When I get discouraged about what lies ahead, I look at what's around me. This morning, I saw that the mustang grape vine in the hackberry tree at the edge of the meadow is heavy with fruit. The birds are loving it and the raccoons have stripped the grapes within reach, but there's still plenty--tart, but tasty. Nearby, a healthy clump of prickly pear--you've seen the nopales in the grocery stores? Here, they grow wild. And the mesquite trees are bearing a hefty crop of beans this summer, in spite of the drought. The local folk--the nomadic Tonkawa Indians who camped in this area--would have been delighted with all three. They would have made flour of the dried mesquite beans and a fermented drink that apparently packed a lot of punch. They would have eaten the cactus pads and grapes fresh, but also dried them, in what we now call "leathers." We've grown so accustomed to food that comes in boxes and cans, or (if we're lucky) out of our gardens, that it's hard to see what else grows out there.
But as the comments on my last post suggest (thanks to all who've left a note! every one is worth reading and thinking about), it may be even harder to see how we can make any substantial changes. Some of us have been there, done that (gardening, putting food by) and aren't in a position to do it again. Some of us don't have the knowledge and skill it takes to garden, or the inclination, or the space, the climate, the time--and yes, time is a huge, huge issue, for most of us, including me.
But I have the idea that each of us can do something, even if it is just one thing. So I'm making a pledge to myself to make one change in my food life that (if lots of people did it) might lead toward a more sustainable future. When that change becomes a habit--might take a week, might take three or four--I'll make another change, and then another. This week, it's my daily diet sodas, two, usually, in the afternoon. I don't need those. I've got plenty of drinkables: tea, herb teas, water. (Wonder how much oil it takes to manufacture and distribute a two-litre bottle of soda.)
Book report. Applebeck Orchard is moving along, I'm happy to say. It seemed to me that the solution to the mystery was a little too obvious, so I've added a few of what I hope are "obscuring" elements--even though I'm not sure that anybody reads the Cottage Tales for the mysteries. I'm at 75,000 words, aiming for 85,000--so I'm wrapping things up. I'm also working on a big project for Story Circle: we'll be offering several very strong online writing courses this fall. I'll let you know when our new website goes online. Some of you might be interested in taking a class.
Reading note. When I realized that everything was going to change, I was at first afraid. Because, I thought, if my government or public policy or other choices weren’t going to fix everything, what could I possibly do? What hope was there, if I had to take care of myself, if my community had to take care of itself? But when I began looking for solutions that could be applied on the level of ordinary human lives, that involved changes in perspectives and pulling together, the reclamation of abandoned ideas and the restoration of strong communities, I began to feel hopeful, even excited. Because I realized that when large institutions cease to be powerful, sometimes that means that people start being powerful again.--Sharon Astyk, Casaubon's Book