by David Parkinson

The fourth annual Powell River 50-mile eat-local challenge is over until next summer. We kicked off the 50-day event this year on August 9 with the first-ever Edible Garden Tour, showcasing thirteen local gardens, from Lund down to Lang Bay, thrown open so that the public could wander around, ask questions, and see firsthand how friends and neighbours are producing their own food in backyards, front yards, and community gardens, using a variety of techniques. This completely free tour even raised a bit of money for the Fruit Tree Project, which sends teams of volunteer pickers to people’s homes to pick otherwise unused fruit.

I’ve been producing a weekly podcast series featuring conversations with local food champions who work hard to support the local food economy:  Jeffrey Renn of Bemused Bistro, Nia Wegner of Loaves and Fishes Catering Company, Melissa Call of Sunshine Organics and Ecossentials, and Amy Sharp of Manzanita Restaurant. There’s one conversation for each week of the challenge. You can find the podcasts online at http://pr50.podomatic.com. Also take some time to visit the official blog of the Powell River 50-mile eat-local challenge at http://pr50.wordpress.com/.

What struck me this year is how many people say that they are already eating as locally as possible all year ’round. For this reason, it’s harder to get people to sign up for the eat-local challenge. After all, if this is the way you eat all the time, why sign up as though it’s a special thing? How much has changed in the four years since Lyn Adamson decided to try a local version of the 100-mile diet! All kinds of people  now understand the importance of eating locally, for all the right reasons, not the least of which is the economic boost we give our own farmers and food producers when we spend our money closer to home. More and more people are doing this, not just as a fun summertime activity, but as their normal routine.

What about the other 315 days of the year? How are we doing? Certainly we have a long way to go before a meaningful segment of the regional population is eating even 25% of its year-round diet from local sources. Without large-scale production of grains, beans, oilseed crops, meat, dairy, poultry, and some of the more common storage vegetables such as carrots and onions, we simply can’t feed ourselves throughout the year. Without a much larger value-added food industry creating juices, cheeses, breads, wines, pastas, and all the other staples of the typical North American diet, we still rely on imported foods.

Most people assume that the supplies of food coming into the region will continue forever at the current level of abundance. Even I believe that we are not likely to see major interruptions anytime soon. Could we ever produce food in quantities and at prices close to competing with the global food industry? Should we even bother trying?

The participants in the eat-local challenge, signed up or not, obviously believe we should. They believe in creating a powerful local food economy strongly enough to spend more time and pay higher prices to put food on the table. Many garden, can, freeze, dry, swap, barter, and order their lives around food to a much higher degree than the average person. Such people could probably survive for weeks out of their pantries, freezers, and gardens, and could whip up a good meal out of odds and ends. These skills and attitudes, once taken for granted, are lost to many, but now more people are keeping them alive.

Just maybe, the idea of a local food economy is starting to spread, and the idea is taking hold that, the more self-reliant our region becomes, the better off everyone is. Even if the ferries continue running forever, those eating local food will have the advantage of eating the best food on earth. Here’s hoping we’ll have enough for everyone.