Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Ch. 18-20

January may seem like a very scary time for those trying to eat fresh, local foods. As the temperature drops and the ground freezes, Farmers' Markets close and fresh options start to dwindle. However, Barbara Kingsolver makes clear that you really can eat any and every food fresh in the winter months... if you think ahead. Thanks to their foresight and hours of canning, bagging, and freezing in the summer, the Kingsolver family was able to enjoy vegetables, fruits, herbs, and meats throughout the winter. Many people tend to think of frozen food as unappealing and stale, but this assumption is false. As long as people are willing to preserve foods fresh in the summer, they can enjoy them any time in the future. While the Kingsolvers did miss their imported Alaskan salmon in the winter, they found a delicious source of the same omega-3 fatty , acids in pasture-fed beef, a painless solution to the lack of fresh fish. Surprisingly, cooking and baking were almost easier in the winter due to the accessibility of a myriad of fresh foods that the family had previously canned. In retrospect, Kingsolver was very satified with the hard work her family had accomplished during the summer because it made winter that much easier.

Kingsolver also reflected upon the time, energy, and money that her family had invested in their new lifestyle. After some number crunching, she found that her family had saved a sizeable sum of $7,500 and spent roughly two dollars per meal. Not only were they saving their health and the environment, but they were also saving a substantial amount of money. In addition to the savings, the family's farming habits also provided a relaxing escape from the everyday world of work, school, and stress. As the Kingsolvers looked to February, the "hungry month," their situation truly seemed promising.

As the days left in February began to disappear, so did the food in the Kingsolver's pantry; they would make it out of the cruel winter months on the food they had left. Much to her dismay, Kingsolver suspected that her "droopy" turkey hen had contracted roundworm. However, when the hen tried to mate with her husband, the suspicion was dropped, and the difficult research of turkey mating commenced. Eventually, the family brought turkeys into their own sort of honeymoon suite where they could happily mate as much as their little turkey hearts desired. I now know much more than I ever intended or wanted to know about turkey mating, and frankly, it is not a pleasant description. The turkeys did in fact successfully, and effectively, mate to produce incredible quantities of eggs, but none of the hens made much of an effort to care for the eggs, usually abandoning them in their nests or in the yard. Despite the setback, Kingsolver was determined to raise all-natural turkeys hatched and raised by their mothers; she resisted the temptation to purchase an incubator. Eventually, the turkeys embraced motherhood and, much to their owners' pride, hatched several chicks.

As Kingsolver brought the novel to a close, she reflected upon the journey she and her family had taken. The dramatic change in the families patterns of eating and living represent so much more than simply choosin healthier food; the switch is the very struggle between today's food industry and the food of the past: real, fresh, hearty food straight from the ground. The quest to eat naturally and responsibly comes from the desire to truly make a life change and commit to it without excessive complaint and frustration. By taking baby steps towards more responsible food choices, we can truly reform the malignant food industry. Barbara Kingsolver completely, radically changed her family's life in just a year; everyday we can put in a little extra effort to fight the good fight and choose responsible, local, fresh food. We owe it to ourselves, our environment, and our future.

I'm sorry, but turkeys are just not the most majestic creatures... especially now that I have a fairly extensive knowledge of their mating habits...

Animal.Vegetable.Miracle.

As September rolls around most people think of leaves falling and school starting, but the Kingsolver family thinks about the harvest that is quickly approaching. Harvest day rolls around, and at first this was hard for the family. Most Americans think of animals as pets but the Kingsolver's had to find a way to distance themselves. But, they chose not to distance themselves the same way that the food industry does. Instead, their animals live on the open range, not in a coup or in a factory. Harvest time is an exciting time of year. It has become a celebration.One year they invited another family to join in the activities. This family had just lost a son so to Barbara it was a tough situation to surround this family with death. She realized that the only time they think of death is waking up each morning without their son or brother. The killing of chickens is completely different. While the guests our there, they all help in the harvesting process. The process of killing a chicken is vividly described: catch it, hang it upside down to lull it to sleep, then cut its head off, put it in the boiler so the feathers come off easily, but then pluck each and every feather. Some farms have machines to do this but for now the Kingsolvers do it by hand. Everyone has a little fun with it, cracking jokes and rounding up the chickens. It is a fun day that ends in a celebration as the adults sit down to a few beers and the kids play together in the yard. The harvest is exciting for all the attend.

After the harvest in September, Barbara and her husband decide to take a trip to Italy. After 10 years of marriage, this trip is timely. For Barbara, it is hard for her to leave her garden. Two hours before her flight she is ready to plant some new seeds she just received in the mail. Her husband stops her as the harvest is over and it is time to relax. After finding arrangements for the kids, they leave for Italy for TWO WEEKS. This is a long time away from home for them. They made the pledge to not in genetically modified foods so as they arrive they are trying to find somewhere to eat. They find a wedding reception and crash it in the back, eating the food prepared for th employees. This is just some American crap, the left overs, this is the minimum three course meal, standard in Italy. You might think this is just for dinner, but it is not. It is for lunch and dinner. And, it is considered rude to refuse a course. The cook will think something is wrong with the cooking. But, surprisingly, Italians are not fat. Why? Because all of the products are locally grown, not made in factories like our food. The neighboring towns have competitions. Each say that their olive oil is the best, but all our the best of the best. Italy vacations are a little different than American vacations. In Italy, guests stay in agriturismos. These are family run farms that house tourists. It is a lucrative business but all profits go back in to farming. While driving a rental car, Barbara and her husband stop by a local farmer's market and fall in love with a pumpkin. Speaking no English, the grower convinces them to buy the pumpkin and take it back to their agriturismo. He says to take it in the kitchen and request that the cook cooks it. They do just that. But, they keep the seeds to take back to the U.S. The rest of their trip revolves around drying out these seeds. At the conclusion of their trip, they see a sign in all Italian that translates to, "You can taste our dirt" and they did just that (Kingsolver, 258).

After September, naturally October comes along. They return from their trip and observe all of the fall and Halloween decorations. Pumpkins galore! Random fact: "A pumpkin is the largest vegetable we consume" (Kingsolver, 264). After the pumpkin experience in Italy, Barbara decides to experiment with pumpkins in her cooking. As she pulls out a recipe, it calls for canned pumpkins. She realizes that Americans do not even know how to cook a real pumpkin. So she is on a mission. Though things do not quite turn out the way she planned, the food does taste delicious (though it looked a little rough). Also, in October the freeze came that knocks out the crops. This is always sad for the family even though they know it is coming each year. It is a shock! Barbara speaks of the vivid memories she recalls from growing up on a farm and hopes when her kids think of family they have some of the same thoughts.

November and December are the "Celebration Days" with All Saints Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. All great reasons to gather together with friends and family and have a feast. Contrary to SnackGirl, Barbara enjoys the holidays as a way to bake good food, not the junk that is typically acquainted with the holiday. After many years of all local foods, buying cranberries for Thanksgiving was uncomfortable.  In these cold months, the family does fine lots to eat especially from crops that grow underground. And waitng for the frosts to hit in order to make the apples sweeter is worth the wait. In the mean time, Barbara's daughter decides to create a business. She is going to raise chickens and sell their eggs in colored containers. Her mother teaches her the dynamics of a business with expenses so they work together; Barbara gets free eggs and her daughter gets room and board for the chickens. Who knew such valuable life lessons could be taught to a nine year old on a farm?

-Sarah Ouderkirk

ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, BEING ABLE TO BLOG=MIRACLE

Hey. So after reading this book thing I'm taking a whole new perspective on food. I mean my mom and I already shop at whole foods constantly and we eat organic as much as we can, but I really want to take this idea to a new level. First I'm making it my new new years resolution to recycle (I've been meaning to get on it for years but never got around to it); second my family and I plan on making some raised beds in our backyard and plant a garden. We have a half an acre of land and there is nothing growing in it except monster grass. I'm not kidding, one time a couple summers ago I didn't mow it for like a month and the grass got up to my waste. I had to mow it all later and it was like trying to mow the Serengeti Plains. Not fun. There were grasshoppers the length of a new pencil and once or twice we've seen a possum that is about half of the size of Maisy; so pretty much my backyard is an uncultivated wilderness beckoning to be used. After we build these raised beds over sb I also want to start composting our food wastes; this will just reduce my carbon footprint on the world and also give our garden a little extra boost here and there. My ultimate dream, though, is to have a couple of chickens so that there would be fresh eggs for breakfast every week. It would be awesome (except for the mutant possum). The only problemo is that padre ain't so hot on the idea so it probably won't happen. Really I just want to be able to help my parents save money on food and start reducing my contributions to green house gas emissions, and along the way there would be great food: it's a win win situation. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle was a great book and it addressed a lot of pertinent issues about small farming that I had never thought about. My favorite part of the book was when Babs and her family visited David and Elsie's farm in Ohio; the quaintness of their farm and the integrity of the food was so awesome. Overall it was a good book.

St. Patrick's Day..Hurting our Health

SnackGirl made an interesting comment.. Most holidays celebrated in the US are detrimental to our health. Starting with St. Patrick Day as McDonalds has green shakes and people make beer green. Althoung St. Patrick's Day is just one day out of the year when we add all the other unhealthy holidays...
Easter and Valentines--> candy
Super Bowl Sunday--> Doritos
Independence Day--> Hot Dogs
IT REALLY STARTS TO ADD UP.
Check out the rest of her rant here.

Animal Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life Chh. 8-10

When Emma lent me her copy of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. It immediately crossed my mind to just skim the words, skip a few pages, and post a blog--it's Saturday night and I have a couch, an episode of Friends, and sleep calling my name. What a party. However, when I started reading page 111 of chapter 8, I couldn't stop reading.
On average, U.S. citizens spend a lower proportion of their income on food. This is less than any other country or even in history. So many times we sacrifice our need to have healthy food in order to purchase superfluous luxuries like high-speed internet, new cars, Gucci bags, etc. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we forsake these things and start living on the bare essentials of life, but Kingsolver develops her argument in chapter 8 when she compares the "elite privilege" of eating organic vs. the actual price of conventional foods. Although many complain about the price of organic crops, many don't realize the actual price for their "cheap" industrially grown food. Our tax dollars fund the petroleum used in growing, processing, and shipping these crops. Americans also fund (with our tax dollars) large-scale, chemical-dependent farms. In addition, we pay for the environmental and health costs of that method of production. Instead of this, we could just be paying for the actual organic product itself...a product that would be locally grown. Now, you tell me if organic is more expensive.
After finishing chapter 9 of Barbara Kingsolver's book, I view cooking in a completely different in light. I refuse take part in majority of people who don't even know how to cook! Cooking isn't just about the eating (even if that's my favorite part). It can actually lead to new discoveries (exotic fruits/vegetables) that we would never think of trying. However, when talking about making her own softcheese, Kingsolver described it as a fairly simple process. She even included a recipe that only takes 30 minutes....I'm determined to make my own mozzarella cheese by the end of the semester. My Italian grandmother will be so proud.
One of the most striking facts that Kingsolver shared in chapter 10, was the statistic that buying goods from local businesses rather than national chains actually stimulates our economy 3 times. So rather than stay in this recession, let's eat locally! A simple solution.
Now, I'm going to go enjoy the gorgeous 81 degree weather and have some dinner outside. An extremely simple recipe Kingsolver included was the Summertime Salad. You'll need

2 large tomatoes
1 ball of mozzarella
Basil leaves
Olive oil
Salt to taste

Slice tomatoes and spread them out on your plate. Place a thing slice of cheese and a basil leaf on each slice of tomato. Drizzle olive oil over top, sprinkle with salt, and serve.

I'm pretty sure that took me less than 5 minutes to do. Now, you try!

                              
                             

So this whole assignment but especially the book animal vegetable miracle has inspired me to becmore aware of what I eat. So I decided to start my very owm mini garden in tribute to the Kingslover clan. I am growing all herbs such as cilantro (my favorite!), oregano, and basil.
I just planted it this weekend so this picture doesnt show much progress yet by I am hopwfu for success!!!
I tried to get my parents to let mw raise chickens but to no avail :(

Let's be honest.  Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is not the first book most high schoolers turn to when looking for something to read.  I fully expected another angry rant about the dangers of processed food.  I get it, i thought to myself, do not go to McDonalds.  However, when I started reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, i was hooked.  Needless to say, Kingsolver's combination of witty anecdotes, endearing memories, and real-life reason for eating organic far exceeded my expectations.  In chapter five, Kingsolver talks about the origins of her family farm, the legend of a goat named Charley, and the dying treasure of the widely criticized tobacco industry.  I was wishing I could come along as I read about hunting for what Kingsolver is sure is the tastiest mushroom in the world.  Kingsolver pulled at my heart when she shared the plight of the small farmer and how tobacco was the reason her parents were able to send her to college.  I found myself chuckling when i delved into chapter six and learned of a third grader's transformation from a chicken lover to a chicken farmer saying, "We'll only kill the mean ones."  And when Kingsolver described the organic feast she prepared for her fiftieth birthday party, I can't say I wasn't just a little jealous.  Each chapter is concluded with a recipe after a short reflection from Kingsolver's daughter.  This book does a good job of convincing people that eating local is a good choice while simultaneously tempting readers with mouthwatering, organic recipes.  After reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I'm sold, not just on the importance of eating locally, but on the joys of a simple lifestyle.

Here's the recipe for the strawberry rhubarb crisp served at Barbara Kingsolver's birthday...

3 cups strawberries, halved

3 cups rhubarb, chopped

1/2 cup honey

   mix together thoroughly and place in an 8-by-8-inch ungreased pan.

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup brown sugar (or a bit more, to taste)

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/3 cup butter

   mix until crumbly, sprinkle over fruit mixture, and bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes, until golden.

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