Animal Vegetable Miracle

I just finished the final pages of "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle : A Year of Food Life" by Barbara Kingsolver. Kingsolver is a novelist probably most known for "The Poisonwood Bible" but AVM reads more like a memoir. The premise is this - Kingsolver's family moved from their home in Arizona to a farm in southern Appalachia where they resolve to eat only what they can grow themselves or buy locally for a year.

The book touches on many topics and ideas ranging from what to do with a billion zucchinis in July to Turkey sex to making your own cheese to challenges faced by small farms. The big picture idea is we as a culture have gotten so far away from where our food is coming from - we don't know who is growing it or how and where it's grown. So much so that the idea of something being "in season" is irrelevant since we can just import the off-season strawberries from Chile or California. Kingsolver makes the point that aside from the health benefits of eating sustainably grown local food, by buying local we effectively use our consumer power to cut out our share of the gas being used to fly in bananas in from Central America or oranges from Florida.



Sewn into the main text of the book are "focus on issue" boxes from Kingsolver's partner Steven Hopp and essays/recipes from her oldest daughter Camille. They give kind of a how-to or commissioning to readers to get involved in some of the topics they discuss. One that I really grabbed onto is CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture). I have friends in DC who have done this kind of co-op with the local farmers before, but I didn't really understand how they did it or who it was through. Local Harvest is a web page that you can use to plug in your zip code and a bunch of farms in your area who participate in CSAs pop up for your perusal. I found Orchard Country Farms through that and contacted them about possibly signing up for what's left of summer. Typically CSAs run from about May through October, so given it's July I am behind the curve :). Nonetheless, I got a quick response from Gregg and Louise Keckler (owners of Orchard Country) saying they have room and I can still sign up for the two remaining 8-week sessions they have available this season.

The way it works is this -- you can sign up for one, some, or all of the sessions throughout the season as a shareholder. You can either sign up for a large share (for about 3-4 people) or small share (1-2 people) and the cost for a small share ends up being $170for the 8-weeks, so just over $20 a week. The farm is in Gardners, PA but there are a few pick-up spots around DC you can pick your bounty up each week. For me, I chose the Department of Transportation Farmer's Market on Tuesday. I met Gregg and his son Oliver when I picked up this week -- I didn't have much time to chat so I'm hoping I can get a better sense of their heartbeat next time. So they give you a cooler of your fruits and veggies for the week that you bring back the next week and voila! Community supported agriculture. This week I got: apricots, cling peaches, black raspberries, blueberries, swiss chard, zucchini, summer squash, green beans, sweet onion, and eggs. For $20 bucks? And supporting local small businesses? And getting the best of the best? I mean... that's a deal no matter how you shake it.

I know, I know... so hippy dippy of me right? I don't think so actually. What's more empowering than knowing exactly where my money is going? Or supporting hard work by good people? And getting an excellent product? What is the downside of making consumer decisions that work for me and don't compromise the environment? As I started thinking about organic or local foods and supporting the vendors who sell them (including our great organic market on Pennsylvania Ave SE), it's not so much that I feel different physically, but there is really something to be said about it just being good for the soul. I know the guys at the organic market - they're nice. They make me feel appreciated and helped (unlike the guy at Safeway on 14th SE who literally made me count the products in my basket to make sure I was under the "limit" last week - are you kidding me?). I started talking more to the vendors at Eastern Market. I look forward to getting to know Gregg and Louise. By buying local food, I appreciate tenfold its colors, shapes, flavors. By investing in my community, I feel more a part of it. More to come.