And the Finest Entertainment She Ever Did Know

~ Somewhere on the Fast Lane Between Boston and Portland ~

I'm no longer sure who exactly I'm writing this blog for, besides myself. And that is something I never thought I'd do. Besides my loyal parents and a friend who clicks on the page every once in a while, there's no one out there really tuning in. 

Just the same, my pursuit to work in the agro and farming world, surrounded by the bounties of fresh and Tasty food, has not subsided. Among several hiccups along the way, I've set aside the notion of driving and living across country, and begun preparing myself for the possibility of remaining for some time longer in the North East.  Should the opportunity arrive, I will stay. And the drive continues - to grow some food.

To start, the inclement weather (though predictable) of the Northeast hardly fosters outdoor growing activities. No real surprise there. But I began snooping around volunteer opportunities with local community organizations - those that foster CSA's and/or help promote farmer's markets, among other things.  

Also, I haven't shut up about the potential of winter greenhouses, and ask at every chance I get, if someone knows someone, who knows someone, who ....

Until finally my work has paid off.

One, Cultivating Communities of Portland, ME responded after the holidays had duly passed, offering a range of *stuff* to do as winter work: marketing for their CSA campaign, compost pickups and general photo managing on their websites.

I'll do it.

Plus, I'd love to push CSA's. I convinced my mother of their value, I don't see why I can't convince others, too.

Two, I finally learned of someone who knows someone, who knows someone, who operates winter greenhouses - growing tomatoes and distributing them to jail inmates in order to offer the real taste of real food.

I may not have a paying position, but at least I'm keeping myself occupied.

And if I can't find fresh local food at every moment, I figure cooking breakfast for dinner - oatmeal, please - will have to be the satisfying twist of the day.

Oatmeal, with sesame seeds, some sunflower seeds, too, raisins and dried blueberries, and definitely some New Hampshire maple syrup.

I'm reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (am I alone when she's unfortunately reminiscent of the English Teacher You Hoped to Never Have?). I know her family's strict one-year rules  to eat only local food (grown at their home or by close community farmers) would banish my meal from their oak table.

Mange on. Bon app.

Books to Inspire

~ Oakland, California & Tennessee ~

I'll be the fisrt to admit I'm a little slow on the uptake. I've been in a foreign land for two years, the after affects of which I fondly and aptly named the African Hangover. This means I know little about the latest pop culture, or CNN news, and get excited when I hear a song that is New to me. So I'll anxiously ask the nearest friend, "Have you heard this yet?!",  and then feel slightly crest fallen when I see their expression and await their reply as this person figures out how to tell me nicely, if not politely that the song has been out for over a year: "Uh, yeah...Must have come out when... er... you were... away."

So that means these two books were published when I was across a large ocean. And due to the game of catch up as a result of my own personal recession, one publication currently carries the hipster/trendy label even while human interest in agriculture precede us by thousands of years.

And Novella Carpenter (her last name prescribes her activities, I think) wrote 'The Education of an Urban Farmer'. A happy, but often sassy exploration of a woman's successful, but also sometimes frustrating efforts to grow her own vegetables, and foster her own animals - for the kill. The title implies the location: all her agrarian activities took place not only in a city setting, but in her backyard. Localvorians be pleased, Vegetarians proceed with caution. :)

     And before I had a chance to get my hands on this urban farming tale, I was lucky to be loaned yet another eye opener. Different prose, slightly different objectives, former New York City resident and policy maker, gone community Tennessee gardener and earth monger Sandor Ellix Katz offers concrete facts and impertinent doses of information with a soft and teaching kind of tone. I liked it. A lot. Especially all the fun antidotes about America's underground food movements, and the eclectic recipes that made me want to begin experimenting with cooking ideas at 2 in the morning - the hours I often found myself reading the pages.

 

This book, a bit more than Carpenter's, gave me a hefty gulp of energizing, and an antsy taste of activism. Make seed saving an act of Patriotism! Break the law by consuming raw milk! Participate in the trade and barter of unpasteurized cheese!

Yes, please. And Read on.