This is from a few years ago,however I wanted to revisit it. It's been on my mind alot as spring approaches. Plus visiting Michelle and Max at the farm and seeing the apple pie eating rooster reminded me of Barbara Kinsolver, one of the best authors ever!
Localtarian
Tonight I have big plans: I am going to hook up with my Barbara Kingsolver book "High Tide in Tucson" and read as late as my eyes can stay open. A couple of weeks ago I was at the library looking for her newest book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and I looked up and saw the C.D. set. The book was checked out so I got the C.D.. A little disappointed because my 98 Honda does not sport a C.D. player, and I can't keep up with the little adapter gizmo my husband gave me. I knew I would be resigned to listening to it on the couch. The problem here is I have a teenager and three tween-agers. They are all loud and usually I fall asleep about the same time as they do.
So the first night I get them in bed and go turn it on, I am hooked. I come home an hour early for weeks to listen before the kids get off the bus. I borrow my husband, Blake's 99 Subaru as often as I can because he does have a C.D. player. This book has profoundly changed me. Already we ate a 80 to 90 percent vegetarian diet and committed quite a bit to local produce when we could find it. However I had no idea about how bad the factory farms were, the way the animals are treated, the antibiotics, the hormones, the disease. I knew it was bad but not that bad.It could go on for days me telling you. In this book Kingsolver speaks so eloquently that you fall in love with her story telling. My kids loved the stories of the turkeys having babies. My husband was enthralled listening to her husband speak of making homemade sausage from his own turkeys raised humanly. Her nineteen year old daughter tells her side of the tale as she goes to college and is aware of the differences between her friends and her eating habits,they don't want to know: for them ignorance is fine. I enjoyed Camile's experts about the dinners the family prepared and the wonders of simple vegetables.
Locovor is the name given to people who eat a large diet grown with in a certain distance of their home, usually 120 to 250 miles circular. I now buy most veggies locally and recently a friend helped me get some meat from a local farm. Meat is still something hard for me to eat except on occasion but my family really thinks its a treat. You would think I put out a bowl of candy when I served fresh grass fed hamburgers to my hungry crew. A side of organic mac and cheese and all I heard was "Ummmmm".
Tips
1. Don't assume that farmers market produce is local. You will need to ask. Look for signs that indicate this is so. Some are resellers of shipped produce. Learn about what is seasonal. If you see basil in the store in January,um you probably should think twice. There are many books out on eating seasonally, I like "Simply in Season".You can pick it up in the Heifer gift shop in Little Rock.
2. Grow some of your own. This year I grew a pretty batch of lettuce, tomato's, mint, basil, oregano, peppers, lavender and a few very weird squash. I learned about cross pollination by accident with that squash. Apparently a yellow squash and a zucchini can get married and have a funny looking little offspring, it was edible in casserole.
3. Dairy and meat: get local when you can. And eat less meat. If you can't afford anything else organic get your dairy and meat organic. The hormones, antibiotics, gmo corn and pesticides the animals eat have been linked to many problems in humans. The government supports corn and soybeans in huge subsidies. Farmers can grow these in large farms they feed this stuff to cows and many cows get no grass. A little corn is okay from what I understand but not more than 10% of the diet. The animals must be raised with room to roam and sunshine and natural foods to their species.
Good luck out there. My 14 year old said "Momma,a happy cow is a healthy cow and that makes better meat". That is the simple truth.
Namaste'
Courtney
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