Local Perspective – Little Mountain Haven

Isis has been an inspiration of mine for a while now with her herb spiral, her phenomenal organizational skills and the absolutely gorgeous area she lives in! I am so happy to give you the opportunity to get to know her a bit through a little Q&A we did around eating locally 🙂

xoxo,
M

*****

Isis Loran with Little Mountain Haven.

Location: Nelson, British Columbia, Canada.

Definition of Local: Within our town community of 30 miles for fruits, veggies, honey, meat, eggs, fish. The ‘next town over the mountain’ for things like milk, grain, hay, straw, beans etc (70 miles). Organic wine and fruit from the Okanagan (160-200 miles).

Why is “eating local” important to you?

We started eating organically many years ago, but soon noticed that organic food that comes from far away has a high carbon footprint (which our family has tried to reduce every year). We feel strongly that the world is very unstable right now, especially with the economy and global weather extremes. Learning how to survive as a community during the trying times ahead will make all the difference, especially with food because most of it is imported here in Canada. One weather disaster is enough to have food disappear quickly from the shelves, which means zero food security.The drought in California has become a concern, not to mention rising oil prices and how untrustworthy organic labels are. Our diet isn’t completely local, but we live in a modern world where many things come from far away places. Our family’s goal is to reduce our impact as much as we can without going too crazy (because you will once you start realizing the side effects of everything humans do). Living in a northern climate greatly dictates what you can eat and can be limiting. We feel that if we source most of our diet locally and eat in season from May to November it’s ok to still buy large bags of things like rice, oats, flour etc.

Do you have a particular passion for the environmental impact/sustainability aspect, local economic impact, community building aspect or emergency preparedness aspect of eating local?

I’ve been interested in environmental issues for many years now. The more aware I become, the more frustrating it is to see what’s going on with our world. I’ve found that supporting local is easiest way you can make a difference. By supporting real people and not corporate giants that control the majority of our food supply, you’re ensuring less money goes into greedy hands that don’t care about our health or planet, and supporting more people that work hard for a living. You can also visit the farms and see how it’s grown. We have an awesome community vibe here in Nelson that is very interested in increasing our local food movement. Our hometown of Nelson is one of the few Transition Towns that exist in the world. We have bi-weekly farmers markets in the summer, CSA farms to support and lots of local artisans. It’s one of the main reasons why we live here (other than the beauty of the mountains, lakes and forest). I’m very proud to live here.

How do you incorporate local foods into your diet? What percentage of local foods would you say you purchase and consume on a regular basis?

During the summer months I would say we are 80% local depending on how much coffee, grain or chocolate we consume. The winter months are the challenging where we have to eat preserved food. What we consume locally: Honey (we get a lot of our honey from our neighbor whose bees keep our garden well pollinated), Kootenay Meadows grass fed/organic milk & cream (that comes in glass bottles instead of plastic, and the cream we can make into butter), meat and fish on occasion from the valley. Kootenay alpine cheese for artisan cheese. What we consume from our acreage: Our large garden provides us with consistent food from June to November, and partially in the spring combined with wild foraging. We keep chickens for eggs and are considering meat birds. What we purchase from farmers markets: Fruit is something we buy boxes of during the summer and then can or freeze them to last us the winter. Local grain/carbohydrates: Local grains are the toughest thing about living here, naturally our area would be mostly grain free and reliant on root veggies, corn and squash. Creston is our most local source of grain, hay, straw, lentils, beans as it boasts a slightly better climate and very open farmland in comparison to Nelsons more mountainous geography. Quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat do grow here if you have a good season and the space for it. I’ve really learned to appreciate winter squash varieties can be stored inside for 6-12 months. They don’t require processing until the late winter/early spring months and can be the main difference between having calories locally at this time of the year when home canned goods start to dwindle.

What foods are your especially excited about/grateful for that are local to your area?

The wild foraging here is fantastic, especially for berries. Huckleberries are a favorite, we also have wild blackberries, raspberries, thimbleberries and strawberries. Our family makes elderberry syrup every year to help us boost up our immune system when we’re sick. You can also use the elderberries to make wine. We eat lots of wild nettles in the spring.

What foods do you wish were local/splurge on knowing that they are in no way local?

There are a few things we haven’t given up to eat fully local although we are contemplating it: Grains (rice, oats), flour, coffee, black tea, spices, maple syrup (it’s from the other side of Canada folks!), coconut oil, chocolate and lemons are the main ones. We’re trying to figure out how to grow our own chia seeds and we enjoy chia pudding.

What is your favorite recipe using locally sourced ingredients?

I made a wild nettle veggie burger last year, although it does use oats which aren’t local, but locally foraged wild nettles and garden veggies. We love garden salads and stir fry’s. Most of the wild berries are eaten fresh off the bush!

Isis is a homesteading mama to 2 beautiful girls and lives in the Canadian mountains. The little family of four is experimenting with winter gardening and permaculture and they’re aiming to grow mostly heirlooms to help preserve seed genetic diversity. They spend their spare time preserving the harvest, homeschooling and enjoying outdoor adventures. They keep chickens, forage for wild free food and aim for a natural family lifestyle. Follow their journey towards self-reliance on the blog Little Mountain Haven and on Facebook.