Food, Not Lawns

Alright, since it will be 4 months until we know if the Supreme Court is pro humanity or pro Big Oil I figure we should move onto other items. The mail brought several presents today, by far the most interesting was air mailed from Chelsea Green Publishing and included their brand new release: Food, Not Lawns. This was also free of charge-have I mentioned how much I love these people?

I am only a chapter or so in, but first of all let's look at the subtitle. That about sums up what Mia and I view our missions here in our little hamlet to be, so suffice it to say that I am positively disposed to this book. But even in the first paragraph I was hooked. Here is the second sentence of the book:

"Gardening my seem like just a hobby to many people, but in fact growing food is one of the most radical things you can do: Those who control our food control our lives, and when we take that control back into our own hands, we empower ourselves toward autonomy, self reliance, and true freedom."

Amen Sister! And look at that punctuation-there are at least 4 or 5 commas in there! (now if she would only use more parantheticals...) The book will be interesting if for no other reason than Flores appears to have arrived at a very similar intellectual place as myself, but from the opposite end. I am coming into sustainable suburban communities from upper middle class Corporate America. Flores is a former Greenpeace Activist and I get the distinct impression that she has chained herself to a tree or two. Granted, I am only about 10% into her book, but it appears we have both come to the conclusion that many people want to live simpler lives: produce some food, use less chemicals, live better, more meaningful lives. And that they can do that in their own yards- in suburbia.

I can't think of a better book to found the Sustainability Library with.
Thanks again Chelsea Green!

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