Journal #2

Chapters 6-10

During the beginning of this section, Kingsolver discussed the topic of raising turkeys and chickens on their farm, and how her daughter Lily wanted to be the sole keeper of the chickens. It was very interesting how Kingsolver incorporated raising chickens to sell their eggs into a life-lesson. Her daughter wanted a horse so Kingsolver agreed to pay for half of the horse, but Lily would have to raise enough money for her half by selling eggs. Initially Lily was not planning on raising roosters to be butchered and sold as meat; she only wanted to sell the eggs. When Lily realized how much money she would need to raise for her horse she decided that she would harvest roosters as well and only keep the hens as “pets”. Most urban people wouldn’t consider raising turkeys and chickens as a “life-lesson” but the main idea is how a person views the situation.

As a group we found the topic of poultry very interesting.  Kingsolver writes about how 99 percent of the turkeys eaten by Americans cannot fly, mate, or walk far unassisted.  It is hard to believe that an animal as been breed to a point that they cannot reproduce on their own and the turkey eggs must be fertilized by human hands.  Even more surprising is that there are so few different species of turkeys left in the world compared to 100 years ago.  The kind of turkey the author chose to raise there is one known breeder left in the United States.  Chickens are also in a similar condition with the variation between breeds have been almost wiped out by the mass production of chicken breast.

Another point that we found interesting was the topic of family meal time. In both chapters six and seven the family demonstrates how food is a great opportunity to bring together everyone in an appropriate atmosphere. The family meal time allows for family and friends to congregate and the “food time” helps maintain positive healthy relationships. It was also interesting that on this family’s farm, each member usually helps to prepare the meal. A person may think that it is a burden to have to prepare all of these vegetables, let’s face it, it’s a very time consuming ordeal, but Kingsolver and her family look at the “burden” as a chance to work together and sometimes experiment with their different crops. Also an important aspect of food is that it knows no age barriers, all humans must eat and therefore the time for meal gatherings is a perfect opportunity for families to spend time together.

The author establishes her authority on the material in this autobiography because she lives out the actions she describes in the text. She eats local, grows her own food (without chemicals or sophisticated equipment), harbors heirloom plants, raises her own animals, the list goes on and on. That assigns her an authority to that anyone who didn’t follow this lifestyle would not attain, for this is not just a matter if skill and technique, but a matter of sacrifice. She can “talk the talk” because she busts her ass and reaps the rewards of her challenging but fulfilling lifestyle. She is credible in both knowledge and devotion.

Another section that we found interesting was in chapter eight when Kingsolver discusses the “real” price of food. The majority of today’s society does not grow their own food because they are forced to believe that it is too expensive; people are actually being deceived. One of our group members recently found an article from Time Magazine that discusses the drawbacks of paying for “cheap” food. Although the prices may seem cheap at first, in reality we are spending our tax dollars to cover the cost of gasoline to power the trucks that transport the food, and we also pay a high cost to the environment such as chemical fertilizers and contaminated manures that can wash into the Mississippi River, down to the Gulf of Mexico where it can kill a large number of fish. Despite just the environmental effects, our food is also becoming dangerous from the antibiotics that Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOS) are giving to the animals to protect them from diseases. Eventually the animals may develop a resistant to these antibiotics, killing off our meat supply. So at first harvesting oour own vegetables and crops may seem expensive, but in the long run it may definitely pay off.

Chapter 8-10 Summary

-Luke Mehring

                Chapters 8 to 10 all take place in the month of June.  In chapter 8 the author, Barbara Kingsolver, writes a lot about the “real cost” of food in America.  This includes the environment cost from using chemicals in both the cost of the chemicals and the cost of chemical cleanup in the United States.  It also includes the fuel used to harvest, plant and spread chemicals over large fields.  It also cost consumer substitutes used to pay farmers and the agriculture industry by the government with tax dollars.  So, the point of this chapter is to let us know that while organic food may be more expensive up front in the store, it cost less overall because of all of the other factors.

                Chapter 9 is all about a different topic that is not about growing your own food.  She writes mostly about what people do with their time.  She also talks about how when people do things how you approach it changes how you do it or whether or not you enjoy it.  For example, if you come into making dinner thinking about how it is just a waste of time and you need to do it quick so you can get to other things you will do a poor job and most likely not enjoy it.  But, if you come into dinner thinking of it as a opportunity to be creative and have fun you will enjoy it and will have a better chance to do a good job.  Kingsolver also brings up the good point that time is a zero sum equation.  This means that every minute you save doing something will be spend on doing something else because no matter what there is the same amount of time every day.

                Chapter 10 is another chapter that emphasizes eating locally.  Kingsolver uses the medium of a farmers dinner that uses only locally grown food in their menu and it is all for under 10 dollars.  This is in contrast to most restaurants that get their food from all over the country and all over the world to make their food less expensive to produce.  This farmers dinner gets everything within an hour drive from the field to the costumer.

Chapters 8-10 Graphic Organizer: Joe Weirich

Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food

Chapter Eight takes some time to discuss the "real" price of food.  A chief complaint about switching from "conventional" food to organic and locally grown food is the perceived higher cost.  The aim of the chapter is to dispel this perception.  The low cost of conventionally grown food is largely a myth, according to the chapter, because the price on the shelf does not convey the hidden costs associated with eating inferior food.  There is the environmental damage of cheaply grown food, and the health risk associated with that.  There is the cost of the farm subsidy, which allows the farmer to sell corn at a rock bottom price.  There is the lack of nutritional value found in low quality food, meaning you have to buy more of it to obtain the same nutrients.

                            

All of this and more is discussed in a recent Time Magazine article which starts off thusly:

Somewhere in Iowa, a pig is being raised in a confined pen, packed in so tightly with other swine that their curly tails have been chopped off so they won't bite one another. To prevent him from getting sick in such close quarters, he is dosed with antibiotics. The waste produced by the pig and his thousands of pen mates on the factory farm where they live goes into manure lagoons that blanket neighboring communities with air pollution and a stomach-churning stench. He's fed on American corn that was grown with the help of government subsidies and millions of tons of chemical fertilizer. When the pig is slaughtered, at about 5 months of age, he'll become sausage or bacon that will sell cheap, feeding an American addiction to meat that has contributed to an obesity epidemic currently afflicting more than two-thirds of the population. And when the rains come, the excess fertilizer that coaxed so much corn from the ground will be washed into the Mississippi River and down into the Gulf of Mexico, where it will help kill fish for miles and miles around. That's the state of your bacon — circa 2009.

The full article can be read here.

-Zachary Brandt

Chapters 8-10 Vocabulary

Melissa Briggs

Commodity (113) - an article of trade or commerce, esp. a product asdistinguished from a service

Economize (115) - to practice economy; avoid waste or extravagance;                                           to manage economically; use sparingly or frugally

Hydroponically (119) -the cultivation of plants by placing the roots in liquid nutrient solutions rather than in soil; soilless growth of plants

OSHA (122) – Occupational Safety and Health Administration; the department of the US government with the responsibility to ensure safety and healthful work environments

Quotidian (124) – daily; usual or customary

Pathological (126) – of or pertaining to pathology; caused by or involving disease; morbid

Affluent (129) -having an abundance of wealth, property, or other materialgoods; prosperous; rich

Alimentary (131) - concerned with the function of nutrition; nutritive

Subservience (131) - serving or acting in a subordinate capacity; subordinate; servile; excessively submissive

Oligarchy (151) - a form of government in which all power is vested in a fewpersons or in a dominant class or clique; government by thefew

Chapter 6-7 Discussion Questions

Luke Mehring

1.            1. Page 91, The Author talks about how 1,152 chickens could fit into a six foot by eight foot room.  How do you think the bird’s quality of life is in these conditions?  Do you think that many people truly know the conditions of these birds?  Why do you think this is and do you think Americans even care if their food is treated humanely or not before they eat it?

2.           2. Page 94-95, Kingsolver talks about how she feels she has corrupted her daughter in this section by telling her she could make more money by selling chicken meat then their eggs.  Why do you think the author feels so conflicted about teaching her daughter this lesion?  Why is it that people can go from cherishing something so highly I their lives to deciding to slaughter it if it gives them something they desire?  Could you kill something that means so much to you for 10 dollars net profit?

3.           3. Page 100, The book talks about how people where the family live, Virginia, do not say thank you when someone gives them a plant.  How do you think this ritual/belief originated?  Even though the elderly neighbor does not say thank you out loud, how does she imply it?  Do you think you could refrain yourself from saying thank you or your welcome in this way? Why or why not?

4.          4.  Page 102, The author tells us, the readers, about how in late spring there is never enough time to get everything done because there is so much home farmers must do to keep their gardens or fields healthy.  How do people who have full time jobs manage to do all of the same work without missing time at their jobs?  Could you work in your garden for hours before and after work when you are already working 8 hours a day?  Why do you think people are so motivated to work hard when a grocery store is just down the block?

Chapter 6 & 7 Vocabulary

Page 86 Eudora Welty: Eudora Welty (1909-2001) was an American author whose book, The Optimist’s Daughter, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973.  Kingsolver mentions her because of a shared sentiment to live in a post office.

Page 89 Poults: a poult is a young turkey, but the term can be applied to other species of general poultry.  In the context of the book on page 89, the word happens to refer to baby turkeys.

Page 90 Lethargy: Lethargy is a state of fatigue or torpor.  Amusingly, the word has a plural form: lethargies, but I’m not sure how one acquires multiple lethargies.  The word is used to describe how meat animals are bred to be lethargically docile.

Page 94 Equines: Equine is usually used as an adjective to describe something that is similar or related to a horse.  However, here the word is used in the form of a noun as a synonym for ‘horses’.

Page 96 Wyandottes: Wyandotte is a breed of chicken that Kingsolver mentions but fails to describe.  Wyandottes lay brown eggs, are medium sized, and prefer free range.  They are kept for their meat, eggs, and as show birds.

Page 96 Orpingtons: Like the Wyandotte above, the Orpington is a breed of chicken that is mentioned, but inadequately described for my curiosity.  Orpingtons are named after the town of Orpington, England.  They are large, maternal, and lay 200 eggs a year.  Due to their popularity as show birds, their ability to lay more than 300 eggs a year has largely been bred out of them in favor of looks.

Page 96 Araucanas: Unlike the previously mentioned chicken breeds, the book does give one detail about the Araucana; the fact that they “lay pretty green eggs.”  In addition to their unusual egg color, Araucanas are also notable for being rumpless (lacking a tail) and for having tufts of feathers near their years rather like a pair of side burns.

Page 100 Genteel Fête:  Genteel means refined or polite.  A Fête is a French word for celebration or party.  The phrase is used in the book to describe Mother’s Day.

Page 101 Proletarian:  Proletarian is the adjective form of the noun proletariat.  The proletariat is the class of society that does not own any land, but is more generally used to describe the working class of society.  The term is most famously used in The Communist Manifesto, which is probably why Kingsolver uses it to personify a Russian breed of tomato.

Page 101 Languid:  Languid means lethargic or slow moving, and is used in the book to personify a tomato in contrast to the proletarian tomato described in the same paragraph.

-Zachary Brandt

Interesting article

Joe Weirich

http://www.mindpub.com/art395.htm

Today’s article is of importance to the reading for chapters 6 and 7 because it further demonstrates the need for a positive mealtime experience. The subject of this article is a woman who did not have a positive family mealtime as a child and the results where negative. Actually affecting her career and social life as an adult, her problem is very common in today’s society, where the family gathering around the dinner table is diminishing.  Contrary to the example in the article, the author of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle has a strong and positive relationship with her family and their lives revolve around food and family togetherness. In both chapters 6 and 7 the family in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle demonstrates how food is a great social bridge for immediate family members as well as extended family and friends and helps maintain positive relationships. Both chapters are also juxtaposed perfectly to emphasize how food love has no age barriers.

Chapters 6-7 Graphic Organizer

11/24/10

Melissa Briggs

Barbara and her daughter Lily have decided to raise poultry for the family; Barbara will raise Bourbon Red Turkeys, and Lily decided to raise Partridge Rocks Chickens. Lily had told her mom that she wanted a horse and her mother told Lily that if she could come with $500, or half the price of an Equestrian horse, her mom would match Lily’s profit so she could finally have a horse. Before the discussion of a horse Lily was only going to raise chickens to sell the eggs but realized that if she sold the meat also, she could raise the money for a horse a lot faster. By raising the turkeys and chickens, it teaches both daughters about the difference between pets and food. It also taught Lily to work for something that she wants, instead of having everything given to her.

Summary 6 & 7

These chapters described the experiences the mother and daughter had raising their turkeys and chickens respectively. They both got attached because they raised the animals themselves from chicks and babies. However, the daughter ultimately decided to sell her chickens for slaughter to save the money to buy herself a horse. The mother then had a 50th birthday party and had many people attend. At the party they only served food grown or raised by themselves or nearby farmers.

This section was written in a pretty simple manner. It reads more like a story than a lecture when telling us to eat locally. It shows the benefits and how to manage raising and growing your own animals and plants to eat and how much of a difference it makes on the environment. I liked the writing style because it tells good stories and seems pretty personal to the author. I liked the informal but informative tone.

calvin nania

Literature Circle Journal #1 (Chapters 1-5)

                Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is part autobiography, part how-to guide to a healthy lifestyle, and part primer on a variety of topics related to food.  The author, Barbara Kingsolver, claims that the book is not intended to be read as a how-to guide to running your own farm, however due to the depth of her descriptions; it can feel like one at times.  This is due to the fact that almost all of the information provided is useful in day to day life.  Kingsolver assumes that the reader, like most Americans, knows very little about growing their own food and living off only the land they have around them. 

                The author’s points have caused us to really think about the foods that we eat every day and where they actually come from. We never realized that some of the foods we eat are not in-season locally and that they may have traveled from the other side of the world for our consumption. The author uses an authoritative tone; in one example she discusses her background knowledge of tobacco farmers. In chapter 5, she mentions how the tobacco plant is chemically altered after it leaves the farm, yet a large majority of the tobacco plantations are being shut-down due to health concerns such as cancer.  The reader just has to trust in the fact that she did enough research to know what she is talking about.  Kingsolver does offer references at the end of the book but she does not tell us what information came from which source.           

                As an example of how Americans do not appreciate the process of growing food, Kingsolver relates two stories from when her family moved from Tuscan to Virginia.  The first is the story of a convenience store clerk in Arizona.  As rainclouds start rolling into the desert sky, the clerk expresses irritation at the prospect of rain on her day off.  This is despite the fact that Arizona was in the middle of a three year long drought.  Once they arrive in Virginia, they eat out at a diner when storm clouds roll in for the second time in the narrative.  The waitress watches the clouds for a minute and hopes that it does not rain hard enough to wash out the crops.  The two stories highlight the contrast between farmers who know the needs of the crops used to feed the nation, and the laypeople who know little about food beyond the step where it ends up on the store shelf.

                Another thing that interested and surprised us was the chapter on asparagus.  We never knew that tastes of asparagus, and all vegetables, begin to lose their taste and nutritional value the second they are cut from their plant.  We thought that it takes at least a few days before the process of losing its flavor started.  This means that even when vegetables are “fresh” at the grocery store they are not nearly as tasty or delicious as they once were.  It also makes us interested in how good the vegetables which we like the grocery store version really are if eaten right after they are harvested and prepared correctly.

                We are also excited that the story is becoming more about family life.  One concern we have is that the book will not have any conflict and end up being page after page of facts that are interested but after awhile we will become numb to this fact.  We feel that the story would be well served, as a book, if there is a disaster or some other form of conflict.  We want to see the family struggling to survive, not just harvesting and enjoying their garden.  In addition the quality of the facts have began to drop down, it seems she used all of her good juicy facts at the beginning of the book to catch our attention and now she is filling the pages with less interesting and unimportant facts.  One of the things that have not gotten old is the point of view of the daughter and the recipes she gives us, the readers.  We also like her weekly mean plans for the different seasons because you can see how root plants and chicken are the only things they have available to them.

         

Article for Chapters 3-5

Luke Mehring

This article is very relevant to the entire book as it talks about local food “farmer to table” programs, but more specifically it is relevant to chapters 3-5 because it talks about species and different variations of edible plants going extinct.  Overall in the story it states that the United States food market is expected to gradually shift to more local food sources over the next decades.  This is mainly due to the fact that fuel prices are going to go up making food traveling long distances more expensive.  Also in effect is the increase knowledge about fresh fruits and vegetables being healthier for you if you eat them locally and they are never frozen.  This move to local markets will cause plant variation to increase because more individual’s farmers will be able to grow different variation and species of plants to sell locally that are not controlled by large food conglomerates.  While this is purely an educated guess, if this does occur it will make Americans much healthier, hopefully, and help reduce our carbon footprints.

Link: Click Here

Summary Chapters 3-5

Melissa Briggs

11/22/10

                During our reading over the weekend, Kingsolver discusses issues such as Genetic Modification and hybridization, the difference between supporting local farmers or large companies such as Dole Inc., and which plantations are more economically productive, small family farms or big industrial farms. She really gives a lot of information regarding the differences between supporting the local farmers and issues with large farming corporations. Another topic that Kingsolver discussed was about tobacco farmers. She grew up around many tobacco plantations, and has a hard time realizing that tobacco is slowly going extinct and is affecting many small families that produce the crop, even though she knows that tobacco is chemically altered after leaving the plantation and is a large cause of cancer from smoking. Kingsolver also mentions the different crops they can grow on their farm and what times of the year the vegetables are in season.     

Chapters 3-5 Discussion Questions

Joe Weirich

1.) In Chapter 3, Kingsolver describes several multinational companies and their dominance of the agricultural industry. Why do so few people know about these companies and why would someone choose to support them when faced with the negative effects Kingsolver describes?

           

A.) Not many people know about these multinational companies (Monsanto, DuPont, Mitsui, exc.) for several reasons, one being lack of interest. If one goes to the store and finds a bag of apples for what they would consider “cheap” why would they care where it comes from or who made it that way, just so long as it stays cheap!  Most people have other things to do besides ponder how their bananas made it all the way from Venezuela to their fridge.

2.) If you knew about the existence of genetically modified plants, how has your view of them changed, if at all? If you did not have previous knowledge of GM plants what are your impressions, try to be objective in your response.

           

            A.) I knew about genetically modified plants before reading this chapter, but I had never known the negative aspects Kingsolver describes. In fact, often described as the end to world hunger, I had always heard them spoken of in a positive light. I find Kingsolver’s testaments appalling, and I feel a tiny bit of shame for supporting the idea of GM plants. My viewpoint on them has certainly changed, even though I see the huge potential in the development of that technology, I know that the potential damage that they could cause to an ecosystem and the planet outweighs the immediate danger of world hunger.

3.) In chapter three, Kingsolver quotes a waitress saying “this is New York, we can get anything we want any day of the year.” Which begs the question. Just because we can have whatever we want, should we get whatever we want?

           

A.) This is a hard question to answer, because I believe firmly in that phrase “the pursuit of happiness”. However I am also a firm believer in balance. Though this may be a copout to a loaded question I think the answer is yes and no. Based on the current state of things, i.e. global warming, failing third world economies, limited supplies of fossil fuels, I would say no, you cant always get what you want. I think its time for the world, in particular America, to wake up and stop living like we don’t notice how poorly we are treating the planet.

4.) In chapter 4 Kingsolver asks, “what is family farming worth?” What is it worth to you?

           

            A.) Family farming doesn’t necessarily mean anything to me because I am not very connected to agriculture. I grew up in the suburbs, and was never very interested in farming or visiting a farm.  After reading the last three chapters I am a little more sympathetic to the small farmer, I support their purity in comparison the large companies whose primary concern is cost cutting and profit margins. Kingsolver claims that if we shift our spending towards small farmers they will in turn support us with crops and livestock. A bold claim considering how much America is capable of consuming. I am interested in this topic however and would support a gradual shift back into private farming.

Vocabulary 11/22/10

(Page) Word  - Definition

(43) Burgeons - to begin to grow, as a bud; put forth buds, shoots, etc., as a plant

(43) Forsythia - a shrub belonging to the genus Forsythia,  of the olive family, native to China and southeastern Europe, species of which are cultivated for their showy yellow flowers, which blossom on the bare branches in early spring.

(50) Piddling- to spend time in a wasteful, trifling, or ineffective way; dawdle

(54) Linseed- another name for flaxseed

(56) Dotage- a decline of mental faculties, esp. as associated with old age; senility.

(59) Endives- Also called Belgian endive, French endive, witloof. a young chicory plant, deprived of light to form a narrow head of whitish leaves that are eaten as a cooked vegetable or used raw in salads.

(66) Sumptuous – luxuriously fine or large; lavish; splendid:

(67) Imam – the title for a Muslim religious leader or chief

(76) Solvency – solvent condition; ability to pay all just debts.

(79) Consigned - to hand over or deliver formally or officially; commit

-Calvin Nania

Vegetables by Season

A key point of the book is trying to eat vegetables as they come into season.  In chapter four, Kingsolver summerizes her annual vegetable cycle like so:

-Zachary Brandt

Chapter 1-2 Article

By: Luke Mehring

                In the first chapter of the book Barbara Kingsolver spends a lot of time talking about the water supply in Tuscan.  It made me think about that if Tuscan, which is 300 miles away, is getting so much of their water from the Colorado River, what about all the other people who use water from the Colorado and the lake behind the Hover Dam (such as Las Vegas).  So I did some research and found this great article, which is linked below.  It is from January of this year and talks about how America could be running out of fresh water soon.  More specifically, it talks about Lake Mead, which Vegas gets 90% of its water from, has drops more than 130 ft in depth in the past 50 years and come coasts of the lake are 1000 miles from where they use to be.  I also states that Americas only hope for the future is new water conserving technology and recycling the fresh water we use.  If we cannot do this all the ground water that has build up over thousands of years will virtually disappear and everyone will be forced to move around the great lakes, the largest bodies of freshwater in the world, or to the coast, where salt water can be turned into fresh water.

Link: Click Here

11/19/10 Chapter 1-2 Discussion Questions

Melissa Briggs

1. Page 8, first paragraph - What do you think of Kingsolver's use of "country wisdom" versus "city ambition"? Do you think it is crucial for people to know where their food has come from? Does this knowledge affect that person's health, or does it have any affect on their eating habits (no fast food, etc.)?

2. Page 17, last paragraph - Do you think it is possible for Americans to establish their own food culture? Do you think it will ever happen? What effect would this change have on restaurants in the U.S., or the economy? Do you think that the idea of America being a "free country" has anything to do with the lack of an established food culture?

3. Page 30, first paragraph - Kingsolver discusses the rapid loss of taste in asparagus after it has been cut; how much is the taste affected in the "fresh" vegetables that we find in the grocery store, due to how long since the food has been harvested? How many people in the U.S. actually know how fresh (from the farm) vegetables taste? And how much different is the taste of a fresh vegetable compared to one that has traveled across the country?

4. Page 35, mid-page - Kingsolver mentions each of their "luxury items", along with a few items they are buying that are nonlocal (grains, rice, and olive-oil). Her main point is to reduce the gas/oil consumption, but how much more difficult would it be to completely consume products locally? What affect(s), if any, would it have on the family's health (from lack of certain vegetables, etc.)?

Summary Chapters 1 & 2

Joseph Weirich

Chapters 1+2 Summary

In Chapter one the author describes the reasons why she and her family were moving from Arizona to Southern Appalachia.  The author can see a disappearing food culture in the United States, which is being caused by the industrialization of the food production industry, and the pursuit of the American dream. Americans can afford to live in excess, but the author isn’t talking solely about owning multiple cars and a 600 in. flat screen. Americans in Nebraska are drinking orange juice every morning and people in the deserts of Arizona are growing crops all year round. The author points out that Americans see nothing wrong with this picture. Most people don’t realize that oranges don’t grow in Nebraska and that NOTHING, at least very little, should be growing in the desert. All of these products are commodities, crops we spend money on because we want them but don’t need. Americans put their money in the hands of large corporations, some of them foreign, because those large companies have the power and resources to give them strawberries in January. The local farmer has no such luxury and is therefore not supported by the public.

Chapter two, titled “Waiting for Asparagus”, the text takes on a lighter tone, not focusing on the grave fumblings of American society. Instead Kingsolver will describe the beginnings of her and her family’s new adventure in their Appalachian farmhouse.  The setting is early spring, and the outlook is bleak. Too cold to plant crops, the family is stuck in limbo of pursuing their dream of establishing a homegrown chow paradise. Asparagus however, becomes the vegetable savior because of its burly resilience to cold weather. Able to be planted in early spring, the only requirements asparagus needs is for the ground to be partially thawed.  Finally, the transition has begun, with asparagus leading the way into the ground.

The author Barbara Kingsolver is very upbeat, and that is reflected in the tone of her writing. She always seems to be approaching a situation from its underbelly, and by the time she has written and explained her subject she is above it.  Often starting a chapter by explaining a problem or a small challenge, she will then transition into discussion and further elaboration of her topic. At the end of the chapter usually the problem has been solved, or Kingsolver clearly points out an answer to the problem and that it is solvable. For instance by mid chapter 1, Kingsolver is explaining how the American public is turning their back on the food culture and health of American farmland. By the end of the chapter she has identified that the American public must change their perception in order to revert the negative changes to our culture.

11/19/10

Calvin Nania

Chapters 1 & 2 Vocab.

Zach- Vocab.

Page 1 Tributary: The word was used metaphorically to mean a stream of water that flows into a larger stream or body of water.

Page 1 Saguaro cactus:  Everyone knows what a cactus is, but I thought it would be valuable to look up what kind of cactus this is.  Saguaro is the "classic" tree sized cactus.  Pictured here.

Page 3 Peonies:  From the context, it's clear that a Peony is a type of plant  What isn't clear is what kind.  A peony is a pink flowering plant native to western North America.  The plant is capable of growing 1.5-3 meters tall.

Page 4 Stucco:  Stucco is a type of wall coating made up of an aggregate, a binder and water similar to cement.

Page 5 Alfalfa:  Much like the peonies, the use of the word alfalfa made it clear that this was some sort of plant, but I didn't know what type of plant it is.  Alfalfa is a flowering plant in the pea family which resembles clover.

Page 6:  Indices:  Indices is the plural of "index."  I did not know that, so I put it on the list.

Page 8  Lionize:  A verb meaning to treat like a celebrity.

Page 17 Leviticus:  Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible and details rules and rituals of the faith.  In the book, it was used as an analogy to what Americans need in regards too food.  As in, we need a "Food Leviticus" to show us the way.

Page 17 Halcyon:  There are several possible definitions to the adjective halcyon: wealthy, calm, happy, joyful, carefree, or somehow relating to the kingfisher bird from which the word comes from.  "Carefree" appears to the most appropriate definition given the context the word was used in.

Page 20 Paradigm:  A paradigm is basically a set of ideas with a common element.