The Furious Spinner

Barbara Kingsolver's new book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, is due out May 1. I can hardly wait. Kingsolver and her family have left Tucson, coming to the same conclusion that Mario and I came to: living in the Southwest is not sustainable. They returned to Kingsolver's homeland in Appalachia and changed the way they lived and ate. In Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Kingsolver chronicles a year in their new life. Wander around this new website of hers, by the way. It has a lot of good information.

Steven L. Hopp, a contributor to the book and Kingsolver's husband, writes on the website, "A quick way to improve food-related fuel economy would be to buy a quart of motor oil and drink it. More palatable options are available. If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That’s not gallons, but barrels. Small changes in buying habits can make big differences. Becoming a less energy-dependent nation may just need to start with a good breakfast."

What a great idea. We try to eat locally and seasonally as much as possible. It's easier in the summer. I shall make even more of an effort this year.

I grew up down the road from my grandparents' farm. I lived the farm life. Fed the chickens, lambs, cows, horses. Slopped the pigs. Called the cows home. "Besssssie!" Called the pigs home. "Suuuuueeeeee." Gathered eggs from the hen house. At home, we grew a huge organic garden. I don't think we bought any produce at the store all summer long. We put up preserves. In the winter, I'd go down to the root cellar and get potatoes or jars of vegetables, fruits, or jam. I loved it all.

As an adult, I love, love, love, having a vegetable garden. Produce fresh from the garden tastes vastly different from what you get from a store. At least, that has been my experience. However, all the other farm stuff, I don't like at all. I don't like keeping animals caged. I surely don't like slaughtering them. And I don't like cleaning up after them. Linda loved her farm and her farm life. Which was great. Me: I want a house and land where I can grow most of her food and trade with others for the rest. No animals. No farm, per se. A house and land: That's my goal. Been my goal for twenty years. I know, it hasn't worked out yet. But I'm still hopeful.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing what Kingsolver has to say about her new life. I have Michael Pollan's book, An Omnivore's Dilemma. I started it ages ago and never finished it. I need to get back to it. I've read Gary Nabhan's Coming Home to Eat where he does essentially the same thing as Kingsolver, only he does it in the Southwest. It was interesting, but a lot of it was about meat, raising and slaughtering animals, and that ain't my thing. At least that's how I remember it. It's been a while since I read it. I do like his writing and his work a great deal.

All of this food talk is making me hungry. I believe and have believed for almost as long as I can remember that if we eat sustainably and healthily, a lot of our problems would disappear. All around the planet.

May You Eat in Beauty!

Labels: food, sustainability

2 comments

2 Comments:

Kim, a friend passed me her advance copy of Barbara's new book, and it is absolutely brilliant, a real treasure trove in fact.

By  KerrdeLune (Cate), at 2:48 PM  

I'm reading it now, and it's a wonderful book. I keep thinking, 'yes, that's right, why doesn't everyone see that?'

I have Michael Pollan's book also, and I too never finished it. Must go back after I finish Kingsolver . . .

By  anita, at 9:04 PM  

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