locavores

I read Barbara Kingsolver's new book this weekend.

I've loved her writing for years now--ever since "Pigs in Heaven" back in High School. I've also loved the variety in her novels.

This one was different. "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" is non-fiction, and collaborative, with her husband and daughter. And, it was about gardening and eating locally.

Now I'm contemplating how I can better become a "locavore." (I dig that it has a cool name.)

It's not a new idea--but as her voice is added, it seems more possible. The amount of oil resources we use to ship food around the world is staggering and depressing. And, lest we need to continue to wage immoral wars in countries with significant oil resources...I decided this Memorial Day weekend is as good a time as any to try more diligently to be a locavore.

I planted more things in the yard--corn and eggplants and melons and squash and lettuce, and started searching out more local options for eggs and meat and things. We ate our first zucchini of the season last night, and our first tomato is growing in girth (even if it's still strikingly green).

I admit that SoCal is not a bad place to choose to eat locally--the climate's pretty exciting. (And I won't have to give up bananas entirely.) Now I just have to figure out how to find out where the food in that delightfully cheap produce market on the corner comes from...

(At least parts of Mexico count as "local," right?)