What am I doing this summer?  Joining the One Local Summer Challenge, of course.  While looking around the world wide web for like minded bloggers I discovered a site called Pocket Farm.  It was a serendipitous day because my discovery of the site happened to fall on the same day that folks were singing up to participate in the One Local Summer challenge. 

The concept is this:  Every person makes one meal of all local food once a week.  Pocket Farm then posts the entries and pictures people write about those local food experiences on her blog.  I figured that since my goal for the year is eating locally and seasonally that joining this project was the natural thing to do. 

If you want to join up yourself, I’ve got great news.  Unfortunately, the challenge on Pocket Farm’s site is full.  Because the response was so overwhelming this year (hooray!) the woman who runs Pocket Farm decided to put a cap on the number of people participating at 100.  However, if you’re interested you can now go to Fat Guy on a Little Bike which is now adding on a few more participants.  And be sure to check both sites and see what people in your area are cooking each week.  Pocket Farm has thoughtfully divvied people up into regional groups so that their seasonal food offerings are similar.  Just find a person or group of people who live near you and see what they cook up.  I’ve already found a couple right here in Greensboro who I plan to cyber-stalk. 

If you’re interested in OLS and miss signing up on Matt’s site you should try signing up next year (or in the meanwhile you could joint the Eat Local Challenge, although that’s a little more demanding).  I feel like the OLS challenge is the perfect way for folks who are just getting into the concept of local and seasonal to take that first step towards eating that way all the time.  It’s not terribly demanding, just one meal each week during the most bountiful season of the year, and it’s a great way to discover what foods are available to you locally.  Pocket Farm seems to host this every year and after this years huge response I’m hopeful that she may expand the number of participants next year.