Locavores

Vallejo Couple Goes Grocery-Free For a Year, Likes It

Rachel Hoff and Tom Ferguson
Rachel Hoff and Tom Ferguson Photo: Brant Ward/Chron

This past Sunday’s Chron had a pair of stories about DIY urban homesteaders and foragers. One, about a pair of industrious Oakland women who forage for chanterelles in the Oakland hills and snare their own Dungeness crabs, made us a little tired. But this other tale of Rachel Hoff and Tom Ferguson, who vowed last year to stop buying groceries and eating out and to eat only what they could grow themselves or barter from local farmers’ and neighbors, has us somewhat impressed. They actually went to the farmers’ market for the first nine months, but in the final three-month stretch they’ve challenged themselves to eat only from their backyard, where in addition to growing crops they’re raising goats, rabbits, turkeys, and chickens for meat. (See also: Sunset’s One-Block Diet.) The craziest part: They both manage to hold down full-time jobs! [Chron]

Vallejo Couple Goes Grocery-Free For a Year, Likes It