Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver

 

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is a memoir of eating locally for one year, largely from the author’s own property. Lots of folks have taken on personal projects like that, but few of them are an acclaimed novelist and can therefore provide the promise of a well-written, engaging story just by having her name on the cover.

The first time I read this I was excited, but a little sad. I was living in an apartment in a large complex and could only “garden” in pots on my little patio. Much of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is about working Kingsolver’s small farm and, while I was inspired to look for more locally-raised foods in my own neighborhood as well as join a community supported agriculture program and plant a few more things on that patio, I couldn’t do what the author and her family had done. I turned the last pages of the book feeling inspired, but also wondering if the author was looking down on me for not being able to afford enough land to raise chickens, turkeys and winter squash.

I still like this book, but now the ideas don’t seem so new to me. I still can’t raise chickens and turkeys, but I do have a backyard now, a significant portion of which I’ve dug up to create a vegetable garden. The biggest lessons in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle are not really about raising your own poultry (or owning enough property to do so), even if some of the most interesting and amusing stories are. No, the more important points are about learning what is growing around you, understanding the seasonality of foods, and understanding where the food you choose to buy actually comes from.

Inspiration to grow your own food and eat what has been grown or produced nearby and Barbara Kingsolver’s great story-telling merge wonderfully to make this a very good book, interesting as well as entertaining.

You might also like: The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Coming next: Startide Rising by David Brin