What's for dinner, kids? LOCAL foods!

Last weekend it was a pleasure to hang with my friend Melissa at Piedmont Environmental Council (and the Buy Fresh, Buy Local campagin) and my loyal Betty volunteer Eric Betthauser and Lisa Reeder, owner/writer of a Local Notion and fellow columnist for the Cville Weekly at the ANNUAL VEGGIE FEST!! The rain was a bit of a downer, but the die hards were out, thankfully.

I hope you have had a chance to pick up the Eat Local Challenge Form. This is a fun and doable step into the local fresh food scene. For us it was easy with our CSA share, but if you still aren't a member of a CSA (Community Sustained Agriculture), you can still manage to get your 21 foods in 21 days buy shopping at the local farmer's markets or Integral Yoga/Rebecca's/Whole Foods or if you are a stellar gardener you may still be harvesting the fruits of your own labor.

(Confession here: today we finally weeded our extremely unstellar garden - the deer were not hampered by my short bamboo sticks and net fencing! But we did find a 5 foot long black snake and a cute toad!)

So in the past week I've been able to get creative with some yummy squash soup, apple pumpkin muffins, and tonight roasted rutebaga. Surprise,surprise my boys turned their nose up. But I found it delicious!

Eating local strengthens our local economy and helps support endangered family farms and protect the environment AND delivers great taste and freshness!

You still have until next Sunday (Oct 11)to participate by filling out the form and sending it in. The prizes are from the great sponsors:

The Charlottesville Cooking School
Feast!
Blue Ridge Eco-Shop
Revolutionary Soup
Caromont Farm
Blue Mountain Brewery
Open Gate Farm
MAS
C and O
and Dr. Ho's Humble Pie (suddenly I'm craving the best pizza around!)

Bon Appetit!
BWB