Salamander City: April 2010

Just finished a really good book, and had to share. Barbara Kingsolver is my favorite author, and I've had this book checked out before, but at that time reading this one wasn't a priority. This time I read it through, slowly and thoroughly.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle profiles this family's journey through a year of eating locally. This includes utilizing local sources of foods, as well as growing their own. While the family had many reasons for their journey, ultimately it came down to trusting our instincts. Eating locally is not a new phenomenon, it's just been forgotten in our era of corporate agriculture and world travels.

The book is non-fiction, but is written as a story. And Barbara Kingsolver writes a great story - try any of her novels, series or short stories, or her non-fiction essays. So many, and all wonderful.

What a great time of year to be inspired by reading this story! As I was planting my seeds for my garden this year, I read as the Kingsolvers were doing the same. Her description of brand new chicks is dead on, I was giggling along, remembering our little girls just a year ago. I have many more ideas for my garden this year - and the motivation to actually start and finish them this year.

Beyond the growing of vegetables and animals for eggs and meat, this story goes into depth on where our food really comes from. This is approached in a straightforward manner, using many examples along the way, and real people and families. If nothing else, I think more now about where the item I am buying was grown and/or produced. I am taking a hard look at those bananas, and contemplating whether someone living so far from the equator should actually be eating them (even though I haven't stopped buying them - yet).

We read this book for book club, and although I missed the actual gathering to discuss the book, I did get to enjoy some of the discussion. One issue that came up is the family's use of animals for meat on the farm. And the fact that many cultures today DO rely on animals for subsistence. My feeling on the matter is that this family has great respect for their animals, treating them humanely, and slaughtering in a manner that preserved dignity for all. They also researched all the sources of their meat and other animal products used from other farms. I can only respect this approach. I also believe that if we needed to, I would eat our chickens. Although no one else in family would allow that ;-p - and I have absolutely no urge to eat chicken anytime soon.

In many ways, I feel that my family is a step ahead of most people (in the US anyway) in the direction of the Kingsolver family's eating style. Maybe even a big step ahead. And in other ways, wow, a long way to go. I have no doubt that we as a civilization cannot go on with our food industry the way it is, without something serious, in a major way, really bad happens. I don't know what, but keeping this knowledge, and finding the ability to use it is imperative.