Last Saturday Catherine and I hopped on the Rapid at W.65th, cloth bags in tow, and headed up to Shaker Square Farmer’s Market. The take: pork chops, chicken patties, sausage, eggs, milk, corn on the cob and salsa from the Horticultural Garden. All local, however that market defines it.

When I got back home and realized I had a fridge full of veggies from City Fresh and some more veggies from my backyard garden and from my plot at Kentucky Garden and thought, how long could I go just eating all local food?

I had read Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Plenty—both books about eating only local for a year. I wasn’t prepared to do that yet.

Lunch Saturday: Eggs with onions and a jalapeno with Hartzler’s milk.

Dinner Saturday: sautéed veggies, pork chops, and Merlot from Debonne Winery out in Lake County.

Breakfast Sunday: Milk and Blueberries

Lunch Sunday: More fried veggies and cucumber salad with basil (back yard) and tomatoes from Giant Eagle who says they are from Marietta, Ohio (166 miles so not quite local).

Dinner Sunday:

The capstone was jam that my friends and fellow Gang Greensters Mark and Bobbi made from berries grown in their backyard. Sweet.

With limited local beverages, I drank lots of local Cleveland city water, which if you remember beat Fiji brand bottled water in the “which is cleaner?” test.

I got through Monday evening only eating local except for coffee at Gypsy Beans (I need my coffee but it was Fair Trade) and a beer at the Old Angle.

In September, I am going to give this a little more forethought and try to stay local for a longer period of time.

On another subject, I canceled our daily subscription to the Plain Dealer explaining to them on the phone that I was trying to save energy and trees. FYI, It’s printed on recycled paper and uses soy ink they said.