Eat locally: Are you up to the challenge?

September in Maine means the peak of the summer growing season. With apples ripe for the picking and agricultural fairs in full swing, for many of us this is the only time of year when we get in touch with our local farmers. September this year is also the month of the Eat Local Challenge, a month every year during which participants focus on becoming familiar with what is grown in their local “foodshed” through trying to eat some, most or all of their meals from foods grown close to home.     Partly due to recent food scares as well as the popularity of the books The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, the idea of eating locally-grown foods is gaining traction.
The Eat Local Challenge website (www.EatLocalChallenge.com) lists ten reasons for eating locally, among them: to support the local economy; because local food is fresher and tastes better (a subjective statement, but one worth testing yourself); because local food travels less distance in reaching your plate, thus reducing fuel consumption and air pollution; and to keep farmland in your area farmland, not strip-malls. Whatever reason speaks to you, why not give local eating a try this September?
Some people get very serious about eating locally during the challenge (or longer) and restrict everything in their diet to foods grown and processed within a prescribed distance from home, such as 100 miles. To find your 100-mile radius, go to www.100milediet.org/map. Other “locavores” extend their food radius to encompass the state or region they live in. Still others allow certain non-local exceptions, such as seasonings, oils or some dry goods.
If limiting everything in your diet to Maine-grown foods for a full month seems daunting, you can always ease into it by eating one all-local meal each day, once a week or just once during the month, or adding at least one locally-grown food to each meal of the day.
The Maine Department of Agriculture provides listings of farms and farmers markets around the state at www.GetRealMaine.com. As you become more familiar with the farms and products in your area, you may be surprised by just how much of your diet can come from nearby. When September ends, don’t give up on local foods; plenty of Maine-grown products are available through the winter, including meats and cheeses, honey, maple syrup, grains and winter storage crops as well as frozen or dried berries and canned products like dilly beans and jams.
Of course if you choose to eat local all winter, you can brighten those days of cabbage, apples and potatoes by planning your garden, so that next summer your meals can come from right in your own back yard.
    This column was submitted by Andrea Lani, an environmental specialist with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Air Quality. In Our Back Yard is a weekly column of the DEP. E-mail your environmental questions to infoDEP@maine.gov or send them to In Our Back Yard, Maine DEP, 17 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333.