Local Foods

Ahhh September. You are my favorite month of the year. You bring me blueberries and cranberries, you bring me the harvest of crops I’ve been waiting for all summer, you bring me moose (although not this year you bugger), and you bring the cool weather and all the beautiful colors.

One thing that this September has also brought is the Native Foods Challenge, …or is it the Local Foods Challenge, …or the Whole Foods Challenge? Take your pick - any one you choose will definitely test your resolve. The challenge, in case you’re not aware, is to eat only foods that were grown or harvested locally for six weeks. The only additions were to be salt and oats. However, as the reality of such a restricted diet began to set in, the Initiator, as he shall be known, opened the door to other items grown or harvested in Alaska.

While the loosened restrictions have certainly made for a more varied diet (we are having halibut tonight), at least in my case, it hasn’t eased the transition that is happening in my body. As I write this, we are on Day 6, and I feel that some major work is happening on the cellular level for me to feel this tired and sluggish. While I’ve never been a real junky eater, I’ve never been very mindful about it either. And I feel that this challenge is making me much more acutely aware of what is happening in my body and what it needs to function more naturally.

I have also become much more aware of how far I fall short in providing a substantial portion of our food in the village. Obviously sales have been way up, but we’re only a week into the challenge and our greenhouse will be out of everything but salad mix in another week or two. From a food sovereignty standpoint, we have a long ways to go with this operation to make it something that can sustain us when we want it or need it to. I’m doing my homework, and getting new ideas for next year. I only hope this food challenge deepens people’s relationship with healthy food, so their appetite for it can grow along with our operation.

I have to say the chances are good - the greenhouse has never been so popular. It’s open several nights a week for anyone struggling to put their evening meal on the table. It’s also open if you’re just struggling in general. We’ve had a few grazers come over and munch around for different flavors. There’s sweet, there’s salty, there’s peppery, and there’s spicy!.. I taste-tested a habanero the other day, and as I spit and sputtered and the tears came down my face, I have to believe they were in part for the glass of milk that I could not have. …I wonder if Christina would let me get goats next year… I behhhhht she would!