Testing.

I've thought about starting a blog about food and local many, many times. I actually have a name in mind that I rather love for my blog about all things local and community that doesn't exist yet. But, right now, the thing that is going to get me writing is a very specific food project that is going to delve into the role of food in my family/home life, and so I've revived "The Hannah Cafe." This blog existed before and survived a few postings, then I deleted it. This is go 2.0 at it.

What's inspired me to start again was an invitation to take part in the Food SNAP Challenge. SNAP is the new name for food stamps. The awesome folks at our local food bank, whom I've worked with on many a food project or fundraiser through my job at the food co-op, asked me if I would take on their challenge to live on a food stamp allotment for one week. That's $30 per person. Being who I am and what I do, I want to do it all from food from the co-op, the farmer's market, my own garden, and wild harvesting. The additional rules are that you are not to accept free food from anyone and you are not to use food you already had in the house.

I am going to flout that last rule a bit, but I think I'll be sticking meaningfully with the spirit of the challenge. While I will be using food that is already in my house (it would be ridiculous to go buy more olive oil when I have a full container, etc)I am going to keep careful track of the cost of every bit of food I put in my body and/or serve to my family, down to the spices.

The challenge starts mid-September but I've been mulling it here and there for weeks already and I am starting my more focused planning now as I will have just returned from being out of town at a national co-op conference when this challenge begins, I'll need to be prepared to hit the ground running when I return.

So I am starting with breakfast. I've fired up my excel spreadsheets that I developed in 2009 when I wrote the Food for All recipes for Common Ground and I am going to be testing out the cost of two options this week: oatmeal with nuts and fruit, and homemade yogurt with nuts and fruit. I've never made homemade yogurt before and will be costing out whether it truly saves serious bucks when made with local, hormone-free milk over the cost of pre-made organic yogurt from the co-op. Fiscal details and pics of my experiments are soon to come!

I'd love for you to join me on this challenge and I am excited to say I've already gotten a few e-mails from co-op supporters that have spontaneously offered to give the challenge a try. As they blog their efforts I will be posting them here as well.

I love a good challenge. Let's get started.