Pip's Plate

Have you heard of the 100 Mile Challenge? In 2005, Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon began a one-year experiment in local eating. Think about that: everything they ate had to come from within a 100-mile radius from where they lived. That morning cup of coffee you have every morning? Unless those beans are grown within 100 miles of you, forget it. It doesn’t matter that they might be roasted 100 miles from you; if they didn’t grow 100 miles from you, then it’s off the table.

The 100 Mile Challenge gained in popularity and members of their local community participated in their own version for 100 days. There is currently a documentary on The Discover Channel following these community members. More about the 100 Mile Challenge tv show here.

You can take the pledge and do your own research, but how about starting with answering the question “What is my 100 mile radius?”

Here’s mine:

And you can find yours here

What would be difficult to live without? How would you find what you’re looking for? This really makes you think about where your food comes from.

I know I wouldn’t have a problem getting wine

Here is an update to an older post I made at least 2 years ago regarding the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s most recent sustainable seafood guide.

On their website, you can find the most recent sustainable information on all kinds of fish and seafood. It’ll tell you about how the fish and seafood is farmed, if it’s overfished, if it’s a good fish choice, etc. They also have a section on sushi.

Or you can download their pocket guide to take with you to the grocery store and have it on reference at all times – works great for deciphering restaurant menus when you go out to eat.

Get the Monterey Bay Aquarium Fish and Seafood Pocket Guides based on region at their site

Get the Monterey Bay Aquarium Sushi Pocket Guide at their site

In the most recent issue of Bon Appetit magazine (Feb 2009), they have a really great article on 50 Easy Ways to Eat Green.

What I discovered is Text Fishphone – it’s utterly brilliant! It’s the easiest way to find out what fish at your local grocery store is good for you (mercury levels, farming methods) and good for the environment (sustainable, farming methods). And it’s so simple: text 30644 and enter FISH, followed by the name of the fish you want to buy. It’ll return a text telling you if it’s a good one or not.

Can’t wait to pick up our Harmony Valley Farm CSA this week. Everything looks amazing, as usual.

Veggie Box

Carrots

Yellow Onions

Garlic

Zucchini or Summer Squash

Cucumber

Arugula or Saute Mix

Potatoes

Dill

Fennel

Amaranth

Melon or raspberries

Eggplant

Italia Pepper

Fruit Box

Blueberries

Champagne Grapes

Hass Avocado

Flavor King Pluots

O’Henry Peaches

Bartlett Pears

Summer Grand Nectarines

The Twin Cities Fresh Taste Festival is a community event that features organic and sustainable food & wine.

Sunday, August 17, 11 am – 5 pm

Nicollet Island Pavillion (40 Power Street, Minneapolis, MN see map)

From the Twin Cities Fresh Taste Festival site:

Join us at the inaugural Twin Cities Fresh Taste Festival, a day-long event to celebrate the best in organic, local and sustainable food products and wines.

Set on the beautiful picturesque banks of the Mississippi River at the Nicollet Island Pavilion, the festival will be filled with organic food and beverage vendors – from many outstanding local restaurants and food producers. Sample from 100 organic wines from national and international wineries. Plus, learn from local chefs as they prepare some of their best signature organic dishes.

Tickets:

$55 before day-of

$65 at the door

NOTE: you can receive $3.00 off a ticket with your Minnesota Public Radio Member Connect Card

This is genius. Two brothers in Maine have established a business called “Catch a Piece of Maine” which allows people to become a partner and receive all the lobsters caught in a lobster trap in one year – all for the mere cost of $2,995.

These partners can also check out how their lobster trap is performing throughout the year by checking in online.

They even tout how it supports local fishermen:

Catch a Piece of Maine’s community supported fishery model directly supports lobsterman and the working waterfront of Maine. Your support allows lobstermen to receive a premium for their product at a time when external economic factors make it hard to make a living from the sea.

Well…it’s officially summer once the CSA starts arriving! My household is participating in the Harmony Valley Farm CSA this summer and Thursday was our first delivery.

We received sunchokes (jerusalem artichokes), chives, spinach, parsnips, rhubarb, and ramps. We made mashed sunchokes and potatoes the other night and it was pretty delicious.

CSAs are Community Supported Agriculture, which is essentially a farm share. They are a great way to get fresh, local produce. I recommend joining one – you won’t regret it!

Have you played the Consumer Consequences interactive game on Minnesota Public Radio’s website?

You can find out what the world would be like if everyone lived like you…

“Nice Planet…Want to Share?

The Earth couldn’t support its 6.6 billion residents if everyone lived like a typical American. Consumer Consequences will tell you how many planets it would take to support your lifestyle on a planetary scale and provide some ideas for making your ‘footprint’ a little smaller.” 

What does my footprint look like? If everyone on the planet lived like I live, then we’d need THREE planets. Whoa. I spoke to a friend yesterday who said she’d need 6 planets, so I guess I’m doing alright.

However, it seems that I need to cut down on my coffee addiction (wah wah) and start using my car less.

I’ve been reading a lot lately about people advocating for not using plastic bags. I wrote a post about this awhile ago, but I’m going to comment again because I found some great places to purchase cool grocery bags. And hey, these can be used for ANYTHING- not just groceries!

delight.com sells Envirosax for $34.50. This is the option I went for. They’re stylish, they wrap up and snap up small enough to keep in your purse or glovebox, and they’re pretty inexpensive. This includes a set of 5. I’ve given 2 to my sister to keep in her car too.

One other thing I love about these bags….they were delivered promptly in the mail with a handwritten thank you note. I mean, c’mon! No one does that anymore! I got all warm and fuzzy when I saw it.

Some other options out there:

magic-pony.com

blueq.com

bringyourownbag.com – and this one is organic cotton. isn’t this great? makes you want to use this at places other than just the grocery store, huh?

perpetualkid.com

  reusablebags.com – these nifty produce bags are a great alternative to loading up on plastic bags for single produce items. heck, i don’t use bags for any of my produce so i don’t have to worry about this at all.

do you have a favorite? please share your links for cool non-plastic grocery shoppers.

I discovered this morning that all 8 of my shower products are in plastics #1 and #2 – recyclable! Why I didn’t know this before? I also *shamefully* discovered that this morning:

Me before today: buy product > use product > product is empty > “can i recycle this container?” > yes/no

Me today and for now on: “can i recycle this container?” > yes > buy product > use product > recycle product container

People, check your containers to see if they’re recyclable first, then buy the product. (I noticed that out of my roommates’ 10-12 containers, zero were recyclable because I couldn’t even find a plastic number on it…yikes…what are they made of?)