Another Way - the Bullseye Diet

This idea is very well described in Sharon Astyk's post at
Casaubon's Book:
http://casaubonsbook.blogspot.com/2007/06/bullseye-diet.html

Instead of arbitrarily choosing 100 mile radius, or 200, or 500,
or 50, you try to get all your food as close to your home as you can. The center of the bullseye is your home and yard. The next ring is your neighborhood, then your immediate area, then regional farm, then food from your state, then food from your nation, and the outermost ring is food from everywhere.

The Bullseye diet could be more work, or less work, than the 100-mile diet. Carefully done, with the Bullseye diet, you would examine each food item that you buy, and see if you can get it closer to you. Example: You buy potatoes from Colorado; can you buy potatoes from your county? from your neighbor? can you grow potatoes yourself? Not so good example: you want strawberries in January; the closest place is Chile; you buy them at the supermarket.

The Bullseye diet doesn't work as well if you are not determined to eat seasonally and regionally. Sharon, of course, IS determined; she is one of the most determined people I have seen. Doing as Sharon describes, you would start with your own home, planting as much as you can. Fruit, vegetables, potatoes, grains, chickens if you can, honeybees... if you have even a suburban lot, you can grow a truly surprising amount of food for your family. If you live in a city, you can probably find a community garden, or you can start one!

This gives us a way to work with items that are not immediately available. If you want, for example, dry beans, you know that you can find them from New Mexico. Can you find them in the Alamosa area? almost certainly. How about Weld County? Yes, I think so. They are grown there, but can we get our hands on them?

Using the Bullseye principle also helps you localize your eating gradually, especially if you don't have a CSA membership at present, and don't have a lot of foods on hand. Once the farmers markets start in Colorado in May and June, we are all set for vegetables and lots of other things. So you could eat carrots from California now, and when Colorado carrots show up, move in a few rings toward your home. Carrots store beautifully in the proper conditions; you will probably be able to keep your Colorado carrots into early spring. If you grow your own, you can keep them in the ground by mulching them very heavily to prevent frost damage. You can dig them during a warm spell (like now).

There is an advantage to the 100-mile diet, which is that you work Really hard to find items within your circle; not having a food that you would really like, that you know is grown here, lights a fire under us to talk to people, share resources, or start planning a garden.

There is an advantage to the Bullseye diet, which is that the food gets closer and closer if you work at it. You can also build community in your city or town, and even in your neighborhood.

You can, of course, do both: the 100-mile diet, but steadily work your way closer and closer as you can. The best of both worlds!