Kristin asked for a dinner with a bit of weight. She's afraid of going hungry unless the caloric density of the foods is substantial.  So I went to the pantry and brought out some lentils, barley and flour corn I had grown.  Because I follow the basic guidelines of Ecology Action (http://www.growbiointensive.org) my garden naturally includes grains.  These would form the basis of a hearty stew.

Lentils, Barley and Corn We Grew

I put these in a pot of water in the solar oven at about 2:30 pm.

At about 4:30 I started peeling potatoes. These came from the Decater farm in Covelo and our backyard. I would mash these and put in butter, sour cream and milk from Clover Stornetta Farms dairy (http://cloverstornetta.com/) based in Petaluma, 99 miles away (whew!).  

At about 6 pm I brought in the cooked lentils and grains and started adding other ingredients, onions, zucchini, tomatoes, garlic, herbs...all from our garden.

We also added some chopped ham from Niman Ranch that we had in our fridge.  Now Niman Ranch is one of the finest producers of humanely raised meat products (http://www.nimanranch.com/).  Unfortunately, their meat comes from just about anywhere in the US, and is processed in Oakland, about 140 miles away.  So I have sinned again and am ashamed. Anyhow, we are finished with that ham now and I will try to do better. 

Also in our fridge from "pre-Locavore" days was this great cheese called Dry Jack from Sonoma.  This stuff is really good and I grated it on top of the stew.  My knowledge of California geography had me worried though.  Sonoma just seemed like it might be a bit too far for a pure 100 mile diet.  Was I being naughty still?

A quick check at http://maps.google.com/ sealed the fate of Sonoma cheese...104 miles from Willits.  

The meal was delicious and I am feeling full.  I opened up our last bottle of Frey Vineyards 2003 Sangiovese to accompany the food and felt really good about the choice (http://www.freywine.com/freywine/).  The Freys are organic, biodynamic farmers, and I happen to know that the grapes came from near Calpella, only about 15 miles from my home. 

I have received some emails from another Willits Locavore, Alan, and like me he is not yet "pure."  We still have some work to do but are learning new habits and discovering our most local key food sources.  I'll have more to report on that later.

Oct 2 Dinner