Meat Freezer Solstice

This morning was the first dawn after our Meat Freezer Solstice. Allow me to describe to you the contents of our meat freezer yesterday morning: one big bag of medicinal herbs, two freezer bags of turkey backs and wing tips (for making broth), one small bag of duck hearts (for making ???), and 2 pounds of tough, teeth-challenging ground beef. That freezer was never so empty. We finally got our first batch of meat for the season yesterday afternoon: pork.

I went through a time when I wasn't sure pork was o.k. to eat. Back in the good (really) old days, God commanded the Israelites not to eat pork, and I figure there was probably a pretty good reason for that. But as time went on, I weakened. When I first went on my low-carb diet, breakfast became the greatest sticking point: what's eggs for breakfast every morning without bacon? And aside from bacon, how about some sausage? You can see how the weakening process began.

So when we had a chance to buy some pork from a reputable local farmer, I got right in line. I like to hear what they feed the animals, because I think at least part of the problem with hogs is, they will eat literally anything. There are some things that I would just rather not have animals that I eat, eating themselves, if you know what I mean. Personally, I think we found a really good source of pork.

So yesterday afternoon I drove home with a trunk full of locally-raised frozen pork for my pitiful little forlorn freezer. That freezer still is not even a fraction of the way full, but it will only get fuller as the season progresses. Next up will be the chickens we raised for meat, and maybe a turkey or two. Then in another month we'll have beef and lamb. Before you know it, our freezer will be packed full, and we'll be ready for a long season of good eatin'. The tide has turned. Isn't this how holidays get started?

Book Review: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver

I found this book at the local library, and lo and behold, it is on the New York Times (non-fiction) best-seller list. Apparently that's not unusual for Barbara Kingsolver. I know I have heard of her before now, but this is the first time I have ever read anything she has written. She has also written many other fiction and non-fiction books that all sell very well.

The focus of this book is around the year Kingsolver's family of four dedicated themselves to eating entirely locally for one year. They allowed themselves one item each from "the outside". Her husband continued to buy coffee, for example. That's his special item. Other than that, every food they ate either came from their garden or from someone nearby. The story begins in April when the asparagus makes its appearance. Easiest for them to procure were the vegetables they planted in their own rather large garden. Most difficult: dairy and grain for bread. Kingsolver takes us through their food year, and gives a running commentary along the way. Her husband (Steven L. Hopp) and older daughter (Camille Kingsolver) also write little snippets here and there on social issues involved with eating, recipes (they all sound delicious), and other food memories.

Kingsolver's main concern that propels her towards a "locavore" diet appears to be reducing fossil fuel emissions that promote global warming. Another concern is losing the botanical diversity that produces thousands of varieties of different fruits and vegetables. When you buy produce at the store, only a few varieties are selected for selling due to their appearance and shipability. This creates a large group of plants that need to be put on the botanical equivalent of the "endangered species" list.

I'll tell you what, this lady really knows how to turn a phrase, and this book had me giggling from cover to cover. Yet it is not a comedy, but stands on the substantive notion that it is indeed possible for people to live without twinkies, and the world would be a better place if more people tried. Well, she convinced me, but then I was already convinced. My top concern though, would be the nutritional side: how much nutritional value is lost when we, say, ship strawberries east from California? What's the difference between beans picked this morning and beans picked last week? My understanding is that local fresh food is nutritionally superior to picked-two-weeks-ago food. Which only makes sense. I am also concerned about relying so much on Middle East oil. I happen to think that shipping foods long distances costs more than the simple price of fuel.

Like the author, I too am concerned about the loss of diversity in the botanical and biological world. When we see only one variety of each type of produce planted on most farms throughout the country, it makes you wonder what would happen if that one variety was struck with some sort of deadly blight on any given year. Most poultry farms rely on hatcheries to deliver chicks each spring, and most of those are hatched through artificial insemination techniques. These birds are bred to have such large breasts, that it is impossible for them to breed naturally due to the....ahem, logistics. So the author decided to start her own flock of Bourbon Red turkeys. Bourbon Reds are an heirloom breed of turkey. That is, they've been around for ages and they can actually naturally reproduce. She goes into much more explicit detail on turkey reproduction than I wanted to know, but I did find myself coming dangerously close to coveting that little turkey flock of hers.

I have come to many of the same conclusions as this author, but we are arriving at our destination from different starting points. She is obviously not a Christian, making it a point to refer numerous times to history based on evolutionary time-lines, and stopping to conjecture on why humans are the way they are, centering the conjecture on how we evolved. When her daughter asked her where things came from, her answer was less than succinct. Nutrition rarely enters into her discussion either. Not that it doesn't matter to her (I'm sure it does), but from my point of view it is much more central than Global Warming theory. I don't disagree that (parts) of the world are warming, I just don't think it is a human-created catastrophe. However, the point to me seems to be moot, since there are plenty of other good reasons to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and to conserve energy and natural resources.

By way of concluding my book review, let me just say that this is a great book, and we would all do well to look for more ways to support local commerce, especially food sources. I will be looking for more of her work to read, while knowing that I will likely disagree with her on points of theology, but likely agree whole-heartedly on the wonders and morale-boosting power of good food.