New at Reason

jp | June 1, 2007, 2:53pm | #

a 100 acre farm near the one in Meadowview, VA, on which I helped slaughter and butcher cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, and where we kept a root cellar filled with potatoes and turnips; 20 or so hives for honey; churned butter, canned cherries, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, corn, blackberries, and nearly anything else fruit or vegetable that we could coax out of the soil. Beans were dried for winter storage strung on threads above my bed.

Just out of curiosity, was this a working farm or a hippie farm?

Good review, BTW.

damaged justice | June 1, 2007, 3:06pm | #

With that level of productivity, even if they are smelly hippies, they're working harder than you did moving your little pig-like fingers to produce your post.

Ken Shultz | June 1, 2007, 3:17pm | #

It's almost impossible to get decent berries out here on the West Coast.

...even if you're willing to pay an arm and a leg at one of the upscale groceries, they always seem to be moldy and nasty by the time they get here.

And would it kill y'all to send us some white peaches every once in a while?

damaged justice | June 1, 2007, 3:28pm | #

Obviously you don't have to try to be a dick in order to be one.

Dan T. | June 1, 2007, 3:30pm | #

Good review. I can't argue with Ron's opinion that it's a good thing we're not all tied to farming anymore.

I guess the one concern that wasn't addressed was the role of cheap energy in our current food system. What happens if/when the price of oil shoots through the roof and it's no longer easy to ship food across the country?

Warren | June 1, 2007, 3:45pm | #

"Well-heeled North American epicures are likely to gather around a table where whole continents collide discreetly on a white tablecloth: New Zealand lamb with Italian porcinis, Peruvian asparagus, and a hearty French Bordeaux," writes Kingsolver. "The date on the calendar is utterly irrelevant." She denounces this situation as "botanically outrageous." I think it's just plain wonderful. emphasis mine

Amen brother

Lurker Kurt | June 1, 2007, 5:04pm | #

...giving-up of coffee

I hadn't thought of that.

Coffee beans only grow in the tropics, right?

I wonder how many 'localvores' are giving up the Java?

Ventifact | June 1, 2007, 5:38pm | #

You'd either explode or implode, depending on which deprivation got to you first...

black_box | June 1, 2007, 5:42pm | #

Growing up on a farm sounds a lot better than growing up in the suburbs. But living your whole life there not so much.

Will Allen | June 1, 2007, 7:52pm | #

I am a life long city dweller, and lost any romantic notions of farm life when I went to help out on my uncle's farm in Missouri on a couple of occasions. Cleaning out stables in the July heat tends to have that effect.

Franklin Harris | June 1, 2007, 10:09pm | #

I wonder how many 'localvores' are giving up the Java?

To say nothing of sushi, which is the one food most dependent on globalism.

Russell | June 2, 2007, 12:15am | #

Thank goodness the lanolin was anthrax free- must have been the clean air

DNM | June 2, 2007, 2:09pm | #

----------------------------------
Unfortunately, Kingsolver adopts absolutely every one the modern urban fables with regard to food production, starting with the claim that organic is more nutritious. There is very little scientific evidence for that claim. In addition, organic is not necessarily better for nature since yields are generally lower than conventional farming, which means that more land must be used to produce food.
----------------------------------
Calling organic food advocates' claims as to the health benefits of eating organic a myth is a bit unscientific, don't you think? (Especially, since you only cite a _lack_ of scientific evidence, not evidence to the contrary - like, e.g., large-scale population studies showing equivalent levels of health across organic- and non-organic-eating populations.) I suspect the lack of scientific evidence has more to do with what researchers are looking for - viz., negative effects of trace amounts of pesticides. What they don't look for are the positive effects of the greater _broad-spectrum_ mineral content of organic produce (more than just NPK). Plants can't manufacture minerals via photosynthesis; if it ain't in the soil, it ain't gonna be in the final product.

Bash the localvores all you want - you have sound economic arguments for doing so - but lay off the organic food issues until you're prepared to do a _lot_ of reading of studies by people who actually know what they're doing when researching the effects of natural remedies and organic food consumption - i.e., not most American-trained MDs (who weren't required to take a single course on nutrition or phytomedicine). Your tone probably puts off a lot of otherwise freedom-loving granola types, and for no good reason. BTW, I'm not a DO, a DC, an ND or a "hippie".

plunge | June 3, 2007, 2:27am | #

I'd like Ron a lot more if he'd bother to apologize or correct the misleading claims he makes:

http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2007/05/who_put_out_the_contract_on_ra.php#more

LarryA | June 3, 2007, 3:44pm | #

It is most un deniably the hardest most unbelievable way to make a buck.

Well, there is asphalt roofing.

Charles | June 4, 2007, 9:39am | #

Ron forgot to mention danger as an aspect of farming. If you don't use machinery (40 acres if you have a big, healthy family) and you don't keep animals other than poultry, yeah, it's fairly safe (except for bird flu.)

But if you keep cattle, you will likely end up minus a few joints, with the possibility of being stomped to death, over the years. Even if you keep sheep, expect back injuries (they don't shear themselves) and the occasional broken finger. Hogs ... will eat you if you don't pay attention to what you are doing when you feed them. One of our neighbors went that way.

There's also the usual dangers of being outside in all kinds of weather.

It's pretty obvious that more than 99 out 100 people prefer the city or suburb to the country. That may reduce slightly with the ability, via the internet, to live in the country and still not be cut off, but people aren't going to go back to subsistence farming in large numbers. I bet Kingsolver and crew didn't grind their own flour and bake their own bread, for instance.

EK Buddenhagen | June 5, 2007, 8:30am | #

Morton hits the nail on the head. I would really like toknow how you get through to these right wing ideologues. Industrial agriculture also has produced such a surfeit of food that we have to figure out what we do with it. Fat Americans anyone? Produce dumped in Mexico? streams and rivers polluted with animal wastes? Dead soil? Transport costs in terms of energy, not just for gasoline but for refrigerated trucks, farmers in Mexico unable to survive at home, etc. etc.

The answer isn't ideological, it must be analytical. Some big farms where they are better than small, some small. Michael Pollan , by the way, doesn't advocate all-organic, but rather local.

hughesy | June 6, 2007, 12:58am | #

Yeah, whatever, but when the globally warmed up drought really sets an and your cites and suburbs are thirsy, not to mention your power plants, and when your oil's run out and your grocery store shelves are empty, don't think you can just turn up with your army to pinch my broccoli and drain my tank.
grrrrrrr

Meg | June 7, 2007, 4:28pm | #

I think Ron missed the whole point of this book which though very romantic, gives realistic ideas for how to live a greener and healthier existence. If you actually read the book, you will see that she often points out that no, not everyone should go out and buy a farm and grow their own food but there are obvious benefits to growing your own food which isn't very hard, even if you have only a back porch (as I do). A tomato that is coming off of my plant vine ripened with no pesticides is clearly going to be tastier and will have more nutrients that a tomato that was picked green in Mexico and ripened in a truck that had to drive several thousand miles to reach me. Also, the point he makes about helping out the farmers in other countries is utter crap. The farmers in these countries are rarely seeing any substantial financial return for their products sold and its the corporations that make the big bucks. Just do some research into NAFTA and how illegal immigration levels into the States have correlated. And keep in mind that in our obese society, it wouldn't hurt for you to put down that McD's cheeseburger and the super sized coke for once and actually show some restraint. Read her book, its actually very good, well written, very informative and beats the hell out of watching some mindless crap on the tv.

Simon | June 8, 2007, 3:56pm | #

Do you really have a "science correspondent" who is not aware that the oil to make pesticides and to drive farm machinery is not going to be around forever?

PBrazelton | June 13, 2007, 4:49pm | #

Awesome argument - Kingsolver loved growing much of her food on a small hobby farm, found it rewarding, and extols the virtues in a book. Bailey didn't like growing up on a farm so Kingsolver is a liar who elaborated her experience into fiction. I'm not sure what this brand of logic is called, but you should market it or something.

(Yes, I grew up in a small town and worked on farms. The work sucked, but most of the kids that came out of that town worked HARD and grew up with great values. I'm sure growing up playing video games and skateboarding in the suburbs provides the same work ethic and life experience, so let's just call a truce, eh?)