The Grain Girl

There’s a new grocery store in town!  Earth Fare has begun opening stores in Alabama, and after months of anticipation they have opened their newest store in my home-town of Auburn, Alabama.  This week I visited Earth Fare for the first time. It will be a great resource for those who are trying hard to find locally grown produce and meats, as well as other un-processed foods that are free from dangerous hormones, pesticides, and other harmful chemicals.

First, the store was small enough that it wasn’t overwhelming, the décor peaceful and a little earthy; with more barrels and baskets and less industrial shelving.  The produce section was a delight – everything appeared fresh, and was rich looking and colorful without the heavy waxes and coatings you find in conventional stores.  The meat department will be a blessing to those who haven’t been able to locate truly local farm fresh meats.  The dairy department included several options of full fat yogurts and some non-homogenized milk.  Unfortunately, their selection of cream was disappointing – all their cream has been ultra-pasteurized.  This doesn’t have to be so, as they carry a line of regional milk that could probably supply them with a better quality cream.  They had a refrigerator case with several selections for Kombucha, which was something I had not seen before so that was a nice find.  They also had a bulk foods selection that offered freshly ground nut butter, honey, real maple syrup, and many grain products such as actual wheat to grind at home, brown rice, dried beans, pasta, and more.  I was thrilled to see a bulk pasta section that included fresh tortellini and ravioli, with good ingredients!  Unheard of!  They even had several varieties of raw cheese that I have only seen in food co-ops, such as Morningland Dairy – an excellent product.

This is the type of thing that will give Earth Fare an edge over Whole Foods: offering a variety of raw cheese and other products that are often hard to find.

And there you have it – the most important parts of the grocery store checked out and I give a “thumbs up”!  But please, read on.

Overall I don’t see Earth Fare as being any different than any other major health food grocery store.  They do a great job providing folks with a better option in terms of produce, meats, and dairy.   This is a real blessing.  They also offer great products that you simply cannot find elsewhere, such as full fat organic coconut milk, true soy sauce, truly un-refined sea salts, more natural health care products and cleaning products, bulk herbs, etc.  On the other hand, they offer just as many un-healthy options as a regular grocery store.  Except somehow people lose their minds at the health food store and begin to buy products blindly.  I guess they assume that since it is at Earth Fare or Whole Foods it must be fine to eat.  Especially when it says “all natural” or “organic” on the label.

I’m here today to remind everyone to use caution at the health food store!  Put on your “discernment caps” and use common sense and wisdom!  First of all, shop the perimeter of the store and do your best to avoid the aisles.  This means go for the produce, meat, and dairy.  Then only go through the aisles that offer basic, un-processed products like flour, baking soda, nut butters, canned vegetables, olive oil, vinegars, etc.  The rest of the store you can ignore completely!

Yesterday as I browsed the aisles at Earth Fare I found the same ol’ problem that exists at Whole Foods and every other grocery store in America:  100% processed foods with great boasts on the label about how healthy they are.

The freezer cases are loaded with processed “foods” like the one pictured above.  This is obviously geared toward the vegetarian crowd – they bring in a lot of money because they are so hungry since they aren’t eating animal foods.  But seriously, my opinion of vegetarianism aside – no matter your take on healthy eating, one glance at the nutrition label makes it clear that this product is not really food:

Mycoprotein (30%), Gruyère cheese (skim milk, whey powder, corn starch, salt, cheese culture, enzyme, sodium dihydrogen orthophosphate, polyphosphates), breadcrumb (wheat flour, yeast, salt, vegetable mono- and di-glycerides, ascorbic acid), water, onions, sunflower oil. Contains 2% or less of egg white, potato maltodextrin, tapioca starch, dextrose, autolyzed yeast extract, natural flavors from non-meat sources, citric acid, calcium lactate, pectin, gum arabic, onion powder, garlic powder, canola oil, corn oil 

Made from natural ingredients.

First, don’t let that last statement fool you – the FDA may consider these natural ingredients but if they didn’t come direct from the farm, or if you can’t buy them for your pantry, they are not natural.  The number one ingredient, Mycoprotein, is something I have never heard of and am sure no one has in their pantry.  Then note that the Gruyere cheese contains whey powder, a form of oxidized cholesterol – something truly dangerous for your heart and also a known form of Monosodium Glutamate.  There are quite a few other red flags in this ingredient list (phosphates, maltodextrin, dextrose, natural flavors, canola oil…), but let me point out just one more: autolyzed yeast extract.  This is another well-known form of Monosodium Glutamate, which is an “excitotoxin” and does damage to your nervous system (whether the FDA will officially admit it or not).

This reminds me of something my savvy son discovered at the Whole Foods food bar not too long ago:

Do you see the irony?  If it isn’t really what it is, then it isn’t food.  Got it?

Here is a marketing scheme that caught my eye yesterday at Earth Fare:

The store is playing on the desires of concerned moms who want healthy kids by pointing them to this aisle in the middle of the store, where it would appear that THIS is where you will find the HEALTHY foods for KIDS!  My first question here is why do children need a special food section at the grocery store?  Should they not be eating the same things as adults – such as fresh produce, meat, and dairy?  Well you won’t find any of that in this aisle.  Here is the first product proudly displayed under the Healthy Kids banner:

Mini organic chocolate cookies!  Now, I’ll be the first to tell you that Late July cookies are the BOMB!!!  But do they really need to be marketed as healthy foods for kids?  Late July cookies have far better ingredients than other crème filled sandwich cookies at the conventional grocery store, and I do buy them as an occasional treat for my family, but they are NOT the foods that will make your children healthy!  Don’t be fooled!

The rest of the Healthy Kids aisle was laden with pre-packaged processed foods that a “health conscious” mom would purchase for her child’s school lunch box and feel like she was doing something really good.

Now the ingredients in these bars are nothing bad, no concern.  But why can’t Mom just make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich using all natural peanut butter and all natural jelly and a decent loaf of whole wheat bread?  Is it really that much trouble?  I’m telling you that $4.29 for 5 1-oz. bars is EXPENSIVE and if you just bought the individual ingredients you would get a LOT more for your money!  And Junior would be much more satisfied eating something fresh.

Mom really needs to be careful in aisles like these where the packaging is fun and the products not necessarily dangerous to Junior’s health…Because this is where “healthy” eating can get really expensive.  Why does Mom need to buy pre-packaged apple sauce?  It is incredibly easy to make fresh applesauce at home using fresh apples, a little cinnamon and nutmeg, and some maple syrup.  You don’t even need to peel them – just take a hand blender to the pot and puree the whole thing.  Cheap, fresh, economical, and especially environmentally friendly.  By the way, these pre-packaged foods that don’t have harmful ingredients are not necessarily nourishing.  They are processed foods, by the very  nature of their being in these packages, and that means they are basically dead foods.  Dead foods cannot bring health to your children (or anyone else).

These are the products that bring in the money for the grocery store and that is why store managers draw your attention to them and play upon your desires to “do what’s right.”

You see, wherever you shop, fake foods and highly processed foods abound.  And it is up to you to recognize and avoid them.  While buying organic and all natural produce, meats, and dairy IS more expensive than the conventional grocery store, you will save money in the long run by NOT purchasing pre-packaged products, and by NOT falling prey to marketing schemes promoting highly processed fake foods with questionable claims.  It isn’t hard to spot these foods.  You’ve just got to be wise and discerning.

So there you have it:  a little review of Earth Fare, a seemingly great health food chain that is probably Whole Foods’ biggest competitor.  With this review you get a little primer on how to shop any grocery store and spot the wolves in sheep’s clothing hiding among the aisles.  Let me say again:  I really liked Earth Fare and am so glad to see it in Auburn!  For more information about this chain visit their website at www.earthfare.com.

And remember:  this post, as with this entire blog, is my opinion only and is intended simply to get you thinking about what and how you feed your family.  Come join me on Facebook – look for The Grain Girl, and also for the companion page, “Well Fed Family” for much more healthy eating info and resources!

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Tonight I have to share with you a recipe that may give you the willies at first but believe me now and hear me later: this recipe is good!  And it is incredibly good for you!

The recipe is Spicy Meat Loaf from Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, page 356.   What makes this recipe so scary?  It includes a half pound of ground beef heart.  Here is where you must trust me: you cannot taste it at all, nor can you tell a texture difference.

If you can’t taste it or feel it, then why eat it?  So many reasons!

Organ meats, which include beef heart but also include liver, kidney, sweetbreads (thymus gland), and brains, are absolutely loaded with nutrition.  Primitive traditional cultures found to be in near perfect health treasured organ meat because they knew it would make them strong.  In fact, they would eat these parts of the animal first and often throw out the parts modern people prefer today!   Science has proven that organ meats are rich in fat-soluble vitamins A and D, essential fatty acids, and much more.   Fat-soluble vitamins are critical because without them our bodies cannot use the other minerals we eat, even if we are eating them in abundance.  Vitamins A and D are a requirement for good health, and modern scientific studies are proving that we are not getting enough of either. Another important vitamin found in all animal products, but especially in heart meat, is Coenzyme Q10 (also known as CoQ10).  Every cell in the body requires CoQ10 in order to produce energy.

A hundred years ago recipes including organ meats were plentiful in cookbooks across the globe.  Today, modern dietary advice and scare tactics have caused these nutritious foods to be nearly eliminated from our diets.  This is to our great disadvantage, as, contrary to popular belief, these are real foods and they are good for us.  Has anyone noticed lately how sick so many people are?  And thought about how our diets today come primarily from boxes as opposed to the land?  I am convinced that those two thoughts are very closely related.

But I confess: I really don’t relish the idea of eating organ meats.  I’m guessing you don’t either.  We were not raised eating them – we were raised on fast food and mono-textured foods.  Therefore organ meats smell, look, taste, and feel disgusting to our modernized palates.  But there is good news!  Grinding these foods and adding them to other things makes consuming them possible for people like us!  And that is why I want to tell you about this wonderful meat loaf that I fed my family for dinner tonight.  And they had no clue they were eating beef heart.

The recipe (which I’ve included in full at the end) calls for 2 pounds ground beef and one half pound ground heart.  Helpful hint: thaw the ground beef yet keep the heart mostly frozen and grind or shred it in your food processor (or meat grinder attachment to a mixer).  If you let the heart thaw it will be much harder to grind or chop.  A side note: if you don’t have heart, you can also use liver.  I personally can taste the liver in the meatloaf, but the kids had no idea.  Also, I’m sure you could purchase heart at the butcher, but I bought a whole beef from a local farm and requested the heart and liver with my order.  The processor cut them each into half pound sizes for me per my special request.

This recipe also includes carrot, celery, and onion all finely chopped.  My family prefers their meat loaf without chunks, so I chopped all the veggies in the food processor as well.  Perfect texture.  Also, the recipe calls for bread crumbs.  Instead of buying bread crumbs that are loaded with preservatives, I freeze old heels, burnt rolls, etc. then just run them through the food processor – bread crumbs!  While you’re prepping the rest of the ingredients, mix the bread crumbs with a cup of cream (raw is best, but never use ultra-pasteurized cream) and let them soak while you sauté the veggies and spices in real butter.

Once you’ve got everything prepped, just mix it together in one big bowl.  You’ll add one whole egg to this.  Here is a picture of everything dumped into the bowl…it doesn’t look appetizing at all, does it?

You can see the bread crumbs and cream on the bottom, the really red meat on the other side is the heart, the ground beef is piled in the middle, and it’s all topped with the sautéed veggies.  Using your hands, just mix this all together really well, then shape it into a loaf in a 9×13 pyrex baking dish.

The one thing I do not like about this recipe is the sauce.  4 tablespoons of tomato paste or ketchup just doesn’t work for me.  It’s not enough, and it isn’t near sweet enough.  This is where I alter the recipe to suit my tastes.  I mix up the sauce for my mother’s meat loaf, which I grew up eating, and pour this over the top.  There is plenty to cover the meat loaf and the sides of the pan, so that when it’s cooked you can soak the sauce into each yummy slice.  The recipe is simple: 8 oz. tomato sauce, ¼ c sucanat, ¼ c honey, and 1 t mustard.

It will take 90 minutes for this to bake, so make it first and then clean up and prepare the sides.  The smell will draw the entire family to the kitchen, begging for dinner!  My sides were the veggies I picked up at a local produce stand this morning:  purple hull peas (boiled in water with bacon grease and onion slices), squash, and red potatoes (which I boiled, drained, and fork-mashed with plenty of cream and butter).

This meal was loaded with lots of those animal foods that carry fat-soluble vitamins A and D, and CoQ10.  Even the veggies had their share of animal fats added (cream and butter).  Because of this, everyone was very satisfied, their bodies are not using up all their energy digesting the meal (because it was easily digested), and our bodies are making excellent use of all that important nutrition.  This is really good news for me, because a precious baby is being knit inside me right now.  These foods will make my pregnancy safer for me at 42, and will also help my baby be healthier in the womb and beyond.

So back to the family.  They had no idea they were eating organ meat, but my son got a little suspicious when I kept asking if he liked it.

My four year old loved it.

She had seconds, then thirds.  And cleaned her plate!

My 12 year old loved it – this is plateful #2.

And even the one who doesn’t like meat loaf at all saved it for last then cleaned her plate and confessed that it wasn’t so bad after all.

When I returned to the dish and saw the meager leftovers, I couldn’t believe it.  After all, 2 ½ pounds of meat plus all those veggies should go pretty far!  Well, see for yourself – this won’t make another meal for our family.

It will have to go for some really tasty meat loaf sandwiches this week instead.  I’d say this was a success, wouldn’t you?

Now that you know how healthy and yummy organ meats can be, YOU can try this recipe.  Maybe YOU will “heart” meat loaf too!

Spicy Meat Loaf from Nourishing Traditions page 356

2 lb ground beef or other red meat

½ lb ground heart

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 carrot, peeled, finely chopped

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

4 Tablespoons butter

¼ teaspoon dried chile flakes (adjust to taste – omit for no spice)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon cracked pepper

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 ½ cups whole grain bread crumbs

1 cup cream

1 egg

1 Tablespoon fish sauce (optional – I omitted this)

1 Tablespoons tomato paste or naturally sweetened ketchup (I omit this and use my own sauce)

Saute’ onions, carrots, and celery in butter until soft.  Add chile flakes, thyme, pepper and salt and stir around.  Meanwhile, soak bread crumbs in cream.

Using your hands, mix meat with sautéed vegetables, soaked bread, egg and optional fish sauce.  Form into a loaf and set in 9×13 pyrex pan.  Ice with ketchup or tomato paste (or sauce).  Add 1 cup water to pan (no water is needed if you use my sauce recipe).  Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 ½ hours.

I hope that you love this recipe so much that you will buy this wonderful cookbook.  You can buy a copy from Amazon via the Well Fed Family’s web store at www.wellfedfamily.net.  While you’re there, browse the site for more fabulous nutrition articles.  This month’s topic is feeding babies – in the womb and beyond.

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It’s been a long time since I have posted. Since then, HomesteadBlogger has changed all their software and my family has left the city and now lives in a rural Tennessee town. Not only that, but I am expecting baby #4. So you can see why I haven’t posted in a while. And this post is really just a test to make sure the blog is still working. There is so much I would like to do with the blog to make it more user friendly and to look better. Bear with me for now as I can only handle one change at a time. And did I mention that we’ll likely be moving again within 6 months? We’re in a rental house, searching for our future forever homestead. Until then…. The Grain Girl

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 I’ve got a great visual for you today.  Get ready, for you are about to see with your very eyes the difference between something raised the way God designed vs. something raised the way man finds convenient.   You are about to see actual nutrition, and a lack of it.

Here you see eggs from the grocery store. These eggs are expensive, “all-natural” eggs from the health food store and, according to the label, actually came from a local farm (although I have never heard of this farm, as it does not show up on local farm searches nor does the farmer attend local farmer’s markets).

These eggs are a typical light yellow color.  Notice that as they were cracked into the bowl, they fell out all in a jumble.

Now check out eggs purchased direct from a farmer I know.

Notice the deep orange yolks.  You can also see the uniformity with which they landed in the bowl when they were cracked open.  This is because the whites are thicker around the yolks, keeping the eggs spaced apart.  If you look closely at the yolk on the top right, you can see the outline of the thicker egg white.

Need another comparison?  Look at this next picture.  Here you see the two types of eggs next to each other.  Can you guess which is which? 

Yes, the three pale eggs came from the natural foods store (and these were actually from a nationally known company, and were certified organic) while the one deep orange egg came from another local farmer I know.  You might be interested to know that the local egg was actually about 3 weeks old – not super fresh.  Again, notice the difference in the texture of the whites – you can see the thick egg white from the local egg, while the whites of the store eggs are almost not visible.

So what’s the point of all this?  The point is that the deeper, richer, and more vibrant color of the egg yolk, the more nutrient dense and healthy it is for you to eat.  And how do you get eggs such a deep orange color with firmer whites?  You let the hens roam freely on pasture, in the sunlight, eating the bugs and greens they choose.

I’m sure you have had sticker shock over the prices of organic free-range eggs from the grocery store.  The local eggs from the store in the first picture cost me $3.69 a dozen!  I bought them because they were local – the stamp on the carton said so – but I definitely did NOT get my money’s worth.  Basically I got a dozen eggs from hens that were most likely confined to the indoors, eating an all vegetarian diet of various grains.  And who knows what was really in that mix.  I know this simply by looking at the pale yellow yolks and runny whites.  There is no difference in the store eggs in the first picture and the organic store eggs in the last picture, except the organic eggs cost even more and had all kinds of great wording on the label.  In the end, both store eggs were over-priced and low-quality.

I’m also sure that if you have tried to purchase pastured eggs direct from a local farmer that you’ve had sticker shock there as well.  I know that I have paid up to $4.50 a dozen for local, pastured eggs.  But go back up and look at the pictures again and you will see that while both are expensive, one is a much better deal than the other.  The pastured eggs are far superior in every way.

While the local pastured eggs are definitely more visually appealing, that is the tell-tale sign that these are healthier, more nutritious eggs.  It is this intense orange color that is proof of more carotenes and higher levels of fat soluble vitamins.  Fat soluble nutrients do all kinds of good things for you, including lowering your risk of cancer, protecting your skin, and supporting your eyesight.  Eggs from hens allowed to forage for bugs and greens on pasture in the sunlight actually have more nutrients than those from hens raised indoors on all vegetarian feeds.  This includes more Omega 3 Fatty Acids (in fact, pastured eggs have a near perfect ratio of Omega 3 and Omega 6 Fatty Acids), Vitamin E, Vitamin A, Folic Acid, and Vitamin B12. 

Another very important nutrient in pastured eggs is Choline.  This is a substance found in every living cell in your body, and is a major component of your brain.  But your body cannot make enough Choline on its own, therefore we need to get it from animal foods such as pastured eggs.  A Choline deficiency leads to a folic acid deficiency.  This is why pregnant and nursing women should be eating at least two eggs every day, and why cooked egg yolks are the perfect first food for baby.  Additionally, Choline can help prevent heart disease, Type 2 Diabetes, and cognitive decline such as Alzheimer’s because it is an anti-inflammatory and actually helps prevent fat and cholesterol from sticking to arteries.  So eggs are an important source of nutrition from pre-birth throughout life.

Now that you know how nutrient dense pastured eggs really are, you might not be so upset about their high price.  Even at $4 a dozen, eggs are a really inexpensive source of valuable nutrients.  But if it’s still tough on your budget, then you might consider raising your own backyard flock.  Unless you live in a highly restricted neighborhood, most cities and towns allow residents to own a few hens.  Roosters are another story.  But hens don’t need roosters to lay eggs!  Supposedly, keeping a few hens in your backyard is not just easy but fun as well.  And from what I hear there is nothing quite like having your own supply of fresh, pastured eggs just outside your back door.

For more information, including a book list for keeping backyard flocks as well as recipes for your own chicken feed supplement, check out “Eat Your Eggs And Have Your Chickens Too” by Jen Albritton at www.westonaprice.org.   There is also a wealth of information about the health benefits of eggs at www.whfoods.org.   For lots of great egg recipes, info on feeding eggs to babies, and even more egg nutrition information, read Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig.

So all this business about eggs clogging your arteries and causing heart disease is just not true.  You no longer need to avoid egg yolks or that delicious fried egg breakfast.  It is the egg substitutes and powdered eggs and imitation junk that is truly dangerous to your health.  In fact, salmonella isn’t even a concern with pastured eggs, since a healthy hen does not lay contaminated eggs.  As always, God’s foods reign superior, especially when they were raised the way He designed.

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I just finished reading the most delightful book; a New York Times Best Book of the Year that my mother just happened to suggest in passing.  It wasn’t anything I was set on reading, but it was what was available when I had the time and I’m so glad it was.

The book is titled, Little Heathens:  Hard Times And High Spirits On An Iowa Farm During The Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish.  Kalish, who grew up on an Iowa farm during the Depression, simply writes about her childhood.  The book is reminiscent of the Little House books in that Kalish records exactly how things were done during a significant time in the history of our country.  Except this book is non-fiction, written in a friendly narrative manner.  The first sentence reads, “This is the story of a time, and a place, and a family.”  Kalish begins by telling us about her great, great grandparents who were among the first pioneers to settle in Iowa.  The family maintained a legacy in Iowa for several generations, operating several family farms where they lived, ate, and worked together. From there Kalish describes the many ways the children built character through chores, home medicine, farm food, and living without modern conveniences like electricity and running water.  Then she covers each season of the year and the distinct events that stand out in her mind; from nut gathering at the family cemetery to box socials at the local schoolhouse.  The book is full of details of rural life during the Depression, from chores to cooking to home remedies.  There are many recipes for farm foods, natural cures, and natural cleaning.  The phrase, “Little Heathens,” was what her grandmother called the children when they got into trouble on the farm (and there are many fun tales of such trouble in this book!).  Kalish has a gift for describing a way of life that totally absorbs the reader into the nostalgia of the time, back when America was still much more rural than urban, and the family was a bigger influence on the children than entertainment.  One word of caution:  when Kalish says she is going to describe the way of life on a farm during the Depression, she describes everything, including “coming of age”, language, and other sensitive issues.  Nothing is left out!

I always love reading about how people lived in earlier times.  I know I probably way over-romanticize it, because back then it was truly tough and scary living.  On the other hand, there’s so much to be said for that way of life before people totally left the land, and eventually their families, to live in sterile homes and work in closed up offices behind computers, only to return home to the tv and a lack of reality.  I really think that in so many ways we’ve lost our way.  And this book helps remind us of what is really important.  As she discusses how intensely difficult life was for her family, and how very strict her grandparents were on the children, she is sure to point out, “…I have come to view that time as a gift.  Austere and challenging as it was, it built character, fed the intellect, and stirred the imagination.”  Imagine that – living in near poverty, without modern conveniences, without special after-school programs, and even without yearly well-checkups, these children managed to grow up with strong character, intellect, and imagination!  They were full of life, well-adjusted, and healthy.

So why am I giving a book report about this book?  Because this book is all about the simple living and unadulterated food that I am so passionate about.  First, there is an entire chapter devoted to “thrift.”  Kalish begins by quoting the old sayings, “ Use it up; wear it out; make it do; do without” and “ “Willful waste makes woeful want.”  This family didn’t have curbside garbage service; they didn’t need it because they literally used everything until it was just no more.   This thriftiness pervaded their entire beings.  The outcome was a very earth-friendly family before, of course, it was cool to be green.

I once knew a girl who thriftily bought a whole chicken because it was cheaper than buying the boneless breasts.  She cooked the entire thing, cut off the breast meat, and threw out the rest of the chicken!  Think of the animal whose sole created purpose was to feed her family; discarded and thrown away simply out of sheer ignorance.  Chapter 28 is devoted to the animals on Kalish’s family farm.  She describes how the family lived in “intimate contact” with a wide variety of farm animals, how they loved each one, and delighted in them.  She says, “The domestic animals were almost like people to us, and we treated them with respect.  Their welfare was always our prime concern.”  This is drastically different from today.  We are raised to think nothing of these animals who give their lives to our service.  To us, they have become nothing more than a cut of meat wrapped in plastic on a styrofoam tray.  All we care about is which cut is cheaper.  But this is a new phenomenon.  Since the beginning of time, man has lived closely with the animals that nourish and serve him.  This relationship develops a healthy respect and conscientiousness that quickly goes missing when we leave the farm.  I remember volunteering at the farmer’s market where a customer was irritated by the high cost of a package of chicken livers.  When he complained to the farmer, she responded by pointing out, “Each one of those livers represents one whole chicken, and a huge investment!”  I wonder what Kalish’s grandparents would think of today’s confinement operations and feedlots where animals are treated without any care?

Farm living during the Depression was hard living of course.  Kalish makes this very clear as she details the amount of work that was required by every soul, from the youngest to the oldest.  Everyone had a job and was expected to participate.  The result was a sense of pride and ownership in every last detail of life.  Through the hard work, the family spent their days interacting with each other, teaching and learning while helping and serving.  This was true whether they worked in the barn, the garden, or the fields. And in the end, everything and everyone wound up in the kitchen.  Kalish says, “It should be obvious by now that the center of all activity in those days was the kitchen.  It was where we gathered for companionship and for a variety of work and leisure-time pursuits, where we ate all our meals, and where people entered the house most of the time.”  She goes on to describe their farmhouse kitchen in detail, pointing out that the kitchen “took up half of the first floor of the house.”  The kitchen description takes several pages!  She ends her description with this:  “There were many good reasons for being in the kitchen – light, warmth, food, drink….All in all, the kitchen had just about everything to make one comfortable.”

I love how she describes her memories of the farmhouse kitchen.  It is the smell of food that swallows her up and takes her back to her childhood.  Not pre-packaged microwaved fake food, but real food loaded with real animal fats and fresh goodies from the garden:

The smell of bacon is what brings back a flood of memories to me…I conjure up the taste of a sandwich made of homemade bread spread with smoked bacon drippings, topped with the thinnest slices of crisp red radishes freshly harvested from the garden, and sprinkled over with coarse salt.

Consider the modern family of today.  We have so many extra-curricular activities that we are strung out from one end of town to the other.  Instead of working together toward a common goal (the welfare of the family), most American children spend their free time playing the Wii, texting friends, or hanging out at the mall.  Family Night usually centers around “Dancing With The Stars” or “American Idol” and a delivery pizza.  When our children grow up, their nostalgic scents will revolve more around the smell of microwave popcorn or the rancid oils and fake fats from delivery pizza.  Hmmm.  It seems to be lacking something, doesn’t it?

One of the things I loved about this book was the continuing theme of family working together.  But there was another, even stronger theme woven throughout this book:  how loving and working the land leads one to an intimate relationship with the land, that then brings about valuable knowledge and skills, which bring health, life, and vitality to each person.  When you know valuable skills, you then have a confidence in your ability to cope with life.  You have become empowered, no longer helpless and dependent.

Here’s a great quote that gives some insight into why Kalish wrote this book.  She wants her family to know what it took to survive during difficult times so different from those we live in now, but, she says, “…most of all I want them to enjoy the kinship of souls that is created when everyone gathers in the kitchen to prepare a meal together.  Although cooking today is vastly easier, there is still nothing like putting a good meal on the table to make people feel they have done something meaningful.”  I totally agree.

There is so much more about this fun book than what I have shared here.  Check it out, and consider how you can take your family “back to the land.”  You will never regret it.

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