Animal, Vegetable, Miracle_ A Year of Food Life - Barbara Kingsolver [177]
On the actual due date I walked down to the poultry barn to check on Mom. Maybe, oh, about sixteen times. She raised her hackles and hissed at me to go away. This was a whole different demeanor from her glassy-eyed hunker of yesterday and the twenty-six days previous. I took her fussy defensiveness to be a good sign. Chicks begin peeping from inside the egg a day or so before they hatch. This mother must be hearing that, I thought, getting ready for the blessed event.
The outcome of Sunday, April 23, however, was a big nothing. Monday brought more of the same. Has any anxious person ever really respected the warning about watched pots that never boil? Well, good for you, is all I can say, because I checked that nest morning, noon, and night, hoping for little fluffy chicks that did not appear. After all we’d been through together, Number One and I, what if nothing hatched at all?
On Tuesday I went back through my journal and recalculated the due date, thinking I might be off by a day. I wasn’t. They would hatch by the end of Tuesday then, I concluded reasonably, and they did not. That night I double-checked my reference books, which all agreed the incubation period for domestic turkey eggs is “about 27 days.” What does about mean? Twenty-nine? Forty? On Wednesday I checked on the poor mother until she was visibly fed up. I even poked my hand under her to feel the eggs. She stuck tightly to the nest, but became so accustomed to my prodding that she began to ignore me rather than hissing. Possibly she was slumping into post-due-date despair.
Looking for Mr. Goodvegetable
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How small is a small farm? How nearby does local have to be? Is organic more important than local? Which of these should we favor, and when?
Eco-gastronomy isn’t just a minimum-distance food-buying contest. The three basic components of responsible eating are to favor food grown in an environmentally responsible way, delivered with minimal petroleum use, in a manner that doesn’t exploit the farmers. Most of us won’t have a diversified farm located within walking distance, or a Local Foods-R-Us opening nearby anytime soon. Here are some guidelines that can help define responsible food choices.
Begin by visiting a nearby farmers’ market to see what’s available. Don’t go in with the goal of buying anything in particular, but simply to learn. Is it local? Most farmers’ markets have rules about how recently vegetables can have been picked. Are they from a small farm? Probably; if not, they likely wouldn’t be sold there. Are they organic? Likely; while certification is not always required at these markets, most small market growers have assumed sustainability as part of their identity. It’s probably the most common question they hear, so ask. Pay attention to what’s available, what is in season. Every region has its strengths and weaknesses. Some are obvious (seafood near the coasts, or citrus in Florida). Others you’ll need to learn. Buy a good supply of what you can use.
Now, armed with what you learned at the farmers’ market, you can visit your conventional grocery store. Applying ethics in a modern grocery store can be daunting, but here are a few general rules that may help sort out the whole equation.
If items are available regionally, and are in season, get them from a farmer or ask a grocer to obtain them from a local source.
Do as much as possible of your own cooking or preparation. Make meal plans for the seasons, rather than starting with a recipe and having a treasure hunt for its ingredients.
Food processing uses energy in two main ways: (1) extracting, dicing, mixing, and cooking the ingredients; (2) transporting each individual ingredient. Products with fewer ingredients have probably burned less gas. For example, the oatmeal box on our pantry shelf lists one ingredient: rolled oats. With some local