Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

[Octavia]

Has anyone else read this book? I picked it up almost by chance and I found it incredibly inspiring. The author is Barbara Kingsolver (who wrote The Poisonwood Bible) and it''s about a year during which she and her family only ate locally produced foods. They grew some themselves, on their small farm, and bought the rest from other local farmers.

While I don''t think I''ll ever be able to do exactly what the Kingsolver-Hopps did (for one, because I live in a city, and for two, I have a horrible brown thumb

), FI and I are definitely going to try to be more conscious about eating produce that''s in season, and are planning to join a CSA and to buy more of our food directly from small organic or transitional farmers. We have some great farmer''s markets nearby and I can''t wait until the springtime when they start back up! Honestly, I think that if we can keep it up, it will be a great way to be more healthy without even having to try too hard.

Anyway, just curious about what others thought of the book, and whether anyone else practices "locavorism." If so, I''d love to discuss, and get more info and tips and such!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I''m embarrassed to admit I bought the book when it first came out and haven''t read it yet! It was one of about 10 books I bought over the course of a few months and since then I keep buying more so I haven''t gotten around to it yet.

I LOVE her book The Poisonwood Bible and also read Prodigal Summer and The Bean Tree.

Suddenly I''m reminded of a recent article in the paper about a 26-year old woman working in IT who decided she wanted to change her life, but of course realizes she can''t simple drop everything. I''ll have to hunt for her blog that the paper talked about as I guess she describes the small changes she''s made such as a garden on her patio and demonstrates how a modern family can transition their lives for the better of the enviroment and for their health.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Okay, all I read was the newspaper article about the gal, but have been hoping to read her blog and had clipped out the web address:

http://coldantlerfarm.blogspot.com/

Possibly it''ll be informative and/or entertaining.

 

[Octavia]

MC, thanks for the link! I''m off to read it now. And when you get a chance to read the book, please let me know what you think of it. I thought it was really eye-opening without being preachy, and it probably resonated with me even more because I grew up in an area where there are a lot of small farmers, many of whom have either gone organic or are transitioning. But many of the farms that used to be there have been lost, either to development or because the farmers couldn''t keep going (either physically or financially). So I know second-hand how hard it can be -- but I lost touch with a lot of that when I moved away, and especially after reading the book, I''d like to re-connect