One Local Summer--pre-post

I signed up to take part in Pocket Farm's One Local Summer, which starts, officially, today. The idea is to make one meal entirely out of local food once a week, for each week of summer. The idea is a strict one, with the only caveat allowing oil, salt, pepper, spices and herbs. Everything else for this one meal a week must be acquired, not to mention grown, raised, or harvested, locally.

I've insisted before that eating locally should not be viewed as a challenge, and for the same reasons I'm weary of calling my participation in One Local Summer a challenge. Rather, I'm hoping it will be a learning opportunity, giving me reason and inspiration to explore, to expand my horizons, and to find more farmers and purveyors than i would otherwise know about. I'm hoping I'll know a lot more at the end of the summer than at the start, and maybe even think a little differently about how we eat. So I thought it would be a good idea to preface my first One Local Summer meal with a summary of sorts, so I could look back at the end of summer and see where I started.

Since committing last week, I've been spending a large part of my free time thinking about what eating locally means, and what my options are. I've been to 5 different farmers' markets, spent a solid amount of time looking up local products (although have been disappointed not to find one solid resource of San Diego-area foods), and spent a bit more money than I usually would on a few staples. Here's the results of a week's worth of preparation:

First, I'm in great shape in terms of seasonal produce. Southern California is surprisingly bountiful, with over 200 agricultural products and over 2,000 small farms. Right now tomatoes, avocados, strawberries, leafy greens, summer squash, citrus, bell peppers, and string beans are heavily in season, and we're just starting to see stone fruits (apricots, peaches, plums, nectarines), sweet corn, cantalopes, and other summer bounty. I've also found several farmers that allow me to stock up on what I consider staples of many meals--garlic, onions, and fresh herbs (I recently found ginger and bay leaves, both of which I'm excited about). So fruit and veggies promise to be the easy part.

I've also got my own garden to source from, although right now it is in a bit of a state of transition--I've harvested most of the swiss chard and all of the romaine that was planted earlier in the season, and I've just planted some soy beans, cantaloupe, and bell peppers but won't see any fruit for weeks. I do have some lipstick peppers that I'm leaving on the vine until they turn red, and my two tomato plants are healthy and strong, with tons of small green fruits starting to appear. I just discovered that someone, probably the gardener my landlord hires to keep our bouganvilla under control, butchered and destroyed my dill, so I'm a bit disappointed about that, but I've got some healthy rosemary, sage, and oregano, and I just added some basil and mint to a planter in the shade.


I've also found some local gems that I think will help and probably guide the local meals I prepare this summer. I've stocked up on Wildflower Honey from Chrystal's Pure Honey in Borrego Springs, and found Jackie's Jams, which makes jam entirely from local produce and which I hope to use as a rub or marinade later in the summer. I snagged a jar of apricot as it's in short season and she often sells out, but am enticed by pomegranate, strawberry, and chipotle peach too. I'm most excited, however, about the bottle of olive oil I bought today from George Petrou, who has been making olive oil in San Diego for over 20 years. The olives themselves are from Central California--he used to grow them in San Diego and Mexico but recently moved the operation. Still, it means I can cook with semi-local oil, making my meals that much more local. With fresh herbs and locally produced olive oil, I'm going to aim for salt and pepper to be my only outside-the-foodshed ingredients.

That said, I am also struggling with a few major food groups. I have yet to find a local source of meat, and although I know of one dairy (Hollandia Dairy, in San Marcos), I have yet to make the visit and don't know what products they have. Because I don't want my defintion of "local" to have to mean "vegetarian," I'm determined to explore the options in the area. I have found local yellowtail caught off the shores of San Diego, and also local eggs, but do want to find what else is out there in terms of the animal kingdom. I also think I may have trouble with grains. There are local potatoes and sweet corn that I can use as starches, but rice and wheat I think are only produced outside my foodshed. I'm going to explore to see if there is any local grains, but also intend to do more research on using corn as a grain.

Oh, and how could I forget the last important component of a meal? I am excited to be able to celebrate San Diego's wealth of local (and award-winning) breweries as well as at least one local winery that operates out of a warehouse less than 2 miles from my house. So drinks to accompany dinner promise not to be a problem; I also am excited about cooking with beer & wine.

One thing that I'm determined to do, since I am having so much trouble myself finding what San Diego has to offer, is to compile a list of local foods that I find and use. I'm experimenting with the format, but think a combination of lists and customized google maps may accompany this blog throughout the summer, hopefully culminating in a solid directory of San Diego-area local food.

And now, because it's 5:00 and I have dinner to prepare, let the One Local Summer begin!