It's Over.

The Eat Local Challenge is over. And what did I eat on the first day that I hadn't pledged to my Co-op to eat locally?

Tomatoes and basil from the garden. Locally baked French bread. Beans from a local farm. Biscuits made from local flour and homemade jam.

This is pretty remarkable considering that about a week into the challenge I was planning how many avocados I would buy on September 1! This challenge was more challenging for me than past years with unexpected travels and an awful cold interfering. But once I got back on track, it wasn't too hard to at least meet the 50% level. And some days the only non-local foods I enjoyed were a bit of Hawaiian pink salt and a slice of vegan mozzarella.

But what I'm really trying to say here is that eating locally can be a routine. It can be totally normal. So normal that you can actually forget that it's only a one-month challenge and make it part of your everyday life.

That said, I did pick up an avocado tonight. But I ate it with homemade salsa verde (garden tomatillos) and local corn tortilla chips. The main dish was a layered casserole of locally made corn tortillas, homemade refried beans (locally grown beans), garden tomatoes, salsa verde and a bit of Vegan Gourmet cheeze.

It took all of about 20 minutes to assemble this rockin' meal. You can do this, too.