As October comes to a close, the Eat Local Challenge is thinking bigger and looking for ways to spread locavorism beyond our home kitchens. Week Four (October 24 - 31): Taking it to the Community Week four will focus on eating locally within our communities. We can host potlucks and eat local parties, we can check in with our schools to hear whether they are supporting local farmers with their buying decisions.

What's more ironic than local, organic, seasonal food encased in plastic? That's what I wondered back in 2007 when I first started my quest to eliminate unnecessary plastic from my life. A trip to my local farmers market revealed more than just fruits and vegetables. Have a look at a few photos I shot:

This week, the Eat Local Challenge asks participants to look at how to expand the challenge to families.

If you've watched Food, Inc., you likely have a pretty good, overall sense of what's wrong with our food system today -- which helps put all the continued news reports of foodborne illnesses and obesity problems in context. Of course, all that continued bad news still gets depressing even if you know what's creating the problems.

Think ahead to December. Cast your mind to Copenhagen. This December, the United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Unlike the last time there was a conference of this magnitude ( in Kyoto), the United States will take part in the deliberations and agree to abide by the resolutions.

This week's Eat Local Challenge focus is Personal Challenges.How can we personally eat locally in a sustainable manner? What is the "low-hanging fruit" with regard to eating locally that we can easily change during this week?

After reading Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma and seeing the film, Food Inc., I added "Visit farms and ranches where my food comes from" to my ongoing, never-ending "To Do" list. And the task sat there. And sat there. Until a couple of incidents spurred me to get serious. First, reading about the very sad fate of male chicks to which I have been inadvertently contributing even though I buy Certified Humane eggs and second, seeing how much fun Colin Beavan had visiting a local farm in the film No Impact Man. How many of us really understand how our food is produced? Labels on meat and dairy products are full of pictures of happy animals in beautiful rustic settings with plenty of space to roam and be free. But is that the truth? And how can we make decisions about what food products are healthy, sustainable, and in line with our values if we don't have complete information and may not even know what our values are?

Although there are already five days under October’s belt, it’s not too late to consider taking part, in small or large ways, in this month’s Eat Local Challenge.

Let's get one thing straight; I love a good, juicy, flame-grilled burger, preferably with cheese. But I'm not dying for one. Unfortunately, a story in today's New York Times reveals that after years of industry self-regulation, tens of thousands of people are sickened every year by E. Coli. a bacteria commonly found in animal feces. In a small percentage of those cases, people are sickened to the point of paralysis or death.

What is stopping you from using your food blog—or, really, any blog you write—to save the world? What is your barrier to entry into that place where your blog goes beyond telling a story and actually serves as a platform for the causes about which you’re most passionate?That was the question asked by Lydia Walshin of A Perfect Pantry and Drop In & Decorate® cookies for donation at the end of How Food Blogs Can Save The World, our panel at BlogHerFood ’09, and a worthy question which which to grapple. The participants in the panel--who also included Pim Techamuanvivit, who has raised more than $250,000 through her Menu For Hope event on Chez Pim, and Valerie Harrison of More Than Burnt Toast, who will release a fundraising cookbook in November as part of the efforts of BloggerAid: Changing the Face of Famine--were in various stages of their efforts, and they wanted to share their expertise with conference attendees.

The Hunger Challenge is almost over for 2009 and, as they did last year, Tyson Foods issued a challenge of their own: Last year's challenge was to comment on a blog post. This year it is to tweet a hunger fact with the hashtag #HChal and Tyson would donate 100 pounds of food to Bay Area food banks for every tweet up to 100,000 pounds.

This morning, nearly 34 million people in the United States faced more than the usual Monday challenge: Their week includes figuring out how to feed themselves on a food stamp budget. Thanks to economic stimulus money, that budget is higher this year than last: $28 per week, per person, rather than $21. That extra $7 makes a tremendous difference, although doing a week’s worth of shopping is tough to do even at the higher level. Last year, Gayle Keck of the San Francisco Food Bank dreamed up The Hunger Challenge. This event gave bloggers the opportunity to try living on a food stamp budget--just $21 for the week in 2008. Six of us participated, and shared our struggles on our blogs. It was a stressful, difficult week, and left me more committed than ever to do whatever I can to help feed the hungry and to increase access to fresh, affordable food for those who live in underserved areas.