The Annual Eat Local Challenge

October has become the traditional month for the annual Eat Local Challenge. Last year I started 5 days into the challenge and this year it looks like it'll be 7 days into it -- I simply lost track of time and hadn't thought about October being the eat local month. I learned a ton last year taking this challenge -- the biggest lesson being I needed to grow more of my own food. This year I put the task to test and had a bigger-than-ever garden and am grateful I did so and this year's challenge will be a snap. But the garden came at a cost of too many hours in the garden and not enough hours of recreation -- so I need to think through that magic balance of work and play for next year. Overall though, the garden did pay off and I'm ready for winter with jars and bags of my homegrown, preserved produce. I'm proud to say I won't be buying canned tomatoes anytime soon... nor corn from China! Eating local is important for our economy and our environment. If you can, think about getting out of the grocery stores and into the farmer's markets to buy the bulk of your food. You helped the local farmer and yourself.