Things I enjoyed about the experiment:
I knew for the first time in my life exactly how much sugar I was eating each day (very little) and how many unpronounceable preservatives I was eating (none!) No mono-bi- chasalkdjasklsafjdkfjiwns. None. That alone is pretty amazing.
Really fresh, in season tasty food.
No food trash.
To gage how much we would have to grow to feed ourselves all year and get a brief idea of what that would feel like.
Just to see if we could.
In the future I would add:
Allowances for yeast and flour. That made the experiment much harder than it needed to be.
Challenges:
Not being able to share. One of my favorite parts of having a large garden is the ability to give away fresh grown things to our friends and family as well as share meals together. That was an unforeseen damper on the backyard parade.
Other unforeseen consequences:
I lost over 5lbs.
Extreme grumpiness from lack of carbs and sugar withdrawal.
The tastiness of pumpkin hash browns.
Where I ended the experiment:
Bistro Vatel, the French Bakery down the street. These pastry are to die for. These people are the real deal. They made my life. Unforeseen consequence: I gained 10 lbs in pastries.
In the future I think we will make many more backyard meals and all backyard days. If we do a week again- I would add in grains or maybe start with a 100 mile radius. Those seem like reasonable goals.
Who's next?
If it helps, you can collect your own wild yeast, but it wouldn't help a whole lot without wheat. I'm impressed that you could eat from your backyard for a whole week without resorting to foraging in the parks for berries and mushrooms. Congratulations!
ReplyDeletehow can you collect your own wild yeast?? that sounds amazing.
ReplyDeleteJosie - It's pretty simple. Fill a small bowl with water and add some sugar and flour. Put it on a windowsill with a screen and the window open - you don't want random particles (e.g., gnats) floating in it. Leave it for an hour or so, and bam! Wild yeast. If you keep feeding it, you can get a good sourdough starter going. This is going back centuries to what bakers used to do, and you can find more detailed instructions online. You can also make your own yogurt from live culture and keep a yogurt culture indefinitely. I really need to get my SO blogging so he can detail all of his crazy exploits into brewing, fermenting, culturing, etc.
ReplyDelete