Let's face it.  I don't just love Barbara Kingsolver's work, I want to BE Barbara Kingsolver.  More so than ever, after reading her non-fiction narrative, written with her husband and teenage daughter, about a year of raising their own food and being part of the local food scene.  Their goal was to get off of the petroleum-based food system (foods flown, trucked, shipped from all over the world, using far more energy than is produced by the consumption of the food's calories), and renew their relationship with the land that had supported generations of people before them.

Before I finished reading, I made a trip to the local farmer's market to buy carrots, one of my favorite veggies to buy locally.  Fresh, pale orange, just-pulled-from-the-ground carrots.  And they taste nothing like those soapy, lathed, "baby carrots" available in the grocery store.  See, I was a believer before I even picked up the book.  But Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is a book that makes doing more seem very possible.

Barbara Kingsolver pens the narrative, an engaging, month-by-month look at their garden -- from the first asparagus to the last squashes -- and all of the adventures in between: raising turkeys, canning tomatoes for weeks on end, cookies with zucchini hidden in them, and "harvesting" poultry.  Her husband contributed short, informational articles on how people can take action in support of local foods, the environment, small farms, organic foods, slow foods, and making bread.  Daughter Camille provided a teen's perspective on the project, as well as recipes and weekly menus.  Lily, the younger daughter, contributed greatly to the humor of the book, as well as the spirit of innocence, wonder, and entrepreneurialism (she started an organic egg business). The "Hoppsolver" family raises many of the issues common in today's dialogue about food safety, ethics, and the industrial food machine without ever sounding preachy or unrealistic.  Putting the kitchen and dinner table back at the center of family life is as much the message of the book as supporting local growers. 

Here is a short excerpt from page 129, addressing the idea of cooking with organic foods being too expensive:

"For a dedicated non-cook, the first step is likely the hardest: convincing oneself it's worth the trouble in terms of health and household economy, let alone saving a junked-up world.  It really is.  Cooking is the great divide between good eating and bad.  The gains are quantifiable: cooking and eating at home, even with quality ingredients, costs pennies on the dollar compared with meals prepared by a restaurant or factory.  Shoppers who are daunted by the high price of organics may be looking at bar codes on boutique-organic prepared foods, not actual vegetables.  A quality diet is not an elitist option for the do-it-yourselfer.  Globally speaking, people consume more soft drinks and packaged foods as they grow more affluent; home-cooked meals of fresh ingredients are the mainstay of rural, less affluent people.  This link between economic success and nutritional failure has become so wide-spread, it has a name: the nutrition transition." 

By relying on simple meals during the week, using her Crock-Pot (named Mrs. Cleaver) to make soups, saving more labor-intensive recipes for the weekend, and doubling the recipe for anything complicated to make the most of leftovers, Kingsolver streamlines meals while making them tasty, healthy, and good for the local economy, as well as the environment.  Who knew dinner could make such an impact?  We all, I think we all did.  It's just a matter of commitment.

So go already!  It's spring!  Find a farmer's market and treat yourself to seasonal produce grown locally.  You'll be glad you did.