Because we shop mostly local, and because we belong to a CSA, for us the Farmer's Market is a source of treats and special items we might not otherwise get.  I very rarely get vegetables or fruit there, since I can't justify adding to that part of the food budget.
 

I'll be posting a bunch of recipes tonight for the Tapas Party menu I had mentioned earlier in  the week, as well as some things you too can look for at tomorrow's Farmers' Market in Burlington.  But as I gear up for the last couple of days of the official EatLocalVT challenge, I'm finding myself pretty reflective.  I'm still surprised by how much this week has made me think. 
 
It's radical, really, this eating local thing.

So the weekend is upon us and it’s time to loosen up a bit. Perhaps have a libation or two. But how to do that without falling outside the Eat Local pledge my family has made that goes through Sunday?
 
I could always add “alcohol” to my Eat Local Wild Card list (you get five), but since alcohol is the result of a process made up of multiple ingredients and I can’t trace them on the typical label, I went looking for Eat Local worthy beers, wines and distilled libations.
 

Forget for a moment all the reasons you might have heard for why eating local isn’t practical or easy, including anything I have mentioned over the last week or so.
 
While there are some legitimate obstacles in eating local foods on a regular basis and over time, none of those things should discourage any one of us from trying. I, for one, am very thankful for the experience, and fully expect that my family’s local content in the food we eat will be significantly higher going forward.

Oh this is one of these life-in-a-postcard Vermont days.  So beautiful, and perfectly on the cusp of summer and fall.  I see that Fat Mitchell's is open in Burlington's Intervale for picking up pumpkins and mums under this blue sky. 
 

While the purpose of the Eat Local Challenge in Burlington, Vermont seems clear enough – help support our local food economy, the commitment asked for is somewhat open to interpretation. Each individual decides his or her comfort level of becoming a “localvore” for a day, the week or longer.
 

Well, "brain hurts" seems crazy on a day that includes this apple galette from August First (local flour from a Quebec miller and Canadian farmers, local Pippin apples).

Three days in and we are starting to hit our stride.
 
It isn't that eating local has suddenly become a lot easier. It's more that we are getting better at letting go of things we had grown comfortable with and have had a hard time carving out of our diets.
 

When people were first telling me about eating local, I liked when I heard about this concept of "wild cards," which meant that, yes, the food would be essentially what was grown within 100 miles, but that I could make exceptions.  Like coffee.  Olive oil.  Bananas.  Chocolate. Maybe citrus.  Probably spices.