Tuesday, June 23, 2009

"Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver doesn't like bananas. She really doesn't like bananas. Who knew they were so evil?

This book was helpful in getting me to think about where my food comes from. Am I going to till up our grass and plant tomatoes? Not a chance. Did I just today sow beet seeds in a small planter box? Yes.

I don't buy organic for several reasons, but I agree that buying locally, when possible, is a good idea.

What bugged me about this book was how annoying smooth everything went for the Kingsolver family during their experiment (which, if you don't know, was to go a year eating only what they grew or obtained locally). Were no crops eaten by deer? Didn't they ever get annoyed by having to bake bread every single day? And the ending--their turkeys successfully bred? Are you kidding me? Part of me wanted a little more realism in this book.

1 comment:

Renee Thompson said...

I really enjoyed this book -- mostly because it got me thinking about the challenges of producing your own food. My sense was that the oldest daughter did have issues with the process, which were glossed over a bit in the book, but more than anything, it was the near-total absence of coffee and chocolate that blew my mind. I could cry, just thinking about it...