Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Inspires HWFC Readers

Trained as a scientist and primarily known as a novelist, Barbara Kingsolver grew up in Kentucky and wrote her earliest works in Tucson. Moving to southwestern Virginia, she and her family decided to raise, share, and barter their own food, sourcing all ingredients from within 50 miles of their new home.

Imagine a kitchen filled with multiple cooks, creating a clang of passing pots and pans amid a chorus of cheerful chatter.

Imagine all one’s guests gathering not just berries but all of the food for a big birthday party. That’s what author Barbara Kingsolver chronicled while living off the land with family and friends.

A local farmer, a permaculture designer, and a scientist joined Honest Weight’s eighth book group event March 10. Cara Benson welcomed 16 attendees to discuss Kingsolver’s account of farming in Appalachia. Well into the discussion, one reader exclaimed, “I just want to live with her!”

The gathering was co-hosted by the Membership and the Nutrition and Education (NEC) Committees. Reporting that Book House had sold quite a few copies of this groundbreaking work, Cara Benson offered the floor to NEC’s Rebekah Rice.

“Rotational grazing is one of the only ways to retrieve viable soil.”

Challenges with the land abounded for the author and her family, from tilling steep hills to resolving consequences of previous overfarming. Tobacco, the region’s dominant crop, had eradicated the topsoil, so the family set to work.

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Living la Vida Locavore

One of the family’s main challenges was limiting their grasp to local ingredients. The author’s contemplation of “cheat” items that most people find too difficult to live without—coffee, chocolate, and olive oil being the mainstays—inspired comparison.

As a tradeoff, the author’s family elected to splurge at the local farmers’ market, where their dollars went directly to growers, and to trade with neighbors. Attendees agreed that adhering 100% to local ingredients was unrealistic for most consumers, as we cannot easily grow many precious foods domestically. It was widely acknowledged that blueberries, avocados, and other prized delicacies are simply “nonnegotiable.”

“Buying local can really change the character of a community.”

The current global pandemic has made the benefits of local sourcing even clearer, revealing vulnerable mechanisms of the food distribution system. Local sourcing may become even more economical (as well as ethical) as fuel costs skyrocket.

MOs recommended CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares, touting local cheeses, fruit, and vegetables.

Could you live without chocolate, blueberries, avocado, or coffee?

One ambitious option is purchasing produce only at its seasonal peak. Theoretically, this may create deeper gratification when we finally enjoy specialty items craved year-round. Adhering to crops’ natural cycles benefits the ecosystem, too.

Even if you nobly abstain from certain foods until they are at their best, however, the majority of consumers will continue enjoying them while you look on. Moreover, it was pointed out, if the Co-op were to follow this ideal, shoppers would simply go elsewhere to buy certain food.

Talk turned to coaxing crops alternatively—in high tunnels, low tunnels, or cold frames—and how to use food stamps at farmers’ markets.

Food stamp sales at HWFC have more than tripled since the pandemic began, and the Double Up Food Bucks program is well under way. by Carol Ostrow One new attendee and longtime MO described her delight in espying the book on a colleague’s desk and discovering the locavore movement. “It blew my mind how local produce was even better than organic; it raised my consciousness,” she said. “Now I look at the produce section differently!”

Nutrition in large farm produce and meat differs from that of small organic operations, and the nutrient level in most U.S. food suffers because of soil quality and how crops are raised, according to at least one participant.

Another had taken a course to learn how to increase organic matter in the soil. “Knowing what minerals to add and testing soil was really important.”

What’s in a Label?

Organic is important, but so is local. Most small farmers cannot afford organic certification but are actually following many established organic practices; they simply lack that official stamp.

One participant mentioned a lovely alternative practice: being certified as naturally grown for just $200 annually. (“It’s the same as organic, but peer-reviewed. That’s…a great solution for local farmers.”)

Organic certification at present is very costly, often prohibitive for small farmers who simply can’t afford the fees.

Another regular described her own field of dreams: retirement to a rural area where she could not only grow food but trade with her neighbors—citing bacon, soap, and (legally produced) liquor, not unlike the author’s approach—and sharing that “if you want pumpkins everywhere, just let the horses into the pumpkin patch.” Birds and other animals also help to spread seed naturally.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

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Cara complimented the author’s “searing critique of capitalism and big business” while practicing—and extolling the virtues of—raising home-grown food. Despite the author’s eloquent and often literary take on big business, it was noted that Kingsolver’s tone wasn’t overly strong; her viewpoint comes across as matter-of-fact rather than off-putting.

Historically, investment in the U.S. highway system fueled the trucking industry’s growth, starting in the last half of the twentieth century.

Erin noted that while it’s easy “to despair at these gigantic global problems…everything you do matters.” Everyone can act, even just by growing basil on an apartment windowsill.

"You can grow sprouts on your windowsill year-round."

Paul C. spoke of the intrinsic connection between food and soil. “We think of dirt as bad. It needs to be recontextualized.”

“Carrots grow from soil?” exclaimed one MO in mock horror. “Chickens eat bugs and grubs and worms?…what did you think they ate?”

It is easy and inexpensive to shop HWFC’s Bulk Department.

Several MOs compared this book to the group’s first selection, Grocery Story.

Could the Co-op emulate Kingsolver’s approach to local consumption? “We could do a combination of signage and articles that make it clear,” someone suggested. For example, eat asparagus in late April and May; radicchio, in the early fall. That’s part of seasonality.

“We’ve lost the knowledge of what’s seasonal because you can obtain strawberries year-round,” said David S., pointing out that they peak only in May and June. Yet it is widely recognized that HWFC must offer a variety year-round to stay in business.

“We don’t have to step ahead of the world, but maybe we could tweak it.”

HWFC regularly features local vendors with signage, profiles, and in-store opportunities. Cara paid tribute to the “fantastic signage in the Co-op” regarding local and organic versus conventional foods. We boast the biggest bulk department in the northeastern U.S. and a local vendor program yielding customers an extra 5% discount.

Our local vendor program gives customers an extra 5% discount.

One MO, peering through his creative "oscilloscope,” stated: “We’ve flattened out the curves and [consequently] look for stimulation.”

By comparison, he cited ancient Rome, wherein Saturnalia marked a clear transition to a special time: before, during, and after. “In the modern world, we skip all but the party itself.” In years past, he added, people watched The Wizard of Oz once a year, everyone viewing it simultaneously. Now, that sense of community is slightly blurred because films are available on demand all the time. And so it is with food.

Introducing May's Selection Dear Co-op Community,

It’s not news to write that divisive and exploitative relations — human to human, human to creature, human to planet — are dominating the headlines and bringing earth to a tipping point. What would it look like to preference narratives of mutuality and reciprocity?

Our book for May, Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations Volume 1: Planet, answers that question. Featuring essays, poems, interviews, and stories from around the globe, Kinship is an immersive reading experience of a complex, intelligent, and virtuosic web of connectedness.

We will be joined for the first hour by co-editor Gavin Van Horn!

Gavin is the Creative Director of Center for Humans and Nature and also author of The Way of the Coyote: Shared Journeys What readers said:

• “Here’s the antidote to big biz and big pharma: knowing one’s neighbors; a giant pot luck.” • “It doesn’t feel like you’re being lectured, but you feel changed.” • “A beautiful combination of farm experience yet also a real political piece.’” • “My focus is eating more whole foods and getting away from processed fare.” • “Looking into shade gardening …Lettuce loves shade!”

“If you haven’t read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, read it. If you read it 10 years ago, read it again, including the epilogues.”

in the Urban Wilds. He is an amazing human, and I am so thrilled he'll be joining us. Please put this one on your calendar— you will not want to miss it.

Books are available through Book House at 20% off when you mention the HWFC reading group. Yevette also has 3 loaner copies. Email her to arrange a borrow—but please do return it once you've finished so others can have a chance to look at it as well. memberservices@honestweight.coop.

Thurs. May 12 • 7–9pm via Zoom

Join Zoom Meeting Online https://zoom.us/j/93245124472 Meeting ID: 932 4512 4472

To join by phone 929-205-6099 Meeting ID: 932 4512 4472

Questions? Email: MembershipComm@honestweight.coop