So What's the Challenge?

Last fall I was watching "The 100 Mile Challenge" on the Green television network and reading JB MacKinnon and Alisa Smith's book, "Plenty - Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet". About that time we had a Bounty producer meeting and I got an inspiration. (Those who know me well, would call it "just another one of her crazy ideas".) At any rate, I thought it might be interesting to try eating from the CNY Bounty in much the same way that JB and Alissa and the Vancouver BC folks were eating locally. I mentioned it to one of the Bounty project advisory board members and she absolutely loved the idea. Since I was already both a Bounty producer and a consumer, she thought I would have a unique perspective. She thought it would be even better if I could start in the middle of winter and blog about it... and I thought my ideas were crazy. So in October I set up the Bountychallenge blog and posted a few comments to see how it would work. Then I sat back and tried to forget about the whole idea until...

January 1... It was the New Year - a good time to make resolutions to eat healthier, promote the local farmer, follow through on tasks left undone. It was mid-winter - that time of year that Becca thought would be good for a launch of the "Bounty Challenge". It was an exciting time for CNY Bounty. The producer protocol committee, of which I am a member, was finishing up their work on guidelines for producers. Becca came to dinner. The Chenango-Madison Bounty was now CNY Bounty and expanding. The new website and order processing system was about to go live. And I was missing my mom and big sister who have passed away. They both have birthdays around the new year and as I thought of them, I thought of the wonderful things that they had taught me to cook. I missed comfort food. You just don't get that same feeling with chicken nuggets!

So... I dove into the Bounty Challenge. I ordered, I cooked, I blogged. And after a week, I realized there was very little challenge to it at all. Unlike JB and Alissa, I did not have to go in search of local food. Here was the Bounty, already working with the farmers, ready to deliver just what I needed, right to my door. Sure, things changed some. No more running to the local mini-mart to pick up something on the way home because I forgot to get out meat in the morning. No more cardboard meals from cardboard boxes prepared in 5 minutes or less. I had to rethink what, when and how I cooked and ate. And I had to drag my husband along with me. Though I must say, he has complimented every meal prepared in the last three weeks. We are enjoying our meals and time spent together, and he is even joining me in the kitchen. Oh, why didn't I think of this earlier... (I love you Larry).

So there it is, the idea and how I came to start rather quietly on a venture that I thought would be quite a challenge and last about a week. But, that first week was so much fun, so easy and so full of good food and good company that I decided to try it for a second week, and now a third. I'm not sure we can go for a full year as JB and Alissa did, but we are headed into month two in the middle of winter and CNY Bounty has been our primary food source. We truly believe that as long as the producers have products to offer, we can do this and we will.

What does it mean that the CNY Bounty is my principle food source? Well, it means that I'm not grocery shopping regularly, and when I do, I'm trying to buy locally as much as possible. I do stray from strict 100%. I went to Walmart and bought 1 pound of carrots, a gallon of milk, a can of sauerkraut (McDonald's Farm is apparently out) and some candy. I eat lunch at work (school cafeteria) but my husband eats our Bounti-ful leftovers for his lunch. We go for chicken wings many Wednesdays to support our local American Legion and we ate at Colgate Inn on January 14 for the CNY Bounty website launch. This week, we were out of town for three days at the NOFA-NY conference in Saratoga Springs where Larry did a presentation on "Growing Organic Beer" to a full house! We couldn't eat from the Bounty, but nearly everything served at the conference was from organic farmers in New York. Please pardon us a bite at the Thruway rest stop and dinner Saturday evening at our favorite inn in Saratoga Springs.

And what is planned for this week? Well, my husband's birthday is on Saturday and the family is coming to celebrate with Sunday dinner. The menu: roast beef from Drover Hill, scalloped butternut squash and potatoes, a Waldorf style salad with Finger Lakes Fresh greens, apples, and Upstate Harvest cranberry cashew granola, and Whispering Pines Bakery white bread. Our daughters are bringing dessert, but were they not, I'm sure I could have whipped up a yellow cake with maple frosting that would have been about 90% Bounty. I'll post pictures - any chance to show off my grandkids.

So how about you? Are you ready to join me in the Bounty Challenge and eat for a week, a month, a year with CNY Bounty as your primary source of food? Would you like to blog about it along with me? If so, Email the Bounty at cnybounty@gmail.com. They will help us get connected. Can't wait to meet you.

Kate