Surprising Lee

I have finally been able to rescue this blog entry from my old computer. I wrote it way back in February just before the poor old thing died so I’m afraid it’s a bit dated... but what the heck:

North Carolina keeps on surprising me in ways that range from the tiny details of flora reproduction to major socioeconomic trends. I'm learning that some things just can’t truly be understood until you’ve been here for a while and experienced them firsthand.

• Magnolias produce pinecone like things with bright scarlet seeds inside and the leaves stay green all winter.


• A dead tobacco factory can completely dominate a whole downtown area.


• There really are people here who won’t vote for Obama because they believe that the “races should be kept separate.”


• It doesn’t really matter anyway because our primary is in MAY! Will there be any candidates left to vote for in May?! (I guess it’s possible at this rate.)


• Nothing can rival the extreme decibel level achieved by a family of Tarheel fans watching a Duke/UNC game. (The stomping, the screaming, the throwing of the hats and the leaving of the room in disgust, the depths of despair and the heights of rapture… It’s a very loud and complicated cathartic ritual.)


• The complete lack of winter...

Chicago folk simply would not believe it. “Balmy” and “February” have come into bizarre juxtaposition in my vocabulary. It feels a little wrong, a little like cheating. I’m Supposed to be more miserable at this time of year. Instead I can count on one hand the number of times that the full length “down comforter” winter coat has come out of the closet. It’s pretty amazing really and a bit scary, although I’ve been assured that this does Not necessarily mean we are headed for the hottest summer ever.

Yesterday (February 18, 2008), I took advantage of the sun and the warmth to go for a trek around the school fields while listening to Barbara Kingsolver’s book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I’ve been enjoying this book very much for the past month or so as I work out. It’s part tragedy, part comedy, part drama, part self-help and part inspiration. The premise is this: huge, fossil fuel guzzling, environmentally unsound food production and consumption = BAD! Local, environmentally and socially responsible food production = GOOD!

The book is in turns infuriating and hopeful, challenging and exciting. It’s about remembering that creating healthy and sustainable food really should be at the top of our list of priorities, not at the bottom. A few of the things it’s gotten me excited about are: Making your own cheese, canning, freezing local produce (my kingdom for a chest freezer!), baking our own bread (I just pulled a loaf from the oven in fact), and starting a garden. In short, returning to my roots. My family used to do all of these things and brewed our own root beer to boot!

Of course, Dan and I already do some of this. We never purchase off-season tomatoes or ears of corn and we certainly heavily frequent our farmer’s markets in the summer. Last summer we even picked and froze an enormous number of strawberries from a local farm. But there are ways we could do more to take fossil fuels out of our food equation and I am inspired to try a few. Every little bit helps.

So as I was tramping around this beautiful school farm with news of a Huge beef recall ringing in my ears, I finally got to the portion of the book that deals with corporate farming of animals, feed lots and the like. The timing could not have been more appropriate. I was listening to words of warning about the need for inspections and better treatment of animals, for our own protection, just as the crisis was actually at hand.

And this leads me to yet another surprise that North Carolina has to offer: Part of the problem with mass produced livestock is that as farmers trend towards designer breeds we are losing varieties of livestock breeds in alarming numbers, and all the wonderful genetic diversity that goes with them. Many of these new breeds (turkeys for instance) are literally incapable of reproducing naturally. Imagine! Yet there is an organization that is working to preserve heritage breeds of livestock so that we will have access to them should the need arise. It is called The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy and lo and behold… It’s practically in my backyard. It’s located in the little town of Pittsboro North Carolina, just south a bit from Chapel Hill.

Since reading this book it seems that everywhere I look I see references to local foods. A friend of ours was interviewed about the subject recently for a local paper. The universities are bringing local foods into their dining halls in a major way and restaurants are proudly promoting their use of local meat and produce. There is a Durham Food Coop and a farmers market in every nearby town.

I guess it’s time I stop being so surprised about these things and just Enjoy them. It's a gorgeous day. I think I'll walk over to the farmer's market and get me some lovely local greens...