Eat Local - a challenge

We have set ourselves a challenge to eat only the veg we can grow ourselves or source from growers within 10 miles of our house. We are going to do this for 1 year starting from August 1st.

Its part of our local campaign to encourage more people to grow their own food and make more use of local food producers. We can't afford solar panels, a wind turbine, a bio-diesel plant to fuel our cars or a new central heating boiler, but this is something we can afford to do and make a dent in our carbon footprint.

We are also going to try and source as much of the rest of our food as possible within the 10-mile limit.

As we did not want to be eating cabbage soup for 6 months in the winter/spring this has really motivated us to search for local food producers and we have already 'discovered' some really great sources for pork, lamb and beef (not to mention local breweries) that we had never taken the time to find before.

There's more about the challenge and our local group here: http://www.vegplantsonline.com/home_grown/challenge.cgi

Anyone else like to have a go too?

 

I think its a great idea, but too many people either don't have the time, interest or expertise to grow their own, and it is far easier to pop down to the local supermarket than it is to travel about to farms, independent butchers shops etc.

To be honest, I've seen many web articles trying to promote the idea of home grown fruit and veg, but they all seem to lack one little thing that might go a long way to convincing people to make a start. Some brief case studies might go a long way. For example, you might give an example (real or hypothetical) of someone who loves to cook with herbs, but buys them from the supermarket. They have a tiny city centre flat with a small balcony so haven't even contemplated growing anything. The example might then show a pic of a well stocked herb planter, taking up about 2 square feet of balcony space. It could then go on to do a cost breakdown of setting that up, e.g. £5 for the container, £3 for the compost, maybe £10 for the plants. Then demonstrate that for less than £20 you get an abundant supply of herbs right outside your door.

On another forum that I used to frequent (not a gardening forum), this topic came up during the food shortage scare a year or so ago. I said we could all do a bit, but most forum users dismissed it saying that we haven't all got our own huge farms so it can't be done. It is that belief, that you need your own farm and hydroponics production plant that needs to be disspelled, then more people might have a go.

 

Great idea. We are only eating what veg we can grow, as of 1st June. We will rescind that when we get into the Winter. However we already have a near-zero food miles policy, and have to justify to the family any food which comes from further than that. "near-zero" = "ten miles" sounds like a good unit to me!

We do buy Oranges, Bananas and Pineapples, but the days when we had Mangos, and French Beans from Kenya, new spuds from Algeria or Israel in very early spring have gone.

My efforts, to date, are pretty much summed up by this bunch:

 

That's a very good point you made Clueless. I would like to see a TV programme made about growing in small spaces. People can grow something even if they only have a windowcill.

I grow most of my own vegetables and I don't have a farm. I have an area of my garden screened off for a kitchen garden. I have 4 big deep beds, a couple of containers and 16 buckets for potatoes. I get 2 crops from each bucket by replanting as I empty. I grow garlic and shallots in the containers as I find that works for me.

I have plenty of vegetables over the winter and it's not all cabbage but leeks, kale, kohl rabbi,swede, brussel sprouts, purple sprouting brocolli, mizuna, winter lettuce, celeriac and more I'm sure. Plus some frozen broad beans, beans and courgettes from the freezer.

I grow my aubergines and peppers in the conservatory and tomatoes outside.

So it can be done, but not if you don't know what you're doing. I don't claim to be any expert - just a woman growing vegetables.

I don't think you can dragoon people into growing their own if they're not interested but I think a lot of people would like to grow a little bit of something but don't know how. But we can help them.

So I won't say I'll join in with you Ancient Gardener as I'm already doing it. Good luck with your project.

 

I think subconsciously we are are all trying our best to reduce food miles.
Im sure in your own area as in mine we are seeing an increase in farm food shops.
Even one of our nurseries has put aside an area with a chap selling locally sourced produce.
I have three farm shops within about 1 mile from were I live. One within easy walking distance.
I do not have the space to supply the two of us with the veg we require all year round.
I have to say I would if I could.
Robert

 

I think it's a great idea and if I had more room, I'd love to be growing my own vegetables. As it is, I do have herbs, a few soft fruit bushes and of course the chickens (we haven't had to buy eggs for 2 years).

But...and sorry to be a bit of a party pooper, supermarkets are too convenient for a lot of the population. Think of the single man or woman, living on their own and working long hours - popping into the supermarket to pick up a ready meal or a few strawberries in January, or the busy working mother doing similar. Neither have the time or the inclination (in the main) to go to their local market or a farm shop.

Still, little acorns and all that. Like has been said, farmers markets and shops are growing both in number and in popularity. Now...if the government would just support home grown produce and farmers and up the price of cheap imports we might actually see a real change.

 

You have a good point there, but a key problem is cost. People on very low incomes depend upon those cheap imports. I'm not sure how that could be tackled, other than by promoting home grown stuff which takes us back to the original point of this thread. If half of all households could grow half of their veg requirements, then that would make a massive dent in the nation's food miles. Better still, and this totally goes against our ignorant and capitalist instincts, even those who could grow more than they need did so, and shared their excess with friends and neighbours who grew less than they need, then you'd not only massively reduce food miles but you'd be helping to restore the community spirit that many parts of the country are sadly lacking these days.

Of course one point that we all brush under the carpet when the food miles topic comes up is this: What about the lorry drivers who find themselves out of work?

 

Or the farmers in Africa who depend on exporting produce to this country?

 

That's another good point. There is a long running debate about though trying to figure out which is worse for the environment, importing stuff that won't grow naturally here from another country, or forcing it to grow here with the use of massive greenhouses full of hydroponic gear, heaters, artificial lighting and all manner of chemicals.

 

But back to the original subject, the Beeb were promoting this website a while back and i saved it in my favourites.

http://eatseasonably.co.uk/what-to-eat-now/

If you can't grow your own, at least we can try to eat seasonably, when (hopefully) food wont have travelled so far.

 

Good points folks, but I don't have a greenhouse or use chemicals or hydroponics and I manage to grow my own. The beans and stuff that are imported from Africa could be eaten there. Why should a continent where so many people are starving be exporting food. It makes me sick. And there is one country ( friends of America) where I will not buy anything they have exported while their next door neighbours are starving. Maybe it's just a luxury I can afford - or maybe other people could do a bit more. We don't need strawberries in January - and they're horrible - nothing like the real thing.

 

I put that point in because large scale commercial growers do, but they can still be fairly. I don't have a greenhouse, so if I were to buy greenhouse grown stuff locally, would I be doing my bit or would I be contributing to huge energy/resource use of a commercial grower? It is a bit of a tricky point and I really don't have the answer.

That is a very good point. I was thinking more about chillis and fruit that won't grow naturally here, but yes, there are many things that will grow here but are imported from other countries either because they are cheaper from there or because they are out of season here. I guess it comes down to profit. If we pay more for a banana than a local of that country can afford, then it is going to be very tempting for the grower to just sell it to us. That is certainly food for thought (pardon the pun), and the solution is beyond me.

I have to agree 100% there.

 

Until we started thinking about the project seriously I was under the impression that there was very little being produced nearby. But after only a days searching (mostly on the web but also asking friends) I have found a surprising number. Most gratifying of all is the number of micro breweries withion the 10 mile limit! We have yet to source a local vineyard though :(

Because they are so near its no big deal to get to them - so its not a hugely time-consuming task and of course as they are close by its not fuel-consuming either. I have talked to a lot of them and we are organising group visits to be shown how the food is produced/animals are reared. The prices are good too - no distribution network to bump up the price. I got 12 big rashers of excellent smoked bacon (from outdoor reared pigs) for £3.37 yesterday. The local trout farm will pull you out a live trout, kill it and gut it for £1.

Our local group is giving out the message that its possible to grow some of your own food even on a windowsill, all year round. Quite a number of members only have tiny backyards so are becoming experts in growing in pots!

The local garden centres even have orange and lemon bushes for sale - ok you need a conservatory/greenhouse for them in the winter, but it does mean we can have a varied diet if we want to.

 

AncientGardener, I applaud what you are doing, and it got me thinking. I did a little web search and found this site that might be of interest:

http://www.vegexchange.com/

It seems pretty new, they have a forum that has hardly any posts in it, but I like the idea and think they might be onto a winner. I was going to develop something like this a while ago but to be honest I couldn't get myself motivated to start, so I'm glad someone else has already done it.

I have to admit I don't grow my own food (except potatoes, which should be coming on nicely by now, although as my land is 100 miles away from where I live it won't really be zero food miles when I harvest them, even though I grew them. I have a few herbs in the back garden and am waiting for some beans to come up, but that's about it this year. Next year I plant to grow more stuff.

When I was in Cornwall last year we visited Heligan Gardens. They have a veg production area where they are trying to demonstrate that the veg plot need not look like a formal veg plot. One of the things I was particularly impressed by was the range of colourful beans they had growing. Aside from being a productive food crop plant, some of them were very pretty just to look at. I think if the ornamental aspect was promoted a bit more, then more people might have a go.