Where Did October Go?

I can’t believe October is almost over! I completed a month of eating (almost entirely) locally sourced and grown foods. The few times that I ate non-local food were going out with family and/or friends, snacking at parties, and the banana incident. This past week, I spent the remainder of my budget on some pork sausage, some squash, more tomatoes, kale, and a second dozen of eggs, but I still have 10 0f them left, and 6 dollars left in my weekly spending. I also still had plenty of apples. That helped with my budget. And I attended two birthday parties, both of which included a meal, so this week was a little off budget-wise. But, that brings me to some things I’ve decided about eating local:

1. It’s great, but if it means being anti-social, it’s not worth it. There is something about sitting down to a meal with family or friends that is possibly more satisfying than eating the meal itself. And it is certainly more satisfying to enjoy a meal with others than it is to enjoy that meal alone. So, if accepting an invitation to a meal with friends means eating something from California or South America, well, it’s worth it.

2. Similarly to number 1, it is more important to avoid hurting others’ feelings than to stick too closely to a certain way of eating. If someone cooked dinner, to turn it down could possibly hurt that person more than it would hurt me to eat something not local (or not paleo). Manners and gratitude first.

3. Eating local does build a community. Interacting with farmers, butchers, and other local eating enthusiasts was my favorite aspect of this experiment (well, second favorite behind the actual food).

4. Sometimes when eating local you do have to get creative and adventurous. I loved the spaghetti squash, and I am proud of myself for handling a whole chicken. I want to try a few other types of squash that I’ve never eaten.

5. Eating local helps you really appreciate foods that are seasonal, or grown elsewhere. I know soon I’ll really be missing tomatoes, and man I wish bananas and avocados grew here. But, when I am in a place where they do grow (like FLORIDA!) I will EAT THEM ALL. Just kidding. But I will enjoy the crap out of them!

For some reason I did not take many pics of my food this week. It’s really just not me to be like that, taking pics of my food. Mostly because I eat it before I remember to take a photo. Hey, Crossfit makes me hungry! But I did manage to capture the final meal, the glorious pork sausage, squash, kale, bell pepper egg scramble I had for dinner last night. yummmmmmm!

After this month, I feel so good, so healthy and happy, that I do believe I will continue eating local. Who’s with me!? 🙂