May 4, 2009 - My father repeatedly taught me that the most important things in the life are “Integrity, Health, and Wealth”.  If you lose your integrity, you lose everything; if you lose your health, you lose something; if you lose your wealth, you lose nothing.

Last week I announced the “Local Food Challenge - Save Rob 09 Campaign”, vowing to eat only food that is grown within 100 miles of the Woodbury County Courthouse for the entire month of June 09.  The first question people ask me is, “why in the world are you doing this?”  The second question is, “what will you eat?”  The news accounts of the announcement really did not fully answer those questions.  The answers will have something to do with the very important lesson imparted by my father.

May 5, 2009 - Why am I undertaking to eat only local foods?

To bring public awareness as to “where we get our food” and to the fact that we are not taking economic advantage of our farmland.  During this eating adventure, I will meet small food producers within 100 miles, will identify what local foods are available and, then, will work to increase business for local producers.

There is a $2B annual food market within 100 miles of Sioux City, Iowa (that includes Omaha, NE and Sioux Falls, SD).  Less than 1 percent of food eaten in the region can be specifically identified as coming from the area.  So, from an economic development perspective, developing local supply would be profitable for the farmer if the market accepted the food.  If we could increase local food sales to 5% - that would equal $100M more into the local economy.  However, we simply do not have the farmers to supply that amount of local food. 

Grocery stores stock about 3 days worth of food.  What would happen if there were a major disruption in the food delivery system?  We would all starve right in the middle of agricultural paradise.  So, from a food security point of view - we are vulnerable.

If we do not control an essential part of our economy (food production), we cannot promote broad-based wealth.  It takes work, and constant vigilance, to maintain integrity, promote health, and achieve wealth.  By abandoning food production in the heartland, we are not promoting integrity, health, and wealth needed for a vibrant community.  Food is basic to life. Food is spiritual.  Food production will bring us closer together as a community.

May 6, 2009 - What will I eat?

The 100 mile diet is quite a challenge - it is very strict!  Life should be a constant challenge - doing things that require a major change - stepping out of your comfort zone.  Climb a mountain, travel to another land, read a book about something you know absolutely nothing about .... etc.  Be alive!

First, I cannot eat salt (no salt producers in the area), no orange juice (no orange producers that I am aware of), no sugar (sugarcane is not plentiful here), probably no wheat bread (unless you know of a wheat producer who will mill me some flour), no soda (although soda is bottled here, I cannot identify the ingredients to a local source), no ice cream (although Wells Dairy is right next door in Le Mars, I cannot identify where the actual milk used to make the ice cream came from), no olive oil, no pasta (unless all ingredients came from within 100 miles and the pasta was made here), and I cannot even drink bottled water (since I cannot specifically identify where the water came from).

I will probably have to make my own butter from locally produced cream (time to get my arms in shape in order to shake or whip cream into butter).  I can probably get someone to mill me some corn flour for unleavened biscuits (made with local eggs).  I will learn a thing or two.

The diet excludes meat.  You may ask, “Why”?  There are two main reasons for this: 1. I know a few local grassfed beef producers who could feed me NY Strip steaks breakfast, lunch, and dinner.    Now, how much a challenge would that be?  Steaks, with local potatoes, and I would be eating quite well; and 2. While we have Tyson & Smithfield located in our region, they could not identify where their cattle came from, what the cattle ate, where the hormone injections & antibiotics were produced, etc.

One thing is for sure: I will know everything about the food I am eating.  I will feel in control of my eating fate.  With this consciousness about the source of my food, maybe (just maybe), I will rediscover myself.

May 7, 2009 - I am pleasantly surprised by the response to this eating challenge - from people offering to sell me some of their local product.  Brian Miller has committed to grinding his “blue corn” that he farms on 2 acres between Oto and Smithland.  He will be bringing some milled flour from this corn, along with his wife’s recipe that I can use (with modifications to subtract any ingredients that are not from the area).  Yahoo!  Looks like pancakes and biscuits may be in my eating future.  What is even more interesting is that Brian is a member of the 185th Air Refueling Wing here in Sioux City.  He wants to expand his farming operation upon retirement.

I have also found a local Sioux City beekeeper who is going to supply me with a quart of honey.  I have been asked not to give him publicity - so my honey connection remains anonymous to the public.  Looks like I am good to go with my pancakes (with butter that I will make from local milk, and honey)  and biscuits starting June 1.  I will post the recipe when I can test it in June.

May 8, 2009 - The cool people you meet in this business.  Like the 61 year old Larry Moody; a 12 year veteran librarian at South Sioux City High School.  Larry started his 2 acre organic farm within Sioux City city limits.  With the help of a recent high school graduate, Larry cleared and prepared his farm last year - planting 100 apple trees, and planting 5 rows of potatoes.  Already this spring, Larry planted 1/4th acre with asparagus (2000 asparagus crowns), and then planted 15 apricot trees and 17 pear trees.  Although Larry will not have product for me during the month of June, I sure hope I can help him sell his fruits and vegetables - I have directed him to contact the Green Gables restaurant in advance of his harvest.  When Larry retires, the farm should be in full swing production.  The farm will provide him with supplemental income from the work he has started today.

May 11, 2009 -  The month of June will go easy now that the Sioux City Farmers Market opened.  I will try and leave some of the vegetables on the table for others to buy.  There is one thing I am going to need, but I do not thing is available: corn oil for cooking.  If anyone knows of someone who makes corn oil from local corn - with all ingredients grown within 100 miles - it would greatly be appreciated.

May 12, 2009 - Just had a great lunch at the Gardner Cafe.  It was so good, in fact, that I just had to post a photo of the lunch I had.  The strips you see are of Tempeh - which is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form.  I realized what

a great presentation this dish was - only after I took a bite.

Just a thought: notice that the Tempeh is made out of soybeans.  What do we grow in Iowa - well, soybeans.  If I can identify soybeans grown within 100 miles, I can actually make Tempeh in my kitchen as a meat substitute.  Tempeh is very high in protein and is a staple in Asia.  This is a product that could definitely be made in the area; however, the Sioux City market is unlikely to support it.  If you include Omaha and Sioux Falls, there may be a limited market.  The national market could be a winner.

The tomatoes and onions are from local producers.  Of course, the olive oil is not local, nor is the wild rice, nor is the Jicama (a root - usually from Mexico - which kind of looks like a turnip.  The texture is like a water chestnut. It is cool and crunchy).  I am not sure if Jicama can be grown in Iowa.  Finally, the Hoisin Sauce on the Tempeh is a Chinese condiment - very sweet and distinctive.

May 13, 2009 - Roger Caudron & Dee Polak have done a wonderful job in setting up the Sioux City Farmer’s Market.  I think that their very informative (and well designed) website is something to be very proud of: www.farmersmarketsiouxcity.com.  Not only does the site list all participating vendors, but also has some other very useful information.  The Siouxland Fruit & Vegetable Harvest Calendar discloses that, not only will I not starve in the month of June, but I will be eating like a king.  Available produce in June includes: Asparagus, Beans, Blueberries, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Leeks, Lettuce, Onions, Potatoes, Radishes, Rhubarb, Spinach, and Strawberries. 

Unfortunately, due to hurdles caused by regulations, there will be no milk products available at the market.  I will happily drive to Hartington, Nebraska and get my milk & cream (for making butter :) from Burbach’s Countryside Dairy.  Although Dean & Lisa Burbach sell milk at HyVee Market in Sioux City, I prefer their non-homogenized milk which is no longer available in our market.  Without getting preachy here, if you are interested in the health differences between homogenized and non-homogenized milk, you can investigate it on the Internet.

As a final thought today: just because I can buy the listed produce at the farmer’s market does not mean that everyone in our region can enjoy the locally produced food.  Availability is very very limited.  Feeding our citizens at the local level is not near feasible.  However, this provides a great opportunity for the entrepreneur spirit in our rural communities.

May 14, 2009 - Well I have met my first real test of the eating challenge rules: my significant other can make me some great yogurt.  I can add local honey - and in mid-June I will be able to put blueberries or strawberries in it as well.  But here is the issue: she got her initial starter culture (used in making the yogurt) from outside the 100 mile area; otherwise, 100% of the ingredients are locally produced.  What if the starter culture was originally acquired a year ago?  A molecule of the original starter is not to be found in our present day starter, what then?  Is the entirety of the yogurt then to be considered local?

What can be considered local - is there anything native to our area?  Talk about an exercise in splitting hairs.  The “integrity” of my eating challenge is at stake!

Unfortunately (or fortunately), few things in the world are purely black or white.  It may well be that we even imported seeds for corn and soybean over 150 years ago.  Maybe the extreme local food challenge would require me to eat only Hackberries and Prairie Grass.  I would have to forage mushrooms for a special treat.  A study of the aboriginal diet of plains indians is beyond the scope of this Journal: however, I am sure that fish, bison, and game would play central roles in feeding the indigenous population.

What tools do I have to resolve the controversy: whether yogurt made with a starter originally acquired from outside the 100 mile area is considered local for my challenge.  If I conclude that the yogurt is local, is it just a rationalization?  The eternal battle to have definite boundaries (to provide meaning), yet understanding that there are few absolutes in life.  This is why we have so many laws, regulations, and courts to interpret them.

Aristotle, in his works on Ethics (Nicomachean), Logic, and Physics, may provide some clues to a resolution of this burning issue.  The purpose of the eating challenge is to show what is, and what is not, being produced in the area with local ingredients.  About 50 years ago, Iowa grew over 35 main food varieties (e.g., grapes, berries, apples, cherries, potatoes, peaches, apricots, tomatoes, etc.) as separate profitable industries.  The idea of the challenge is to once again encourage diversification of production and processing as economic development. 

We have to apply the “Golden Mean” (ethics), consistent with the purpose of the challenge (logic), and define the essence or substance of a thing (physics), to the issue.  The solution I have reached is this: I will eat the yogurt if the starter is of such an age as to make it local.

Here is a rudimentary yogurt recipe applied to my challenge:

4 cups of whole milk

1/2 cup of regular yogurt (starter - to make it local, had to not be the original purchase)

Can use non-fat dried milk to increase thickness (Optional - if local)

Cook milk to just before it boils

Cool until about 110 degrees

Stir the 1/2 yogurt starter - gently blend

Put into a Yogurt Machine: 4 to 8 hours - that keeps the mixture at a constant temperature.

Check out a good website for making yogurt.

May 15, 2009 -  It is interesting to discover that the only commercial soybean oil made within 100 miles is from an organic processing company in Cherokee, Iowa, American Natural Soy.  If you want an example of a major local success story from the organic industry, American Natural Soy is it.  Mark & Julie Schuett’s business is simply amazing.  Mark will be supplying me with soybean oil, soy flour, and soybeans he can specifically identify as being grown within 100 miles of the Woodbury County Courthouse.  The oil will be for cooking, the soy flour will be used for pancakes and baked items, and the soybeans will be fermented into Tempeh.

If you don’t do anything else, please visit the website for American Natural Soy.  I am scratching my head - trying to understand why the farmers in Woodbury County fail to take advantage of a critical industry that could be highly profitable for them.

May 18, 2009 -  A sense of dread has infected me as I draw near to the date beginning my local food diet.  I suppose this feeling is normal for anyone who is changing his lifestyle so dramatically.  I tell myself that the challenge is only for 30 days - I can surely make it that short of time.  But I cannot help but ask myself: why am I doing this crazy thing?  Instantly, upon asking that question, I gain a great peace - a passion wells up inside of me.  I know precisely why I am undertaking this challenge. 

May 19, 2009 -  We are on the precipice of losing a deep and historic understanding of the land, its biology, and its possible diversity.  We have abdicated our agricultural independence to large food conglomerates - the farmers have been steadily losing profit from the consumer dollar. 

Economic development has become nothing more than taking taxpayer dollars to shower upon the gods of large corporate interests.  Just one fact (I promise): 100% of the dollars expended by the Iowa Department of Economic Development goes to either residential, commercial, or industrial development.  Isn’t that just astounding?  In other words, not one penny is used to support a young farm family grow food.  And we are supposed to be an agricultural state?  Come to think of it, how much support does a small business of any kind get these days? This is insanity pure and simple.

I am convinced that it is in the diversity of agricultural activity that we can grow a localized economy.  No amount of pummeling from the local newspaper or in letters to the editor will change the fact that we all need to take a challenge.  We need to unite in a common undertaking - to create a vibrant community through a more localized economy.

May 20, 2009 -  Strawberries!  They will be available at the Sioux City Farmers Market in June.  I wish apples were available - but they are a late summer/early fall crop.  There are plenty of apples grown in our region.  From Mondamin (which is famous for their apples) to Mission Hill, SD - the sources are plentiful.  You may want to check out Hebda Family Produce, operated by Rena Hebda -  she is a member of the Sioux City Farmers Market.  Although she will not have apples, I am hoping to buy a lot of produce from her farm.

I want to make special mention of John and Jana Wesselius of Cornucopia, located in Sioux Center.  They have been one of my real inspirations - and if anyone thinks that you cannot make money on 5 acres, they will prove you wrong!  Their lifestyle is a true model of what a family can do in our hard economic times.  There is no reason why a young person could not start a profitable farm on far less money than those who farm conventionally.

May 21, 2009 -  Clint Brown, an amazing 17 year old living near Hinton, Iowa, is focusing on producing tomatoes for this growing season.  You should check out our Farmer Profile page devoted to Clint.  Think small - then grow.  Like Larry Moody, Clint Brown, John & Janna Wesselius, and so many others.  There is clearly demand - we need more folks like those named.  If people take up the challenge, we can really get our local economy going.  I must make mention of Cardinal Farms tomatoes.  They are a local hydroponic producer in our midst - and a great example of what can be done to establish a successful food business in our area.

May 22, 2009 - I am in Telluride, Colorado attending a Food Symposium.  All the high mucky mucks will be there (and, no, I am not one of those mucky mucks).  Although there was much to be desired after listening to lectures, there were a few highlights that were applicable to this eating challenge.

Dave James, of James Family Ranch, was one cool character.  A down to earth guy who has been raising grass fed beef for decades.  Three generations operate the farm down-valley from Telluride.  One son operates a dairy that produces high quality cheese.  His land, as he proclaimed, is debt free.

Ann Cooper, author of Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children, was a good speaker and certainly makes an irrefutable case for improving our school lunch programs.  However, here in Sioux City, it would be the ultimate challenge to get any kind of farm to school program up and running.  It is easy to do a farm to school program in Berkeley, California or Boulder, Colorado.  What we lack in the Sioux City region are farmers who produce food.  And for off-season, we do not have sufficient greenhouses, flash freezing capabilities, etc. to supply food during the school year.  Finally, we would have to have a real change of heart at the school districts to spend more to improve eating habits of our young people.  This is a challenge worth taking: working local food into our school lunches, increasing the food budget to improve the health of our children.  This would improve our economy.

I must say I miss Iowa already.  It just seemed that most of the folks in Telluride were living in la-la land.  Most of the speakers did not offer any solutions or examples of successes; they mostly spouted off well known facts that the future of our food is in dire peril.  Most of the emphasis was on third-world issues relating to farming and food.  What struck me was their total lack of emphasis on the peril we face here in the United States.  And to solve the issue of our disappearing farmer (and local communities along with them), we must roll up our sleeves and figure out a solution to our local food economy.

Sioux City is such a unearthed gem of a place.  A gem on the river.  We can do such great things - and be a leader for other communities around the United States.

May 26, 2009 - I was glad to get home from Telluride.  As the airplane was making its descent, I was in awe of the beautiful rolling farmland.  Homes that looked cozy - set in wooded clearings near the barn and sheds.  Telluride was beautiful - but Iowa is my home.

May 30, 2009 - Thank God for Rena Hebda and Jana Wesselius.  Bought a ton of food at today’s Farmers Market.  But Rena went above and beyond the call of duty: frozen apple juice from last fall’s harvest, frozen strawberries, frozen tomato puree, and blackberries.  Bought a lot of lettuce, eggs, and green onions from Cornucopia; and a quart of honey produced in Winnebago, Nebraska. 

I went to the Gardner Cafe after leaving the Market - Paul Seaman cooked me a great asparagus omelet.  Paul is the only chef in town that actively sources local food for his restaurant.  I have a comrade in Paul - someone who really understood the eating challenge.  He understands because he faces a “buying challenge” every day.  We need more food producers.

May 31, 2009 -  24 hours left to go before D-Day (aka: Diet Day).  Time to eat as much of the things I love before the clock strikes 12:00 am.  Pecan Cranberry Waffles, hash-browns, coffee, orange juice.  A beer.  Isn’t it funny how dependent we are on the things we take for granted.  For the next month, starting tomorrow, I will come to identify that dependency.  Who knows?  I just may find out that the world is better on the other side.

June 1, 2009 -  A breakfast of 3 egg omelet, glass of milk, and glass of apple juice.  Not too bad of a start.  The eggs were bland, of course, with no salt, pepper, or butter used (i.e., I have not made the butter yet).  For lunch, a 4 egg omelet - again, bland.  My head was starting to get dizzy from no caffeine. 

Just when I was beginning to become depressed about what my food would be like for the next 30 days, I got a call from a food angel: Penny Fee.  Penny said that she was going to make me some food - and that I could pick it up anytime in the afternoon.  I interrogated her at length about where the ingredients came from.  She named her food suppliers - and, yep, all is within 100 miles.  So, here is what Penny made me:

Wheat Berry Salad

Wheat berries & Eggs (Storm Lake, IA)

Radishes, Green Onion, Cilantro (Sioux Center, IA)

Soy Oil (Cherokee, IA)

******

Cream of Asparagus Soup

Asparagus (Hebda Family Produce - Mission Hill, SD)

Onion/Garlic (Cornucopia - Sioux Center, IA)

Water

Cream (Burbach - Hartington, NE)

******

Rhubarb Sauce

Rhubarb (Sioux Center, IA)

Honey (Winnebago, NE)

Water

Needless to say, the food made a great dinner.  The soup was amazing - and, the biggest surprise was the Rhubarb Sauce.  For dessert, I had blackberries provided by Rena Hebda.

Not a bad first day of the diet.  There are food angels - I have seen them with my own eyes.

June 2, 2009 -  Talking about angels ...  I find it interesting that all major religions have some form of dietary law.  After all, the Last Supper was precisely that: a supper, at a table, with wine and bread.  The Jerusalem Council, memorialized in Acts 15, did maintain a part of the Mosaic dietary law related to how an animal is slaughtered.   The real question is: why a dietary law?  The answer is unclear, but many have postulated the following reasons: Health? Cultural Identity?  Just because God said it?  But I can now say from personal experience, that changing your diet really does change your perspective on life.

I had the same breakfast and lunch as on June 1st.  However, I went up to American Natural Soy in Cherokee, Iowa and picked up soy flour, soy oil, and soybeans.  My significant other had made butter out of cream from the Burbach dairy.   We tried making pancakes out of the soy flour I had just obtained from Mark Schuett’s operation.  Well that was an adventure in cooking and eating :)

We took 1 1/4 cup of sifted soy flour, added an egg, butter, and milk.  The batter was a little runny, so we added a little more flour.  It burned on the outside, and we had to shift to a teflon pan.  I finally had my first pancake, with honey, local strawberries, and butter on top.  You could still taste a strong soy flavor.  They did not cook very well - not like the pancakes we are all accustomed to.  A grainy texture to the tongue.  But, for me, it was a hot meal - and that is all I needed at that moment.  I will continue to seek a way to make these pancakes from local ingredients, but I have a feeling that there are no soy pancake mixes for a very good reason:)

Later that evening, I made a great salad from the Wesselius farm (bagged lettuce), with salad dressing made of soy oil and honey.  Now that tasted good.  I was set for the night.  Success - Day 2.

June 3, 2009 -  I have never eaten so much asparagus.  For dinner: the last of Penny Fee’s asparagus soup (totally awesome), sauteed asparagus in homemade butter and honey.  My yogurt supply is getting low, no more wheat berry salad, and my apple juice is almost gone.  I have lots of salad in the refrigerator.  Living on the edge.  I will thaw out my frozen tomato puree and the strawberries from Rena Hebda; the tomatoes will go in my omelet, and the strawberries will go in the blender with the remaining blackberries (with honey, milk, and a little soy flour).  I will report on that concoction tomorrow.

My dinner cost me about $3.00.  A bundle of asparagus costs $4.00 - I ate a third of that bundle.  I used a little butter and honey - pocket change.  I had homemade yogurt with honey - which accounts for the remaining cost of the meal.  The point being that you can eat very healthy local foods for less than the cost of the typical food we eat.  The local food looks better, tastes better, and keeps longer than that which is shipped 1500 miles to the grocery store.  Of course, a parent will get severe push back from the kids if you just served them sauteed asparagus, and yogurt with honey.

Honesty Time: There is a belief out there in our land that eating local foods would be more costly.  I hear people say, “all well and good to eat locally, but people are very budget conscious and will not buy the local food since it is more expensive than food purchased at the supermarket”.  I have two responses to this misconception: 1.) if you tally up all the money spent for snacks, stops at Casey’s Convenience Stores, coffee at the workplace, McDonald’s (Burger King, all restaurants.), etc. etc., I bet I eat a much healthier diet, for less money, than the average person, and 2.) the American diet is clearly causing major health problems, costing society billions of dollars annually. 

Clearly, I will not remain an extreme ‘locovore’ come July 1.  But this diet is teaching me to see food differently.  Instead of eating mindlessly - and who can turn down a rice crispy bar that a co-worker brought in - we can, nevertheless. truly enjoy what local farmers produce.  Our food dollars can stay in the community, while providing low cost health benefits.  I am also learning how to cook  in the process!

June 4, 2009 -  I received a call at 2:00 p.m. - my contact said that he would meet me in the parking lot of Walgreens downtown at 5:30 with “the stuff”.  When time came, I put on my black hat, dark cloak, and black sunglasses and headed out to Walgreens.  I spotted the contact, gave the usual contact sign and, making sure no one was on to our game, went to his truck.  The contact brought out a baggie with the stuff.  I opened the baggie, smelled the goods, commented on the fact that the stash looked blue in color.  The contact then brought out a paper bag; he said it was something he wanted me to try.  I asked, “is it good stuff?”.  He said, “it is sweet to the taste”.  I took the goods, got into my car, and sped off toward home.

The contact: Brian Miller of the 185th Air Refueling Wing.  The stuff: blue corn flour from his farm between Oto and Smithland.  In the brown paper bag: sweet corn from last year.  Brian saved me today - and I was able to enjoy an amazing dinner of blue corn pancakes and sweet corn. 

Sometimes it feels like I am buying contraband when I head off with produce from the farmers market.  This stuff is like gold - rare and valuable.  I know the people who planted the seeds, tended to the plant’s growth, harvested it - and then drove miles to sell it to me at the farmers market. 

As for the blue corn, this is a real winner.  Thanks so much Brian!  Most folks don’t know about this wonderful variety of corn.  It has a taste and texture all of its own.  Many products could be produced from this crop: blue corn chips, pancake & muffin mixes, etc.  Why can’t we do this in Woodbury County?

June 5, 2009 -  Our midwest farmland is the most valuable natural resource in he world.  More valuable than oil.  More valuable than our tech industry in Silicon Valley.  So, the future our world is on our shoulders right here in River City.  Since we have the most valuable resource, you would think that we would live in the richest of areas.

Today was the close of a great era: the Maureen Wilson era - 22 years as Senator Tom Harkin’s Regional Director and Case Work Supervisor.  The goodbye party was very nice - and the staff from Senator Grassley’s office was there to ‘wish their best’ to a great women.  Usually, the conversation at these type events is cordial: “how have you been?”  I respond, “Well, thank you.  How have you been?”  You know how those gigs go.

What shocked me was this: everyone, including the security man at the Federal Building, asked me how my diet was going.  They were sincere in their questions.  I found a whole new set of friends.  A common ground for interaction.  A Farmer’s Market attitude in a Federal Courthouse!  “Rob, come over to my house and I will give you Chives I have been growing in my garden.”  Perfect for potatoes, I thought. 

Ate the standard stuff today: blue corn pancakes with butter and honey, salad, eggs, milk.  I am very much looking forward to the Farmer’s Market tomorrow morning.

June 6 & 7, 2009 -  I woke early on a cold and rainy Saturday morning to make sure that the vendors at the Farmers Market did not sell out of, what was for me, life sustaining food.  I could just hear farmers say, “you should have been here 30 minutes ago, I just sold out of all my peas.”  That would be a real bummer. 

I bought snow peas, peas, potato radishes (looks like small potatoes), kale, asparagus, eggs, and more lettuce.  Another great surprise: Bob Corio, of Dakota Harvest Farm said he had Rye, hard red winter wheat, and soft red winter wheat available at his farm.  Bob’s main focus in on lamb production.  Check out his website at: www.dakotaharvestfarm.com.  I will pick the wheat up at his farm on Wednesday when I make my food rounds.  I will need to find a flour grinder to make use of the wheat and rye for pizza crust and flat bread (since I cannot use a leavening agent).

There was one tense moment at the Market: Janna Wesselius said that her husband, John, took all the available early potatoes to the Sioux Falls Market.  John and Janna do a split shift on Saturdays so that they can cover both markets.  “John stole my potatoes.  How dare he?,” I yelled.  Janna calmed me down.  Of course, we were just having fun.  She invited me to pick up the potatoes from the farm during the week.  Another stop on my food rounds this Wednesday.

The standard breakfast and lunch for Saturday and Sunday was eggs and salad.

Saturday dinner: sauteed snow peas, Cardinal Farms tomatoes, asparagus, and green onions cooked with a little soy oil and local thyme as seasoning.  Was great.  Later that night I reverted to the soy flour for pancakes (this time they did not turn out half bad).  I was saving the blue corn flour for tomorrow night’s dinner.

Sunday dinner: the last of the blue corn flour was used to make 6 pancakes.  It was a sad moment to see the empty baggie that once contained the flour.

June 8, 2009 -  Another care package from Penny Fee:

Yogurt

1/2 Gal. Burbach’s whole milk

Bring to rolling boil

Cool to warm to touch

Add: 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup starter (left over from previous batch)

Wrap pot in towels.  Let stand at room temperature for 8 hours.

Drain liquid (if any).

Add fruit & honey.  Strawberries were added in the care package.

Spinach Soup

2 pkgs. fresh spinach

3 onion/garlic

1 potato (from Penny’s garden)

4 cups water

1 cup Burbach’s cream

Cook until tender in large pot (20-25 minutes).

Puree in food processor.  Add cream.

The recipe and taste of the yogurt was identical to that my significant other, Lori, made earlier.  We are now starting to see some fruit at the Market - that adds a lot to the experience.

Many people have asked if I am losing weight on this diet.  They think I am going to starve trying to eat only food grown within 100 miles.  Strange thing is: I am not losing weight.  I have not stood on a scale, but my clothes fit the same as before June 1.  This is baffling to me.  My typical breakfast is a four egg omelet.  Although, I am sure I will continue to break out Mark Schuett’s soy flour when I want some pancakes.  My typical lunch is a salad with soy oil and honey.  Dinner varies between sauteed vegetables, salad, or the food Penny Fee has provided.  I do have a mid-afternoon snack of cold raw peas grown by John and Janna Wesselius (Cornucopia Farm).  The peas (in the pod) are crisp and amazingly good.

What I don’t eat, during this challenge, are late night snacks, bread and butter, chips, soda, etc. You would think I would lose weight like a banshee. 

But, despite the lack of weight loss, I feel fantastic.  My mind has been clearer, I have more energy, and it seems like I have more time to attend to family matters.  I am not as stressed.  My blood pressure seems to have been reduced.  Of course, this all is not scientific .... but we all know our bodies fairly well.

June 9, 2009 -  When I was 18, a buddy and I decided to drive to Golden, Colorado just to buy the famous Coors 3.2 beer.  We drove all the way from South Florida to get our hands on it.  In those days, you could not just go to your local grocery store and buy every beer made around he world.  In those days, what inspired us as kids was traveling and experiencing the uniqueness of the new place - be it the beer, food, or character of the place. 

While many would say that they prefer the world of today, with the option to buy vegetables from Mexico, or cheeses from Holland, it has come with a huge cost - in lost wonderment and adventure (not to mention the obvious decline of our rural communities).  Coors has now merged with the Canadian brewer Molson.  Anheuser-Busch has been acquired by InBev, a Brazilian-Belgium company.  As inevitable as free agency in Baseball, we have become global with no local loyalties.  No-named people decide our fate - and take all our money.

Whew - time to eat my peas.  I am getting tired of thinking about the weight of the world. 

June 10, 2009 -  Today I was in a trance.  The beauty of the farmland rolled for as far as the eye can see.  I pulled into Cornucopia Farm (Sioux Center, IA) about 10:30 a.m. with the intent of quickly purchasing some of the potatoes that John Wesselius denied me last Saturday, and immediately heading off to my second rendezvous with Bob Corio of Dakota Harvest Farm (west of McCook, SD).  Ah, the grand plans of mice and men.

Instead, I was treated to a cornucopia of food growing on sectioned off areas of his 5 acre farm - some growing in two high-tunnel structures, and numerous other plots with no cover - the vegetables soaking in the sunlight.

While the Wesselius daughters were working in the field, John gathered up potatoes and carrots for me to cook up that night.  After about an hour of talking about farming - John insisting that anyone could do what he does if they just go out and “do it” - we said our goodbyes.  I went to sit in my Jeep only to end up sitting on a jar of pureed tomatoes prepared in 2008 - a wonderful gift from a remarkable family. 

I was late getting to Bob Corio’s sheep farm.  I took the McCook Lake exit off of I-29, and headed west.  About a mile out of McCook I was treated to a view of hundreds of Bison grazing in a bright green pasture.  Par for the course today - one mystical experience after another.  What is incredible is that this pasture is no more than 10 minutes outside Sioux City - how many city folk know about this amazing scene so close to their home?

I new I had arrived at Dakota Harvest farm when, out of the blue, about 50 sheep escorted me to the driveway - like wild horses galloping in formation, waves of grass blowing in the wind.  I was lucky enough to get a picture from my cell phone at the last moment.

Bob gave me a tour of his farm where he raises between 450 and 500 sheep. 

The sheep feed upon the wheat and rye during the winter months - and soon I was to eat what they eat: hard and soft Winter Wheat, and Rye.  Bob has about 300 bushels of this grain left over from last year.  I bought 15 pounds of the grain - that had not been cleaned.   This Saturday, I am going to separate the wheat from the chaff by placing the grain on a screen and blowing away the chaff, using a hair dryer, as the grain sifts into a bucket.

By now I was seriously starving.  I had only eating my standard egg omelet earlier that morning.  I had to get back to the office to enter yesterday’s adventure in this Journal, pick up Lori from the Airport, and go get some precious Burbach milk from HyVee.  I knew it would be a while until I could get home.  Maybe I would lose weight after all! 

I probably had the best dinner experience in a long long time.  Taking the potatoes and carrots out of the sack, they were wrapped in dark rich earth (much more environmental than the plastic wraps covering most food from the grocery store).  I removed the clumps of earth, washed the vegetables, fired up the stove and oven, and sat down to a plate of heaven: a large baked potato (with homemade butter), and snow peas, asparagus, sliced carrots, and tomatoes sauteed in soy oil and local Thyme.  Folks, it does not get any better than this!

June 11, 2009 -  Biology was never my subject in school.  But my ‘need for cheese’ made me confront my phobia of biology head on - there are no known cheese producers in the area.  How does one make cheese from local dairy without using any animal-based rennet (the ‘challenge’ rules prevent my using animal rennet)?  Rennet is a natural complex of enzymes produced in any mammalian stomach to digest the mother's milk, and is often used in the production of cheese.  The enzymes basically coagulates the milk - separating it into solids (curds) and liquid (whey). 

“Necessity is the mother of invention” is an old idiom of profound truth.  I would add that the very core of being creative is to make something new from what you have at your disposal (applying your imagination) - be it cheese, words-thoughts (writing a novel), painting a canvas, or fixing an automobile engine. 

As a point of interest, Homer suggested in the Iliad (700-800 BC) that the Greeks used an extract of fig juice to coagulate milk.  The peoples of the Mediterranean region used the enzymes from a thistle to make cheese.  Well, I am sure that we do not grow figs or thistles within 100 miles of the Woodbury County Courthouse.  But there may be another way to separate the curds from the whey. I think I know a person who may just have an answer to this dilemma.  Stay tuned :)

(Thanks to Wikipedia for the information about rennet.)

June 12, 2009 -  A rainy friday.  Today’s topics: butter and soybeans.  The day started with a trip to Lori’s to make butter.  But, first, I had to make a stop at HyVee to pick up three bottles of Burbach cream.  Lori put one bottle of cream into the good ole Vita Mix - churning until it became whipped cream - then continuing until the substance became thick and separated from the whey.  Pouring the whey into a separate container, I then put the remaining thick butter into a bowl.  I took a spatula and continually pressed it against the butter around the sides of the bowl to remove the remaining whey.  Voila!  Butter. 

Then a trip to Sudo Corporation, located near Explorer Ballpark in Sioux City, to meet with Mia Sudo - taking with me a 5 gallon tub of organic soy chips.  Mia, a veteran of soybean based meals that she learned to cook before she moved here from Japan, had never seen (nor I for that matter) the cleaned de-skinned  beans and split into chips.  Mia is going to experiment with the chips for a meal she is making for a group of us at the end of the month - 100% local of course.

Tomorrow is the Farmers Market - and I should be able to cook more than my standard 4 egg omelet for breakfast, salad for lunch, and left over asparagus & pea pods for dinner.

June 13-14, 2009 -  I was in a food-rich environment this weekend!  The expanded offerings at the Farmers Market blew me away: carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, snap peas, snow peas, garlic onions, banana peppers, asparagus, lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, and eggs.  A picture of some of the items sort of give you a good idea of what I have to work with on a daily basis.

Eggs, garlic onion, banana peppers, strawberries, broccoli, soy oil, butter (leaning on Penny Fees yogurt), tomatoes, snap peas, potatoes, lettuce, and cauliflower.

For breakfast, I made a omelet with broccoli and banana peppers.  In a separate skillet, I chopped up a large potato and garlic onions, placed in a pan with hot soy oil, and fried em up.  I was a happy camper.  The banana peppers are from Clint Brown’s farm, the broccoli (as is the pictured cauliflower) is from Amy Muth of Ireton, IA.

To make things even better, I received a call from Penny Fee saying that she wanted to make me some more food - this time, including black walnut ice cream.  OMG!  “Pick it up in 3 hours,” she said.  You bet I did.

Penny’s Local Black Walnut Ice Cream

3 eggs

1 1/2 cup Burbach milk (scalded)

3/4 cup honey

1 cup heavy Burbach cream

3/4 cup lightly toasted black walnuts (from Penny’s farm in Newcastle, Nebraska)

Cook and whisk eggs over double boiler until smooth.  Add scalded milk gradually stir until slightly thick.  Add honey & cream.  Chill.  Freeze in ice cream freezer - adding walnuts just before ice cream is finished freezing.

I also picked up some more of Penny’s yogurt and a new dish - Chard Stir Fry with wheat berries, parsley, green onions, salad greens, and radish.

For dinner - sauteed vegetables with a baked potato and butter. 

On Saturday night, my son, Matthew, asked me for some money to go bowling with friends.  I had no pocket money left after my food purchasing that morning.  The next thing I knew Matt was walking out the front door with clanking empty Burbach milk bottles he had stashed in his room during the week.  He was going to turn in the bottles at HyVee, collect the deposit, and then head off to go bowling.  Now I know why he kept telling me to drink more milk :)

June 15, 2009 -  Well, today we are exactly at the half-way point through the local food challenge.  Although a lot of ground has been covered, there are so many more issues to be addressed over the next two weeks: Is it possible to improve our disgraceful school lunch program?  Where do we get the best produced meat in our area?  How do we make local food more accessible to the general public?  What about seasonality of food production?  How does local food production contribute to the local economy? 

Breakfast: 3 egg omelet with broccoli and chopped banana pepper.

Lunch: Sauteed vegetables in soy oil with baked potato, and Penny’s Black Walnut Ice Cream (KTIV, channel 4 covered my lunch today.)

Dinner: A salad with tomatoes and carrots - soy oil and honey dressing.  I then had Chard Stir Fry.

June 16, 2009 -  I spoke at the Retired Teacher’s Association luncheon (no, I could not eat anything they had).  It was clear from talking with individual teachers that they have witnessed a profound change in children’s behavior over the years.  The epidemic of the prescribed drug Ritalin for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the increased need for special education, increased disruptive behavior, and lack of focus, is clearly going to have long term ramifications for our society.  We certainly have a pill for everything these days. 

Many people ask, “how do you feel?”  I feel so much better since being on this diet.  I am calmer, my blood pressure has been reduced, and my mind is clearer.  Now if a 58 year old man who suffered higher blood pressure and hyperactivity from our “normal American” industrial diet, can you imagine what it must be like for a child to eat these same, or worse, foods?  Their brains must be going through the roof!  The public pays a paltry $1.60 per meal for the school lunch program.  It is very likely that a simple change in a child’s diet would resolve much of our problems at the schoolhouse - problems that cost taxpayers billions of dollars to address.  A real life case study on the positive impacts of healthier foods on children in the classroom, check out the Appleton School Case Study. 

If you want to make a real difference in the world, and improve the education of our children, please work to increase funding for the lunch program - the fresh fruits and vegetables may cost a little more, but we will save millions of dollars, and grow healthy children.

A very good food day today: soy milk and cheese (yes, I said “cheese”):

Lori’s Soy Milk

1 cup dry de-hulled soybeans

4 cups water

Soak soybeans overnight

Rinse and drain 3 times

Place the beans and water into blender - turn on high for 2 minutes

Place mixture in covered pot - bring to boil over medium high heat - do not allow to scorch or boil over.

When foam suddenly rises in the pot, remove from heat

Strain through 4 layers of cheese cloth

Bring strained liquid to a boil - avoid scorching - then reduce heat to simmer

Simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.

I have a bottle of this soy milk in our office refrigerator.  It is better for you than soda!

Penny Fee made some rennet-free cheese for me to try.  Here is the the recipe that she got from a Sioux City resident, Mohammed Sadden - a recipe going back generations when Mohammed’s ancestors made cheese balls with herbs in Damascus, Syria:

Put local homemade yogurt in cheese cloth, or a white kitchen cloth (not terry cloth), that is draped over a colander in a large bowl - this is so the whey will drip into the bowl leaving solid cheese in the cloth.  Let stand draining for 24 hours to make sure that all the whey has been removed.

Remove the solid cheese and form into balls. 

Place balls in a bath of soy oil, parsley, thyme, rosemary, and garlic.

Place in refrigerator for 24 hours.

I will try the cheese within the next couple days - preferably on pizza.

June 17, 2009 -  Eating local means that you must change the way you eat - try new things, meet interesting people, get involved with a community.  Any attempt to merely substitute the same pre-challenge diet by finding local sources for the same type food would be an exercise in futility.  You cannot just simply go out and find a 100% locally produced ‘Doritos-style’ tortilla chip.  So, eating local changes you, physically and psychologically, in many subtle and positive ways.

I guess what I am driving at is this: in today’s world the key word is “convenience” - drive-up windows either at a bank or a fast-food joint.  God forbid that we actually have a good conversation someone new.  Recently I have attended a few events that serve food as a meal or just refreshments.  Everyone would go up to the table and get a muffin, grapes, coffee, soda, or bottled water.  I am sure that no one considered, “where did this food come from?”  Needless to say, I could not eat any of it.  I felt like I had taken on the role of the observer of humanity.

While there are benefits to having convenience, just remember it is more convenient for a child to play video games all summer long than to get a job, read a book, or be a part of a summer sports program, etc.  It is easier to do lots of things - but that does not make it better for you merely because it is convenient.  And so it goes with food.  No local broccoli in January? - maybe we might eat squash.  A big challenge is to make local food more convenient - a full-bore local food system would have to be established.  There are many folks working on just this challenge.

One major change for me: I now cook every meal - breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I did not have a lunch today - just snacked on strawberries and drank soy milk.  I was hungry for my vegetable medley by dinner time.

June 18, 2009 -  What do jet planes and cheese have in common?  They were part of my day. I tried Penny’s yogurt cheese for the first time.  It was really unique tasting - and great.  I placed one ball of cheese on a tomato - placed on a bed of lettuce.  Fantastic!  I could have kept going and eaten the whole cheese supply.  But I wanted to savor that treat over the next few days - so, I am rationing my cheese intake. 

I have done the same rationing of the Penny’s Black Walnut Ice Cream - a tablespoon a day for me.  I could have eaten the ice cream all up at one sitting.  I think I will cry when the last of the cheese and ice cream are gone. 

Now for the jet planes.  I visited Brian Miller at the 185th Air Refueling Wing to pick up some more blue corn flour.  Brian gave me a tour of the facilities at the 185th.  An amazing experience: a huge spotless hanger, refueling airplanes on the tarmac, with pilots awaiting their next dispatch orders.  I really like the military.  A group of trained, disciplined, patriots - a sense of mission with a “can-do” attitude.  I took the blue corn flour home, with the “can-do” attitude that I could make the best blue corn pancakes in the world :)  Which I did.

I was running out of eggs - and I had two days before the next farmers market!  For me, this is a very serious matter.  So, I headed to the One Stop Meat Market, located on 5th & Floyd in Sioux City.  Ron Muth, a farmer from Ireton, Iowa, is the proprietor.  He happens to stock possibly the best certified organic eggs on the planet: Williams Farm Certified Organic Eggs.  If you truly want to experience eggs for the very first time, grab yourself some of these puppies.  I have not yet visited David Williams farm in Storm Lake, Iowa - but you can bet your dozen of eggs, I shall.

June 19, 2009 -  Who does not like pizza?  But it seems like the national pizza chains are very similar: cheese, pepperoni, hamburger, veggie, etc.  If you really think about it, they are all pretty much the same.  To my mind, the cheese on those pizzas have a kind of plastic taste.  Now, there are some locally operated pizza parlors that tout a special sauce - and they are different (and in my opinion, better) than the national brands.  However, there is something missing from all these pizzas.

So, for dinner, Lori and I decided to make our own brand of pizza from whatever I had laying around the kitchen. I had about 1 1/2 cups of wheat flour from Williams Farm, and another half cup of soy flour from Cherokee.  Adding about a cup of water (not exact - since I added water as required to get the consistency I wanted), and a tablespoon of soy oil, I made a dough.  Since I could not use yeast, I knew that the dough had to be rolled very thin. - resulting in a crispy thin crust.

Lori suggested that we boil down the tomato puree that was a gift from Jana Wesselius - remember, the jar placed on my car seat when I visited her farm.  So, I placed the liquid puree into a pan, and added garlic greens, onions, and thyme, then boiled the mixture until it was reduced to a thick tomato sauce.  Meanwhile, Lori cut up the remaining vegetables in the refrigerator: thinly sliced new potatoes, asparagus, banana peppers, and onion greens.

We put the pizza crust dough in the oven at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes to get it started.  Then we took it out of the oven and brushed the tomato sauce over half baked crust ... added the veggies, and baked for about 20 minutes.  To top it off, we spread Penny’s Yogurt Cheese on top - and this is what we got:

A homemade pizza was born!  If I say so myself, this was better than any pizza you can buy in Sioux City - and - this pizza cost way less than the standard chain brand.  It was a lot more fun to make the pizza than writing a check for the pizza delivery man.  How much time did it take for us to make the pizza? It took about the same time it takes to get a pizza delivered.

Think of the possibilities!  Dehydrated tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, spinach, or whatever is laying around.  I plan to perfect pizza in the months to come.  Make it once with a mate or with children - a great family activity.

June 20 & 21, 2009 -  A breakthrough weekend.  Spinach, potatoes, garlic greens, tomatoes, peas, eggs, peppers, beets, and so much more at the farmers market.  The real winner Saturday were the strawberries.

It is 12:00 a.m. at night, and the kids are wanting something to eat. Ah, summer break.  I was going to surprise them: I cut up the strawberries, placed in a bowl, poured fresh cream and honey over them.  My kids were blown away by the taste.  Local strawberries have so much more taste.  I snuck a few bites too :)  Now isn’t this better than a junk food snack? 

The breakthrough came when I received a call from Penny Fee on Sunday afternoon.  Penny had found a way to make corn muffins without using baking powder:

Penny’s Peppery Corn Bread/Muffins

1-2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Banana peppers - chopped and sauteed in soy oil

3/4 cup corn meal (Williams Farm)

1 cup whole wheat flour (Williams Farm)

2 1/2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 cup sour cream (heavy cream that had soured)

4 tablespoons milk

3 eggs - separated yokes from whites

Chop and saute peppers.  Whip egg-whites stiff with mixer or whisk.  Beat flours, honey, butter, yolks, and sour cream.  Stir in peppers and cilantro.  Gently fold in whites.

Bake at 400 degrees almost 10 minutes for small muffins.

The taste of these muffins was outstanding - 5 star restaurant grade.  So, who says you cant make breads or muffins without baking powder or yeast?

Penny also made me asparagus soup, strawberry ice cream, more yogurt cheese, and the best version of  her wheat berry salad:

Penny’s Summer Wheat Berry Salad

1 cup wheat berries

1 1/2 cup water - cook until tender

Basil

2 tablespoons soy oil

Yellow squash

Carrots

Pea pods

Chopped parsley

Serve on lettuce greens.

Food heaven this weekend.  I want to savor the muffins over time - but I know they will go bad unless I eat them all very quickly.  Poor me :(

      Penny’s Yogurt Cheese in Soy Oil and Herbs

June 22, 2009 -   My two favorite movies related to food and economic development are: Baby Boom (1987) with Diane Keaton, and Bottle Shock (2008) with Bill Pullman & Alan Rickman.  Baby Boom is about a high-powered New York executive who moves to rural Vermont - making due with apple trees on her property.  Bottle Shock is about the beginnings of the California wine industry - a group of farmers banding together through thick and thin to create a new industry.

Wendell Berry, the renowned poet and farmer, said, “Eating is an agricultural act.”  Those who do not critically think about their food are victims of the impersonal industrial “consumer” manipulating machine - one does not associate food with the land, life cycle, and identity of place.  Ultimately, passive and uncritical eaters lose touch with themselves.  What does all this have to do with economic development?  Actually, everything.

David Swenson, a well respected economist at Iowa State University, recently concluded that “one way we can enhance dollars in an economy is producing goods locally that we normally import.”  You can hear the average person on the street say, “We don’t make anything in America these days.”  So, David Swenson decided to study what would be the economic impact if Iowans ate 25% of certain fruits and vegetables grown by Iowa farmers during the growing season (as opposed to the current practice of importing said food).  The net result would be a substantial increase in jobs and economic vitality (even after subtracting reduced corn and soybean production).

Rural economic development is about changing federal, state, and local policies that have become roadblocks to individual entrepreneurship on the farm.  We have the demand - we need to work on producing the next generation of farmer to increase the supply.  We are in need of entrepreneurs who take our natural resources and make a commercial product (Baby Boom), or a group of farmers who are committed to starting new local food industries (Bottle Shock).

I thought about all this over my wheat berry salad and strawberry ice cream.

June 23, 2009 -  I would think that any discussion of local foods would have to address the availability of ‘meat’ producers.  This eating challenge specifically excluded meat from the diet.  As I stated at the beginning of this Journal, it would be too easy to find local small meat operations.  There would be no challenge at all if I ate a New York Strip steak every day.  Come to think of it, isn’t this the challenge of every modern eater (which we all are): meat is so prevalent that we do not eat our much needed fresh fruits and vegetables.  It has gotten to the point that most people cannot imagine having a meal without meat.  Most cultures serve meat as a compliment to the mainly vegetable-based dinners - not vice versa. 

Meat is generally easier to prepare for people on the go.  Just throw some meat on the grill, or stop by a fast food joint (although corn plays a huge part in fast food ingredients).  Furthermore, meat is much easier to keep for long periods of time (just throw in a freezer) as compared with the relatively quick decomposition of fresh green vegetables.

But, why desire ‘local’ beef, chicken, lamb, or more exotic variations of meat as compared with meat shipped from many miles away?  Clearly, there is a huge taste and nutrient benefit from locally produced fruits and vegetables than from those shipped from many miles away.  Is this true for meat?  There is just a different way of thinking about meat because of the mere reality that animals are higher up on the food ladder: what the animal eats ends up in us as well.  If you are someone who believes in KARMA, then the way the animal has been treated also affects us.

I think most people, if they really thought about it, would rather eat a chicken who has had a natural life on a grassy field than a chicken who has never seen the light of day, beaks clipped at birth, and stuffed in a heavily populated CAFO (confined animal feeding operation).  When you go out to a restaurant, there is a 99.9% chance that the meat you are eating is from an animal raised in a CAFO.

From an ethical point of view, it just makes common sense to buy local meat from a farmer who you ‘know’ raises the animal in it’s natural state with good feed.  Those local animals, who have eaten grass their whole life, will have Omega 3’s and iodine contained in the meat - these are highly beneficial nutrients to the eater. 

Since I have ignored meat for the entirety of this Journal (because meat was excluded from the diet), I think it only fair to give recognition to local meat producers who work hard to provide you with a quality product:

Thankful Harvest, Tom German - Holstein, IA (certified organic beef)

Cornucopia Farm, John & Janna Wesselius, Sioux Center, IA (chicken and turkeys)

Dakota Harvest Farm, Bob Corio - McCook, SD (lamb)

Martin Kleinschmidt - Hartington, NE (beef)

Marv DeBlau - Hartington, NE (beef)

PrairieSun, Angela Jackson, Sioux City, IA (chicken)

B&B Poultry, Ed Hanson, Hospers, IA (chicken)

The following list is provided by Ron Muth of the One-Stop Meat Shop, located at 5th and Floyd, Sioux City, Iowa.  All listed farms are within 100 miles from the Woodbury County Courthouse, unless indicated otherwise:

Pork: Ron Muth, Perry Creek Pork, Muth Farms, Ireton, IA

Beef Angus: Terry Heronemus, Alton, IA (grain fed)

Beef: David Williams, Williams Farm, Storm Lake, IA (certified organic grass fed beef)

Beef: Mike Sitzman, Sitzman Longhorn Acres, Merrill, IA (grass fed)

Lamb:  Jerry Sorrenson, Patchwork Polypay, Harlan, IA - 118 miles

Lamb: Mike Parks, Woodbine, IA - 109 miles

Goat: Bob Bernt, Clear Creek Organic Farms, Spalding, NE (certified organic) - 192 miles

Buffalo: Jerome Roberts, Allen, NE

Elk: Kanard Kroycik, KSK Elk & Buffalo, Niobrara, NE - 107 miles

Chicken: Dan & Kaleb DeJong, Cranberry Creek Chickens, Hospers, IA

Geese: Renae VanderSchaaf, Alton, IA

Ducks: Turkey, Aaron Muth, Ireton, IA

I am sure that there are many more meat producers in the challenge area of 100 miles with whom I am not familiar.  Forgive me for the omission if you happen to be one of those producers.

Lunch: Wheat berry salad and cream of asparagus soup.

Dinner was, to say the least, unconventional.  I started with baked potato with butter and Penny’s yogurt cheese.  I ended up eating blue corn pancakes later that evening. 

As a late night snack, I had rhubarb sauce made by Penny Fee.

June 24, 2009 -  The world according to pancakes.  I have become proficient at making pancakes in the morning: blue corn pancakes, corn meal pancakes, and even soy flour pancakes.  It suddenly hit me, pancakes have been a constant in my adult life - memories of a trip to Alaska where I first experienced sourdough pancakes (sourdough is the bedrock of Alaskan identity), or going to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco and buying sourdough starter that I perpetuated for years.  In my early days as a lawyer in Colorado, I used to make sourdough pancakes for my roommates every morning - one roommate was Marshall Shelley, a young seminarian who is the son of the great Dr. Bruce Shelley, a professor at the Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary.  Marshall has gone on to become Vice-President of Christianity Today Magazine - although I seriously doubt that my pancakes had anything to do with his success.

The memories flooded in as I heated up the griddle.  But I also realized that I have made a new memory that will stay with me throughout my life: attempting the Penny muffin trick with this batch of corn meal pancakes - getting the cakes to rise without baking powder by fluffing the egg whites before folding into the milk and flour.  I sincerely hope that you have a fond childhood memory of your mother serving her signature dish - “Mom, will you make me some of your [blank] today?”

Permit me to digress.  While sourdough used to define Alaska and San Francisco, the romance with sourdough (the food of the gold rush) is fading like the big red barns on the farms of the Midwest.  And while we cling to the memory of a spiritual conversion, the experience of that conversion seems to fade into a black hole of social and political conflict.

I submit: pancakes will save the day.  Think about it.

June 25, 2009 -  The challenge is coming to a close in just a five days.  I have reflected on what I will eat on July 1 forward.  You would think I cannot wait to grab a cup of coffee, and eat food that had been denied me for 30 days.  Nothing could be further from the truth - well, I have to admit that I look forward to coffee.  Except for a single exception that I will discuss tomorrow, I cannot think of one major restaurant, or type of food, that attracts me.  I feel so much better, both physically and mentally.  I do not want to spoil the moment with commercial plastic tasting foods, loaded with salt, high fructose corn syrup, and god knows what else.  What is the attraction in that?  I have no personal connection with food shipped from all over the world.

But there is a reality I must face: will I never go out to eat again?  Will I never step foot in a supermarket again?  What if I have to attend a business lunch or take a trip out of town?   Most of all, I am worried about ‘me’.  Once I cross over the line, will I fall into old habits.  Like someone trying to quit smoking, you just simply cannot delude yourself in thinking you can have ‘just one’ - soon you find yourself smoking the whole pack.

This brings me to the issue of “availability”.  It is easier for a restaurant owner simply to unload large tubs of mayonnaise off the Sysco truck than to improvise from hard to obtain local ingredients.    As I have said before, the driving force to modern eating is convenience - even to the point of blatant hypocrisy.  Children attend a middle school class in “foods” (you know, the food pyramid), then are shuffled off to the school cafeteria serving cr _ _.  Or, a person is admitted to a hospital - the pinnacle of the health care system - where they serve over-boiled string beans and jello devoid of any nutrient benefits.

Everything in our country works against the hard-working local food farmer.  Commensurately, everything works against the health and well-being of its citizens.  From subsidies to economic development practices, from the impersonal corporate food systems to priorities for infrastructure, all combine to crush the small guy. 

Not everyone can do what I have done to live up to this challenge; like driving up to Cherokee to get a large container of soy oil.  Most people will not drive an hour to a farm and get potatoes.  Our local farmers market only has supply for about 1/10th of 1% of the local population - and that is only for four months of the year - and, then, only on Saturday and Wednesday mornings.  In our neck of the woods, it is highly unlikely that we could even initiate a ‘farm to school’ program due to lack of current supply of local food.

But, what may seem like a dire situation, also points to great economic opportunities.  Wealth comes from change: recognizing the unmet need (demand), and serving that need.  Success of a local food system will take thousands of individuals to appreciate the situation, and contribute (in any small way they can) to the public discussion: demanding local food, and supporting policies that promote its availability.

A great breakfast today: I sauteed onions and broccoli - then, poured in the eggs.  A great omelet.

Lunch; sauteed vegetables with the last of my potatoes - can I make it to Saturday without potatoes?

Dinner: the last of Penny’s cream of asparagus soup and an omelet.

My refrigerator is getting dangerously empty!

June 26, 2009 -  Now I am living on fumes.  Thank the heavens I still have some local eggs and milk.  I have nowhere to go to get more local food - unless I drove to regional farms to gather food.  I now know what it must have felt like to our ‘hunter/gatherer’ ancestors.  One really good collateral  benefit from my diet: dogs do not eat vegetables - therefore, I don’t have to hear them whining for my food at the dinner table :) - they want no part of it.

Yesterday, I promised to talk about the one single exception to my aversion of local restaurants.  I do not want to disparage local establishments - they employ our citizens.  However, once you have seen the light of local foods, your whole outlook on food and the world changes.

The one exception is Chef Paul Seaman at the Gardner Cafe at the Sioux City Art Center.  Paul is the only chef in the area who actually goes to the farmers market to get local food to serve his customers.  Not everything he serves is local - but, if it is available, he will include local food in his dishes.  In other words, if a chef wants to source local foods for a restaurant, the chef has to become proactive: that is, become a modern day ‘hunter/gatherer’.  Paul’s food will be seasonal - and that adds to the diversity of his offerings at his cafe.

I know that Ray Hoffmann, proprietor of upscale Luciano’s Restaurant, has sourced local food on a limited scale.  He wants to include more local food on the menu; however, supply is so severely limited, he must revert to sourcing his food outside the area.  This is the restaurant to watch as supply of locally produced food increases.

I am personally familiar with many restaurants on the East and West Coasts on the United States - where the chef will go to the docks to buy today’s catch.  In Santa Barbara, California, chef’s will line up at the farmers market to get the best of the vegetables to serve their customers that evening.  The ultimate market, of course, is Pike Place Market in Seattle.  While we may not have “off the boat” fish markets in Iowa, we are capable of so much - yet we do not take economic advantage of our land.

June 27 & 28, 2009 -  I pull up to the farmers market parking lot on Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m.  The lot is full at the opening bell!  Ok, this is war!  I felt like I was in a pool of piranhas - anxious shoppers waiting to gobble up everything offered by the weary vendors.  Would they be sold out of everything at 8:05 a.m.?  Don’t ever go shopping when you are hungry - needless to say, I went berserk.  I now have enough potatoes for two weeks. 

I raced home to make myself a breakfast for a king.  Slicing up some tomatoes, peppers, onions, potatoes, and carrots; I threw together one heck of an omelet, with the pan fried potatoes and onions on the side.

Lunch: sauteed vegetables.  I later made whipped cream to place over the strawberries I bought this morning - adding a bunch of honey.  I was certainly going to gain a little weight.

It was dinner that was out of the ordinary.  I attended a dinner party hosted by Mia Sudo, a native of Tokyo, Japan.  Mia was fully aware of my eating challenge.  So, while the other guest had sushi, shrimp, and native Japanese dishes, Mia prepared potatoes, carrots, and peas for me :).  My main course, an egg dish with local peas, with a side of greens grown in her friend’s local garden.  For desert: strawberries and honey - I can never get enough of strawberries (although, before the eating challenge, I rarely ate them at all).

As we ate our wonderful meal, we discussed the differences in culture between America and Japan.  Joseph Wright of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, and his wife Caroline, were there discussing Joseph’s time in South Africa - how he could tell, blindfolded, where he was in a South African city just by the smell of spices emanating from the markets.  A sensual emersion into a place. 

Mia was a wonderful host.  She adjusted to the requirements of my eating challenge.  I gained new admiration for Japanese custom right here in Iowa - America’s heartland.  And as I ate my local potatoes, my mind wandered to a time of old when the Ioway Indian Tribe inhabited this very green gentle land.  I was in food heaven.

Meal of note: Sunday, for lunch, I made a salad from the greens I acquired from Angela Jackson’s  PrairieSun farm.  I added cherry tomatoes from the farmers market - and topped it off with the remaining yogurt cheese from Penny Fee.  My standard, totally local, salad dressing of soy oil and honey from Winnebago, Nebraska was liberally applied.

Later that Sunday night, I made beets.  A personal first.  I placed three beet bulbs in aluminum foil, covered with soy oil, and then placed the wrapped beets in an oven at 450 degrees for one hour.  Perfect!

June 29, 2009 -  In the 1950’s, there was a classic Sam Cooke song entitled “Wonderful World” that went something like this:

“Don't know much about history

Don't know much biology

Don't know much about science book ... “

But, as we have witnessed, food has something to teach us about all those subjects, and more.  Food also involves business and economics, politics, philosophy, health, and a way of life.  Food should be very personal.  I have learned a great deal from this challenge.

Just one more day to go on this challenge.  I have decided on my post-challenge diet.  A cup of coffee, Wednesday morning, will seem like a whole new experience.  Talk about radical!  Of course, most folks will think I am nuts - they will say, “I have coffee every day, no big deal.”  But, when you set limits on yourself, I know I will enjoy my first cup a lot more than those folks. 

Here are some of the food items that will be a part of my new diet (all local, unless no local source):

1. •Salt and pepper
   

2. •Herbs and spices
   

3. •Baking powder and yeast
   

4. •Cooking oils (will continue to use soy oil - but will also have non-local olive oil)
   

5. •Vinegar
   

6. •Flour
   

7. •Pasta
   

As for meat: I will eat only locally raised lamb, beef, and chicken.  And then, only meat from animals that I know have been treated humanely.  This was a tough decision for me.  But, like Aristotle implied - everything in moderation.  That wise Greek defined the “Golden Mean” as the definition of virtue.  And the virtue of eating well is a subject we should all be teaching our children.

Tomorrow I will have completed my challenge.  And, although I have been “saved” by my diet, my objective is not about me - it is about all of us.  Why?  For the answer, please read tomorrow’s entry.

Today, I ate the remaining sweet corn from Brian Miller and, for desert, I ate the last of Penny’s strawberry ice cream.  You know how you feel on your last full day of a vacation - you know you are leaving tomorrow, yet you do not want your vacation to end?  So, you revisit some of the spots you enjoyed the most - those places you do not want to forget.  You take pictures.  You may wear  that crazy flamingo shirt one more time (something you may never wear in your home town - at least not in public).  I ate that corn and ice cream like there was no tomorrow.

But, unlike a vacation, the eating adventure never ends when you eat local.  The wonderment of something new is right here at home.  And, just maybe, you will learn a little biology along the way - or, get into a new business venture.  It can “save” you in ways you cannot imagine.

June 30, 2009 -  Allison Winter, from E&E Publishing, of Washington, D.C. visited me today.  At the end of the interview, Allison asked me a very important question: “What is your vision - what is it that you hope to accomplish from the work you are doing?”  I would like to see our communities thrive, that our citizens be healthy.  That our young people become entrepreneurs - producing food from our rich land.  That we are kind to one another - respect one another - help one another - depend on one another.  That we take pride in our small rural communities.  That is called in economic development terms: “creating a high quality of life.” 

We can have all three of the most important things in life - integrity, health, and wealth - from the food we grow in the Midwest.  My father would be proud.

I want to thank all who have helped me this past month.  Lori, my significant other, for not only putting up with me, but for embracing the challenge.  Penny Fee for her dedication to local foods - her innovative dishes that taught me how well we can really eat from 100% local ingredients.  Mark Schuett of American Natural Soy who provided me with soy oil for cooking and salad dressing - oil is a major staple in local foods.  Brian Miller of the 185th Air Refueling Wing for the blue corn flour and his personal encouragement.  The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors.  Jackie Bates, and Peggy Napier, our indispensable assistants on the 6th floor of the Courthouse for being my sounding boards and word checkers - they had to put up with me always asking, “Come here and read this!”

The real heros have been, and always will be, the small family farmers who work day and night to provide us with our food. 

* * * * * * * * *

For an ongoing discussion of local food systems, please read and contribute to the Diary of a Local Food System blog located on this site.