Sareen Dunleavy-Keenan

I live in Minneapolis, in 1.5 story craftsman bungalow with beautiful woodwork, but a tiny lot. Sharing this space is my husband Brendan, 'baby' (5/07) and 'new baby' who is expected to join the fold in August.

I met my husband in Japan where I became accustomed to eating season appropriate foods with the place of origin clearly designated. The importance of place and seasonality has influenced our cooking and eating since we returned to the United States. This has since evolved to an appreciation of quality food that has been picked locally.

The importance of local food was highlighted for us when we decided to start a family. We came to believe that buying food from people we met face to face was a way to safely feed our family. We started slowly with a dozen eggs and quart of milk and have since sourced most of our meat and poultry locally.

Only purchasing local food can be expensive for a young family, and the availability of local produce in the Minnesota winter can be a challenge for us. We try to stretch our food budget by growing a garden. Lately we have learned to can or pickle our produce to bring a little summer to a cold day.

Brendan and I certainly do not do everything perfect. There are people that can take on this challenge without craving a pineapple or chocolate, or any of the other numerous things that aren't going to grow in Minnesota. But we do our best. We bring our own bags, use returnable milk bottles, buy directly from the grower when possible, grow our own food and purchase very few pre-processed items. Doing this on the salary of two non-profit workers is tough. Doing this while pregnant is extremely tough. We believe that the challenges are outweighed by the nutritional and environmental benefits of eating well.