Amber Waves of Grain

I'm hot on the trail of some local wheat. It seems that Oregon grows plenty of the stuff. I've seen fields and fields of the amber waves of grain growing up in rural Eastern Oregon. But, as it turns out, what Oregon grows most is called "soft white wheat" and it's high in gluten and best used for noodles and such. So most of it (maybe all of it?) is shipped to Asian countries. And then we import the hard stuff from China. The global economy can be so stupid sometimes. I've heard a rumor that Bob's Red Mill (an Oregon-based mill) actually uses Oregon grains in their various flours. I've e-mailed Bob, but haven't heard back so I think I'll have to call...

OK, so I called and Bob didn't have anything good to tell me. Apparently the only flour that has any Oregon grains is their pastry flour and it's just a little bit. The rest comes from Montana and Washington. Oregon's wheat, Bob explained, is just too darn soft for Western tastes. Shoot.

So I called the Grain Mill, Inc., located in Eugene, Oregon to see if maybe those folks might be able to point me in the right direction. A very nice woman informed me that no, they do not have any products that are exclusively made of Oregon wheat. Most of Oregon's wheat is too soft (as I've heard), but they do get some of the hard red spring wheat from Oregon growers, just not enough to fill their quotas, so they purchase from Washington and Canada. Never from China, she said with pride. There was no way to guarantee that the wheat in any one product was from Oregon, because they dump it all together. She did say that if I were to purchase from them (in a quantity of at least 25 to 50 lbs) I should go with the commercially grown wheat, rather than the organic to ensure that most of it was grown in Oregon. Interestingly, she says, organic wheat crops rely on at least 2 months of freezing temperatures to kill off bugs, rather than using pesticides. Only a few wheat farmers in Oregon can do that because of our temperate winters. In any given year, she says, over half of their grains are from Oregon, and more than that if we buy commercial.

This is a decent option. Canada and Washington wheat would still cut our food miles by quite a bit, but I don't want to compromise just yet.

I visited the local extension office. Not helpful in the least. Again with the softness and the gluten and the Asian exports. They kept telling me that the Willamette Valley just won't grow wheat, so I need to look to Eastern Oregon. They didn't understand that I've looked East, and it looks bleak.

I'm starting to get discouraged. We're already giving up rice, right out of the gate (I haven't seen any rice fields in Oregon. Have you?). 40 days without bread or tortillas or cereal or pita or crackers or, or, or...it's like 40 days in the wilderness.

I've put a call into the brewer supply shop downtown. And there's a feed store in town...but I think I see a lot of potatoes in our future.

Lenten Practices

So this local eating experiment is part of our Lenten practice. You know, Lent is the time when some Christian faiths encourage the faithful to give up something, take on something, or generally clean up some part of their lives for the 40 days preceding Easter. This is supposed to symbolize the 40 days that Jesus wandered and fasted and prayed in the wilderness before being crucified. (NOTE: I'm no theology student, so cut me some slack if I've gotten that only partially right. We are, after all, Episcopalians and we take these things seriously in a very laid-back kind of way...but I digress).

So this is part of our Lenten practice. And the proposed practice was nearly diverted last week before we even started when Charlie realized that this would mean 40 days without his favorite Louisiana-style hot sauce. He joked, "Can't I have two exceptions, one for ice cream and one for hot sauce?" I asked him if
he thought that Jesus had prayed while out in the wilderness "Dear Heavenly Father, this would all be a lot easier if I only had some hot sauce." Charlie conceded, of course, but I think I could see him rolling his eyes as he turned his back. I can get pretty dramatic when I'm excited about something, and I'm excited about this. It will undoubtedly be part of Charlie's Lenten practice to try to be patient with me until the end of Lent. May God be with him...

As a sort of practice for the practice, we went to the winter farmer's market last Saturday and were encouraged by what we found.

• Squash, of course, including spaghetti which will help fill the pasta void
• walnuts
• frozen blueberries ($6 for a pound and a half, yikes!)
• golden flax (yeah!)
• beets
• potatoes
• onions
• leeks
• garlic
• eggs

I should have grabbed some apples and some greens but I didn't. All this stuff available and it's still the middle of winter! As a practice meal we ate local on Saturday night. I made a frittata of beet greens, onions, garlic, eggs and some hard goat cheese from the First Alternative Co-Op down the street. I used real butter to saute the greens, onions and garlic which is a change from our usual heart-healthy vegetable/olive oil. The flavor (and smell) were distinctively different. Richer, deeper. We may actually be able to make this happen...does it count as a Lenten practice if we enjoy it?

Inaugural Post

Do I really want to "blog" our Lenten experiment of local eating? No, not really.For a couple of reasons. Not the least of which is the fact that I would have to use the word "blog" on a regular basis. A word that isn't a word, but a short-cut, compromise-of-a-word, a lazy way of avoiding having to utter two syllables when our busy, busy, cyber-lives can only afford to spend the time on one. And the sound of the pseudo-word is so plainly, stupidly, bluntly, American. Blog.

A second reason to skip out on the documenting of our all-Oregon eating plan is to avoid the inevitable nay-sayer, the critic who will point out all the hypocracies in our attempt. "You said no outside food. So what are you doing with your grubby little mitts wrapped around that so-called-local beer? Where did you get that yeast?" The truth is that we're going to make some compromises. The truth is that we can only do what we can do. It's that way with any challenge that we take on. If we were to wait until we can do it perfectly, we'd never get anything done. Isn't it the Amish who say "Only God is perfect. It's our duty as humans to embrace imperfections and muddle forward." If it wasn't the Amish, it was someone else who was just trying to get something done. So here is our attempt to get something done in our own small, imperfect way.

Our "rules":
-Purchase food stuffs exclusively from Oregon, and as locally as possible.
Our "exceptions":
-Use up what's on hand (almost out of salt, compeletely out of sugar, and about 2 cups of flour stored up. It's going to go fast).
-Invitations from family/friends (we'll be hospitable and eat what's offered, but if asked to bring a dish it must be local)
-Travel meals (except if buying groceries on the go, then local, local, local)
-Yeast (for bread, beer, wine)
-One exception per family-member (Charlie: the superfulous ingredients in the ice cream from the local dairy; Kim: flax oil from Washington state; Luke: rice cereal, a boy's gotta eat).

With the intent to keep us accountable, and in part to validate the idea that we're trying to make a difference, I'll make some comments now and then. No promises that it will be daily, but I'll try to keep things posted on at least a weekly basis.