Mostly I just putter.

Doctoral student, amateur cook, beginning sewer.

Mostly I just putter.





Thursday, February 5, 2009

I'm Also Reading...

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle has been the perfect book for where I'm at right now. Thought-provoking, but not too deep. Inspiring, but not so inspiring that I feel inadequate (if that makes any sense). This is Kingsolver's account of her family's attempt to eat only locally grown food or food they grow themselves. It also details the impact that our food choices have on the environment and developing countries--for instance, eating strawberries in January means that a lot of oil was burned transporting them for our consumption.

Her description of the asparagus growing in her garden makes me want to move asparagus to the top of the list of vegetables we plant this spring:
"The shoot emerges from the ground like a snub-nosed green snake headed for sunshine, rising so rapidly you can just about see it grow. If it doesn't get its neck cut off at ground level as it emerges, it will keep growing. Each triangular scale on the spear rolls out into a branch until the snake becomes a four-foot tree with delicate needles... (p. 39)"

1 comment:

Kimberly said...

My friend Elisabeth was telling me about this book - it sounds really fascinating! I love finding new ways of being green! Although, I do have to admit to the guilty pleasure of strawberries in January - just a little taste of Summer!
Kimberly