9.14.2008

I Fell Down a Hole! On writin' and Eatin'

I was lookin' at "first lines." I does that. When all else fails, I look at first lines in books and essays--to see how the author draws ya' right on in to what she has to tell about.

So I read this:

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants
.

(Hear that Anon Boxer-Babe??)

This from a piece in the hated rag, NYTimes, by Michael Pollan. Yep, he got me...I did read on and you night want to too, here.
( It's worth it if you are alarmed by the conflicting studies what shows that low fat diets DO NOT reduce coronary risks or breast cancer)


Somehow, from thar' I got to huntin' fer grass-fed, naturally raised beef and pork, on account of Floridy bein' a big cattle raisin' state. Did mah huntin' on the internet. Ha!

Mercy, I done fell into a hole deep and wide and ain't hardly found the way to right-side-up yet!

Did ya'll know that ya can find yore own local produce, chickens, eggs, beef and pork, even lamb prolly within an hours drive? I din't know that--oh, yeah I did, it's jes' that I thought it would be sorta catch as catch can.

Ah, no. Thar's a SUPER abundance of amazin' local foods. Can ya'll tell I'se excited??

First, look here to get yoreself a clickable link to yore own state's goodies.

I found Magnolia Farms, not too far up the road from me &Uncle...and ya'll can bet you'll be hearin' about what I find thar'.

They sell dairy goats and I had (momentary!) visions of makin' mah own goat cheese. Reckon I'll jes buy the comestibles not the producers.






Ya'll has heard here of my love fer farmer poet Wendell Berry and especially his
book Another Turn of the Crank. This book is on farming, globalism, and what we Southerners call "communitarianism." Ya' really--now, REALLY, need to read it. It's short. Just do it. (Okay, gotta stop on Berry, cause I could write fer weeks on him and his work. Read Jayber Crow too iffin' ya want an honest novel)

Fallin' further down that hole I mentioned at the top....I got onto this blog, whose profile reads:

"Nearly everyone dreams of moving to the country, but few people are crazy enough to actually do it. I'm one of those few. In 1994, at 26, I sold my little bakery cafe, packed up 200 boxes of books & antiques, & waved goodbye to my native California. Armed with a basic knowledge of gardening, an overenthusiastic sense of adventure & lots of naivete, I ended up on a 280-acre, 140-year-old farm in the middle of nowhere. I became cook, gardener, shepherd, farmhand, vet, surrogate mom, wildlife expert, midwife & undertaker. My prep school education & graphic design background were useless. I went from attending restaurant openings & gallery receptions to working the rural fire dept's BBQ booth at the crafts fair & munching fried pies at country auctions. Seven years ago I moved to an even more remote 240-acre farm which I share with sheep, chickens, 2 dogs, 7 cats, 4 very entertaining donkeys & one really well fed farmguy. My life revolves around food. I write food & garden articles & have taught cooking classes & contributed to cookbooks. I'm a passionate bread baker, and we're slowly building a small wholesale artisan bread bakery here on the farm."

I'm still fallin' down the hole...but wanted to send back this SOS....in case ya want fall on in heah too!!

(p.s. I will do the Mute Monday, then re-post this post so we'uns can exchange good finds after yore own falls!)

7 comments:

Big Shamu said...

All in all it's not a bad hole to fall into.

Anonymous said...

Hey there Belle,
You is on to somethin fine! here in my part of the world there is a place wher you can buy your veggies, fruits, beef, pork n chicken straight from the growers! It is a wholesome goodness never wrapped in that plastic taste!

What's more, is in our area we began to notice the smaller, family owned farmers was starting to fall to the developers. So our county council finally did somethin I agre with, a support our close-in farming/greenspace families buy a mandate which the county, schools, assistance programs, meals on wheels, jails etc are now buying there fruits and veggies from the locals!

This was a smart, good thing cause our kids and elderly are eatin healthier and our farming families don't have to fight the big conglomerates to make a living. Our local goat chese ladies don brought home a mess of national awards....and their goatsmilk fresh chocolate is an experience to remember!

A really nice side effect is...the parents of the school kids, and the famblies of the meals grannies are now getting their stuff local as well.
I can vouch for it being more than a mite better than the grocery store victuals.

ThursdayNext said...

Love supporting our local growers here on Long Isand and upstate New York. One of the best local farms on LI is the North Fork called Catapano - its all goat cheese. Their gouda is the best ever.
http://www.catapanodairyfarm.com/

R.Powers said...

I clicked on that link to find local small farms and got so caught up in it I forgot to come back and thank you for the link!

I'm a first line reader too.

moi said...

I'm lucky to live in a farming/ranching community so with just a small amount of effort, almost everything I need to feed us can be had from local growers and ranchers. But I didn't know about a couple of the folks on the link, so now I have even more options!

Aunty Belle said...

Hey Big Shamus, Puddin'.

Nope, I rather like this hole--jes' whish't I had more time to be in it!

Fishy, Sugar Pie,

when ya throw up yore own blog? We's waitin' to see what fun ya make fer us'uns! Yore county is smart--sounds to me like a fine plan.

Thursday Next, hey Darlin'!

I'll give them a holler--good cheese, yum!

Florida Cracker?? Howdy Honey!

Ya reads first lines too?!!
Well, now, thas' too funny---it gives me an idea... an'ain't it somthin' how much we Floridians have all around us? Whoo! I see that map is heavy up near your HQ.


Moi, Mah Presidentista!

I figgered youse already on this--We need to promote local economies as the first brick in re- building an independent populace---raise the flag sugar!

But ya'll, dern, ain't any of ya'll Wendell Berry fans?

Edith said...

I love me a farmers market. I have to say I was so happy when I found mind. Now, finding the time to go is a different story.

:)