Week 2-the Latecomers

Tracy enjoyed a July 4th local meal, and she has a little something to say about how easy it is to cook for yourself.

Katrien really enjoys here local meal this week.

Carmen enjoyed a very simple local meal.

Faith also enjoyed a July 4th cookout, and she had turkey apple sausage, which sounds very yummy!

Patt chimed in that even while they are crazy busy at their farm picking all the sweet corn that's ready they were able to enjoy a July 4th meal.

Local 4th of July meal: Venison brats (husband hunts), potato salad-potatoes & eggs from O’Rourke Farms-mayo & mustard not local-onion from our farm; cantaloupe-1st of the season from our farm, unfortunately the procuitto isn’t local, but I’m working on that!

It's not too late

I've seen a lot of comments posted to this blog along the lines of "I'm so glad I found out about this challenge, but I'm really bummed that it's too late for me to participate".

It's not too late.

I've seen other blog posts saying this is a great idea, but it's too bad that it's too late to join in.

It's not too late.

I've talked to people who said to me, "I wish I had known about One Local Summer earlier, since I missed the cutoff and it's too late to do it."

It's never too late.

This project started on my blog as a way to get people interested in the idea of eating locally produced foods. Many times I've heard, "I want to start eating locally but don't know where to begin". Well, One Local Summer is a way to begin, to take those first steps down a road that may potentially change your outlook on food and your life in general. That may sound dramatic, but I've talked to enough people who are thrilled about how eating locally produced foods has changed their lives.

The only reason for the cap on participants is so that we can keep an eye on you. The six of us are all busy people, and following over 100 blogs to catch the posts about OLS and write the round-ups takes an effort on our part. We do it so that you can be inspired by what's going on all over the country (and world!), and you can see how easy it can be to eat local foods. From simple down home cooking to more gourmet fare, there is room in the local food movement for everyone. It just takes a willingness to use what's locally available.

If you missed the cutoff, you can still participate in One Local Summer on your own, just post a comment in the weekly round-up for your geographical area and a link to your blog if you have one.

Don't let the lack of a formal "participant" label hold you back. Eating locally is for everyone, and it's never too late to start.

Week One - West

I'm so sorry I'm late. I've had a food poisoning for the last 3 days. (Not from local food(: ) Word of warning, don't eat seafood that's been sitting out for a while no matter if the shrimp cakes are calling your name.
I'm still recovering so please excuse the lateness.

My first week's OLS meal was fried green tomatoes, grilled zucchini, strawberry rhubarb cobbler and blueberry slab pie. I'm still unable to find really local flour. What I've been buying is 120 miles away and milled onsite so I'm going to call is close. I didn't take photos of the tomatoes and zucchini because we devoured them before I remembered to take a photo. DOH! But I did hold back the natives so I could take a photo of the desserts.

We've got some amazing posts from the west.

Laura at Urban Hennery made a wonderful Joe's Scramble with eggs from her own backyard! I thought the potatoes on the side were grapes at first glance. What delicious little things those little potatoes are. She even has her distances per item listed. Wonderful job Laura!

Cookie Crumb's photos are amazing! Her stuffed cabbage rolls are definately an inspiration. I love her posting of the thought process on making the meal. And she gives a shout out to Mommy Mosh Pit for her entertaining will all local food.

Amy's Yard Frittata looks amazing. And it includes reindeer sausage. That sounds very interesting. What does reindeer taste like Amy?

Krystle and Hans-Peter made a wonderful Pasta Primavera using bow-tie pasta. Bow-tie is definatly a favorite at our house.

"Although “primavera” means “spring” we decided to bend the rules by using summer squash!"

Way to work with seasonal ingredients! Delizioso!

Lauren attempted gnocci but settled on zucchini, chard, blue potato and roasted red pepper casserole, Roasted smashed potatoes with garlic & parsley, mixed string bean and mint salad. She includes recipes as well. She even improvised and used beer instead of wine in a recipe. She also included a google map of where her ingredients came from.

Kathy made a wonderful meal but was a bit pre-occupied:

"I prepared a delicious meal of local hanger steaks, fresh greens from my garden and sugar peas from my garden. Unfortunately, we ate it all before I remembered to take a picture. My excuse is somewhat exceptable….I was busy all day helping my daughter get ready for her trip to Europe. She left early this morning. The picture really isn’t the significance of the challenge, its’ the mindset."

Ms. D had one heck of an adventure for her first OLS post. Lets just say she survived OLS week one.(:

Trina had one amazing salad from her CSA produce. They're going camping this week plan on eating their OLS meal on the road. Can't wait to see how that goes. It should be pretty cool.

Sarah made a wonderful meal of egg and zucchini scramble and sauteed baby beets and greens. Crusty home baked herb bread and a glass of home brewed lavender mead. Home brewed lavender mead people! How cool is that. It sounds amazing.

The South, week 1

Our southern OLSers have stepped up to the plate. (So to speak.)

Maggie grilled filet mignon and served it alongside her own fire-roasted potatoes, multicolored carrots, onions, and Chiogga beets. She and her husband quenched their thirst with Shiva I.P.A. from the Asheville Pizza & Brewing Company.

Lastewie proved that local food can be portable! She took veggies from her garden and made them into a delicious soup in her workplace microwave oven. She noshed homegrown fresh cucumbers, too.

Joanne lives in the tropics, so it’s the off season for her. So she whipped up a vegetable soup from local storage veggies: kohlrabi, radishes, carrots, parsnips, and onions. She topped it off with leftover free-range chicken. The best part? The kids ate it, too.

Molly (left) made a southern specialty: pork BBQ with a side of coleslaw (thank goodness Duke’s mayo is local!), smashed potatoes, and sauteed zucchini.

Jeff and Joyce kicked off OLS with the taste of summer: a chef salad with local country ham and eggs, and baked potatoes with cream.

Jasmine made pasta out of fresh local zucchini, then paired it with roasted sweet potatoes that she stored from the winter.

Steph rustled up hamburgers on Mennonite-baked bread (not forgetting, of course, a slab of local tomato on top), with a crisp side salad.

The Purloined Letter made gorgeous pizza adapted from Barbara Kingsolver’s recipe in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

Jen marinated a tangy cucumber salad and served it with Caribbean-rubbed pork chops.

Laurie’s first OLS meal was barbecue chicken with a side of potatoes and green beans--the same ingredients as my meal, but with a different spin!

Paulette served up her homestead’s very own steak, plus local baked potatoes and the essence of midsummer--blackberries.

Pattie made a local meal of turkey casserole (with eggplant and tomatoes) with a side of beets, radishes, beet greens, and Purple Peruvian potatoes. But she’s also been eating local full-time, sampling lamb’s quarters, amaranth, Persimmon Creek Seyval blanc wine, Magnolia bread, and Jittery Joe’s coffee.

Bibliotecaria kicked off the week with a summery vegetable salad, including red pepper, cukes, red onions, corn, parsley, basil, and cilantro. Then she made buffalo steak with roasted caramelized cauliflower.

Late-breaking news!
Jessica has put locally-produced tofu to excellent use on the grill. Just thinking about it--with its side dishes of sweet corn, potatoes, and zucchini--makes my mouth water.

Midwest, Week One

Go meet some hot Midwestern cooks! These happy folks have completed Week One of One Local Summer.

ME, for one. I completely cheated this week as today is my birthday (yes you can send gifts if you like, or at least sing) and we actually splurged last night for a yum-licious meal at a local restaurant that features local artisanal food AND wine. In one simple meal I supported something like seven farmers, which is something I doubt I will be able to claim the rest of the summer.

Don't ask Phelan about the poor quality of her photo, but her meal sounds great. She is homesteading with her three boys, husband, scores of critters and one mean donkey in Kansas.

Matt in Iowa is generously acting as a subset to the Midwest (I know Iowa is big, Matt, but really) and the OLS challenge in general by being the catch-all to folks who didn't make our sign-up deadline in time. His site has loads of local food he likes, so if you're ever in I-o-way...

Lucette and her husband are in Cleveland. Check out her cookbook-crazed blog and her local meal; there's lots to see. Venison burgers and homemade strawberry ice cream...that sounds good to me!

Fellow Michigander Ang (Farm Mom) made up some wonderful grub this week. She had BOTH asparagus and morels so it was quite the ode to spring! Sigh; asparagus, sigh. Morels. SIGH!

FrugalMom lives in Illinois and is on the path to simple living. One of the fun things about this challenge is finding out how to cook previously unknown items like kohlrabi. She whipped up something good with it!

Evie in South Dakota made her family taco salad for her first meal. Before you say "Hmm, tacos" I'll mention here that she made the tortillas herself AND served them with buffalo meat! She's been known to see bison out home on the range when she's running down her country roads.

AnnMarie has been practicing her local meals for a while now with lots of raids from her garden. She and her husband are following a path of simple living. She did the challenge last summer, too! She's a Cheesehead, er, Wisconsinite. I envy her access to dairy. She envies my access to peaches. The grass is always greener...

Stacie is a laugh riot, IMHO; she and her husband and two young boys are in rural Illinois. This is her second summer of doing the OLS challenge; she's a great cheerleader of the idea because, well, after doing the legwork, local eating is simply now what they do! There's no turning back...

Gina and her husband homestead in Indiana with their two young boys. They have tomatoes already, so I am exceedingly jealous!

Jennifer calls her blog DisOrganization but dang, she even published the recipe for HER first meal. She's in southern Ohio.

Kelly and her family are also in Ohio. She grilled up some pizzas for their first meal. What's telling about her post is how hard she tried to source out local stuff, even going so far as to hopefully reduce her food miles for next time. (Hey, that's the fun part of the game!)

Joanna is a newlywed and newbie cook in Indiana. She fixed up brats in beer for her first meal! Yowza.

Pat is in Oklahoma and for her challenge, she decided OK was OK for her definition of "local." She's a mostly sci-fi writer who lives with her three kids and hubby.

Linda in Missouri is homesteading and grandkid-adoring with her husband, with whom she built their home. She made a lick-your-plate-clean meal this week!

Eric and Lori are doing the homestead thing in Ohio with their twins. Their meal sounds quite yummy!

Miranda is in Minnesota. She's looking to lighten her footprint on this earth with her husband and five kids. Check out her site; you'll learn a lot! The first week of the challenge was Italian Night and she made some ravioli.

Debbie is in Iowa, trying hard to simplify her life through cooking. There is truth to that, really there is. She got goodies from both her CSA and her farmer's market for her meal.

Jennifer is in Madtown. (That's the capitol of Wisconsin for you non-Wisco-savvy types.) You will have to go to Flick*r to see a pic of her meal, but it sounded pretty good to me.

NormaJean is in St. Louis with her husband, and she secretly hopes to one day be a farm girl. (Be careful what you wish for, NJ, is all I can say.) Her weeks have been crazy lately but she's still taking stabs at the challenge.

Becke is happily devouring her way through Ohio via Columbus. That sounds like a laudable goal, right? Come on go check out this foodie's yummy site. She made a favorite of hers for the challenge with all local ingredients, and it came out great!

Manerva is in Minnesota and much of what she eats she grows herself. She and her husband have a huge pack of animals on their acreage. Here's her first meal (and no it was NOT chicken, so they're all still happy).

We have a blog-less participant. Kate's also in Madtown, and she, her hubby and baby boy are also backyard chicken wranglers! She "had a homemade pizza with crust made from half locally grown wheat flour, canned tomato sauce from a local farm (Tomato Mountain), Wisconsin mozzarella, and oregano/basil from our backyard garden. Also a side of broccoli from a local farm." Sounds great!

I hope you all enjoyed Week One! There are some great ideas out there...

The Mid-Atlantic (NY, NJ, PA, DE)

The first week in the Mid-Atlantic region was rich in variety and innovation. I was impressed with the number of entries that are exploring new sources for things like flour and dairy for NEXT week.

Naomi from Philadelphia was able to fit a local meal into her busy week that even turned into lunch the next day. She made an Indian stir-fry of local seitan and local eggplant.

Mac in Philadelphia put together a meal of local organic chicken,Yukon gold mashed potatoes and sautéed garlic scapes.

Peg from New York learned how to make whole wheat noodles with a garlic scape pesto. She’s still “noodling” a local source for Parmesean cheese.

Mikaela from PA used veggies from her local CSA and a local source of tofu and blueberry wine to make a yummy local meal.

Meredith in PA used her own raspberries and radishes in a meal of squash, local burgers, salad and raspberry dessert

Seedling in NJ grilled up some local chicken, gnocchi made in the Bronx, veggies from her CSA, and some PA mushrooms.

Christy in Delaware made a sweet potato bread, sautéed up some asparagus and purple green beans and put a local grass fed steak on the grill.

Rabi in NYC pulled together a colorful meal of roasted beets, black eyed peas and a turnip scallion mash with a jerk seitan.

Linda from New York had a grilled round steak with mashed potatoes and a salad with local greens and eggs from her hens.

And now for the emailers. Several in the region have chosen to participate by email, but this week I heard only from Nicole from New Jersey. She made a meal of Summer Squash Fritters with Feta accompanied by Greek yogurt and a red leaf salad. Here's a link to the original recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/238266

Summer Squash Fritters with Feta and Yogurt

Zucchini and summer squash from Honeybrook Organic farm (my CSA - 30 miles away)

Italian parsley & scallions from Honeybrook

2 eggs from from Running Free Organic Farm

Dried dill - not local but purchased in bulk from Basil Bandwagon, the local health food store

Salt, olive oil & corn oil from far, far away

All purpose flour from far far away (though I'll be ordering some

(almost) locally milled organic flour in the next few weeks)

Feta cheese - bit of a mystery - the package says Delaware, but I can't find any info about the company online.

Plain Greek yogurt - homemade with non-local milk (though I've since found one source of local(ish) milk)

Red leaf salad from Honeybrook with homemade dressing (made of non-local stuff).

Cherry Pie (recipe courtesy of Baking Illustrated).

Cherries from Terhune Orchards

Ok, so the pie crust isn't exactly local - but it was such fun picking the cherries and making a real homemade pie :)

Congratulations to everyone! And if I missed you, please leave a comment so I can be sure to include you next week.

Week One-The Latecomers

Faith accomplished an impressive feat this week. She had an all local all-American cookout meal!

Carman enjoyed a salad and some baby red potatoes.

Katrien enjoyed a nice supper with some fresh local strawberries!

At my house we decided to give our hearts a test by frying our dinner. And no, we didn't fry the raspberries!!

Tracy enjoyed an elk steak, which isn't something I've had an opportunity to try before!

Patt (who runs a farm in Illinois, with a CSA for those of you looking) had a breakfast of local eggs, pork patties and canteloupe. No blog entry, but her website is here.

It was a great first week!

Week One -- New England & International

Well, we've made it through the first week of OLS! I can hardly believe the excitement for the project and the gorgeous meals I've seen throughout the week. I only wish I could see more of them. My time has definitely been centered around the northern parts, but once in a while, I hope to see what everyone is contributing.

New England:

I had a hard time knowing which of Wendy's local meals was her "official" entry. She started off the week with a local family breakfast, followed up with a dinner of spareribs and sides, and finished off with a chicken dinner. She's come a long way since last year.

Leslie may have had one of the most local meals I've seen... everything in her meal came from five miles away or less! And before you start thinking that she lives on a self-sufficient farm, just know that she lives on an island. Pretty cool.

Jen & Steve topped sauteed kale and garlic scapes with some locally made spinach ravioli.

Melissa got a head-start and had her local meal last week because she's leaving Maine soon for Colorado. But what better way to say goodbye to Maine's cuisine than with a boiled lobstah dinnah?

Heather had grilled pork chops and salad along with her (first ever) biscuits.

Magid's leftovers were a smart way to finish up a local meal.

Korinthe pulled together a lovely summer meal despite being in the middle of a heat wave (100˚ in the kitchen drawer!).

Laurie enjoyed crockpot shortribs with herbal iced tea sweetened with her own backyard honey. Hooray for bees!

Stephani tried goat meat for the first time. Guess what? She liked it!

Cheryl shared a homegrown chicken dinner with her family.

International:
Karen in Ontario dined on grilled bison.

Cheryl in Vancouver brought the Mediterranean to her with some veggie sandwiches.

Mary in Ontario had a wonderful time exploring her local farmstand (and got caught up on the local gossip) before creating a lovely local potato salad.

Moonwaves in Ireland (I knew that, really I did) learned that a little bit of enthusiasm can help create a fabulous beef stew even at the end of a long day.

Amanda in Scotland made veggie tacos, gazpacho, and a strawberry pie.

Yukino in Moldova enjoyed some simple foods on her own, and an assortment of locally produced meals with her family at "Villa".
And finally, I know she's not in my area, but for anyone who felt that this first week was an exercise in frustration, please read what Stacey has to say. Last year, she was new to the local food scene, and had to spend a bit of time sourcing out local suppliers. This year, she's a pro. Use Stacey as your role model, and know that it's possible to change the way you buy your food. It just takes some extra effort, and some time to make it work, but it's totally worth it.