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Thank you to the elf who posted the inspiring new meeting flyer!

New word invented in Ojai:
Loquavore!

I dreamed it up this evening while watering my Loquat trees and eating the first wave of ripe fruit.

Yes, this year how 'bout we all eat the juicy sweet loquats that are just starting to ripen all over the valley! Rosie and Tillie are looking forward to eating the ones that drop on the ground.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loquat

Suza,

Thank you for spreading the word about EAT LOCAL ONE YEAR ~ BE THE CHANGE OJAI !!!

Thank you for being ready to do the one-year, 100-mile diet with us!!! I believe that there are at least 100 who will join us. Those who will, please e-mail me at kychiro@pacbell.net and state that you are in. I look forward to beginning the count to 100.

Yes, the 3 food exceptions make a big difference.

Also, it is important to know that everybody can participate in some way. One could commit to one local meal in the year. One could commit to raising some food for others. Write your own ticket; the possibilities are limitless!

In peace, health, great food, and action,

Kris

I can’t make the meeting, but wish to support the concept. After reading Kingsolver last summer, our household committed to eating local (for the most part). Our exceptions were coffee (by local Remy Sol), brown rice, sugar, certain wines, and English breakfast tea; I have only recently found a good source for organic local chicken. Most veggies come from Farmer and The Cook or Farmer’s Market. The milk is from Chase Bros. Fish from Gus or What A Deal count local for us. Not only do we feel healthier and a bit more environmentally conscious, it supports our friends and neighbors. OK, I must admit an occasional run to Trader Joe’s, but those are much rarer now and mostly supply us with coffee filters, dish soap, and Pellegrino. So we have not gotten religious about it, but certainly have adopted a locovore intent and it has been healthy and enjoyable
It would be a great service if the Youngs or others would post a list of good local sources. I am still looking for good, local organic meat.
BTW, the most local meal in town, beyond TF&C, is a tomato, garlic, basil pizza at Boccali’s, with all ingredients except the crust grown within 100 yards of the kitchen. Doesn’t get much more local than that, at least beyond your own garden. BTW2: My other commitment was to go through 2008 without purchasing anything new. I am in my 5th month of making do with what I have. Try it.

Well it looks like my previous post was blocked for adding too many links. So here goes one more time:

Dennis wrote: "BTW2: My other commitment was to go through 2008 without purchasing anything new. I am in my 5th month of making do with what I have. Try it."

I'm curious to know if anyone has started a local website to share free stuff with one another. I forget the name of the others that are out there in many different cities, but it is kind of like Craigs List except that it is members only and no exchange of money is involved.

I truly admire the commitment of the Freegans, but not so sure I could go digging through dumpsters...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeganism

Oprah.com has info on a show she did about Freegans around the country.

Sorry Suza, I know this is slightly off topic...

LTOR, there was a group in the upper valley that started this last year... Don't buy new stuff, trade used stuff... but that's all I can remember, I can't find the email.

That's great that someone has started a site. Thanks Anonymous! If you remember the details, please share!

Just a reminder that great things can be found at Ojai and Ventura thrift shops as well as garage sales (a wonderful benefit to living in a wealthy community).

Also, when I said I don't know if I would have the guts to go dumpster diving I meant for food. While I have technically never been inside an actual dumpster, I have found wonderful treasures on the side of the road that people were throwing out or on top of trash bins. I also try to "save" perfectly good stuff that people have so carelessly thrown away, by taking it to a thrift store. Considering the state of our fragile planet and the fact that so many people around the world have so little, it should be a crime to throw out ANYTHING that can be re-used, repurposed or recycled.

And perhaps a topic for later - WORM FARMS!!! :)

Dennis,

Sounds like you are doing a great job!

I am beginning to create a list of organizations and businesses that endorse our project. Endorse in this case means thinking that the project and eating locally are great ideas. Please send the name of the business or organization + the name of the person responsible for the endorsement + e-mail and phone of responsible party to kychiro@pacbell.net. Thank you!

We will be setting up an online database for all manner of local foods. I actually need to talk with Tyler Suchman to see if he has a good idea how to do that.

We are a wonderful community!

Kris

we might be talking about a national (global?) group called Freecycle, which has a Ventura County subgroup. Lots of free stuff for trading, giving, and receiving!

That's it. Thanks Evan!

"We will be setting up an online database for all manner of local foods..."

That is such a great idea! I bet local markets will come aboard and be willing to place simple signs or a "locally grown" logo on produce and other items...often they do this already.

When I drove my gardener helper home today I saw an advocado stand on Grand Avenue just before the dip. The sign said: Avocados, 3 for $1. Just like the good ol' days! I bought 9 with my spare change. We are so blessed to still have orchards of avocados and citrus groves...

When you start making any aspect of your life more green, it opens your eyes more and more to how Everything is Connected...

I won't be able to make tomorrow's meeting, but this project is one near and dear. Like Dennis, we have been trying to eat local since we came to the Valley. "Trying" may be too strong a term; I would say more accurately, after our first summer, we noticed that a large amount of what we ate and drank was local. We weren't really trying that hard or being all that conscious about it. Just from growing our herbs, shopping at the Farmers Market, picking up fruits and veggies from farm stands, and the like, we were eating an abundance of locally produced items. Add to that brewing beer (admittedly not local ingredients, though I've heard someone is growing hops and barley in the Cuyama)), Santa Ynez and Paso Robles wines, and our favorite herb lemonades with local lemons, and we estimated over half of what we eat, drink and have on our shelf was local.

Getting past that is the tough part. We go to Trader Joes for most of the rest.

I call it the 60% Solution. Live in Ojai, and choose local that is right in front of you, and you can hit 60% without cramping your style. If we put a good list of local producers together, I bet people could bring that percentage higher, at least during summer and fall, without much trouble.

One thing, and I hope I'm not too shamelessly plugging here: I think there is good reason to take exception to having to exclude, or make one of your three exceptions be, an item like our Remy Sol Coffee. True, coffee is not and cannot be grown within 100 miles. You have to go to the tropics for good coffee. But our coffee is grown, picked, milled, artisan roasted to order and shipped by the farmers. It is shipped by postal service - straight from the farmers in Costa Rica to your door.

Unlike items you buy from a store, where there is a special, unique series of rails, trucks, etc. consigned to carry your items from farm, to distribution center, to store, where you pick up by special trip in your car, the beauty of the postal service is that it runs the same routes every day, all over the world. You drop an item in at one end, it comes out at the other, and there is no significant additional carbon or resources used. The postperson runs her route whether or not you have a delivery today.

Add to this that when you get coffee roasted and shipped direct from the farmers, they get a real retail price, several times what farmers get under certified fair trade, for example. Its a true sustainable price, one that permits farmers to actually make some money, as opposed to simply meeting cost of production. That means farmers can, and do, focus on quality and sustainability, as opposed to the most quantity at the lowest cost.

So, how about it? For coffee, chocolate and other items that cannot be produced locally, does it have to be an exception if it comes direct from the farmers, hand-finished by them, via postal service? Esp. where the project is run locally?

I'm biased, of course (!), but it strikes me that this kind of system accomplishes much of what being a locavore is all about. That is, it brings all the benefits we are trying to achieve by limiting to a 100-mile radius, but it allows farmers much further away to share in them.

Anyone who is not familiar with our single source coffee project, please, check it out:

http://www.remysol.com

what does artisan roasting ential? roasted by artists??

Kristofer and Joanne Young are Adam and Eve period.

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