort, to seek out local food sources, and to evolve your diet in a way that is both sustainable to the earth and your community.

We picked up our scorecard at the Heritage Harvest Festival this weekend, which totally rocked our worlds. Expect a picture-heavy post on the festival in the very near future.

In the meantime, do you think you could swing the Eat Local Challenge? We dare you!