Signs of harvest are all
around. The afternoon sun
glows amber over the fields
and the farm stands are
filled to overflowing with
vegetables and fruit. We’re
lucky to live in a place
where we can have such an
immediate connection to
the food we eat.
If you live outside of one
of the local villages, you
might even live on a bit of
land that fed (or feeds) your
neighbors.
Our house here in Fly
Creek was never a proper
farm. For more than 100
years it was a one-room
country schoolhouse. Where
the coal room once stood,
now we have a den. Where
students once sat in their
rigid little desks, now we
sit around a kitchen table
and take in the view of the
rolling hills outside.
That view includes our
own little foray into agriculture.
Next to the house,
we have a small plot of potatoes,
squash, corn and
beans. The corn and potatoes
seem to be doing alright,
but the beans and
squash seem to be a nonstarter.
Thank goodness we
don’t have to rely on our
growing skills to feed the
family all winter long here
at Schoolhouse Farm.
We have been thinking a
lot about food, though. And
— judging by the books
people have been reading,
I’m not the only one.
Julia Child’s ``My Life in
France,’’ tops The New
York Times non-fiction
bestseller list this week,
and ``Julie and Julia’’ is
close on its heels at No. 3.
At Nos. 13 and 15 are
Michael Pollan’s books ``The
Omnivore’s Dilemma’’ and
``In Defense of Food,’’ respectively.
Barbara Kingsolver’s
``Animal, Vegetable, Miracle,’’
clocks in at No. 23, and
if you count Elizabeth Gilbert’s
``East, Pray, Love’’ as
a partial meditation on
good, food, well you can add
a No. 10 bestseller to the
list.
The common ingredient
simmering through all of
these books (plus Mark Bittman’s
``Food Matters,’’
Marion Nestle’s ``What to
Eat,’’ Carlo Petrini’s ``Slow
Food Nation’’ and many
others) is the notion that
we have ventured too far
away from the source of our
food and that factory-produced
food is bad for our
bodies, bad for the environment
and bad for the local
economies. It may also be
bad for our souls.
In his book ``Anger,’’
Buddhist monk Thich Nhat
Hanh asserts that the first
step toward cooling the
rampant flames of anger in
our lives and our society is
to consume food that was
created without violence.
He asks, in essence, if you
think it’s physically and
emotionally healthy to
nourish ourselves with the
suffering of others. No
thanks.
That doesn’t mean being
a vegetarian. But it does
mean eating meat that was
produced with humane,
compassionate practices.
But how can you know if
the factory farm 2,000 miles
away treats its livestock
humanely?
You can’t. But you can
know whether the farmer
down the street treats his
cows decently.
And vegetarians aren’t
off the hook when it comes
to consuming food created
compassionately.
Who picked that juicy
apple in your fruit bowl?
Was it a woman or man
who earned a living wage?
Or was it a 10-year-old
child who needs to skip
school in harvest season because
Mom and Dad’s paychecks
won’t cover even the
most basic living expenses?
And was the apple grown in
a way that nourished the
soil from which it came, or
is it all red and shiny at the
expense of the surrounding
environment (and the
health of whomever sprayed
the pesticide)?
I’m glad I don’t have to
rely on my own farming
skills to survive the approaching
winter months.
But I would much rather
live in a world where communities
sustained themselves,
where people knew
exactly where their food
came from and where every
dollar I spent on food supported
a farmer rather than
a corporate executive’s
monthly bonus.
Elizabeth Trever Buchinger
is what she eats. You
can connect with her at
www.moremindfulfamily.
wordpress.com.
Columns
This Wonderful Life: A harvest that’s good for the soul
- Columns
-
-
From Fly Creek: Revving up for spring
Time to bring you up to date on Fly Creek’s happy clambering into Spring. First, the eatery scene. “Is Jerry’s open yet?” The answer is, “Oh, yes!” The porches are freshly stained; the lawns a uniform green, and the hop vines are already climbing the posts on the covered side deck. Blue and I went up there to lunch earlier this week, and I celebrated spring with my traditional bacon, onion and Swiss cheese hamburger. We two sat on the deck, enjoying the broad view and some spectacular clouds marching across, up toward Schuyler Lake.
Continued ... -
In These Otsego Hills: More from 1986 ...
This week we continue with the discussion of telephone service from the pre-dial days. On March 12 we noted that: “No one has yet produced a telephone directory from pre-dial days, but Doug Preston of New Hartford recalls that some business (which one?) in the village had the phone number 7.”
Continued ... -
Home Notes: Celebrations abound at the Thanksgiving Home
April was a month of celebrations and much to appreciate. We had a 90th birthday celebration for Wanda Noyes on April 4 including her family and friends. Personal care staff Dee Bouck worked with residents to hand paint Easter eggs for the tree in the activity room.
Continued ... -
In These Otsego Hills: 1986 continues ...
This week we continue our journey through the columns of 1986 with the answer to the question “for whom, according to tradition, was Hannah’s Hill named?”
Continued ... -
Book Notes: Baseball book features local contributors
Baseball is part of the nation’s fabric. Most kids have a memory of the game either from playing Little League, attending a major league contest or meeting a favorite player. In Cooperstown that feeling is magnified since we are the official home of baseball. We get to see firsthand what has made the sport the national pastime.
Continued ... -
From Fly Creek: Ya really wanna know?
SETTING: Fly Creek General Store. CAST: Assorted seated geezers, drinking coffee. [Door opens, enter heavy-set geezer; walking slowly with wide stance, maybe prostatitis.]
Continued ... -
In These Otsego Hills: Returning to 1986 ...
For the past several years now we have undertaken sharing some of the area’s oral history we have collected over the years that we have written this column. Therefore, this year, we would like to go back to 1986 to share that rather unusual year. Those who were here then no doubt remember that it was that year that the village celebrated the bicentennial of its founding.
Continued ... -
From Fly Creek: For reasons unknowable
[Jim’s reached back to 2002 to share one of his favorite columns.] My father was born as the last century began into a river village in tidewater Maryland. He told me once of a man there in his boyhood who, like so many, made a thin living tonging for oysters in the cold months and, in the hot and humid ones, crabbing and raising vegetables.
Continued ... -
In These Otsego Hills: CCS balancing act ... side two
Last week we shared a number of activities in which students at CCS can participate. We thought it was an impressive, if not overwhelming, list. And we are indeed pleased that the young people of our area have these opportunities. However, we think it is also important to keep in mind that these undertakings do have a cost associated with them. They are not free. In fact there are, no doubt, those who would say they do not come cheap.
Continued ... -
From Fly Creek: A graceful crowd
Make of this what you will, friends. I feel I’m really meant to share it with you. Despite good medication for my Parkinsonism, every four or five weeks I can sensethe symptoms building up on me, giving me more than ordinary trouble. Lately it’s been falls, and last week brought a typical one. I’d gone out to get the paper, moving along with penguin steps on the snowcoved ice patches, and usingmy spike-tipped cane the waya climber uses an ice axe. But circumstances overcame me. Parkinson’s wipes out the possibility of multi-tasking.
Continued ... -
In These Otsego Hills: This and that and the other side ...
We note that the CCS Class of 2012 is presenting its senior class play, “Snow White” by Tim Kelly, this week with performances 7:30 p.m Thursday and Friday, March 29 and 30, and at 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 31. All performances will be at the Nicolas J. Sterling Auditorium at the Middle/High School.
Continued ... -
In These Otsego Hills: That green thing ...
Of late we have noticed that our email inbox has been much busier than usual. In fact, we find ourselves hard pressed to keep up with all the various messages we receive. As a result we suspect we have not answered some in as timely a fashion as might be thought appropriate.
Continued ... -
From Fly Creek: What you need to know
In their last Sunday’s bulletins, all 84 churches of Otsego County were to have carried announcements of an important meeting; most of them did. But because the announcement is so important, and not just to the churched, here it is again.
Continued ... -
Book Notes: Living the magic of ‘Hoosier’
A lot of people consider “Hoosiers” the best sports film of all time. The 1986 classic follows the exploits of a fictional small town Indiana high school basketball team in 1952 as it attempts to achieve the impossible dream of a state championship. The story is inspired by the true life achievement of the 1954 Milan team, who with an enrollment of only 161 students shocked big city power Muncie Central on a last second shot to win the state title. It’s the kind of sports story that represents something that is hard to grasp unless you live in a small town.
Continued ... -
In These Otsego Hills: The most perfect village... home to heavy industry?
We suspect we would get a whole lot more accomplished if we spent less time thinking, pondering and musing about things. In fact, there is a good possibility we might actually have completed our goal of cleaning the basement if we only focused on the task at hand, instead of trying to figure out the world around us. It almost makes us wonder if it is possible to think too much about things. We certainly hope not because should that be the case, we are in deep trouble.
Continued ... -
Up On Hawthorn Hill: The past in the present
Clichés abound about the value of photographs. Most are probably true at least to a certain extent. What I do know about an image is that it represents something of the past that is not the pastitself. But that is the power of any image. It represents something that once was. The beauty of an image, revisited, is that it functions as a catalystfor reliving in the present a past experience. My own view, one that I thank the Spanish writer Jorge Luis Borges for, is that all we ever can experience is the present.
Continued ... -
Home Notes: Workshops held for Thanksgiving Home residents
We welcomed Linda Keller, Ph.D. of the Bassett Research Institute and Ida Baker of NYCAMH who presented a six-week workshop for residents and staff.
Continued ... -
From Fly Creek: Late-winter hamlet news
Well, at least I’m “guessing” it’s late winter now — in the winter that wasn’t. But, if not snow, I can provide a flurry of Fly Creek news to share with you, scooping Associated Press, Reuter’s, and United Press International, not to mention all local news services except our General Store.
Continued ... -
In These Otsego Hills: Waiting for spring to have sprung ...
Difficult as it to believe, both January and February seem to have flown by and we find ourselves turning the calendar over to the month of March, which we have long thought is one of the more dreary months of the year. Of course, as in the pastthere are signs of spring as reflected by the tapping of the maple trees. For many years, the trees sprouted buckets to capture their all important sap. However, we now know to look for the sap collection lines that are strung from tree to tree.
Continued ... -
Book Notes: Kennedy: a unique individual
It’s been almost 50 years since the Kennedy assassination shocked the nation. Since then much has been written about President John F. Kennedy and whether he would have achieved his destiny (whatever that may have been) if he had lived. It is said he inspired young people in a way that has never been equaled. And there is the notion of Camelot, espoused by his widow Jackie, that there will never be a time of hope and promise like that again.
Continued ...
-
From Fly Creek: Revving up for spring
