Eating Local: An idea nugget floating in my brain.

I know it's been a minute since I last blogged... Sometimes I get in that mood where nothing seems blog-able.  But I know you all are dying to know what I've been up to and what kind of shenanigans I'm planning on getting myself into... so here goes. 

I am planning on eating 100% local for 100 days this summer.  I am still working out the kinks, but all the food I purchase is going to be grown here in Iowa, and the restaurants I go to are all going to be locally owned. 

Now, I know what you're thinking... Alisa, what are you going to do about salt?  I have no idea. 

I woke up wondering that myself. 

However, I also woke up with a recipe for apple pie using an oat flour crust floating around in my brain.

I'm meeting with an awesome farmer named Larry.  Follow him on twitter at @dirtfarmerlarry.  He is planning a loose CSA this summer where you tell him if you want a box on Thursday and he brings it on Saturday to the farmers market. 

A CSA, if you're not familiar, is basically an investment in a farm.  You usually pay up front for the whole summer, and you get a box of produce each week.  If the harvest is plentiful, you get more... if it's not so fruitful (haha) then you get less.  But local farmers are a special breed.  They don't like to send out skimpy CSAs.  So where the produce is lacking, you sometimes find a half dozen eggs floating around in your box...

The best parts about the CSA is that you're getting in-season produce picked at the ripest possible moment delivered on less than a tank of gas. 

I still have some kinks to work out... where am I going to get my butter/flour/salt... But I am also starting to get excited that some things are going to be out of reach, like packaged foods and sugar. 

My coworker Emily (@emilyindm) did a story on eating local that's going to air later this month and she interviewed me!  I guess I can't back down now.