false Barb was looking at 5 stars until she spent a chapter railing against vegetarians. Currently down to 3 stars. 0 2009-03-06T06:28:58-08:00 469287 220 2009-03-06T06:28:58-08:00 Flying does wonders for my rate of reading. 0 2009-03-01T18:10:37-08:00 450048 180 2009-03-01T18:10:37-08:00 4 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 01 17:51:57 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 17 12:54:34 -0700 2009 Animal, Vegetable, Miracle chronicles a year in the life of Barbara Kingsolver and her family - a year in which they pledge to eat only things that were grown within 100 miles of their home. To this end, they tend a substantial garden on their Virginia land, raise chickens and turkeys for meat and eggs, and become regulars at their town's farmers' market. Throughout their experiment, they find themselves continually amazed by the earth, their ability to sustain themselves through hard work and determination, the glory and the challenge of farm life, and the fact not everyone else in America is as enlightened as they, themselves, have become.

Okay, that last bit was a little snide, but only because Kingsolver borders on snide herself. Here's the thing - I really loved the message of this book and the style in which it was written. I, too, believe that local is best, that we need to support the independent farmers in our own communities, and that we should learn to grow things and appreciate nature and take care of the world. Kingsolver is preaching to the choir here. I do not, however, think this way of life is as easy as she makes it out to be.

First of all, she and her family moved from Tuscon, Arizona to Virginia, partly in order to live a more local life. This is an admission that it is easier to be a "locavore" in some places than in others. She also took a year long sabbatical from her job for the duration of the year. Hello, privilege! She waxes poetic about hours in the kitchen spent canning and cooking for scratch. I love - love! - cooking from scratch, but even I find myself exhausted after a full day at work and in need of some quick and easy nourishment. But, Barbara says, people watch, on average, 3.5 hours of TV a day. Surely that's time better spent making your own cheese! Um, maybe. But probably not.

Another issue I had with this book was Kingsolver's insistence that it's always and very specifically the women who are in the kitchen doing all this work. This wouldn't be an issue if she mentioned it once, maybe twice, but it seems like every time there's a holiday or an event or a party, Kingsolver makes sure to let us know the "females" are the ones "cooking and gossiping." At once point, she even directly blames America's gradual fall into culinary disgrace on women joining the workforce! Not cool, Barb. Not cool.

I could also have done without the chapter on why vegetarians are stupid and narrow minded. I respect your right to raise your own chickens and harvest them humanely. Please respect my reasons for not wanting to partake in that particular farm practice.

And yet, despite these flaws, I really loved this book. I thought it was inspiring and interesting. It made me want to learn how to can vegetables, pay more attention to seasonal fruits and vegetables, and head down to the farmers' market as quickly as possible. Kingsolver is a funny women, and her humor shines through this book in a million wonderful places. She also has a deep respect for the earth and a hopeful outlook on it's future, culinary and otherwise. For these reasons most of all, I was glad to spend a year with the Kingsolver clan, and am looking forward to incorporating many of their lessons into my own life.

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