Adventures in Eastern Oregon

Today is Shrove Tuesday and we're having pancakes for supper. That means tomorrown is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. That also means we're starting our local food adventure. All Oregon-grown foods for the next 40 days. Why? Lots of reasons. To support local agriculture, to reduce the enviro impact of our eating, and for the challenge. You might know that we did this last year. But last year we were in a very different place, literally and figuratively. First, the literal: we have moved. Last year we lived in the Willamette Valley. Lush, green, wet, and fertile most of the year. It was still a huge challenge. But this year we live in a little mountain town called Baker City. We're in the northeastern corner of Oregon, at the base of the Elkhorn and Eagle Cap Mountains. This is a different adventure. Lots of local meat here, and local eggs and dairy via goat milk (so I hear) but fruits and veggies will be our biggest problem, I'm guessing.

Figuratively, we're in a different place too. Luke is a year and a half and eating with Luke is an adventure in itself. I'm still at home with him but working part-time as an instructor with the local community college. And what I found last year was that local eating takes time. More time than I expected, to research the local producers that are willing to sell to a local eater and then to actually travel to the place where the food lives, and then to plan a coherent meal out of bits of local this and that. It is a worthwhile effort, but an effort none-the-less. So working, even part-time, will make this adventure more adventurous.

I'll lay out our ground rules for those of you just tuning in:

• No food that was grown outside Oregon (not just stuff that made in Oregon, all components must be grown here)
• An exception for things on hand (we can keep using stuff until it's gone)
• An exception for yeast (and other levening products)
• A possible exception for foods that Luke will actually consume on any given day. We're not sure about this one. We're going to try bringing him on board with the local eating, but I'm not sure how it will go. A boy's gotta eat.

Stay tuned.