A couple dozen Seattleites over the past month vowed to follow the "100 Mile Diet" -- a local eating strategy that's meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the distance between farm to dinner table, support local farmers, connect people to the source of their food and get people to eat fresher, healthier foods. The eating experiment was organized through Sustainable Ballard, a grassroots enviro group.

So how'd they do without coffee, chocolate and bananas?

Naturopathic doctor Melissa Larson said her toddler Chloe really missed her noodles. "She's been dreaming of pasta."

She did find sources for local wheat (more on that below), but the real issue was finding the time to make stuff from scratch. Happily, Dr. Larson discovered that crackers were easy to make, enhancing all of the local cheeses they were consuming.

About 25 of the participants held a potluck the other night, and here's the take home message from Dr. Larson:

"Everybody who did it thought it was a great experience, even if it was hard at times... Everyone said it will change how they think about food."

But as with all things enviro, local eating is no silver bullet, as you can see in this blog post about when imports could be more ecologically sound.

And if you're looking for local wheat, a source recommended Stone-Buhr's "new all-local, Food Alliance-certified all purpose flour grown by Columbia Plateau wheat farmers, Shepherds Grain. This family-farmed, sustainable flour is on the shelves at mainstream grocery stores."

Another option is Methow Valley's Bluebird Grain Farms.