Animal Vegetable Miracle

I've been reading an incredible book- "Animal Vegetable Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. Barbara is a captivating author who has successfully drawn me into her little family experiment of living off of food grown and raised on their farm and those surrounding them for an entire year. The idea doesn't sound all that far fetched at first, until you think about how much we take for granted that isn't naturally available in our area. This "sacrifice", however, is not what is so enthralling about this book. It is more the brutal reality of our nation's food choices both in what we consume and how it gets to our table. One startling fact is how we export nearly the same amount of potatoes as we import...how does that work? Well in business it does, but for the quality of nutrition and the number of calories burned in fossil fuel for what is finally put in our bodies the ratios are outragious!

"Healthy", "Organic", and "Natural" have become increasingly mainstream. However financial implications have continued to steer the quality and sincerity of what this type of labeling truly stands for. I have found myself frequently looking for better deals and negotiating compromises in order to continue to appease my desire to eat a "Natural" diet. This in itself has become part of the problem as the large corporate food suppliers/manufacturers work to sustain their bottom line by adapting to market demand. Already, however, trend watchdogs have warned that "Organic" food supply is not sustainable to the mass market. This is true in the sense that the proper planting and harvesting of food crops and raising of livestock cannot be done successfully by large scale farming and distribution operations. At least not for the general population for a sustainable amount of time. What is however possible will be to return our country back to its agricultural roots by supporting local farms and businesses so that our food doesn't need the petroleum, chemical, CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operations), and hormoneal assistance to reach our gullet plump, perfect, and tasteless.

I have to say this book is endlessly entertaining in addition to all of the facinating information about our food sources. Barbara takes you through the year month by month in each chapter, highlighting the anticipation each new calendar month brings in the way of changing seasons and harvests. I am nearing the end of this book and have been inspired to pick up many new hobbies as I have made my way through it's chapters. Here's a short list. Baking pizza from scratch (crust, fresh toppings, and all), cheese making, bread baking (no bread machine here), fresh buns, Jody and I just got our heirloom tomato transplants in the mail from the seed saver's network, also some great varieties of seeds from the same source for things like purple basil and rooster's spur peppers all of which will be going in our greenhouse which we intend to build soon. I'm really excited about the cheese. Buena Vista has a new goat farm that should be in operation soon. I intend on getting fresh milk from them to make my own Chevre and Herbed Soft Goat Cheese, MMMMmmm!

So here is a link to Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I encourage EVERYONE to pick up a copy at the bookstore or better yet, the Library (another new hobby of ours). Even if you don't intend on going as "crazy" as we have this is a very informative and entertaining book that won't dissapoint, but I expect will have even a slight impact on how you make your food choices. And please come back here from time to time and see how we're doing growing and making our own REAL FOOD!

P.S. This book also has some really great recipes after each chapter, recipes that correlate to the month previously discussed. These alone are a great reason to check this out.
Like Friday Night Pizza w/ 30 minute mozzarella!

Here's a link you might find interesting about the newly named Locavores "movement" from the New York Times.