eating Alabama.

i recently stumbled upon a project that longtime friend Joe Brown (with others) was working on:

eatingalabama.org

joe, his wife, and another couple, are embarking on a season long endeavor, to eat foods only from the great state of Alabama (from which i hail...click map to see an interactive listing of their choice locales). fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy. from their site:

"These are the musings of four friends who have set out for a season of local eating. Follow us from April through July as we find all our food grown or raised here in the great state of Alabama. Our goal is to focus on sustainable agriculture and to make a case for a revitalization of our state's rural economy. In the process we're making a documentary about our journey and writing about our findings - from farm trips to gardening to recipes. Join us as we Eat Alabama..."

kudos to Joe + friends. i'd definitely recommend adding the site to your reading list (i'll be staying tuned in my RSS). but to get a better idea of the motivations driving this, you should really start from the beginning. there is clear acknowledgement to what is realistic and waht is not, but their work is uncovering (or simply putting a magnifying glass on) many isses in the existing agri-conomies of scale (does a tomato really need to travel 1500 miles?). the blog is a work in progress, tracking their trials and tribulations, and there are some allusions to a forthcoming documentary.

i always find it inspiring when i find people i know that are embarking on things bigger than themselves, whether it be quitting a corporate job to become a comedian, trying to be the savior of democracy, providing free internet to a city's public spaces, or practically investigating the rural agriculture economy.

and i'm still selling soap. to soccer moms. using the internet.

sigh.