Eco Geek to eat local for ‘Dark Days Challenge’

You know how sometimes you do things impulsively, how — in a fit of passion and optimism — you make a big, overly ambitious plan?

Well, I did that a couple of weeks ago when I signed up for the third annual Dark Days of Winter Eat Local Challenge.

After following Laura McCrae’s “(not so) Urban Hennery” blog, urbanhennery.com, for the past few years, I decided I should take part in her Dark Days challenge: Cook one meal a week using sustainable, organic, local, ethical ingredients. Then report back on how it all turns out with photos, stories and recipes Nov. 15 through March 31.

Why did I do this?

Unlike McCrae, I have no hens for year-round eggs. I don’t have stores of local meat and veggies in a big freezer or pantry.

Though I normally garden for food, my family moved to Edmonds in July, leaving behind a garden in Seattle, so I don’t even have a single carrot overwintering at our new home.

Sure, I could have prepared by freezing stuff from the now-closed-for-the-season Edmonds farmers market, but I’ve been busy with my husband and our 18-month-old son.

How on earth am I going to eat local, even once a week, this winter? I guess that’s why they call it a challenge. Even McCrae had to start somewhere.

After writing about eating local for years now and talking the talk, I’m finally going to have to walk the walk.

Here’s my eat-local plan.

First, I’m going to reinstate my subscription to SPUD, a local grocery delivery service that specializes in local products and produce (www.spud.com).

Though SPUD considers even some British Columbia foodstuffs, such as mushrooms, to be local, I will use only ingredients from Washington.

That’s a much wider radius than McCrae’s 150 miles, but I think it’s the only realistic way for me to actually complete this challenge. Did I mention I have a toddler?

I will choose food from Snohomish, Skagit and King counties when I have the option.

I will drag my family to the local year-round farmers markets to stock up on meat, dairy, produce and products.

I will hit the Sno-Isle Food Co-op in Everett and the Manna Mills natural market in Mountlake Terrace. Both have local products, but I don’t shop at either place regularly yet, so I’ll have to get better acquainted. I will order some flour and grains from Bluebird Grain Farms in the Methow Valley.

Finally, I will use Puget Sound Fresh, a searchable Web site featuring local food and farms (www.pugetsoundfresh.org), a lot more often.

In the long term, I’d like to get a freezer for some local meat, purchased in bulk. I’d like backyard hens. And I hope to can and freeze produce next summer from my own garden.

Honestly, I’m really excited. I know this will push me out of my comfort zone and force me to try new things.

I’ll provide weekly updates in print and on my Eco Geek blog at www.heraldnet.com/ecogeek.

You can also read weekly roundups of all the Dark Days participants — about 50 from around the country — at urbanhennery.com.

You might find my introductory attempt a tad ambitious. This week, I am going to cook, for the first time, goat meat.

Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037, sjackson@heraldnet.com.