Easing Up

I wrote myself a note on 1/20 saying that it was still hard being off of coffee. That seems to be easing up. In the last 5 days, I have been feeling more comfortable without coffee and thinking about it very little.

Tomorrow I will be having my second non-local, exception meal. (The rule book can be found at: Guidelines .) I am interested to see how I will feel after some non-local and a couple of cups of coffee.

I don't remember if I told you, but my plan is to stay off of gluten this year; even when having exception meals. This is a completely different issue than eating locally which has to do with the enormous statistical incidence of chronic gut damage from gluten consumption. The point I want to make here is that I have gotten a boost for staying off of gluten by being on the the Eat Local diet. I am simply feeling more connected to what I am eating and not eating. I have never before gone a year without gluten and am pleased to have this opportunity to achieve it. Gluten is found in wheat, barley, rye, some oats, spelt and kamut. Try going off it for even a week. :)

Inauguration Ball January Meal Exception

I know .... you are wondering what in the heck that title means. Well, each of us core-locavores lives by the Eat Local One Year Guidelines - guidelines . Within the minimalist guidelines that we have sworn to, is the option that we may eat 2 meals per month that are not local food.

My excitement was so great with the election and inauguration of our new president, that I just HAD to get out and party with other LOCAL folks who themselves were thrilled by the change that we are creating and experiencing. So, Joanne and I went to the Inaugural Ball in Ojai, hosted by Darakshan Farber. What a great time! What great live music! What fun dancing with Joanne!

And, I ate and drank at the Ball. The things I consumed were not local. The 3 rum and cokes surely were not local. Neither were the peanuts, corn chips, and ribs. So this was my first of 2 exception meals for the month of January. I've got one exception left for January .... you'll see.

My 3 Exceptions for January

Did I tell you what I decided on for my third exception? Coconut. I love the oil and ought to buy myself a nut. For review, #1 is brown rice and #2 is pinto beans.

Recently found myself wondering when my cactus plants will start leafing. Love those nopales! When it does leaf, I plan to teach a class on prepping and cooking them.

A young patient of mine is a professional fisherman. He and I are going to work out a trade. Should be delicious!

I am going to use my first total-meal exception tomorrow night at the Obama Inaugural Ball in Ojai; two major historical firsts in one day.

My brother, Kap, owes me a birthday lunch from last October. That will be my second meal exception for January.

We are already almost 3 weeks into this 52-week project. This year is sure to fly like the wind.

I am definitely experiencing some challenge doing this project. But, it is good. I like the palpable nature of the everyday, every meal, every snack awareness that is required.

I realize that I want to make a list of the local foods that are available to me in January.

I'm already looking forward to the fruit from my loquat tree.

Stay tuned, or just be turned.

Yo ... Time Flies

If I don't get with the program, I will be left with a total of 13 blog entries during this calendar year! Rest assured, it is not that I lack what to say.

For example; we, my wife, Joanne, and I, bring our lunch to work with us, but often, last year, it was not enough and I found myself eating one or more of these high quality and delicious bars that we sell at the office. And, you are correct, they are not made locally from local food. Not only are they out for us for the year, but they are sitting right in front of me every day when I am feeling a bit peckish. I must keep my guard up and bring tons of great food to eat. My only real hope is to bring lots of food. My guard is not well developed. These gorgeous potatoes and carrots are the kind of tasty stuff that I need on hand.




We have a great, little, all-organic, health food market and cafe in Ojai, CA call The Farmer & the Cook. They have their own farm, which is where this arugula came from. I don't know if Steve and Olivia (the farmer and the cook) put up this little sign on the arugula for us, but it is appreciated and helps when I cruise through the store to pick up only-local food. I am hoping that they will offer to host an all-local dinner night one of these nights this year.

I will try to get back to y'all sooner this time with the next post. :)

Fishin' for connections

I would like to find/make some direct connections with fisherpersons who catch fish within 100 miles of Ojai. I would love to add some fish to my diet. I used to eat sardines regularly, and miss them.

Seaweed is another interest of mine. I would love to learn about and harvest some off our coast to use in/as salad.

Are you a person who can help me with these opportunities?

Temptation and Redemption

Even in a few short days, a guy could get feeling kind of hungry. My 78 year-old Mom lives with us. We are not making her do the Eat Local project. At the same time, she is unable to care for herself and get her own food. Well, the other day, after she was done eating, this whole piece of toast, and the nibblet, were sitting on the counter. Boy was I drawn to them. I lusted for them a little. But, I stood my ground and stuck to my principles. Not a close call, but an interesting experience and a sign of challenges yet to come.


I don't know if it is real redemption, and since I hadn't fallen, maybe it doesn't really matter, but I went out into my gorgeous vegetable garden and picked this spectacular head of red lettuce. Again, maybe not redemption, but clearly uplifting. I definitely need to do more of this to keep me from the possibilities of the toast; which by the way, I guess I didn't mention, is NOT local.

You may have noticed that this is a daily blog that may happen every other day. Doin' my best. So much to do! Happily!

Ooooo that coffee

Hands down! Coffee is the most difficult thing for me to be away from. I am surprised how powerful the draw and how powerful my imagination that it would feel good to have a cup. And it is not just in the mornings.

Though this is not exactly comfortable, being away from coffee, I am glad to be doing the experiment.

I wonder if coffee has allowed me to be able to push myself too far, and now I am creating the opportunity to move back into some degree of balance.

4th Day w/o coffee

My friend, and core ELOY member, Gloria Roman, was at our monthly CPR meeting today. If I hadn't known her personally, I would have spotted her as a locavore immediately by the cucumber that she was munching on.


I'm on my fourth day without coffee. No point, just a call for pity.





For lunch I steamed brown rice, stir-fried beet greens and onions, and pressure cooked beets. Delicious!






Joanne bought apples that became applesauce in the pressure cooker. Just apples and water.... what flavor! I highly recommend that you locavores use this as a staple!




I need to impress upon my readers what a sacrifice it is to eat only local food. To make my point, I have posted below a photo of the dinner that Joanne made for us tonight. Pork chops, today's applesauce, potato wedges, and zucchini. And we have 361 days to go. Give us strength.

362 days to go :)

Today went pretty well. That means that I didn't feel hungry.

I ate a fair amount of brown rice and pinto beans. Didn't have any avocados in the house cuz we just got back from visiting our kids in New York.

It is already clear that one of the challenges is the loss of sauces and seasonings. Somehow, today, olive oil and lemon juice just didn't hit the spot on my salad (which also had brown rice and pinto beans on it).

3 days without coffee. No headache; never have had that problem. But, ask me if a cup of coffee sounds good.

Got lots of stuff in the house that we can't eat; rice cakes, sardines, mayo, mustard, chocolate, etc... This year will have a lot of temptations. Three days into it, I am feeling strong.

We are going to have to get on with some more, and some more creative cooking, or end up feeling hungry. - How odd; I talk about feeling hungry when others ARE hungry. This is part of what I like about this project; it provides new perspectives.

Time for bed so that I might have the energy to do my yoga, take a walk, take care of my 78 year-old mother, who lives with us, go to the farmers' market in Ojai, and prepare lots of attractive local food for the coming week. Good night!

And on the 2nd day ....

First of all, we are on the program! www.EatLocalOneYear.com

I woke up yesterday, January 1, 2009, and felt like I would love a cup of coffee. No such luck; coffee is not one of our 3 exceptions!

We have only decided on 2 of our exceptions for January; brown rice and pinto beans.

On the morning of the 1st, Joanne said, would you like some rice cereal? For us, this usually means freshly cooked brown rice with rice milk and cinnamon and fruit. But, not in 2009. The rice milk has multiple ingredients that are not local, nor are on our exception list. Cinnamon is not one of our exceptions. So, for the first time, we have fresh brown rice, butter (local - Rockview Farms in Downey), salt, and sliced oranges. Wow, was it great!!!!!!! Try it!

Today we made fresh carrot, celery, apple juice and had some beans, rice and avocado.

No question, we need to stay ahead with our food planning and prep.

364 days to go, and loving it!