Last Saturday at the Ballard Seafood Festival, I visited a booth hosted by Sustainable Ballard and I signed up for the 100 Mile Month. During the 100 Mile Month of August, the goal is to eat as much food as possible from within a 100 mile radius of your home.  The idea being, among other things, that a lot of energy is expended to get foods transported long distances, so to be sustainable, we should eat locally. This is hard!

When I don’t eat food out of my garden or from growers at our farmer’s market, I do shop at local grocery stores that tell me where most of the food I buy comes from — at least the country of origin. If its grown in Washington, they’ll probably provide me with this information as well. So, I’m pretty well equipped to buy eggs, produce, dairy, meats, fish and bread locally. And, usually I can get the added benefit of these items being organic as well. (Well, with the bread its probably baked locally, but the wheat must come from outside 100 miles. Tho, I did find that there are rye growers within 160 miles of Seattle. Too bad I’m not a big fan of rye bread!)

But, what about things like bananas? They just aren’t grown in the United States, let alone in Washington state. (Okay, they’re grown in Hawaii, but unfortunately that’s not w/in 100 miles of here!) And rice? Rice is grown in California, but I don’t think its grown within 100 miles of Seattle. How about oatmeal? I really don’t think any grains are grown within 100 miles of here. Olive oil? Black tea? Coffee? Sugar? Cardamon? Cinnamon? Black Pepper? Sea Salt? Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. And, nope.

My pledge was for 75% of my diet to come from within the 100 mile range. I knew that 100% wasn’t going to happen. Heck, most of the “nopes” are a regular part of my diet, and in all honesty, I wasn’t going to change everything. However, I think 75% (or something close to it) is do-able, especially in the summer. We have a bounty of great farmers, ranchers, bee keepers, wine makers, bakers, cheese makers and more in our area.  I know, if nothing else, this pledge has made me just that much more aware of my food choices when I’m shopping & as I’m cooking.

Don’t look for me to log my daily diet or anything. I don’t plan to get that serious about this pledge, but I do plan to make better choices about what we eat!