I actually just got it from the library on Monday. Haven't started to read it yet, though. From what I've read, it is a good book, although the author comes off as somewhat "pleased with herself". Not sure what that means since I haven't read it yet, but that's the scoop I've heard. Looking forward to getting started on it.

:)
Dee

I'll get it, I'd love to have a book discussion thread and I'm getting a little impatient with the book I'm pretending to be reading, House of Mirth.

Kingsolver can be a little grating, and I'm still disappointed that she stopped writing about her old characters in the southwest; those were great books. Prodigal Summer was a good example of her most irritating writing flaws, imho, but it was still worth reading.

Just threw my book in my beach bag so I thought I would nudge others to pick it up as well, I am dying to discuss.

I hope that those who are interested in this discussion have finished and enjoyed this book as much as I did. I thought she did a terrific job in preventing their year long experiment from becoming yet another preachy if only you were as insightful as I commentary. I loved that they began this journey passionate about the purpose but still uncertain enough about their ability to pull it off, and set a clear time table of one year. I found the body of the work extremely well written, hugely informative, and inspiring enough to get me back in the kitchen (a room in my home that I have avoided at all cost for the last five years) cooking up tomatoes from my three tomatoes plants. I believe that there are numerous topics related to gardening in New England that we can pull from this body of work for the purpose of open frank discussion. For the benefit off those who have not had the chance to pick up this wonderful book but would like to be part of our discussion the below is an excerpt written by Steven L Hopp, Barbara Kingsolvers husband who teaches environmental studies at Emory and Henry College and conducts research in bioacoustics and the natural history of vireos.
Oily Food
Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into our refrigerators as our cars. WeÂre consuming about 400 gallons of fuel a year per citizen-about 17 percent of our nationÂs energy use-for agriculture, a close second to our vehicular use. Tractors, combines, harvesters, irrigation, sprayers, tillers, balers, and other equipment all use petroleum. Even bigger gas guzzlers on the farm are not the machines but the so called inputs. Synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides use oil and natural gas as their starting materials, and in their manufacturing. More than a quarter of all farming energy goes into synthetic fertilizers.
But getting the crop from seed to harvest takes only one fifth of the total oil used for our food. The lionÂs share is consumed during the trip from the farm to your plate. Each food item in a typical US meal has traveled an average of 1,500 miles. In addition to direct transport, other fuel thirsty steps include processing (drying, milling, cutting, sorting, baking), packaging, warehousing, and refrigeration. Energy calories consumed by production, packaging, and shipping far outweigh the energy calories we receive from food.
A quick way to improve food related fuel economy would be to buy a quart of motor oil and drink it. More palatable options are available. If every US citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our countryÂs oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. ThatÂs not gallons, but barrels. Small changes in buying habits can make big differences. Becoming a less energy dependant nation may just need to start with a good breakfast.
After reading this I have spent some time pondering, how successful is the international market place in terms of the average American? Not only do I question the safety of my imported food basket, but it appears Uncle Sam is red faced about Chinese imports (rightfully so), and today when looking to replace an antiquated computer (2 years old) I noted at the Dell web sight the following; as a key sales feature for the mid-higher cost computers, Corporate-grade security, service and North American-based support.

Katy, I just finished this book and enjoyed it immensely!

Like you, I, me, the one who HATES to cook, found myself in my kitchen making a spaghetti sauce from several pounds of tomatoes from my garden. I had to rest for three days afterward, but even my potentially-professional-chef husband proclaimed my sauce delicious!

I've always been *thoughtful* about what I buy and eat and feed my family, but now I find I am more willing to *act* on those thoughts. There is a small cattle farm about a mile away, and several months ago my husband mentioned the idea of buying a freezer and buying our beef from this farmer. Now I am seriously considering it, and am just waiting for the basement renovation to be done to be able to afford as well as fit a freezer downstairs.

And I, me, the one who HATES to cook, am currently reading one of those dummies books about canning and preserving! Whodathunkit??!! Until I feel comfortable doing that, I plan on doing lots of freezing in the next few weeks - at least as much will fit in my refrigerator-top freezer.

This year, I work at an organic farm about a mile away, so I have ready access to good quality organic produce. I've lived here for 11 years, but this is the first year I am consistently buying from them. Why did I wait so long? I drive by it four times a day....??

I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that this book has had an impact on me. My only concern is that people who read it are already leaning towards it's ideals anyway. I wish there were a way to get the general public to read it. I may suggest it as a book-discussion-group book at the library.

I also wish I had a family who would support me or agree with me enough to try an experiment like this. I'd love to try it myself.

:)
Dee

I have not read the book, but it sounds very interesting. To make life choices based upon which option uses more or less energy - this is something we may have to do a lot more of in the future not only to curb greenhouse gases but in the inevitable reality that oil reserves become depleted.

Does this book discuss how energy and resource intensive it is to produce meat? I remember reading "Diet for a Small Planet" many years ago, around 1974, which talked about how it takes 16 grams of protein from corn to produce 1 gram of protein from beef, and things like that. Also, I've heard that 50% of fresh water used in the US goes to agriculture, much of which is used to feed livestock.

I wonder how much energy would be saved if every citizen in the US had at least 1 meat-free day per week.

Terrene, she did go into that in a sense, but she is most decidedly not vegetarian! She raised and slaughtered her own turkeys and chickens, and went into the difference between allowing poultry (and other food animals) to have free range and eat their natural diet, as opposed to being squished in a barn unable to move and eating whatever is put in front of them in a trough. This has an effect not only on the animal, obviously, but on the environment. I can't remember off the top of my head how she referred to these giant animal farms, but the abbreviation was CAFO -???. Katy? Do you recall any more than my poor brain does?

There is also a very humorous section on the mating of turkeys. It seems that most turkeys raised for food nowadays are dead before they are mating age, and most mating is done artificially - which had an effect on her efforts to raise a breeding flock. I'll leave it at that in case you want to read the book yourself.

:)
Dee

Dee,
I believe for a number of years their family were vegetarians but for the purpose of this book agreed to raise and eat meat. According to Camille, Barbara Kingsovers daughter a majority of the beef raised in our country are CAFO which in essence means they spend the first half of their life in a field but they are sent to feed lots to fatten up on foods that would usually cause death but as they are going to be slaughtered that is of little concern. On the other hand, if cattle remain on the pasture right to the end, that kind of beef is called "grass finished". The differences between this and CAFO beef are just not relevant to how kindly you feel about animals: meat and eggs of pastured animals also have measurably different nutrient composition. A lot of recent research has been published on this subject, which is slowly reaching the public. USDA studies found much lower levels of saturated fats and higher vitamin E, beta-carotene, and omega-3 levels in meat from cattle fattened on pasture grasses (their natural diet), compared with CAFO animals.
terrene,
Although our discussion so far may be a bit off topic you should know that the main premise of the book is about eating locally.

Oh dear sorry if I've strayed a bit off topic...eating locally makes a lot of sense in terms of energy use, health of the environment, etc. I regularly buy produce and other products from the local farmers in season - and grow a few vegetables myself.

I've read some about production of livestock and those CAFO's sound pretty disgusting. Not to mention what goes on in slaughterhouses. They treat living, breathing animals like they are inanimate objects, packing them into cages as tightly as possible to raise and transport them, and then killing (hopefully) and cutting them up in a production line as quickly as possible.

Does the author have suggestions about how to get more people to eat locally grown food?

Does the author have suggestions about how to get more people to eat locally grown food?
Terrene,
One of the wonderful analogies made early on in the book was written by Camille when she learned at a young age that dictating to people what they should or shouldn't eat is as wrong as trying to dictate to others what god they should worship. I felt the book had an optimistic tone and certainly laid out specific ways you could make changes (even folks who lived in urban settings)and what the impact of those changes would make to the individual and environment. The back of the book has pages of different organizations involved in local food, sustainable agriculture, government organizations, food policy organization, ect. If that all wasn't enough they have put together a web page.

While usually just a lurker on the NE Gardening Forum, this
post "twisted my arm" to contribute. . .

Like Dee suggested above, this book had a significant
impact on me, so much so that I've already "gifted" it to
four other friends. Serendipitously, a friend had introduced me to a CSA farm (organic, but not "officially")
last season, and on a whim I signed on for this season.
In late May, another friend gave me Kingsolver's book as an
early birthday present - just as the season's harvests were
beginning on the farm. The combination of word and deed
was transformational !

Now, after my Monday picking/pick-up day at the farm, that night or part of Tuesday is set
aside for "putting by" (something I haven't done since the
60's!) - canning, freezing, dehydrating - it is actually
astounding the amount of food I have preserved. . .and
every Monday night, I call the dear friend (a fine cook)
who gave me the book and decide which goodies I'll be
bringing for our "cook together" session that week.

Over the summer months, I've tracked a local source of
"free-range" eggs (multi-colored beauties, and I can visit
with the hens anytime I like!). . .located three sources
of grass-fed beef, lamb, chicken and pork (expensive, yes,
but the quality is amazing!). . .signed up with a local
orchard where I pick my own sour cherries, peaches, pears,
apples.

If I'm so "into" food, why don't I just grow it myself?
Because, like many of us, my smallish suburban plot could
not even begin to offer the range of produce I'm finding
elsewhere - even so, blueberries, raspberries, elderberries, blackberries, rhubarb, garlic and a full range of herbs have always been a part of my perennial gardens.

How has this affected my schedule? Somewhat, but not as
much as one might assume - where once a couple of us might
share a picnic in a State Park near-by, now we share the
same picnic while picking fruit. Getting together with a
friend to preserve food can be a blast (try not to be
laughing too much while working with the water bath!) -
and I certainly haven't heard any complaints from the folks
who have been sharing my bounty. It's all actually possible, just a re-ordering of priorities and making the
whole "food" issue PART of your life, rather than just "one
more thing I have to do. . ."

Incidentally, the PERFECT companion reading to Kingsolver's
book, is another fascinating read by Michael Polan called
"The Omnivore's Dilemma" - he is a botanist by profession,
with that rare gift of being able to clearly lay out other-
wise fairly dense (even scientific) material in an entertaining and profoundly logical fashion. Highly reccomended!! (and now available in paperback)

Carl

Carl, you should post more often! Great post!

I'm glad to see that this book has had as big an impact on you as it has had on me - and let's hope many others.

I've done some internet searching, and it is really pleasantly surprising the number of small farms in the area that do offer grass-fed, free-range beef, pork, and poultry. It might be an hour's drive or so, and yes, it is expensive, but I think I will give it a try. Again, if one has a freezer, one can buy in bulk and save money.

While my family has never eaten a lot of fast food, take-out food, or processed foods to begin with (i.e. mixes, instant add-water-and-you're-done-meals, etc.), we do eat lots of foods that have additives, preservatives, etc. I mean, you can't really eat anything off the shelf nowadays without some ingredient in it that you can do without. For instance, after a quick check of my kitchen:

loaf of packaged white bread - may contain sodium stearoyl lactylate, dicalcium phosphate, calcium propionate...and so on.

can of soup - monosodium glutamate, hydrolyzed corn protein, autolyzed yeast extract

bottle of ketchup - high fructose corn syrup

I mean, I don't even know what some of these things are, and I'm not saying they are necessarily bad and evil, but I don't know. And do we really need them?

So what I have to do is really think about every purchase. How many people make their kids a tuna sandwich on white and think it's a healthy nutritional lunch, but don't think about the additives? I know I never really did. I guess I knew that they were there somehow, but never knew(and still don't know) exactly what they are and why they are there. So I have to educate myself and then decide if I want to make other choices.

I don't know if I could ever eat exclusively organically or locally, at least not as things stand now. I can't give up my genetically modified H*ersh*y's syrup if my life depended on it (chocolate milk is to me as coffee is to others!), and I love the pizza at my local Italian restaurant, and growing up with a grandfather who worked for H*ost*ss, I have a life-long love of their cupcakes (that admission alone will get me thrown off any sustainable forums I belong to, lol!)

But I'm working on it! My changes this year include growing (and preserving) more of my own vegetables, buying from the local organic farms, and reading labels more carefully. I just picked up a pasta maker today to make my own pasta, and I think I will go back to making my own bread. I love to bake but its so time consuming. I have to prioritize, as was mentioned above, and make time for this.

I also realized the other day in the grocery store that all summer, I've barely been down the inner aisles to shop, which they say is a good thing! (Okay, okay, I did go down aisle 7 on a regular basis to get my supply of H*ersh*y's syrup! But not a cupcake in months!)

:)
Dee

Dee and Carl,
Your enthusiasm is palpable and I must admit while making small changes I have yet to can anything or make fresh pasta. Carl raised a good point that doing this more labor intensive work in the kitchen really takes two people to cut back some of the invested time. I love my CSA and it's present location is being threatened by prospective developers. The farmer has been attempting to raise through various organizations enough funds (over 2 million)to purchase the farm. I am waiting with baited breath that my community makes this a priority. Funny how we are willing to protect different land and buildings for their historic, environmental, or vista, but have yet to realise the importance of protecting small organic farms. I have attached a link to my CSA's web page and hope that you would do the same I would love to read about other CSA's. kt

Some Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in MA are listed at the link below. I was surprised that there's one listed in my town that I had not heard about, and the one I DO know of isn't listed. Maybe there's a better list someplace else.

>Funny how we are willing to protect different land and buildings for their historic, environmental, or vista, but have yet to realise the importance of protecting small organic farms.

There's a BIG problem in my town because a certain type of agriculture (cranberry bogs) has taken place on a certain environmentally sensitive habitat, a small river that happens to have been the cape's largest herring run. This is not in any sense community agriculture, as every single berry is taken off-cape, but raising objections to this particular business makes one an "enemy of agriculture". I really hope this can be settled amicably, because I miss being able to talk farming with actual farmers. I buy local produce, but only at a local market; don't think I'm welcome on the biggest farm in town. Actually, a few farming friends smuggle me local produce too, but that's top secret. (Shh.)

I think I finally found the book, it's sold out at our 2 main bookstores but the children's bookstore has it. It will probably be November before I'm ready to talk about it! But thanks all for the reviews and other great info on this thread.

Here's a better list; the one at UMass was really out of date.

This one lists our local CSA as an organic farm, which it's not, but it's pretty close to being one. Looks like an interesting web site, too.

Nice link dtd!

I've seen the sign on Bournedale Road in Buzzards Bay for a farm stand, but it's always been closed. Turns out it's open on Saturdays from 10 to 2 and they have CSA memberships.

Claire

I looked a little deeper into what is behind that modest hand lettered sign on Bournedale Road.

They delliver to Cambridge/Somerville and to Plymouth, or you can pick up at the farm. The season is mid-June to the end of October. I'll look into it next year.

Claire

There are a lot more farms in SE NE than I realized - they don't need to be CSA farms to be better than supermarkets, I guess.

This link looks really good; I found it while looking for Crow Farm, which is in Sandwich (on the Cape). Click on "on-line farm guide" to get a list of farms. The site doesn't quite have the logic worked out right, so I actually found lots of farms when I searched for peaches, but only one when I put in my zip code.

Hi all. I haven't logged on in ages, was just checking for the CT plant swap and saw this. I read this book this summer and it has been like a religious conversion!!! I too, have always leaned this way, but I swear that I was ready to call in a tree surgeon and get rid of our acre of woods for a huge garden right then and there. I ordered the cheesemaking kit and have made my own mozzarella and told my husband we're getting chickens. His head was spinning! I am actually reading it a second time so I can pay closer attention to some of the details. I have told everyone I know about it and know that there are three people that have or are reading it right now! Word of mouth really works! We belong to a CSA in CT and love getting the produce each week, but I feel that this year after reading this book, I appreciated it even more. I made much more of a concerted effort to use up everything - sometimes it is impossible to eat all of it before it goes bad. I have a freezer full of soups and frozen items that last year I just never got around too. I really liked Kingsolver's idea of "fast food" that which you put in the freezer or can for the winter. It makes a lot of sense and I know that come January, I will really appreciate it. keep spreading the word and maybe we will make a real conversion to local sustainable agriculture!
Sarah

For those interested in just learning more about the
basic concept of a CSA, I've included a link to my farm
here in New Jersey. . .it's pretty astonishing what some
of these places can do! Just click on the tab for "This
Week" and drool over what I just picked up today. . . Now,
admittedly, finding this farm was dumb luck - researching
it after-the-fact, I was astonished to discover it was the
oldest organic farm in NJ, with a full 2,000 shareholders!

Carl

Thanks everyone for sharing the CSA info I didn't realise there were so many in SE MA it was interesting to see who was growing what. Carl, Honey Brook Farm has similar offerings as my CSA and another thing they seem to share that I can't emphasize enough is the opportunity to stop and change the rhythm of your day by spending some time each week on a farm observing how and what can be grown in your community, taking time to chat with neighbors under a big sky alive with nature rather than in a hurried grocery under fluorescent lights.
I thought we all might post what excerpt from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, still resonates with you. I suppose like svgarden I should re-read this book as my aging memory is beginning to fail, but I will never forget that it is US chemical companies that own the vast majority of seed companies and what they are doing with genetic modification by introducing "terminator genes" as well as manipulating the seed/plant to be dependant on chemical applications for the plants success is to me just down right scary. Included in that whole scenario is the fact that seed varieties have become so limited that US consumers now eat less than one percent of the varieties that were grown here a century ago.

Don't even get me started on the Farm Bill. We had a great thread about this last spring, as I recall. AgriBusiness is a long way from AgriCulture!

Hi All -

I still haven't read the Kingsolver book, but on a recent trip I plowed *most* of the way through the Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. It's ... dense, but really interesting. He talks about the hidden costs of the industrial food chain (fossil fuels, ruined rural communities, national health, and the treatment of livestock in CAFOs, among other costs).

He compares this to local agriculture, to "organic industrial" (Earthbound Farms, for example) and to the shortest food chain, that of the hunter-gatherer. He talks about how the heavily subsidized mountain of American "commodity corn" is effecting the quality of food around the world. He even contends that grass-fed beef may be more healthful than the corn-fed salmon now being sold.

My book group read this book while I was away, and I don't think everyone enjoyed it; one friend said: "I found Omnivore painful, interesting, but not suitable for pleasure reading. Great book for Christmas." Not sure if the last part was tongue in cheek or not.

After reading this book, I am checking labels and trying to avoid products that contain corn or corn syrup - and that's pretty much everything on the shelves at the supermarket! I hope to pick up Animal, Vegetable after I get through a short stack of books I need to read for various other reasons, and thought you might want to know about the Pollan book too.

I think I'll pick this book up this weekend. I thought I'd mention that you'd never believe how good a freshly laid egg tastes. It is so much more "eggier"! I have a small flock of birds this year and am now getting fresh eggs every day-can't be beat. If you can find a local source, go for it. You'll never go back to the store bought ones again.