MIA.

Whatever happened to that "Seasonally Seattle?" you may be wondering. Did she disappear? Did she lose her computer? Did she...give up?

I'm happy to say that I'm still alive and still in Seattle. And I haven't given up...exactly. But it's been an interesting journey in the last month since our 100% local Turkey Day.

First, I got a job. I'm now working at the American Lung Association, managing two large events...a 5K that happens in May, and a stair climb event that happens in October. I'm so excited to be back in the work force again, but with my weeks filling up with appointments and logistical planning, my blog has suffered...as has Seasonally Seattle, slightly.

We are still locally focused eaters. All of our dairy, meat, eggs and flour are still local. Our tomatoes are still local. I'm still burning through our back stock of dehydrated fruits. And our greens and most of our veggies and fruits are still local. But here's where our journey has taken a turn, and here's why.

Dan and I reached a point where we began questioning the healthiness of this little experiment.  While we were eating nearly 100% local, most of our dinners consisted of meat and potatoes. I had originally romanticized the concept of doing this, thinking about how connected I was to my forefathers. The thing is, my forefathers actually worked the land 10 hours a day, affording them a 1500 calorie dinner. Me, not so much. Dan and I both gained even more weight, despite going to the gym or running regularly. 

We found that we were missing things like salmon (from Alaska) and tofu (with soybeans from the midwest). Our dinners were so heavy that all we wanted was a little Quinoa (from Bolivia) with veggies. And the fact that I now have a job makes my spare time so much more valuable... and baking bread every weekend, soaking beans and defrosting meat was nearly a full time job. Being able to buy a loaf of whole wheat bread for $2.99 is a God send when you have a jam packed schedule. And we missed cereal, the simplest breakfast ever.

And so here are. About 60% local. Still decent, but not really what I set out to do. Though I will say, the whole point of this experiment was just that--to see if it was a feasible lifestyle change for an urban couple. Here is what I've come up with.

It is feasible, in the spring, summer and fall. While I think it's possible to do 100% local, there are things I must have in my life to feel healthy. I will continue to eat locally, and shop locally, and there are other things I've picked up in the last 6 months that I will continue to do as well.

I'll still can my own tomatoes. I'll still dehydrate fruit for the winter months. And I'll still make pasta from scratch on occasion.

And most importantly, I'll still keep this blog. While I'll be scaling it back from a few times a week to probably once a week, I'll still give recipes and how-to's that I think are important to eating as locally as possible (and logical).

In the mean time, I hope all you Seattleites will come to my 5K on May 1st at Magnuson Park. You can become a fan on Facebook to learn more about it. And I hope you will all stop by once in awhile to read Seasonally Seattle.

Day 43: Rediscovering Pike Place Market

Today my cousin and I attempted to attend the Picasso exhibit in Seattle. There were a few motivating factors for going on a Thursday--more specifically, the First Thursday of the month--as admission dropped by half and we assumed a mid-week day would be less crowded than other days. 

When we arrived, the line was insane...snaking in and out of those guidance ropes about three lanes deep. Think airport security with a dash of DMV. As we both live in Seattle, we knew we could come back, so we decided to skip the exhibit all together and instead head to Pike Place Market. 

It was rumored by a tipster (thanks, Paula!) that there were local Hazelnuts to be had, and once I checked out the link, I discovered they have a year-round booth at Pike Place.

Now, I've logged my hours at Pike Place.  My grandmother, who is 91, used to shop there and my mom has memories of shopping there throughout her life. When I lived in Pioneer Square and SoDo Areas, I did a good bulk of my grocery shopping there. When my husband and I lived in Capitol Hill, we'd come down regularly for fresh produce, and there is nothing more convenient than buying freshly made pasta noodles from the Italian Market "DeLaurenti's".

Despite my knowledge of the in's and out's of this market, I still manage to tune out many vendors. Jams, nuts, honey...they all look nice, but knowing that I can find them cheaper somewhere else usually deterred me from really stopping at one of these booths.

Today I had a fresh perspective, though, suddenly aware that the all of those "expensive" products are actually locally grown and locally made. Our first stop yielded something that has been eluding Dan and I since the start: Oats.

I can probably count on one hand the number of times Dan and I have had oat bars, but since the start of this project, he has talked of nothing else. "I want to make Oat Bars!" "How will we live without Oat Bars!" "If only I can find oats to make Oat Bars!" When I find him researching local companies, usually in his Google search has something to do with "Oats - Seattle - Locally Grown" or something to that effect.

And so when I stumbled on a local booth that I've passed probably 100 times before and saw right there, right on the table, was a bag of rolled oats, I nearly fainted. Turns out, they are technically "Rolled Spelt Flakes", but I knew they would be a good substitute for Rolled Oats. Dan, you are welcome. 

Next stop, we thought, would be the nut place, until we passed a large table full of pickles. Local Pickles. Spicy Local Pickles. At this point, it didn't even matter the price, I bought them without a second thought.

 

Once we finally found Holmquist Hazelnuts, I'll admit, I went a little crazy. Local nuts are hard to find, and getting down to Pike Place is sometimes a challenge.  I bought a bag of roasted Hazelnuts, a bag of Lemon Honey, and of course, Hazelnut Butter. 

Hooray for Pike Place Market, an ancient local source I had completely forgotten about.

Day 24 : Dining Out

Our commitment to eating locally and seasonally has been steadfast. Each week, we prepare, freeze, bake or dehydrate for the days ahead, and frankly, I've been cooking up a storm.

When we laid out the ground rules for this project, we first turned to other locavores, to see how they handled "exceptions". There were the obvious exceptions, such as olive oil, salt and spices, and the not so obvious, like "junk food".

Our year long experiment meant that we could live without a lot for just one year. So while olive oil, salt and spices made the cut, things like chocolate simply did not. But one exception by Leda Meredith, an author on the subject, really grabbed our attention, and we clung to it like barnacles: dining out.

We LOVE to dine out. We have taken vacations that revolve around nothing more than food. We would finish one meal, only to look at each other and say "well, we've got a few hours to kill until our next meal, what should we do?"

It seemed like a natural exception, then, to allow ourselves the little luxury of eating out a few times a month. But when we decided that we wanted to cash in on our exception, something peculiar happened. Nothing sounded good. Delicious Italian? Yeah, but where does all that flour come from? Japanese? Hmmm, that fish might be questionable. As we become closer to our food sources, we find that the questionable sources sound less and less appetizing.



So on Thursday night, we braved the rain and found ourselves in Upper Queen Anne, at the darling and delicious restaurant Emmer & Rye, a locally focused restaurant that specializes in serving food that is regional and seasonal.



This place is LEGIT. While enjoying the cheese plate and a Vodka Soda (the Vodka was from Dry Fly, made from Washington Wheat), I drilled our waitress with questions.

How long have you been in business? (Since January) How local is local? (90-95%) Oh yeah? What about these crackers? (I thought I busted her, turns out, they are made by their pastry chef from Bluebird emmer flour. Wow.) I continued asking questions about every morsel of food brought to our table, to which our waitress graciously answered where it was from. The night continued with plate after plate of locally raised meats, locally grown vegetables, and of course, wine from local vines.  It was a fabulous evening, and a great way to eat without any of the guilt.

Soybeans, Soybeans, where are you from?

So, Dan and I are on the pursuit for local tofu. At first glance, this doesn't really seem like a big deal, right? Local tofu-just pop down to the local PCC or other health food store, and pick up Island Springs Tofu tofu, which is locally made in the San Juan Islands. Oh, but wait! Where are those *soybeans* from?? Who knows. And after watching Food, Inc (also available on Netflix On Demand right now! Watch it!), we know that soybeans are one of the most controversial crops out there.

Now we are trying to figure out...do we forgo tofu for a year? Do we need to eat a strong protein *every* day? Or will we be living on Lentil's for a year?

In other news, we (and by we, I mean my mom) found jars that are not terribly expensive, and after calling around to local farms, are planning a trip to Eastern Washington to search out tomatoes for canning. I feel like an urban homesteader!

More Guides

Here are a few more guides for what's seasonal in the fall months in Seattle. I'll do this for every season, so check back for winter months, too!

Prep, Prep, Prep!

We are starting to do the leg work for this journey, and part of that is going to the farmer's market to cost compare and begin buying some of our groceries there. Already, I'm seeing what an impact this change will be--a recipe I was going to make called for onions. Lots and lots of onions. So I put it on the list. Well, onions aren't in season yet. Already I'm starting to understand that to take this journey, we will need lots of prep time, lots of forward thinking, and lots of freezer space.

A few photos from our trip today:

Autumn - What's in Season: Fruits

It does occur to me that we are in the middle of summer, and I'm providing guides for fall season. I suppose I'm getting a jump start, as our plan begins at the start of the Autumn Equinox, or September 22nd. From now until then? Prepare, prepare, prepare!

Autumn - What's in Season: Veggies

I decided I need to create a handy little chart to track what's in season to make shopping a little easier. Here is what I came up with!

Copyright Amy Holan 2010

If you would like a printable copy, please email me and I'd be happy to send you one! It's 8.5x11, to make it easier to print!

Going Local.

My husband Dan and I have been in a quandary as of late. We love food, so much in fact, it's starting to show on our waistlines, but we also realize that we have no idea where most of our food comes from.

What's worse is that we recently realized we have no concept of what is even in season in Seattle throughout the year. We both have the grocery-store mentality: anything we want is available whenever we want it, 24/7.

We cook stir-fry's and pasta dishes brimming with "fresh" spinach, tomatoes and bell peppers year round, but are starting to wonder--is that really normal?

Now, something to note: we are both cheap. This becomes abundantly clear when we are eying our selection of produce, trying to rationalize organic versus non organic. The price difference is staggering, and normally we both opt for the non organic.

Even if we had chosen the organic selection, is that necessarily better for us, or for the environment? Driving a tomato 2,000 miles to my grocery aisle isn't the most helpful for the world, I'm guessing. And when we think about eating local, it seems illogical and expensive. Doesn't that seem strange? To think of eating something from a nearby farm as illogical? We think so.

So we've decided to put ourselves through a little experiment. We are going to eat locally, seasonally and as organically as possible for the next year. We are going to start in the fall, at the beginning of "Autumn", and go from there.

Now, we realize there have been a lot of these experiments--"No Impact Man" being one of the most recent and most pervasive. But one thing that these experiments haven't factored in is this--can you do it on a budget? Can you eat locally and still save money? We plan on finding out.