The Locavore’s Guide to the Neighborhood - Welcome

Our family had been gravitating toward the “local” movement for some time, more concentrated over the last six to nine months and very intensely since August 2009, but I think the catalyst that clearly positioned us as “locavores” was viewing the movie, Food, Inc. Jill and I drove from Lexington, NC to Chapel Hill, NC (170 miles round trip) just to see the movie. After viewing it we so wanted the children to see it, we scheduled another viewing during our family vacation this past August (of 2009). We saw it a second time with the children in Little Rock, Arkansas and with my cousin while visiting there. Once the children saw it they were on board. It's not so much a scared-straight movie as just an eye opener, slap-in-the-face moment when you realize there are alternatives out there to the industrialized food system... [continued]



For the purposes of this blog, we will use the working definition of "locavore" as defined on Wikipedia:
"A locavore is someone who eats food grown or produced locally or within a certain radius of their home. The locavore movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to produce their own food, with some arguing that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Locally grown food is an environmentally friendly means of obtaining food, since supermarkets that import their food use more fossil fuels and non-renewable resources."

NOTE: LOCAVORE and LOCALVORE are interchangeable and we we have chosen to use locavore.

There was a certain summarization to our lives that this movie provided. We’d been eating locally for many months, but for us this movie sealed the deal and from that day forward we’ve had nothing to do with commercially raised, produced and processed MEAT. Added to this list of unconsumables High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil and just about anything from the grocery store that contained more than two or three ingredients. You can throw in out-of-season and non-local fruits, vegetable and nuts too.

Admittedly, each member of the family is in a different place on what is acceptable in our respective diets, but we do all subscribe to a few basic tenants, 1) nothing taste better that something you grew yourself, 2) homemade bread is awesome, 3) satisfaction in eating a meal where none of the items came from a grocery store is irreplaceable, 4) when you’ve seen how commercially raised meat is handled and processed, it removes all desire to actually eat it.

Living this type of lifestyle or eating this type of diet is labor-intensive and does require a good bit of work, but with planning and whole-family-involvement, it is less so. I like the old saying, “many hands make light work.” Remember it's not an all or nothing proposition, even making a few changes can make a difference in your health.

We hope to chronicle here in this blog our daily struggles, successes and accomplishments and hope to be an inspiration to others to join us in this movement, even if it’s with one decision. We will share with you our sources for food and ask that you do the same. We want others to see and enjoy the benefits of eating local and help newbies learn from our mistakes and dispel any concerns that might turn you away.

Ideally, we will mix in actual local (to us) along with universal local (applicable to anyone where ever you are). But regardless of the proximity, hopefully the ideas will be relative and applicable to all. We value your input and encourage comments and discussion.

~ Mark Watkins