Did I Really Commit to This?

Mi Vida Local starts tomorrow. I've been thinking about this challenge for more than a month now. I've even been living "la vida local" to some extent since the beginning of June. But with tomorrow looming as the official start of "mi vida local" month, I'm starting to get cold feet. I'm staring longingly at my last Diet Dr. Pepper and wolfing down a bag of Twizzlers, both of which will be completely off limits for a month.

I'm trying to think about all the great foods I will be able to eat, and all the fruits and vegetables I'll be packing away in my freezer or drying for later in the year, when the fresh stuff isn't around anymore and I'm tempted to buy one of those tasteless grocery store tomatoes or a bunch of imported bananas in December. I've been enjoying eating locally these last several weeks. The pleasure of eating has returned. I've actually lost a few pounds without fretting about food or counting calories. And the farmer's market has become my favorite weekend hangout.

But now, the intention of this challenge seems to be backfiring. With the strike of midnight marking the beginning of the end of life as I've known it--the convenience of one-stop grocery store shopping; the assuage of my sweats addictions with ice cream and chocolate and other processed non-local treats; the use of my spare time for things other than cooking, blanching, freezing, drying and otherwise preparing food--I'm momentarily wishing I hadn't committed myself to this project. The intention was to motivate myself to go a little further and try a little harder to live a local life. That's where I want to focus. Not on what I'm going to be missing out on, or how I'm going to manage to afford locally raised free-range meat on my limited budget. It will work itself out. Of that I'm sure. But whatever happens, and however I feel about this challenge in the coming days and weeks, be sure that I'll be sharing it all here.