Hi, I’m Ashley 👋

Back in July, my family started a pretty simple (and slightly unhinged) experiment: go one full year without buying food from a grocery store.

Not “eat from the pantry for a month.” Not “shop local when it’s convenient.” A full 365 days, sourcing everything through our own garden, local farms and ranchers, farmers markets, bartering, and a lot of preserving.

I’m not a homesteader. I work full time. We have two kids with practices and projects and everything else that comes with normal family life. This isn’t about going off-grid — it’s about finding out how much of a family’s food can realistically come from outside the conventional grocery system, without turning life upside down.

Here’s what you’ll find here: what we’re actually eating and where it’s coming from, what’s working (and what very much is not), the skills I’m picking up along the way — canning, preserving, negotiating with a garden that has opinions of its own — and the real costs and trade-offs of trying to eat this way. If you want the day-to-day mess and small wins, I post more on TikTok @thelocalyear — the newsletter is where the fuller stories live.

—Ashley

For press, partnerships, or anything else, reach me at [email protected] — I read everything myself.