A Veghead’s earthly paradise….

I first heard about Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life on NPR, where it had been selected as a summer must-read. As someone who shops organic at local farmer markets, this book struck a chord with me on many levels and reinforced why I chose a vegetarian lifestyle. Although I’m not currently in a position to have my own garden, I support local organic Texas produce as much as possible and strive to eat in season. I’ve been vegetarian for years, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle was like sitting down for a chat with a good friend over a cup of tea.

Due to modern "convenience", many of us have forgotten what real produce tastes like. Americans are notorious for not eating our vegetables (unless you count French fries and ketchup). We expect to be able to find any fruit or vegetable at any time of the year in our local grocery stores, but how many of us calculate the cost in carbon credits, pesticides, loss of habitat and deforestation that comes with it? It is such a simple gesture to buy locally from a farmers market or organic grocery store, and you're not just benefiting yourself, but helping to support the gargantuan efforts of small organic farms in your community. Kingsolver and her husband illustrate the sad state of agriculture in modern America through effective (and scary) statistics.

Barbara and her family (husband Steven and daughters Camille and Lily) move from Tucson to rural Virginia, where their odyssey of producing all of their food begins. The family makes a vow not to buy any out-of-season, conventional produce at the grocery store. Adios, South American bananas. Farewell, raisins. The Kingsolvers will be responsible stewards of the earth, growing most of their food needs in their garden. This includes not only in-season vegetables, herbs, and fruits, but also eggs and poultry. The few things that they are unable to produce (organic grain, fair trade coffee, olive oil, spices), they attempt to buy organically, as close to home as possible. Barbara flips lustfully through seed catalogs the way some treat Victoria Secret; she makes notes on alluring new seeds and exotic varieties of produce to try (Australian blue pumpkins and ratlike French fingerling potatoes among them).

She encourages her two daughters to take part in the cooking and storing of mountains of tomatoes, zucchini, and herbs in order to store them for the long winter. Everyone pitches in at dinnertime and during holiday menus. Barbara’s youngest daughter Lily becomes an entrepreneur saving up for a horse. Her product: organic eggs. She chooses various varieties of chickens to produce a rainbow of eggshell colors, as well as chickens that lay in cold weather. Her cartons of eggs go for $2.50. Barbara’s husband is the bread baker, responsible for daily creations that incorporate various flours and healthful additions such as flaxseed. Camille offers her own views on the family's year of gardening, along with recipes and ideas. Family mealtime, that great vanished American ritual, has found a new home in the Kingsolvers.

Along the way, Barbara divulges fascinating insider’s tips on turkey sex life, dispatching poultry from barnyard to table, locking cars to avoid unwanted zucchini deposits from neighbors, and rediscovers the spiritual joy of working the land and living off of her labors.

The book also includes numerous excellent recipes for in-season produce (also available at animalvegetablemiracle.com ), and impressive lists of resources, references, and organizations for further research.

My only hope is that millions of Americans read this and discover the urgency of preserving our vanishing heirloom vegetables, fruits, and livestock, and the desperate need to economically support local organic farmers.