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Craig — People around the country are finding out that eating locally grown foods, compared to eating food grown thousands of miles away, is better for the consumer, the community and the earth. Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon have contributed to that awareness with their bestselling book "Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet."

This couple of 14 years, who were at their secluded cottage in Vancouver, decided, after collecting cabbage, wild mushrooms, potatoes, fish and a variety of fruits and seasonings from their land, that they wanted to "take the meal into the rest of their lives."

The diet began with mapping a 100-mile circle around Alisa and James's second story apartment in Vancouver, Canada; then eating only foods that were grown and raised within that 100-mile radius.

They started in March and had to make a few compromises to their new diet and to their vegetarian natures. Anything that was already in the cupboards - bread, sugar, flour, salt - could be used until it was gone.

Beans and rice were the main protein sources in their vegetarian diet, but since there were no rice farmers and only a few bean farmers within 100 miles, they turned to eggs and fish for their protein.

Food became the center of their days, and since they were both writers, they shared their dietary experiment on a blog. Asparagus season and farmers markets became important components in their lives.

They joined a community garden - "an earthen canvas" - where Alisa planted everything the books said would grow in their area: radishes, garlic, chickweed, dandelion and other plants. But with a late frost that year, the garden took its time and that bleakness took a toll on their relationship.

Alisa and James scoured the countryside for local farmers. "Plenty" is filled with charming stories about their encounters with many of them: The bee farmer who made buckwheat and pumpkin honey, smuggling cheese across the American/Canadian border, and the guard dogs at the walnut farm.

One time in particular, Alisa and James found a farmer that tried growing wheat but the harvest had sat around for so long that it was hard to tell the wheat berries for the mouse droppings.

"Plenty" is also a story about Alisa and James sharing their life, their friends, and how they dealt with occasional visits to their relatives, where they allowed themselves to step away from the diet. By the end of the yearlong experiment, the couple realized that they were healthier and happier people, which was not the outcome they had expected.

The critics used the word "impossible" to describe the diet. What Alisa and James found was not impossible but often inconvenient and troublesome. The 100-mile dieter needs to be creative and open to new foods.

"Plenty" is a guide book for a locally grown diet and challenges the reader to know where their food comes from and to eat locally grown food whenever possible.

"Plenty" was published by Three Rivers Press in 2007. This book is Page Turners book club book of the month and is available at Downtown Books for $13.95 or at Moffat County Library.