I Must Be Crazy!

UPDATE: I found a company in our area that is sorta like a CSA. They have a website where you can order all sorts of different products from local farms within 50 miles of here. If I place my order by Monday morning it will be dropped off at the local brewery on Tuesday afternoon's. This is a win-win situation. I can get all of the local products that I need for the Dark Day's Challenge and I can have a beer while I pick up box of goodies. The local farms participating offer: meat, dairy, grains, veggies, fruits, honey, and other non-perishable items. I've placed an order for pickup tomorrow so once I get my box I will post some photo's of the yummy stuff we ordered. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that all of the items that are offered are either cheaper or the same price as what I would pay for it at the farmer's market or the local grocery chain.

I signed up for the Dark Days Challenge over at Not Dabbling in Normal. I always love a challenge but maybe I should have done some research before signing up. I have only lived in this State for 6 months and I have no idea what I am going to be able to come up with for meals with all ingredients from within 100-150 miles of my house.

At first I thought I was set. I have been to Bob's Red Mill in Portland and I knew that was within my mile range so I figured I was set in regards to flour and baking products, WRONG. The mill may be within my mile range, but I never thought about the fact that the grains probably didn't fall into that category. I guess it is time to start investigating because I have recently started making all of our bread products and finding a local source for flour would be nice.

We do have a winter market so I will have to go this week to check out what is available. I don't have a winter vegetable loving family so I am going to have to get creative. I do have three of my garden beds planted in winter lettuce and spinach, but I was really hoping to save most of that for a big home grown salad for Christmas dinner. Unfortunately with the prospect of having to move I delayed putting in the garden beds so the growth is rather slow, but they are growing.

If any of you live in my area and know of local meat and dairy sources please let me know, I would appreciate any help I can get.

Wish me luck. Worst case is we will be eating a plain spinach salad once a week, probably not a bad idea for the waistline that has grown since we got here.