ChiefsPlanet - Life Meanwhile, down on the farm...

As some of you know, my family and I decided to undertake a 100 mile diet this year. The rules are simple. Everything you eat must be grown within 100 miles of where you live. Here is an update...

Overall, we are enjoying the experience, and continue to eat and live in a local, 100 mile manner. For example, this morning we ate eggs from our chickens, homemade biscuits, and watermelon picked yesterday from the garden. My wife has already begun to make apple butter from the apples in our orchard. Nothing better than fresh apple butter on hot, homemade biscuits. For lunch we will have buffalo burgers (I kill a buffalo on the rez every year), potatoes from the garden, and apple pie that we made last PM. The key to the 100 mile diet is intentionality, planning, and, luckily for us, plenty of rainfall throughout the summer.

The summer production from our garden was the best we have probably ever experienced. We still are not finished with the harvest. My wife and I canned nearly 200 quarts of green beans, froze 50 quarts of corn, 20 quarts of peas, and 15 pints of carrots. We have canned 60 quarts of tomato juice and sauce (we are still dealing with tomatoes). I dug 8 bushels of Yukon Gold potatoes and they are stored in the basement. We have a couple of bushels of turnips. We have enjoyed copious amounts of squash, cantaloupe and watermelon. We will soon be canning pumpkin. We have apples galore and will continue to can, dry, store and freeze them, Perhaps, my most surprising success, this summer, however has been with grapes. I planted the vines 3 years ago and they had never produced, even though I followed the mulching, care, and pruning advice given by owners of successful vineyards in South Dakota. Fortunately, the grapes produced abundantly this season. I simply love fresh grape juice and grape jelly.

I will also be honest. The goal of the 100 mile diet has changed over the year. We are not as strict as some (for example, we decided late last spring to enjoy spices, salt, and tea that cannot be produced locally). We also waive “a magic wand” when traveling or visiting others who do not share our convictions. However, we have also decided to continue it indefinitely. Next spring I am going to reenter the “dairy business” and purchase a Dexter cow to milk. We have been buying milk (and making butter) locally, but it would be better if I could produce it. I will also raise a couple of pigs again next summer. I know I would probably live longer if I discontinued eating pork, but to be frank, I love the stuff. The chickens are doing well, but we are also making a change there. Finding young chicken to eat locally has proven to be a chore, so last week we went to a farm auction and purchased an incubator so we can hatch a few throughout the spring, summer, and fall to butcher and eat.

The work that we have undertaken to find a level of self-sufficiency is always being evaluated and reconsidered. It is a journey, not a destination. This, I think, is how it should be. I am sitting out on the porch as I type this and I just heard an apple fall from a tree. A deer will probably end up eating that apple. Eventually, I may say a prayer over that deer when I hunt her this fall. The journey of life is all pervasive. No winner will be crowned. It is enough to simply be a player in the game.