(These notes and the commentaries that follow are a Facebook project based on Barbara Kingsolver's book "ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE A Year of Food Life." Each week a project member writes a response based on one chapter of the book. Together we read and talk our way through a year in the life of Kingsolver and her family. This Intermezzo was authored by Bob Jenkins.)
Spring Break is Over, Get Back to Work
When Sheryl Karas asked me what happened to the project, I stammered . . . ah . . . Spring Break! She was gracious enough to accept that excuse, saying "works for me." Actually, after my son left to serve in Afghanistan with the Marines, I needed a couple of months to get my head together. I was also teaching a couple of seminars on "Eating Locally in Nevada County" and putting in my own garden--on time this year!
So there are my excuses, but now it's time to roll up my sleeves and turn over the compost pile of this project and see who's still alive down there. If you're still wiggling around, grab a hoe and join me down among the vegetables. It's late June in Kingsolver's year, just as it is here where you are. Perfect timing.
Today's post is about my CSA, Riverhill Farm, and my garden. The next post will be about chapter 11 "Slow Food Nations" in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I'll write that one as well, to get us jump-started.
First pick-up at Riverhill Farm, last Monday, was a bit scrawny, especially after our unusually cold, wet spring. All the farmers are a month behind.
But I don't mind that. I like knowing that the size of the weekly allotment, and the variety, will increase as the summer weeks go by. I like feeling connected to the variability, the ups and downs, surprises and disappointments of actually eating in tune with my farm. Some months you feast on the bounty, some months you tighten the belt, simplify, and eat smaller portions.
Wait a minute? Simplify and eat smaller portions? You know, and I know, that's what we should be doing anyway, right?
In Monday's box we got spring garlic, fennel, herb bouquet, beets, arugula, kohlrabi, young greens, polenta, apricots, and . . . you-pick-em . . . fresh strawberries! The rule at Riverhill is that you can eat strawberries as you pick your basket. Organic strawberries, warm from the sun, right from the plant, pop into your mouth. They EXPLODE in a burst of warm red sweetness. Some of the juice just has to run down your chin, yes? Oh my, stoned again.
As I was departing with my box of food, I looked out into the fields where 4 or 5 interns, young men and women, were working. An internship at Riverhill is coveted, hard to come by. I was pleased to know that young people were still interested in entering into this profession, modern sustainable farming. As I slowly drove past, they stopped working, looked up at me, smiled and waved. That's when I really got high.
On the way home I stopped at Briarpatch, the local organic and natural food store, to fill in around the edges of my scrawny Riverhill produce. Then boogied on home to make our traditional Monday Night Feast. I picked a little spinach from my own garden.
There you have 3 of the 6 main ways to eat locally and support agricultural localism in your own county: (1) join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), (2) shop at grocery stores that buy local food, and (3) grow your own food.
Here are a few photos of my garden taken a little while ago.
Comments(0)