Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Some thoughts
Hello Everyone,
Sorry for such long silences between blogs. I looked into my "draft" file to see that I did start an entry during the 2007 Wildfires here in San Diego and then another on Thanksgiving Day. It has been a busy, busy 6 weeks.
One great thing that is a constant thread in my life is, of course, The San Diego County Library. (www.sdcl.org). Every month I try to do about a month's ordering. Living here in the back country we use our small library as a kind of 'book post office" of sorts. So months ago I ordered a book that arrived, as always, in the nick of time.
I think I've mentioned that my all time favorite author is Barbara Kingsolver. And she's worth the wait! Her last book, just before this new one, was a book of essays published in 2003 called, Small Wonders. Barbara Kingsolver is a small wonder herself. Maybe it's her tone, or literary skills, or her way with words, or her humor. But always it's the Spirit that flies through her onto the paper. But the book that arrived amid the chaos here was Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. (www.animalvegetablemiracle.com)
To my mind, Kingsolver's writing is quintessential Applied Spirituality. This book documents a year in the life of her family when they move to the family farm in Appalachia with the sole intent to buy all their food locally grown or grow it themselves. This totally appealed to my sensibilities. It conjured memories of my childhood: first my Dad working in our garden, shirt off and hoeing between the rows of his 1/4 acre garden. All of which was either canned or frozen by my Mom and Gram. Then a local trip to a farm where the air was redolent with the small of maple syrup. Here they tapped their trees and we bought the most delicious syrup and became friends, of course, with the family. In Pennsylvania we bought our milk from a family farm just "over the ridge". Mom sterilized the glass milk bottles in the dishwasher and we bought raw milk from the dairy. In the course of moving all up and down the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, at every new home, Dad and my first project was installing a fruit cellar into the basement...the second was always insulating the attic.
But the point being is it was an "organic" existence. We ate locally all the time. When peaches came into season, I can recall Mom and Gram discussing whether they should buy a bushel or two? When tomatoes came into season, the same discussion. And all our fresh vegetables were purchased at the local farm stand. In those days there was no question that he or his wife had actually grown those vegetables. And for about 5-6 years of my life, once Dad stopped gardening, I took up the post and grew food for us.
Recently I went to Trader Joe's Market and purchased some "organic" garlic as my personal stocks were depleted. When I got home I read on the label that this garlic had been grown in China. CHINA!!!! "Why?" I heard myself saying aloud. Gilroy California is not so far and supposed to be the garlic capital of the world.
Kingsolver's point to the book is how much petroleum fuels are spent in flying exotic foods all over the world. If we would adjust just 10% of our buying we could make a huge difference.
My point is that we each one can make a huge difference if we just pay attention. The benefits of eating locally from local organic growers is huge. The nutritional factor is the biggest. Organically grown foods have to develop "muscles" in order to survive. These muscles are in the form of antioxidants. All organically grown foods have as much as 60% more nutrition that industrially grown foods. And that's just for starters. So when you balk at paying more for organically grown - think about it this way: pay now or pay later. You can pay now for the quality you deserve and require for a healthy body and immune system, or you can pay later with supplements and even later with poor health and medical bills.
The benefits to buying locally and even growing a few plants yourself - well, you have to do it to understand the benefits of gardening, reconnecting with the dirt, the quiet of your garden, and the myriad miracles that happen out there. Critters come to play with you. You see the first flowers, the bud, the fruit. The absolutely orgasmic taste of the first tomato of the season. I promise you, if you grow your own heirloom tomatoes, you will absolutely never buy one in the market again.
The land, the dirt, the air, the food, you....we are all so connected. Every decision you make, with your dollars, with you time, with your choices matters and ripples across each and every one of us. When you choose more quality for your life - be it food, be it the products you use, the car you drive, the books you read, the movies you see, the conversations you have and choose NOT to have, the thoughts you think and the thoughts you choose NOT to think...it all ripples through to either add more Quality into the world or not.
When my boys were small I used to tell them "Garbage in, garbage out." "Quality in, Quality out."
Choosing Quality for yourself in every single tiny detail of your one life will make a huge difference in the Quality of this world. You Do Matter. This is Applied Spirituality in Action. Knowing the Value of You and honoring that with each and every choice....choosing what feels best and moving always towards that. Your Godchip is constantly beckoning you to come this way, it's easier, it's more loving, it's full of more goodness, it's better for you, there's more joy this way, it's more abundant here......follow your heart always. What you may start with your head (saving money and fuel) will end in a love affair of Life.
Thanks for reading,
Kath
additional resources for this topic: The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan
Sorry for such long silences between blogs. I looked into my "draft" file to see that I did start an entry during the 2007 Wildfires here in San Diego and then another on Thanksgiving Day. It has been a busy, busy 6 weeks.
One great thing that is a constant thread in my life is, of course, The San Diego County Library. (www.sdcl.org). Every month I try to do about a month's ordering. Living here in the back country we use our small library as a kind of 'book post office" of sorts. So months ago I ordered a book that arrived, as always, in the nick of time.
I think I've mentioned that my all time favorite author is Barbara Kingsolver. And she's worth the wait! Her last book, just before this new one, was a book of essays published in 2003 called, Small Wonders. Barbara Kingsolver is a small wonder herself. Maybe it's her tone, or literary skills, or her way with words, or her humor. But always it's the Spirit that flies through her onto the paper. But the book that arrived amid the chaos here was Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. (www.animalvegetablemiracle.com)
To my mind, Kingsolver's writing is quintessential Applied Spirituality. This book documents a year in the life of her family when they move to the family farm in Appalachia with the sole intent to buy all their food locally grown or grow it themselves. This totally appealed to my sensibilities. It conjured memories of my childhood: first my Dad working in our garden, shirt off and hoeing between the rows of his 1/4 acre garden. All of which was either canned or frozen by my Mom and Gram. Then a local trip to a farm where the air was redolent with the small of maple syrup. Here they tapped their trees and we bought the most delicious syrup and became friends, of course, with the family. In Pennsylvania we bought our milk from a family farm just "over the ridge". Mom sterilized the glass milk bottles in the dishwasher and we bought raw milk from the dairy. In the course of moving all up and down the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, at every new home, Dad and my first project was installing a fruit cellar into the basement...the second was always insulating the attic.
But the point being is it was an "organic" existence. We ate locally all the time. When peaches came into season, I can recall Mom and Gram discussing whether they should buy a bushel or two? When tomatoes came into season, the same discussion. And all our fresh vegetables were purchased at the local farm stand. In those days there was no question that he or his wife had actually grown those vegetables. And for about 5-6 years of my life, once Dad stopped gardening, I took up the post and grew food for us.
Recently I went to Trader Joe's Market and purchased some "organic" garlic as my personal stocks were depleted. When I got home I read on the label that this garlic had been grown in China. CHINA!!!! "Why?" I heard myself saying aloud. Gilroy California is not so far and supposed to be the garlic capital of the world.
Kingsolver's point to the book is how much petroleum fuels are spent in flying exotic foods all over the world. If we would adjust just 10% of our buying we could make a huge difference.
My point is that we each one can make a huge difference if we just pay attention. The benefits of eating locally from local organic growers is huge. The nutritional factor is the biggest. Organically grown foods have to develop "muscles" in order to survive. These muscles are in the form of antioxidants. All organically grown foods have as much as 60% more nutrition that industrially grown foods. And that's just for starters. So when you balk at paying more for organically grown - think about it this way: pay now or pay later. You can pay now for the quality you deserve and require for a healthy body and immune system, or you can pay later with supplements and even later with poor health and medical bills.
The benefits to buying locally and even growing a few plants yourself - well, you have to do it to understand the benefits of gardening, reconnecting with the dirt, the quiet of your garden, and the myriad miracles that happen out there. Critters come to play with you. You see the first flowers, the bud, the fruit. The absolutely orgasmic taste of the first tomato of the season. I promise you, if you grow your own heirloom tomatoes, you will absolutely never buy one in the market again.
The land, the dirt, the air, the food, you....we are all so connected. Every decision you make, with your dollars, with you time, with your choices matters and ripples across each and every one of us. When you choose more quality for your life - be it food, be it the products you use, the car you drive, the books you read, the movies you see, the conversations you have and choose NOT to have, the thoughts you think and the thoughts you choose NOT to think...it all ripples through to either add more Quality into the world or not.
When my boys were small I used to tell them "Garbage in, garbage out." "Quality in, Quality out."
Choosing Quality for yourself in every single tiny detail of your one life will make a huge difference in the Quality of this world. You Do Matter. This is Applied Spirituality in Action. Knowing the Value of You and honoring that with each and every choice....choosing what feels best and moving always towards that. Your Godchip is constantly beckoning you to come this way, it's easier, it's more loving, it's full of more goodness, it's better for you, there's more joy this way, it's more abundant here......follow your heart always. What you may start with your head (saving money and fuel) will end in a love affair of Life.
Thanks for reading,
Kath
additional resources for this topic: The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan
Labels: applied spirituality, Barbara Kingsolver, eating locally, following Quality, growing your own, local farming, organic produce
posted by Kath at
6:48 PM
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