I know it’s getting late, but I can’t let the summer end without my annual match-up of summer reads and local food. So, while there’s still a few weeks left for pulling your lounger up to the water’s edge at the beach, lake or pool, here’s a few to dive into.
First up, and an annual repeater, is Barbara Kingsolver’s highly readable Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I’m not saying that everyone is prepared to move their family across the country and live off only what they could grow or barter FOR A WHOLE YEAR…but that’s what this lady did. How she got the buy-in from her kith and kin??? Therein lies a whole ‘nother book, I’m sure. But Barbara K. tells the tale with easy prose, recipes and tips, and a big helping of humor.
The larger point is, of course, that it was the way many of our ancestors fed their families generations ago…without state-of-the-art appliances to speed the process. They ate what they grew or bartered for, where they lived, and with the seasons. What they couldn’t consume, they canned. The miracle is that we still do this, in ways large and small. And the trend is growing.
A more recent read, and not exactly local, is Taste, a memoir by one of my favorite actors…Stanley Tucci. If you happened to catch any of the recent CNN series Searching for Italy, you will know what locavore truly means, as S.T. devoured his way through that country, region by delicious region. But Taste, the book, isn’t a tribute to food as much as it is a memoir of how food, especially those recipes and ethnic tastes you grew up with, connects families and celebrations, even sad times shared. It’s a love story, really…short and oh so sweet.
Either one of these books will keep you entertained at the beach, but sooner or later, we all have to get back to the kitchen…which brings me back to books. Here’s one I just discovered while googling around for this piece…and which may be in my next annual book review: Farm to Table Desserts. 80 Seasonal, Organic Recipes Made from Your Local Farmers’ Market. Whaaa? They’re talkin’ my language! So if I’m on your Christmas list…
We can still grow what we eat…all we need is sun, rain and soil…and, oh yeah, pollinators! Turns out that without regular visits by our winged friends, we would just be left holding a shovel and an empty pot. But, ominously, those visits are getting fewer and farther between. The regal Monarch butterfly is more than just a lovely orange and black ballerina…she’s here on business. Who hasn’t watched, wondrous, as countless of them sailed by on their north-south migration along our coast? How could they just vanish? But tragically, the queen has just officially been declared an endangered species. Ms. Kingsolver foresaw the inevitable…and in 2012 wrote Flight Behavior. Although fictional, and with a love triangle thrown in for …well…who doesn’t love a love triangle?…it’s also real facts on what our own human species stands to lose.
And that buzzing?…before you stick your nose in that blossom, make sure there isn’t a bee goin’ about her business…and did you know that all those bees are females? True. I know this because I read Laline Paull’s quirky little novel: The Bees. Facts wrapped up in fiction. And it’s all about the nectar. A honey of a read.
And last but never least: Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine. A book to keep by your bedside for nights when the 21st century is keeping you wide awake. Although I wasn’t around in 1928, there are some of us who remember the sound of push mowers and the smell of cut grass, bikes with cards in the spokes, buying vegetables from a man with a donkey, and the neighbor who… ZZZZzzzzz.
Let me stay awake long enough to:
- tell you that the Artist of the Week will be the ceramic jewelry of AHWclay.
- remind you to check on when your favorite vendors will be here by visiting our website, and get any last minute updates on our LFM FB page.
- And to read all of this LFM newsletter for upcoming events and the news on the Ave.
Now, back to my book…
Terry Baraldi