Read 'N' Seed 5: Fourth Quarter and Final Review of Plenty - Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet

1.  For my final section of Plenty, I read the months of December, January, and February; also included in this section was the Epilogue.  This covered pages 193-264.

2. The main topics addressed in this section were eating locally during the winter months.  And how they were inspiring to so many other people to try this for themselves.  They also discussed the importance of getting proper nutrients in their diet.

3.  The most significant things I learned about, or rather the most intersting, was that they spent nearly an entire chapter talking about Minnesota!  James and Alisa compared eating locally in the Pacific Northwest easy to eating locally in lands of harsh winters, like Mahnomen, Minnesota.  James and Alisa had gone to visit the White Earth Tribal and Community College there because they had an experiment going to eat locally for a year as well.  Being it was so similar to their own experience, James and Alisa looked to Sunny, Steve, and Stephanie (the ones who started this project in Mahnomen), for advice and information.  The local food experiment in Mahnomen allowed a 250 mile radius.  The biggest pointer they took away from the experience, was that they people in Mahnomen began their journey in September versus James and Alisa who started in March.  Since they began in fall, it allowed them to prepare all summer by collecting foods and canning and preserving them to last throughout the winter.  From Minnesota they took away many lessons of how to actually live off the land.  They believed that those in Minnesota truly make the impossible, possible.  Also significant in this section, is that they learned that they actually enjoy their 100 Mile Diet.  Making certain treks to find the unique food to add to their collection had been fun adventures and well worth it.  I did not find any specific terms within this section that I needed to look up.

4.  This section greatly affects society in the sense that IT IS POSSIBLE to successfully live by eating locally.  James and Alisa did not starve, they acquired proper nutrients daily, and an enticing factor for most Americans, they lost weight (granted this was not a goal of theirs at all, it just happened).  The final chapter was a bit of a reflection on their journey.  As February neared its ending, they realized they still had an abudance of canned and frozen foods.  Even though they had much anticipated the return of spring, they discovered that they could still survive the winter months.  James and Alisa are an inspiration to society.  They did not create this brand new diet or magically come up with the idea to eat locally, in fact this is something that had been done for centuries.  So why in the last 50 years or so have we resorted to eating everything from the other side of the world?  We need to go back to what are great-grandparents and before ate and how they did it.  It is possible, now it just takes a more conscious decision to actually do it.

5.  Basically, a brief overview of the book includes the idea to eat locally for a year within a 100 mile radius.  This took place March-February in British Columbia.  The book discusses the journey of James and Alisa as they discover what foods are grown locally, when they are in season, and how to retrieve them.  It shows the ups and downs, and that sometimes the best things in life are not easy.  They developed great relationships with local farmers and know exactly where their food is coming from and who raised it.  They enjoyed the new creations they had discovered over the year.  And Alisa finally learned to cook things that required actually cooking.  Overall, they felt the year was a success.  The ending shows that this is truly a lifestyle change.  It is not just something they did for a year and quit, on day 366 they could eat whatever they wanted, and their choice for lunch: potatoes.  It became part of who they were, they enjoyed eating locally.  This book should inspire all to take the chance of eating locally.

6. The three most significant things I have learned are 

• It is possible.  The section talking about Mahnomen, Minnesota really hit home for me.  Even through reading this, I was like well it works for them but there is no way it would work in MN.  To my surprise, it can be done, and people are doing it. 
• You feel better when you know where your food is coming from.  This incorporates both mentally and physically.  James and Alisa had more energy and truly felt that they got more enjoyment out of life from this experience.  And mentally felt better because they knew where there food was coming from, how it was raised, and that they were helping their local economy.  All while reducing their ecological footprint on the Earth.
• Try, try again.  Be persistent with what you want.  They spent lots of time looking for different fruits, vegetables, grains, etc.  Sometimes things did not always work out in their favor, but eventually something better would come along.  Do not let obstacles get in your way, learn to overcome them and move on.  Understanding how to work through a problem and discovering a successful solution shows you much more about yourself than if it had just been "easy" the first time around.

7. This book really shows me that with time, effort, and determination you can accomplish anything.  Even though it was a lot of work, and sometimes James and Alisa did not deem it worthy, they took great pride in what they were doing.  We all say we want to eat "healthy" and we want to have a lesser effect on the Earth, so why not take advantage of something that does both?  My biggest deterrent from attempting this is money and time.  I do not have a large income to be getting specific foods, often my grocery list comes from whatever I have coupons for.  I think I will try to incorporate a few things at a time that are local with the intention of eventually being all.  The second component that makes this difficult for me is time.  James and Alisa spent a lot of time driving to different places to pick up foods and researching their locations.  As well as time spent canning, peeling, preparing, and storing foods so they would last for months.  I think it is amazing that they were able to accomplish so much.  It is important to hear about these things because it is inspiration to others all around the world.  I had previously mentioned the snowball effect of telling others about this.  I think that is why this is so important: getting the word out that it is possible to eat locally, and it provides examples of steps to take for how to be successful.

8.  I would definitely recommend this book to others.  The great thing about my book is that granted I read it for educational purposes, I probably would have read it anyways.  I was very interested in the storyline.  Overall, this book was everything I expected it to be.  It is very descriptive and really allows you to understand what you need to go through to eat locally.

Read 'n' Seed 4: Third Quarter of Plenty - Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet

1.  For this portion I read pages 129 - 192, which were the months of September, October, and November.

2.  For the first time I was not that impressed with this section of the book, at least the first chapter.  During the month of September, pretty much all they talked about was how there was an accident in the Cheakamus River.  A Railway train rain off the tracks straight into the river dumping sodium hydroxide solution.  This killed all the fish in the river system, which affected James and Alissa because they planned on eating those fish all winter.  This section they mainly addressed history and other food crises that occurred.  The next month, October, turned out to not be a bright one.  James and Alissa were facing some major relationship issues.  They have been together for 13 years, and the 100 Mile Diet was really pushing them to their limits with each other.  No conclusion yet how their relationship will play out, so I will keep you posted.  In November they started to learn what a hit they were becoming.  People in France and Norway wanted their secrets, recipes, and wanted to hear them speak.  Their blog was booming.  And finally, they got flour.  November had started another potato month with summer goodies fading away.  The wheat they had gotten previously but weren't eating a lot of due to mouse poo had been infested with bugs so it was definitely a no go. It was heaven when they got flour.

3. In my chapter of a history lesson, I stumbled upon the word paleoecology.  Paleoecology is the study of fossils and subfossils to determine past ecosystems.  It actually sounds really interesting to me.  Another new word I found was shuck.  Simply put, a shuck is the husk of an ear of corn.  I had never heard this term before though.  Some significant things I learned about in this section include that they have been at this for 9 months and are actually doing it.  One point that they make is that they had no idea some things were grown locally.  I think this is the case with most people.  They have no idea what their local environment actually has to offer.  This is something all people should start to pay attention to.

4.  I do not think it could be any more obvious how awesome what they are doing really is.  They are living off the earth how it is intended to be.  No processed foods, no shipping and transporting of goods, simply living on whatever nature provides for them at that given part of the year.  I wish we could all take this and make a small step towards implementing this into our own lifestyles.  As I pointed out in the beginning of the post, people all over the world were hearing about this 100 Mile Diet and were curious about it.  Thus they wanted to learn more and try to be apart of it.  Hopefully we can create a snowball effect with this.  Someone tries it in a different area, and then they encourage someone else to, and they encourage another to, and so on.   This is a way that we can have a real beneficial impact to our environment.  I can only hope others catch on to this the advantages for themselves and the Earth. 

Read 'n' Seed 3: Second Quarter of Plenty - Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet

For this section, I read the months June, July, and August which also are the summer months.  The pages covered were 65-128.

The main topics covered during this section was how to find local farmer's markets within their 100 mile area and getting all the main food groups.  Since it is summer, and many products are blooming they were on the hunt for wheat, greens, and anything other than potatoes.  They travel all over to find new varieties of thing.  The best example I thought was when they drove to Seattle, WA (they crossed the border), and went to local shops.  They feel in love with nuts and cheese and other goodies they hadn't seen in who knows how long, but they remembered that they would have to cross the border to get back into Canada, and the border patrol was not too fond of the transportation of food products.  Through much debate among James and Alisa, they finally settled to "smuggle" cheese into Canada.  I just found it to be an entertaining part of the story, because who would ever think that it would really be an issue to bring food to eat to your home, big deal that you drove through an imaginary line to get there.  Another topic discussed in this section, was during the month of August they went to their cabin in Dorreen.  This cabin was essentially isolated from the world.  So they lived off the land and one farmers market they went to on day one.  Thus they bought things that they hoped would last for 30 days in the heat because they did not have a refrigerator at their cabin.  Their neighbor gave them canned salmon and they had cherry trees.  It was interesting to watch them adjust to another environment in the story.

This section provided a lot more words that were new to me.  The first being prawns, which seem to be a form of shrimp.  James and Alisa were very excited when they were able to get prawns since it was something different and something they enjoyed.  Another interesting term I learned is succotash, it is a dish with peppers, beans, and tomatoes, and was popularly during the Great Depression since it was readily available.  Lastly, I learned the term autochthon, which is referring to the indigenous people to the area.  The most significant thing I have learned thus far in this book is that it is possible.  You can eat locally, yes it may be difficult and you may not always get exactly what you want, but you can do it.  You improvise and come up with new creations and have a fun adventure in the process.

I think it is important to pay attention to what is produced locally around you.  In the end, you and entire world benefits from your decision to eat locally, sure it mind be hard at first, but James and Alisa are six months in and they are really getting the hang of it.  I definitely think it is possible.  I already catch myself questioning what is or is not locally grown foods.  They are learning local farmers' names and in return are told when certain crops come in so they can get the first pick.  It is really fun reading about how this transformation is taking place and I hope I can instill enough knowledge in you, so you will attempt to eat local foods too.

Read 'N' Seed 2: First Quarter of Plenty - Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet

For the first quarter of my book I read about the months of March, April, and May.  This covered pages 1-64.

Basically, so far in the book we have looked at some of the challenges they are facing with starting the 100 Mile Diet.  For instance, they live in Canada, having weather much like Minnesota.  So the biggest thing they have had to deal with so far is snow.  Since they are trying to get most of their food grown out of the ground, the snow is becoming a huge problem.  Another thing authors are having issues with is the variety of food they have to eat.  They have not been able to find bread so they have been eating potatoes, potatoes, and more potatoes.  Interestingly they created potato-bread.  In a more general sense, the first three months of the book deals with their beginning journey and search for local foods that fall into the 100 mile area. 

Some new terms that I came across in the book are traceability and externalities.  Traceability in this case basically means to be able to identify the location of where the food came from.  Externalities refer to cost and benefit related to the sale of products.  They discussed this in the book in relation to farmer's markets costs, which were often more expensive.  Some significant things I have learned is how far food travels to actually get to different grocery stores and such around the world.  Typically it is up to 2,500 miles or basically saying California to New York.  Another important thing I learned is really just looking at your diet.  What are you consuming?  Do you NEED to be eating this or that?  Or do you just WANT it?  Alissa and James (the authors) realize that they no longer go by what they want, but rather what they need to survive.

Even though I am only a quarter of the way into the book, I already feel so passionate about this topic.  We are wasting so many of the world's resources by transporting food across nations just because we are too lazy to do what they did 80 years ago, which was live off the land they were on.  Sure it may be hard at first because you need to determine what is grown in the area but think of how it will affect your local economy.  It would be very beneficial, and would be saving the entire planet. I really hope I can encourage others to really be aware of the traceability of their food.  Where is it coming from?  Do you really need apples that come from New Zealand?  Wouldn't you be just as satisfied with apples from Minnesota?  My answer is yes, but my assumption is that no one even pays attention.  It is the small things we can do with our diet that can benefit us all in the long run.  I think it relates to our discussion in class about being wasteful with our own resoures, if we DO have food grown locally but do not opt to use and instead get our food elsewhere, we are wasting what is right in front of us and one day it won't be there.  Thus I would hope that others pay more attention to where your foods are coming from.  Maybe even keep of list of different locations, I bet you would be surprised of how far your food is traveling.

Read 'N' Seed 1: Plenty - Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet

The book I chose for the Read 'N' Seed portion of the class is called Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon. 

The book is about a couple in Canada that plan to eat locally, within 100 miles of their home, for one year.  They learn the challenges and advantages that come along with this journey and become an inspiration for many others around the world.

I chose this book because the title stuck out to me, I thought it sounded really interesting.  After reading the synopsis, I was already hooked.  I'm jealous of the couple before even reading the book because I think this would be a huge challenge, and they were successful at it.  I hope I can learn enough tips from the book that I can tweak my own eating habits in trying to be more environmental friendly and eating locally grown foods.

I found three links that I thought were important to share with all of you,

1. Book Website
2. Book Excerpt
3. Book Review

The first link I found about the book is its main website. It offers information about the book.  It also has a section  on how YOU can join the 100 Mile Diet pledge to eat locally for one meal, one week, one month, or even longer! I think that is an awesome idea.  Once I get more into the book, I think I will take the pledge for a week and see how it goes.

The second link I found is an excerpt from the book.  So you can actually read the first few pages of the book to see if you like it.

The third link I found is more of a book review piece.  It allows you to read someone else's perspective on the book. 

Plenty Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet has 264 pages.  The book is divided into 12 months and an epilogue.  Thus I will divide the book into four sections with three months in each section.  For example, the first quarter will be the months of March, April, and May.  The second quarter will be June, July, and August.  The third quarter will be September, October, and November.  The last quarter will be the months of December, January, February and the epilogue.


I am really looking forward to reading this book so come back and check out what else I learn from Plenty Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet :)

Welcome to Kristy's Fun in the Sun Spot

Welcome to my blog.


Here is a photo of palm trees on the beach.

Hi, my name is Kristy and you have found yourself at Kristy's Fun in the Sun Spot.  I created this blog as part of my Environmental Health class.  I am a Health Education major with emphasis on Community Health.  My blog is about having fun in the sun.  I love being in the sun and the more I am in it, the happier I am.  I intend to make my blog fun and interesting, but also educational.  It is important to me to be safe in the sun.  I plan to educate on proper actions to take while being in the sun and provide tips to stay safe.

There will be 6 different types of posts on my blog.  These include the following:

1. Advocacy Project
2. Eye Openers
3. Reflections
4. Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change
5. Read 'n' Seed
6. Share and Voice

If you notice at the bottom of this post, the categories will be listed as labels. This post is has been labeled with all six kinds of posts. You will also see the number of each kind of post in my Labels Gadget at the top of the page. All post titles from now on will begin with one of the categories above.

The members of my web group are:

1. Brier@Lovin Nature with Brier
2. Kristy@Kristy's Fun in the Sun Spot
3. Jamie@Jamie Says Jump
4. Elly@Elly Dreams Green
5. Lauren@Lauren's Pouring Rain
6. Mary@Blue Skies for Mary
7. Sarah@Take a Hike with Sarah

You can subscribe to my blog by clicking the subscribe gadget in the gadget column. You can also follow my blog by clicking "Follow this Blog" in the gadget column. I am subscribed to all the blogs in my blog list gadget. You can see my complete profile and all the blogs I am following by clicking on "See Complete Profile."

I am really looking forward to blogging.  I am very new to this whole experience, so hopefully it goes smoothly.  It will be a new fun way to communicate with others.  Thanks for visiting my blog, I hope you come back and check it out again.