Doug's Take

A year of eating locally is Judi's idea.  But those of you who know us probably figured that out.  Don't get me wrong - I fully support the concept of shopping from local Mom & Pop merchants and farmers, I fully support eating healthy and I understand the benefits of organics and the dangers of genetically modified foods.  It just isn't the way I tend to live my life.  I am more inclined to go to the nearby large grocery chain than drive 30 minutes in order to pay 30% more at Whole Foods.  Am I too cheap?  Too lazy?  Probably a good dose of both.

So when Judi first broached the idea to me, my first couple of thoughts weren't exactly supportive.  But if I have learned anything after 15 years of marriage, it is to ask questions first, speak your mind later.  And for once, I did it! We talked about how we could go about this and the effect it would have on us.  She shared some thoughts on what we would learn, as well as our kids.  I realized how much of what we eat is already "local" - this shouldn't be much of a challenge at all [update:  today is Day 11 and I NOW realize the reason some of our food wasn't "local" is because it simply doesn't exist locally - but I already agreed...].  Then we agreed to make April a trial month before we commit to this in May [update: the next thing I need to work on is to be more involved during the trial periods...] and Judi agreed that I get to author The Rules and keep score [sadly, I love rules and tracking performance].



Judi's last crazy idea - a trip to India

And the truth is, Judi's ideas usually work out pretty well.  We still laugh about stories from the summer she and the girls moved to the farm to raise chickens and milk goats.  I thought her idea of a three week family trip to India was crazy [my first ten thoughts, which I voiced before asking], and that turned out fantastic.

For me, this is an adventure, not a spiritual journey.  Tracking down local foods will take time and cost more money.  We will need to change the way we eat (rice, citrus - in Illinois?).  This will be an investment.  But an investment in family memories is an easy investment to make.  So what the hell, let's go for it.  I'm all in!