The End of Food || The Beginning of Gardening

I've been on a bit of a reading tear lately and just finished The End of Food by Thomas F. Pawlick. Most of what I've been reading lately has been non-fiction and most of it has been relatively light and easy going. While The End of Food is a pretty accessible read, it definitely isn't light. However, at the risk of sounding like an overly earnest high school English teacher: this is a very important book. As a well educated, vegetarian, garden-loving, corporate sceptic and general political lefty I didn't think I had too much left to learn about the dangers and evils of the industrial food industry. Sadly, I was wrong. What is going on in the land of our food stuffs is horrifying enough that I found myself on two separate occassions unable to hold back tears while reading it on my bus ride home. That said, I'll repeat this is a very important read. And, I'll give the author plenty of extra credit for including a healthy section at the end on what the newly riled up and horrified reader can do to create positive change. While I strongly suggest that you go out and get yourself a copy -- but steal yourself for some really nasty stuff, particularly if you're an animal lover or tomato lover for that matter -- I'll share the biggest source of hope that Pawlick includes in the book with y'all here (I don't think he'd mind): plant a garden. Any kind of garden. Anywhere. Just plant it. Of course, he gets into more detail than that but really that's the big message. As I sat turning various shades of green or sniffing back tears in bed at night reading this Martin kept asking me if his "solution" was to eat an organic vegetarian diet and despite the fact that I am all for an organic vegetarian diet I'm pleased to say that isn't his answer. He leans more towards the eat local and for heaven's sake plant some tomatoes school of thought, which I can really get behind.

Suffice it to say that by the end of the book I was more than invigorated for the gardening season ahead. And in fact I feel like I've had my West Coast temperate climate knuckles duly smacked in terms of winter planting. Next year: escarole, kale, cabbages and more will fill my winter garden. Mark my words. No excuses. My West Coast Seeds catalogue finally came in the mail and I've been thumbing through it with glee. And lucky for me this Saturday is Seedy Saturday at Van Dusen gardens where you'll find me trolling for all seeds heritage and hearty. I've also got some delusions about serious garden expansion for the purpose of trying my hand at some major hard bean cultivation and possibly some barley, but that will require a chat with Martin and some serious time with a shovel.

Comments

[merid]

rah for the big positive note of "plant a garden"...we're making a concerted effort to "eat locally" this year. We try to eat food raised within 100 sq. miles of us. Fortunately, as Californians, that gives us a lot of variety. It's our garden, though, that we really love. Everyone garden!