Starting a New Habit

A couple of months ago a member of the congregation of which my husband, Jon, and I are co-pastors, said, "Let's eat things from within a hundred mile radius for the next year, as a congregation." I said, "What about a month?" And he was sure we had to do it for a year. And so Jon and I and others from the congregation began to talk about it. I was fascinated by the idea.

The challenge for us will be that we live in Buffalo, NY. Not much grows here in winter. So Jon & I decided we needed to start right away so we could can and freeze things to get us through the winter. We thought about July 1st and then our friends invited us over for a cook-out for the 4th of July. We decided the 5th would work just fine. Others in the congregation -- Riverside Salem Church in Grand Island, NY --are starting at their own time and pace. We are setting it up so that people can commit to whatever works for them. The point is to make an effort to eat locally grown and raised foods as much as possible.

Part of the plan is to chronicle our experience -- we want to figure out how much it costs. Is it more or less than what we spent before? Could a family who relies on food stamps eat mostly local foods? Are there local sources for wheat? Will we ever stop missing bananas and oranges and all the other tropical fruits to which we have become accustomed?

There has been a lot of publicity about people who have committed to eating locally and written books. Barbara Kingsolver has written, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," a chronocle of her family's efforts to eat locally for a year. Alisa Smith and J. B. MacKinnon have written a book called, "Plenty," in which they describe their first year of eating locally.

Our commitment to local eating is about many things. It is something tangible we can do to use less fossil fuel. It is good for the local economy. We expect the effort will help us eat more nutritious and better tasting foods. We will build community with those who grow and produce our foods, others who are joining the effort, and people we come across as we search out local sources for the foods we love.

We start tomorrow. Stay tuned for the adventure.