168 a n i m a l , v e g e ta b l e , m i r ac l e coming through the tall windows, sunlight washing white walls, a horse clop-clopping by on the road outside I had the sensation of waking in another country, far from loud things Lily went out to the chicken coop to gather eggs, making herself right at home We ate some for breakfast, along with the farm’s astonishingly good oatmeal sweetened with strawberries and cream This would be a twenty-dollar all-natural breakfast on the room service menu of some hotels I pointed this out to David and Elsie—that many people think of such food as an upper-class privilege David laughed “We eat fancy food all right Organic oatmeal, out of the same bin we feed our horses from!” We packed up to leave, reminding one another of articles we meant to exchange We vowed to come again, and hoped they’d come our way too, though that is less likely, because they don’t travel as much as we Nearly all their trips are limited by the stamina of the standardbred horses that draw their buggy David and Elsie are Amish Before I had Amish friends, I imagined unbending constraints or categorical aversions to such things as cars (hybrid or otherwise) Like many people, I needed firsthand acquaintance to educate me out of religious bigotry The Amish don’t oppose technology on principle, only particular technologies they feel would change their lives for the worse I have sympathy for this position; a good many of us, in fact, might wish we’d come around to it before so much noise got into our homes As it was explained to me, the relationship of the Amish with their technology is to strive for what is “appropriate,” making that designation case by case When milking machines came up for discussion in David and Elsie’s community, the dairy farmers pointed out that milking by hand involves repeatedly lifting eighty-pound milk cans, limiting the participation of smaller-framed women and children Milking machines were voted in because they allow families to this work together For related reasons, most farmers in the community use tractors for occasional needs like pulling a large wagon or thresher (one tractor can thus handle the work on many farms) But for daily plowing and cultivating, most prefer the quiet and pace of a team of Percherons or Belgians David summarizes his position on technology in one word: boundaries “The workhorse places a limit on the size of our farms, and the stan- slow food nations 169 dardbred horse-drawn buggy limits the distances we travel This is basically what we need This is what keeps our communities healthy.” It makes perfect sense, of course, that limiting territory size can yield dividends in appreciation for what one already has, and the ability to manage it without debt The surprise is to find whole communities gracefully accepting such boundaries, inside a nation that seems allergic to limitations, priding itself instead on the freedom to go as far as we want, as fast as we can, and buy until we run out of money—or longer, if we have credit cards Farmers like Elsie and David are a link between the past and future They’ve declined to participate in the modern century’s paradigm of agriculture—and of family life, for that matter, as they place high value on nonmaterial things like intergenerational family bonds, natural aesthetics, and the pleasures of shared work By restraining their consumption and retaining skills from earlier generations of farmers, they are succeeding When the present paradigm of extractive farming has run its course, I don’t foresee crowds of people signing up for the plain wardrobe But I foresee them needing guidance on sustainable agriculture I realized this several years ago when David and Elsie came to our county to give an organic dairy workshop, at the request of dairy farmers here who were looking for new answers It was a discouraged lot who attended the meeting, most of them nearly bankrupt, who’d spent their careers following modern dairy methods to the letter: growth hormones, antibiotics, mechanization David is a deeply modest man, but the irony of the situation could not have been lost on him There sat a group of hardworking farmers who’d watched their animals, land, and accounts slide into ruin during the half-century since the USDA declared as its official policy, “Get big or get out.” And there sat their teacher, a farmer who’d stayed small Small enough, anyway, he would never have to move through his cornfield too quickly to study the soil, or hear the birds answer daylight with their song Organically Yours by camille / The word organic brings to my mind all the health food stores I’ve roamed through over the years, which seem to have the same aroma no matter how many miles lie between them: sweet, earthy hints of protein powder, bulk cereal, fresh fruit, and hemp I guess the word means different things to different people When applied to food (not a college sophomore’s most dreaded chemistry class), “organic” originally described a specific style of agriculture, but now it has come to imply a lifestyle, complete with magazines and brands of clothing The word has sneaked onto a pretty looseknit array of food labels too, tiptoeing from “100% organic” over to “contains organic ingredients.” Like overused slang, the term has been muddled by rising popularity It’s true, for example, that cookies “made with organic cocoa” have no residue of chemical pesticides or additives in the chocolate powder, but that doesn’t vouch for the flour, milk, eggs, and spices that are also in each cookie Why should we care which ingredients, or how many, are organic? The reasons go beyond carcinogenic residues Organic produce actually delivers more nutritional bang for the buck These fruits and vegetables are tougher creatures than those labeled “conventional,” precisely because they’ve had to fight off predators themselves Plants live hard lives They don’t have to run around looking for food or building nests to raise their young, but they still have their worries There’s no hiding from predators when you have roots in the ground, and leaves that require direct contact with sunlight You’re stuck, right out in the open Imagine the Lifetime Original movie: the helpless mother soy plant watching in agony, unable to speak or move, as a loathsome groundhog gobbles down her baby beans one at a time Starting to tear up yet? Next plant-kingdom heartache: there is no personal space for the garden vegetable If you’re planted in a row of other tomatoes, there you’ll stay slow food nations 171 for life, watching the neighbors get a nasty case of hornworms, knowing in your heart you’re going to get them too If nobody is spritzing chemicals on the predators, all a plant can is to toughen up by manufacturing its own disease/pest-fighting compounds That’s why organic produce shows significantly higher levels of antioxidants than conventional—these nutritious compounds evolved in the plant not for our health, but for the plant’s Several studies, including research done by Allison Byrum of the American Chemical Society, have shown fruits and vegetables grown without pesticides and herbicides to contain 50 to 60 percent more antioxidants than their sprayed counterparts The same antioxidants that fight diseases and pests in the plant leaf work similar magic in the human body, protecting us not so much against hornworms as against various diseases, cell aging, and tumor growth Spending extra money on organic produce buys these extra nutrients, with added environmental benefits for the well-being of future generations (like mine!) Some of the best-tasting things in life are organic This dessert (adapted from a Jamie Oliver creation, via our friend Linda) is a great way to use the high-summer abundance of blackberries, which in our part of the country are rain-washed and picked straight from wild fields The melon salsa will bring one of summer’s most luscious orange fruits from the breakfast table to a white tablecloth with candles It’s elegant and delicious over grilled salmon or chicken y BAS I L - B L AC K B E R RY CRUMBLE 2–3 apples, chopped pints blackberries tablespoons balsamic vinegar large handful of basil leaves, chopped ⁄4 cup honey—or more, depending on tartness of your berries Preheat oven to 400° Combine the above in an ovenproof casserole dish, mix, and set aside 172 a n i m a l , v e g e ta b l e , m i r ac l e tablespoons flour heaping tablespoons brown sugar stick cold butter Cut butter into flour and sugar, then rub with your fingers to make a chunky, crumbly mixture (not uniform) Sprinkle it over the top of the fruit, bake 30 minutes until golden and bubbly y MELON SALSA (Makes six generous servings.) medium cantaloupe red bell pepper small jalapeño pepper ⁄2 medium red onion ⁄4 cup fresh mint leaves 1–2 tablespoons honey teaspoons white vinegar Dice melons and peppers into 1⁄4-inch cubes Finely mince onion and mint Toss with honey and vinegar, allow to sit at least one hour before serving over grilled chicken breast or fish filet Download these and all other Animal, Vegetable, Miracle recipes at www.AnimalVegetableMiracle.com ... honey and vinegar, allow to sit at least one hour before serving over grilled chicken breast or fish filet Download these and all other Animal, Vegetable, Miracle recipes at www.AnimalVegetableMiracle.com... cards Farmers like Elsie and David are a link between the past and future They’ve declined to participate in the modern century’s paradigm of agriculture—and of family life, for that matter, as they... mechanization David is a deeply modest man, but the irony of the situation could not have been lost on him There sat a group of hardworking farmers who’d watched their animals, land, and accounts