I think that if any of the readers of this magazine were asked if they ate local food most would say ‘yes, I shop at the local farmers’ market, grow my own vegies, swap with friends and support local businesses’. I would have said the same a year ago, but I decided to put my ‘eat localness’ to the test and to eat only local food for a month. I set myself a few stringent guidelines:
eat only food produced here on the farm or traded with local growers
cook using only the wood stove and wood I have collected locally
no other fuel use – no car for the month!
It was our month off, so instead of going on holiday we stayed at home and lived off the land. I say ‘we’, for although my partner Do had the good sense to draw the line at giving up that morning coffee, we were in this together.