What have you been reading for the summer, or any time recently? I would love to hear from you at revtdavis@sbcglobal.net.

One of the most interesting books I have read lately is entitled, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle with the sub title “A Year of Food Life.” by Barbara Kingsolver. Kingsolver is the author of the widely read Poisonwood Bible and numerous other books and essays. In the present volume she tells the story of her family moving from the Arizona desert to property her husband owned in southern Appalachia determined to live for one year raising most of their own food and buying what food they did not produce from their neighbors. The few things they could not find grown within 100 miles of where they lived included coffee, flour (an essential since her husband Steven made all the bread and Pizza dough for the family). They found that although some of their neighbors grew wheat that all of the local flour mills had gone out of business and all the flour in the country was produced by a half a dozen giant corporations. They also found that there were some spices that they needed that were not local. They did do with out all tropical fruits, and anything that was out of season. They ate food as it came into season, when they canned or froze everything that they produced. Quart after quart of tomatoes and tomato sauce, along with dried tomatoes and frozen everything carried them through the whole winter. Her youngest daughter Lilly raised chickens that graced the Sunday dinner table and eventually produced enough eggs to feed the family and to sell to the neighbors. They raised turkeys and actually kept them long enough to breed (did you know that every broad breasted white sold at thanksgiving is less than 6 months old and bred by means of artificial insemination.) She said when one of hers finally hatched some chicks that the mother was one of the oldest turkeys in the country (about a year old).

Along with her narrative, the book also includes a variety of her husband Steven’s essays on everything from the high cost to the environment of shipping food across the country, not just the cost of transportation but the damage to the ecology of the planet, the reduction of food quality, flavor and nutrition, the downside of genetic modified foods, the danger of the loss of agricultural variety and heirloom varieties. I could never understand what was wrong with Genetically Modified foods, I certainly do now.

Barbara’s older daughter Camille has also contributed her reflections to the book, about the advantages of organic, and about cooking and about leaving home for college and trying to apply what she had learned in that environment. There are loads of recipes and meals in the book, and they are available on line at www.AnimalVegetableMiracle.com.

I found it inspiring, enlightening, occasionally emotionally touching. It has moved me from casual interest in local foods, mostly because of taste and price, to a person who is and should be more a champion of eating local. I have not become convinced that I want to grow our own food, although we did a lot and canned and froze food early on in our marriage. We still grew tomatoes up until a few years ago, and I have potted herbs growing on our deck. We finally quit the tomatoes when I realized that we were mainly feeding our neighbors since we were on vacation at the peak of the harvest; and my tomatoes came in at the same time that they became abundant in the farmer’s markets. At 65 I don’t intend to go back into farming; but here and where we will be retiring next year there is an abundance of farmers markets and farm stands, and others tell me that there are places to buy local all year long close to Hartford. An added advantage to moving to costal North Carolina is being able to get fresh seafood right off the boats when they dock. Just a sampling of what is available to us includes a wonderful market at Billings Forge on Broad Street, Hartford, south of Capitol Ave – open about 11 AM to 2 PM Mondays and Thursdays. Monday, Wednesday and Friday is a market at the Old State House, about the same hours. I was there today and got a quart of Strawberries and a cucumber. The greens that probably looked wonderful at 10 AM did not look so fresh at 1:30 PM so I passed them by. I will be at Billings Forge soon after they open tomorrow. One or two farmers will be in our parking lot at the Church on Mondays beginning July 7, 2008. I know there is a market on Laurel Street in Hartford and another at the United Methodist Church at Farmington and Whitney. We often go to the West Hartford Market on LaSalle Road in the Center, it is Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. A quick internet search did not turn up a complete and current list of farmer’s markets but here is last year’s Department of Agriculture List. Of course this doesn’t include a multiple of farm stands that become numerous as you get outside the central Urban area to places like Granby, Simsbury, South Glastonbury, Manchester, etc.

Eating local has suddenly become immensely popular perhaps outstripping the interest in eating organic. For the best of the best find organic farmers and organic farmers markets, and they are not hard to find. One of the farmers who was at the Church last year was certified organic, and the one who will be back engages in many organic practices and uses little or no non-organic pesticides on most of their crops.

I recommend the book as a marvelous read, and the local foods movement as strongly as I can. Reading the book can be an adventure and education that could change your life.