november is buy local month.

yesterday, syracuse officially declared november "buy local" month. rad, right? personally, I couldn't be more proud of this fine city for bringing this initiative to the table, doing their part in making local shopping main stream & celebrating all the awesome, home-grown vendors.

as far as i know, san diego has yet to do anything like this, but regardless- my plan is to join syracuse in this challenge. this isn't going to be easy. but it can be done.

my greatest challenge will be eating local. currently a. & i are staying with his parents. their idea of local is anything you can buy at the community costco...obviously not what we're going for here. but it's also a great way to educate & hopefully change a few habits, even if it's only for a month.

here are my rules:
1. eat as local as possible. buy as many basics from road stands and farmers markets as possible.

2. when eating out, eat at local mom & pop establishments, preferably ones that support community agriculture and other vendors. basically, no chains allowed.

3. if locally grown/produced basics can't be found at a market, purchase a brand made in-state. in my case, if I can't find local milk, i need to find a brand that produces dairy in california.

4. be realistic. it's highly unlikely there's a local toilet paper vendor in our city. but there's no way in hell i'm going to use leaves in lieu of tp just to practice buying local. everything in moderation, including moderation.

5. research. before jumping the gun to buy mega-brand shampoo, i need to do a bit of research to see what's out there. just because it's not at the farmers market doesn't mean it doesn't exist. as the saying goes, you don't know what you don't know. & knowledge is power.

6. waste not. i'm going to continue to use what i already have, no point in wasting anything during this challenge. once i run out and need to purchase more, those said purchases will be as local as possible.

even the smallest changes can leave a lasting impact. so if you're up for it, join me. let your dollars do the talking. in corporate america, that's one of the loudest voices out there.