As a future resident of Ecovilla San Mateo, I am thrilled to learn through reading this piece that serious thought is being given to how our food choices affect the health of all around us. This is one of my driving passions.
I have spent the last 12 years working to develop a locally-based diet in Virginia, USA. One of my early inspirations was Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, in which she describes her family's year of eating only food from their Virginia county.
We haven't achieved 100% local, but I feel good about what we have done. I estimate that in terms of dollars spent, 38% is spent on locally grown food, leaving 62% spent on food we have no idea where it comes from. But, that doesn't account for all the food we've grown ourselves in our large garden. Each year, we grow a year's supply of garlic, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, flour corn for cornbread and hominy, cucumbers and green beans for pickles, and more than we can eat seasonally of lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and greens (chard, kale, spinach, collards, arugula, etc.) So I'm guessing we get around 70% of our food locally.
When we move to Costa Rica, we will be starting over in terms of understanding what a responsible locavore can eat there. I expect that our diet will change substantially. I'm grateful that others there are thinking about local, sustainable food sources. I look forward to learning from all of you.
This is a very important article to read, it resonates deeply with the reason I moved my family here and why I'm very invested in making the Machuca Valley a thriving regenerative farming community.
Don't be discouraged though. I personally think that we can make a change and move into a new relationship with the land and Nature 💚
🌱I believe in this too Oren. And as a community, we have a beautiful opportunity to create solid foundations for an intentional sustainable growth, already anticipating the demographic increase that we will have in the future.🫶🏻
As a future resident of Ecovilla San Mateo, I am thrilled to learn through reading this piece that serious thought is being given to how our food choices affect the health of all around us. This is one of my driving passions.
I have spent the last 12 years working to develop a locally-based diet in Virginia, USA. One of my early inspirations was Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, in which she describes her family's year of eating only food from their Virginia county.
We haven't achieved 100% local, but I feel good about what we have done. I estimate that in terms of dollars spent, 38% is spent on locally grown food, leaving 62% spent on food we have no idea where it comes from. But, that doesn't account for all the food we've grown ourselves in our large garden. Each year, we grow a year's supply of garlic, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, flour corn for cornbread and hominy, cucumbers and green beans for pickles, and more than we can eat seasonally of lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and greens (chard, kale, spinach, collards, arugula, etc.) So I'm guessing we get around 70% of our food locally.
When we move to Costa Rica, we will be starting over in terms of understanding what a responsible locavore can eat there. I expect that our diet will change substantially. I'm grateful that others there are thinking about local, sustainable food sources. I look forward to learning from all of you.
This is a very important article to read, it resonates deeply with the reason I moved my family here and why I'm very invested in making the Machuca Valley a thriving regenerative farming community.
Don't be discouraged though. I personally think that we can make a change and move into a new relationship with the land and Nature 💚
🌱I believe in this too Oren. And as a community, we have a beautiful opportunity to create solid foundations for an intentional sustainable growth, already anticipating the demographic increase that we will have in the future.🫶🏻
Thank you... really well written and informative... we have an opportunity here with so many challenges attached
Exactly Janete, for each challenge, many windows of opportunities open, mainly for individual and collective growth and learning.💚