Dark Days Challenge, week four

I have telecommuted full-time for four years and I often get tired of my same at-home lunches. I was inspired by Dark Days to make a quick local lunch.



* Eggs from Latta Family Farm scrambled with Chapel Hill Creamery Hickory Grove cheese.
* Sunflower bread from The Bread Shop. Not organic, but local.
* Quite possibly the last German Johnson tomato to be harvested in North Carolina. I discovered these earlier this year through Papa Spud's and became completely hooked. They are now one of my favorite foods. I saw this one at Earth Fare and immediately pounced.
* Apple cider from Perry Lowe Orchards
* Apple butter I made from mixed North Carolina apples, also from Perry Lowe Orchards. I added some organic sugar, also not local.

I hit two stumbling blocks when shopping. My first issue was procuring eggs. Earth Fare had two options: organic but not local (within 150 miles), local but not organic. The organic option would still be considered regional since the eggs were from neighboring Virginia. It's hard to know in this kind of situation what the "better" choice is. Personally I would prefer organic but bought the local eggs. I am still on the hunt for SOLE eggs.

The other stumbling block is my natural tendency to want to use everything up before purchasing new. One example this week is the sugar in the apple butter. I already had organic sugar in the house. I'd rather use that and not meet my challenge than purchase new sugar just to get a 100% local meal. This issue should hopefully resolve itself over time as we use up our pantry items and replace them with SOLE items.

The meal was so tasty we'll be having this for lunch today as well, adding some broccoli to the eggs.