A year ago, I had the grand scheme that for 30 days we would be locavores. Essentially, we would eat food and drinks that were produced within a 100 mile radius of where we live. That turned out to be much harder than we thought.
I can say that we do have an amazing dairy farmer that we get home delivered products from. Vale Wood Farms is just up the road in Loretto, PA and has an abundant offering of dairy products. In addition to milk, we absolutely love their cottage cheese and sour cream. Their sour cream is thick, creamy, and so delicious. It's gotten to the point where we are sour cream snobs. For dairy products, it really doesn't get any better.
We certainly took for granted the abundance of farmer's markets in and around the Butler/Saxonburg area. For where Kevin and I grew up, you could easily get to multiple markets with numerous offerings of fresh picked vegetables and some fruits that is just delicious. Maybe that set our taste bud standards high, but it doesn't come so easily in Cambria County. In early summer we are lucky enough to get delicious sweet corn from a farm near Indiana, PA. Later in the season, they usualy don't venture out this way and our only daily choice is a farm from northern Cambria county that is sub-par at best. The weekly farmer's market in "downtown" Ebensburg only starts at the end of July and frankly, is a little sad.
So, for when my parents came out for my birthday last week, what did I ask for but some good Western PA produce. I got zukes, cukes, beans, tomatoes, and corn (Mom also made a yummy peach cobbler). the produce hasn't disappointed us either! I guess we will just do what we can and enjoy the local home-grown produce when we can find it. Just remember how lucky you are Western PA residents!
