In addition to freezing my buns, I also decided to join another challenge: The Dark Days Challenge. Sounds ominous. Since I will be getting a school break in 8 days (wee!) I have all sorts of plans on what I would like to do. Although I do like Kim Chee, I am hoping I don’t have to eat cabbage the entire season.

I didn’t plan as well as I would have liked. Even if I did manage to get canning supplies I was just short on time the entire year. So while I am not as well prepared on the vegetable front, I am a bit prepared on the meat front. I started eating meat again after being vegetarian and occasionally vegan for a good number of years. Since I stopped eating meat because of taste issues (factory farmed animals taste terrible), I stopped eating it. Now with my buying club subscription, I bought quite a bit of meat that should last us at least until February. I have already gotten used to eating many new fruits and veggies, so the challenge will be to find local foods so I continue this journey of eating locally. Lately, I have been thinking about visiting a local farm for raw milk and milk products. This is challenging because few farms are located near a train station and the journey on a bicycle can be a bit tiring. I have also been looking around for sources of grain and flour that are not only local but come with minimal packaging. I will write about my results here on how lucky I get.

Anyway. This is the announcement of my new challenge. Here are the rules:

1. Each participant can set their own rules, but generally they are:
2. We have to cook one meal a week with at least 90% local ingredients
3. We have to write about it - the triumphs and the challenges
4. Local means a 200 mile radius for raw ingredients. For processed foods the company must be within 200 miles and committed to local sources.
5. Keep it up through the end of the year, and then re-evaluate on New Year’s Day
6. The challenge starts now, or whenever you sign up.