Magazine Walks the Locavore Talk

Sunset's editors and contributors put their expertise to the test, spending a year growing everything they need for a "one-block feast"

August 20, 2008 at 9:36AM by Anita Crotty | comment

Sunset magazine's One Block Feast The idea of eating a seasonal, local diet has been creeping into the mainstream media for a while now; last year's induction of "locavore" into the Oxford American dictionary certainly helped bring the idea home for many editors. But this summer, it seems that the locavore lifestyle is making its way from the hypothetical trend pieces of the past to practical how-to articles in some of the country's most widely-read magazines.

On the cover of the August issue of Sunset, the top headline crows "Grow Your Own Delicious Food -- We Show You How)". Teams of Bay Area-based editors and writers took over the magazine's test gardens, blogging the entire process of growing everything they needed for an entire multi-course dinner, including pressing their own olive oil, tending a flock of chickens, and brewing their own wine and beer.

It's good to know that even the experts sometimes suffer setbacks: Squirrels decimated the wheat and barley destined for homebrew, and the fruit of on-site vines needed to be supplemented with (still very local) commercial grapes. But the Sunset crew pulled off a delicious-looking and nutritionally balanced "one-block feast" right from their own back yard. And they're happy to share their wealth of expertise with interested readers by offering an online guide to growing everything you need to recreate their efforts, complete with lists of preferred varieties, a year-long planting and harvest calendar, and downloadable guides on everything from raising honeybees to making your own vinegar.

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tags: locavore, Sunset magazine, SOLE Food Digest, One Block Diet

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Anita Crotty

Anita Crotty is co-author of Married... with Dinner, an award-winning food blog that chronicles the continuing adventures of "a couple of San Francisco food dorks." Anita and her husband Cameron are both professional writers, amateur cooks, and avid diners.
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