Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Lately, I've been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by one of my favorite authors, Barbara Kingsolver. You know that feeling you get when you come across something that really clicks? This is one of those books that's going to be a life-changer for me.

I was inspired to read it because it was this year's Virginia Tech "Common Book," where all first year students and faculty are encouraged to read the same book to create shared knowledge and experience. She also currently lives in Southwest Virginia, making the book easy to follow as they pass through exactly the same seasons that we do. The book walks you through one family's commitment to eat only locally grown food for an entire year, growing as much as they can themselves and getting to know their local farmers.

As a result of their inspiring story, Joey and I have renewed our focus on our home garden for next year, intending to add many more raised beds and even a cold frame to extend the seasons (on both ends). We also intend to take advantage of the robust and wonderful local farmer's market that we are so fortunate to have. In the past, we've really only treated it as a unique & special shopping experience, rather than our day-to-day "this is where we get all our stuff" market. That's about to change! Stick with us as we make plans throughout this winter, getting prepared to change gears in a big way this coming spring.