Begin at the beginning

I've been trudging through The End of Food by Paul Roberts as the starting point for the literary side of my garden education. The End of Food takes a look at the national and international food system, delving into its history and outlining its current weaknesses and failings. It's rough going - the book is confirming facts I already suspected/knew about the food industry/system, but does so through VERY. THOROUGH. reporting. Not the easiest read.

The End of Food did, however, get me thinking about my passion for just food. My path began at the beginning. Food has always, always been important to my family. My mother is an excellent daily cook, with tried and true recipes for everyday life. My father is an excellent gourmet cook, with recipes for weekends and special occasions. We don't just eat food, we EAT FOOD. We love it. When I was growing up, we hardly had any processed foods in our house. We rarely went out to eat and rarely had tv-dinner nights. A love for food was instilled into my brothers, my sister and me.

Fast-forward to April of 2009. I was sunk deep in the misery of post-high-school-graduation food habits, despite the fact that I had graduated high school 6 years earlier. My freezer was packed with delicacies such as chicken nuggets, corn dogs and fries. These were supplemented with excellent culinary choices including Kraft mac n' cheese, Pop Tarts and Hamburger Helper. It was easy, I wasn't visibly unhealthy, why not?

Then, on a day in April, I picked up a copy of The Local Table, a Nashville publication about Middle TN agriculture. I settled in with a cup of Mexican hot chocolate at Ugly Mugs and opened the magazine. I read about young farmers in the Middle Tennessee area. These people were no different than me - they came from non-farming backgrounds, yet discovered a passion for good food and good agricultural practices and dived in headfirst.

That magazine sparked something wonderful. Over the spring and across the summer, I walked down a new path. I started to experiment with cooking. I became a regular at the East Nashville farmers market, every Wednesday from 3-6. I watched Food, Inc. and learned about the corruption that makes up the food industry. I gradually eased into vegetarianism, at first attempting to hold on to my favorite meat addiction by being a Chick-fil-a-tarian then finally embracing the new mindset that came with that dietary choice. I visited a small local farm and began to buy a CSA (community supported agriculture) share from that farm. I bought less processed food, buying organic-only and mainly from local grocery stores. I not only ate food, but I thought about food. I not only thought about food, I thought about those whose blood, sweat and tears went into its creation.

And I talked talked talked about what I was learning, the new things I was seeing. In doing so I discovered that so many people I knew had similar desires to see our food system change, similar fascination with the natural things we have so fallen out of touch with. Things are changing in a very exciting way. I'm not the only one, there are people before and after me on this path that I am so blessed to be on.

It is not a coincidence that I picked up that magazine so unsuspectingly. It is not a coincidence that this passion for just food has been sparked. This seed was planted with as much thought and care as the seeds we will bury in the garden this spring. All I can do is give thanks and reap the rewards that are already pouring into my life in such abundance.

This new way of looking at life is a blessing I do not take for granted. It is part of the gospel of the Lord's goodness, of His careful crafting of the world for our benefit, of His nourishment of our bodies and souls - it is this gospel I want to communicate to those whose lives touch my own.

something...

here is something...

"I live," Eustace said, "in nature, where everything is connected, circular. The seasons are circular. The planet is circular, and so is its passage around the sun. The course of water over the earth is circular, coming down from the sky and circulating through the world to spread life and then evaporating up again. I live in a circular teepee and I build my fire in a circle, and when my loved ones visit me, we sit in a circle and talk. The life cycles of plants and animals are circular. I live outside where I can see this. The ancient people understood that our world is a circle, but we modern people have lost sight of that. I don't live inside buildings, because buildings are dead places where nothing grows, where water doesn't flow, and where life stops. I don't want to live in a dead place. People say that I don't live in the real world, but it's modern Americans who live in a fake world, because they've stepped outside the natural circle of life.

"I saw the circle of life most clearly when I was riding my horse across America and I came across the body of a coyote that had recently died. The animal was mummified from the desert heat, but all around it, in a lush circle, was a small band of fresh green grass. The earth was borrowing the nutrients from the animal and regenerating itself. This wasn't about death, I realized; this was about eternal life. I took the teeth from that coyote and made myself this necklace right here, which always circles my neck, so I'd never forget that lesson.

"Do people live in circles today? No. They live in boxes. They wake up every morning in the box of their bedroom because a box next to them started making beeping noises to tell them it was time to get up. They eat their breakfast out of a box and then they throw that box away into another box. Then they leave the box where they live and get into a box with wheels and drive to work, which is just another big box broken up into lots of little cubicle boxes where a bunch of people spend their days sitting and staring at the computer boxes in front of them. When the day is over, everyone gets into the box with wheels again and goes home to their house boxes and spends the evening staring at the television boxes for entertainment. They get their music from a box, they get their food from a box, they keep their clothing in a box, they live their lives in a box! Does that sound like anybody you know?"

By now the kids were laughing and applauding.

"Break out of the box!" Eustace said. "You don't have to live like this because people tell you it's the only way. You're not handcuffed to your culture! This is not the way humanity lived for thousands and thousands of years, and it is not the only way you can live today!"

from The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert found in chapter 1

Bookshelf Certification

In the last post I used the term “sustainable agriculture” and “organic”.

Joel Salatin, a small farmer in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, says of the term “Organic” in Everything I Want to Do is Illegal, “It is a non-comprehensive term, it does not include many of the more important variables in a socially and environmentally responsible food system” (105). This obviously becomes a problem in communication between farmer and consumer, or government and people, with the organic certification process. By slapping “organic” on a bag of carrots or apples the consumers makes many assumptions that are not necessarily true. (notice to be slapped with that label the produce in question has to packaged in a bag, often plastic…is that “organic”?...many more variables exist)

He goes on to say, “If you want to certify something, certify the farmers’ bookshelf and magazine rack. This movement has always been about a worldview, a value system. It is lived out from a deep inner conviction, not a codified system of dos and don'ts. If I’m feeding my mind and soul with the right stuff, my heart and hands will probably be in the right place too” (107).

With that, here is what is on my bookshelf and magazine rack:

Books:
Wendell Berry—Citizenship Papers
Wendell Berry—The Gift of Good Land: Further Essays Culture and Agriculture
Wendell Berry—Home Economics
Wendell Berry--Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community
Wendell Berry—The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture
Wendell Berry—What are People For?
Rachel Carson—Silent Spring
William T. Cavanaugh—Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire
Dorothy Day—Loaves and Fishes
Paul Hawken, Amory & Hunter Lovins—Natural Capitalism
John Jeavons—How to Grow More Vegetables
David Joyce—Pruning and Training Plants: A Complete Guide
Ben Lowe—Green Revolution: Coming Together to Care for Creation
Bill McKibben—Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future
Michael Pollan—In Defense of Food: Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants
Michael Pollan—The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
Michael Pollan—Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education
Paul Roberts—The End of Food
Rodale’s Vegetable Garden Problem Solver
Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening
Rodale’s Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening
Rodale’s Complete Guide to Organic Gardening
Machael Schut—Food and Faith
Joel Salatin—Everything I Want to do is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front
David Tracy—Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto

Magazines:
Gourmet Magazine