98 a n i m a l , v e g e ta b l e , m i r ac l e foods fortified with B12 to prevent this dangerous deficiency Vegan diets also tend to be skimpy in the calcium department, so supplements there can be helpful as well Humans are naturally adapted to an omnivorous diet: we have canine teeth for tearing meat and plenty of enzymes in our guts to digest the proteins and fats found in animals Ancestral societies in every part of the world have historically relied on some animal products for sustenance Even the ancient Hindu populations of India were not complete vegetarians— though they did not know this Traditional harvesting techniques always left a substantial amount of insect parts, mostly termite larvae and eggs, in their grain supply When vegan Hindu populations began moving to England, where food sanitation regulations are stricter, they began to suffer from a high incidence of anemia Just a tiny amount of meat (even bug parts!) in the diet makes a big difference Of course, abstaining from meat for relatively short periods for spiritual reasons is a practice common to many societies During these times, traditionally, we’re meant to be less active and more contemplative, reducing our need for the nutrients supplied by animal products Generally speaking, people who are not strict vegetarians will find more options in their local-food scene Pasture-based meat and eggs are produced nearly everywhere in the country, unlike soybean curd and other products that may anchor a vegan diet Chicken, lamb, and other meats from small farms are available throughout the year And while animal fats— even for meat eaters—are considered nutrition ogres, they are actually much healthier than the hydrogenated oils that replace them in many processed foods (Trans fat, a laboratory creation, has no nutritional function in our bodies except to float around producing free radicals that can damage tissue.) Good-quality animal fats contain vitamins A, D, B6, and B12, and some essential minerals Free-range meat and eggs have a healthy rather than unhealthy cholesterol content, because of what the animal ate during its happy little life The following is a chicken recipe we invented that reminds us of Tucson We use free-range chicken, and fresh vegetables in summer, but in early spring we rely on our frozen zucchini and corn from last summer The one the birds and the bees 99 essential fresh ingredient—cilantro—begins to show up early in farmers’ markets If you don’t like cilantro, leave it out, of course, but the dish will lose its southwestern flavor y CHICKEN RECUERDOS DE TUCSON whole cut-up chicken, or thighs and legs Olive oil (for sauté) medium onion, sliced 2–3 cloves garlic, minced Brown chicken in a large kettle Remove chicken, add oil, and gently sauté the onion and garlic teaspoon cumin seed Green chiles to taste, chopped red or green peppers large or medium zucchini or other squash, thickly sliced Add to kettle and sauté, add small amount of broth if necessary cup tomatoes (fresh, frozen, canned, or 1⁄2 cup dehydrated, depending on season) cups corn kernels teaspoons oregano teaspoon basil cups chicken broth or water Add to kettle along with browned chicken, add water or broth (more if using dried vegetables), cover, and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until chicken is done to bone Garnish with fresh cilantro Download this and all other Animal, Vegetable, Miracle recipes at www.AnimalVegetableMiracle.com • G R AT I T U D E May On Mother’s Day, in keeping with local tradition, we gave out tomato plants Elsewhere this may be the genteel fête of hothouse orchids, but here the holiday’s most important botanical connection is with tomatoes Killing spring frosts may safely be presumed behind us, and it’s time to get those plants into the garden We grow ours from seed, so it’s not just the nursery-standard Big Boys for us; we raise more than a dozen different heirloom varieties For our next-door neighbor we picked out a narrow-leaved early bearer from the former Soviet Union with the romantic name of “Silvery Fir Tree.” Carrying the leggy, green-smelling plant, our family walked down the gravel driveway to her house at the bottom of our hollow “Oh, well, goodness,” she said, taking the plant from us and admiring it “Well, look at that.” Every region has its own language In ours, it’s a strict rule that you never say “Thank you” for a plant I don’t know why I was corrected many times on this point, even scolded earnestly, before I learned People have shushed me as I started to utter the words; they put their hands over their ears “Why can’t I say thank you?” I’ve asked It’s hard Southern manners are so thoroughly bred into my brain, accepting a gift without a thank-you feels like walking away from changing a tire without washing my hands “Just don’t,” people insist If you say it, they vow, the plant will gratitude 101 wither up straightaway and die They have lots of stories to back this up They not wish to discuss whether plants have ears, or what Just don’t So we knew what our neighbor was trying not to say We refrained from saying “You’re welcome,” had a nice Sunday afternoon visit, and managed not to jinx this plant—it grew well Of all the tomato plants that ultimately thrived in her garden, she told us the Silvery Fir Tree was the first to bear / On the week of May we set out our own tomatoes, fourteen varieties in all: first, for early yields, Silvery Fir Tree and Siberian Early, two Russian types that get down to work with proletarian resolve, bred as they were for short summers For a more languid work ethic but juicy midseason flavor we grow Brandywines, Cherokee Purples, orange Jaune Flammes, and Green Zebra, which is lemony and bright green striped when fully ripe For spaghetti sauces and canning, Martino’s Roma; Principe Borghese is an Italian bred specifically for sun-drying Everything we grow has its reason, usually practical but sometimes eccentric, like the Dolly Partons given us by an elderly seed-saving friend (“What the tomatoes look like?” I asked She cupped her hands around two enormous imaginary orbs and mugged, “Do you have to ask?”) Most unusual, probably, is an old variety called Long Keeper The fruits never fully ripen on the vine, but when harvested and wrapped in newspaper before frost, they slowly ripen by December That’s just the tomatoes Also in the second week of May we set out pepper seedlings and direct-seeded the corn, edamame, beets, and okra Squash and cucumber plants went into hills under long tents of row-cover fabric to protect them from cool nights We weeded the onions, pea vines, and potatoes; we planted seeds of chard, bush beans, and sunflowers, made bamboo tepees for the pole beans, and weathered some spring thunderstorms That’s one good week in food-growing country By mid-month, once warmth was assured, we and all our neighbors set out our sweet potato vines (there was a small melee down at the Southern States co-op when the management underordered sweet-potato sets) We 102 a n i m a l , v e g e ta b l e , m i r ac l e also put out winter squash, pumpkins, basil seedlings, eggplants, and melons, including cantaloupes, honeydews, rock melons, perfume melons, and four kinds of watermelons Right behind planting come the weeding, mulching, vigilance for bugs and birds, worry over too much rain or not enough It so resembles the never-ending work and attention of parenting, it seems right that it all should begin on Mother’s Day For people who grow food, late spring is the time when we pay for the relative quiet of January, praying for enough hours of daylight to get everything done Many who farm for a living also have nine-to-five jobs off the farm and still get it done In May we push deadlines, crunch our other work, borrow time, and still end up parking the tractor with its headlamp beams pointed down the row to finish getting the last plants heeled into place All through May we worked in rain or under threat of it, playing chicken with lightning storms We worked in mud so thick it made our boots as heavy as elephant feet On work and school days we started predawn to get an early hour in, then in the late afternoon picked up again where we’d left off On weekends we started at daybreak and finished after dusk, aching and hungry from the work of making food Labors like this help a person appreciate why good food costs what it does It ought to cost more In the midst of our busy spring, one of us had a birthday Not just a run-of-the-mill birthday I could happily ignore, but an imposing one, involving an even fraction of one hundred We cooked up a party plan, setting the date for Memorial Day so out-of-town guests could stay for the long weekend We sent invitations and set about preparing for a throng of guests, whom we would certainly want to feed Our normal impulse would have been to stock up on standard-issue, jet-propelled edibles But we were deep enough into our local-food sabbatical by now, that didn’t seem entirely normal Something had changed for us, a rearrangement of mindset and the contents of our refrigerator Our family had certainly had our moments of longing for the illicit: shrimp, fresh peaches, and gummy worms, respectively Our convictions about this project had been mostly theoretical to begin with But gradually they were becoming fixed tastes that we now found we couldn’t comfortably violate for our guests, any more than a ... our local -food sabbatical by now, that didn’t seem entirely normal Something had changed for us, a rearrangement of mindset and the contents of our refrigerator Our family had certainly had our... work and school days we started predawn to get an early hour in, then in the late afternoon picked up again where we’d left off On weekends we started at daybreak and finished after dusk, aching and... vegetables), cover, and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until chicken is done to bone Garnish with fresh cilantro Download this and all other Animal, Vegetable, Miracle recipes at www.AnimalVegetableMiracle.com