How I Eat Locally

In the two months I have worked here I have been exposed to more locally grown, unique foods than I had been in my previous 22 years. Just last week I ordered some elk from Hawk’s Elk Ranch in Monticello, WI. Seriously, who would have thought that I would have ever had elk? I didn’t even know elk was edible. So I tried it last night, and it was actually pretty good. Had a great cheese elk burger that I read is significantly healthier than a burger made with beef. I was happy with myself.  I had supported the local economy and had a healthy meal all the same time, what more can you ask for?

Being a college kid here at UW-Madison it’s difficult to find foods that are local and healthy. Most of us don’t have cars to take us to the places that sell these goods so really our only chance to buy them is to walk to the Dance County Farmers Market on either Wednesday or Saturday. There are numerous farmers market in the area, but these are the only two within a reasonable walking distance of the campus.  And since most of us have class or work on Wednesdays, we are forced to wake up early on our day off and walk through the maze of people and the hundreds of vendors to find local products. I don’t know about you, but that is a little overwhelming for me at times.

The experience I have had with Local Dirt so far has made my life infinitely simpler. Now it may look like I’m plugging the site, but seriously, it works great for me. When its Saturday all I want to do is sleep in and relax. Before I knew about the site I would rush to the farmers market as soon as I woke up, nervously wondering if the market would be so jammed that I wouldn’t even bother grabbing anything. Lately I’ve been spending 10 minutes on Thursday’s ordering my produce for the week and simply walking up vendors like Hummel’s Farm, telling them my name and walking away happy. If I’m in the mood for a treat I’ll order some cheesecake from Grace Cheesecakes LLC.  Mixing some local, fresh food into my weekly groceries used to be a chore, but Local Dirt has turned it into a nearly effortless treat.