Our Blurb

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is the true story of Barbara Kingsolver and her family as they move to their family farm and decide to live off only what they can produce for an entire year.  If they cannot grow or make it, they don’t get it. This book is an exciting read full of the families’ hardships and their triumphs.  It also includes exclusive and unique recipes for locally grown foods that will make you taste buds beg for a bite.

Works Cited

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Web .10 December. 2010.

http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/

“Food Inc. movie trailer” online video clip. Youtube.com. “Food Inc.”. 2008. Web. 10  December. 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eKYyD14d_0&feature=player_embedded

“No Impact Man movie trailer.” Online video clip. Youtube.com. “No Impact Man”. 4  September. 2009. Web. 10 December. 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Ctt7FGFBo&feature=player_embedded

Instilling Entrepreneurship in Children at a Young Age. Enzine Articles. 2010. Web. 8          December. 2010.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Instilling-Entrepreneurship-in-Children-at-a-Young-Age&id=4372522

The USDA National Organic Program Requirements for Food Retailers and     Distribution Centers. Food Market Institute. 2002. Web. 6 December.2010.

http://www.fmi.org/gr/USDA_OrganicProgram.pdf

National Animal Identification System: USDA Needs to Resolve Several Key    Implementation Issues to Achieve Rapid and Effective Disease Traceback.   Government Accounting Office. 2007. Web. 3 December. 2010.

http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-07-592

Walsh, Bryan. “Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food”. TIME          Magazine, August 21, 2009. Web. 29 November. 2010.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1917458,00.html

Sharma, Vijai Ph.D. “Family Meals Strengthen Family Bonds”. Mind Publications.        2001. Web. 24 November. 2010.

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

No author. “Clarified: Farm-to-Table”. CNN, November 9, 2010. Web.   22 November. 2010.

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2010/11/09/clarified-farm-to-table/?iref=allsearch

Strassmann, Mark. “America's Dwindling Water Supply”.  CBS News.  January 8, 2010. Web.  22 November. 2010.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/08/eveningnews/main6073416.shtml

Graphic organizer ch. 18-20 - Joseph Weirich

  

            Chapeters 18-20 are illustrations of the continuation of the seasons and in a way, life. While reading this book I was very impressed by the families progress and ability to cultivate crops and raise animals and essentially, support themselves. However, in the back of my brain, and I think every reader subconsciously thought this, “what are they going to eat when its -5 degrees and two feet of snow?”. Granted I just described a Wisconsin winter, but the question is the same. The hardest challenge for Kingsolver in this book was to prove that what she was doing could be reasonably done and even defy winter. The last three chapters really illustrate the final cycle of life. She clearly uses her turkey as an example, having raised them from birth the previous spring, and is now watching them complete their life cycle and have children of their own. The Kingsolver family has successfully completed a year of slow, homegrown food living and survived to talk about it. (and it sounded like a lot of fun)

Journal #4

          Chapters 16-20

          Due to the nature of the author’s one year project, the final quarter of the book encompasses several of the most celebrated holidays.  This gives Kingsolver a chance to talk about several oddities regarding seasonal celebrations.  There are several anecdotes within these chapters regarding culture’s ability to override reality.  Children paint yellow leaves and cut out snowflakes, even in parts of the country where snow is for all intents and purposes a myth.  Children sing songs about British Skylarks, regardless of the fact that such a bird has never naturally lived on this continent.  She expresses frustration at the fact that a local columnist suggests that January is the perfect time for pesto sauce made with freshly crushed basil.

            Thanksgiving prompts her to lament the artificial nature of American food culture.  Only two holidays have a uniquely “American” feel to their menus.  The Fourth of July is ruled by the grill.  Everything is barbequed out of doors with no particular regard for the seasonal readiness of the livestock.  Thanksgiving is characterized by a seasonally appropriate menu, but it is tarnished by the omnipresent canned pumpkin.  Despite being a defining crop for this region of the world, every pumpkin recipe, from pies to cookies, begins with the ingredient “1 can (15oz) pumpkin.”  The author resolves to cook with actual pumpkin, which results in an excellent (but unsightly) pumpkin soup.

The end of the book was very interesting and almost sort of funny at parts. We thought it was strange but hilarious how fascinated the author was by the turkeys’ mating rituals. The detail she went into describing it was pretty unbelievable. We liked seeing the change she noticed at the end of the book; men at the farmers market starting to sell organically and people in general changing their habits to be more environmentally healthy. We too have noticed this change taking place in the world today. Also we thought it was scary when she talked about how many acres of corn it took to produce just one family’s year worth of soda. It was even scarier when she talked about how little farmland each person in 40 years will have dedicated to them.

            It seems to us that throughout the book Kingsolver’s overall tone and style of writing have slightly changed. At the beginning of the book she seems very authoritative, and although at one point early in the book she mentions that her goal is not to scold people for not buying locally, but to open their eyes to other options, she still seems to be overbearing and harsh about the subject. In the last chapter of the book Kingsolver’s tone changes greatly; we think that the cycle of their turkeys may have affected her tone in that they “softened” her up a little. She leaves her audience with a feeling of content, like she has just changed the world because of her family’s dedication. We felt that Kingsolver was much more laid back in the last chapter quite possibly because she felt the success of their food life and she knows that it will affect many people. After reading this book we noticed that she really opened our eyes to the world of food and some of us will try to change our patterns to help the environment and agriculture industry, while also saving a few dollars.

Final Article Finder: Back to the Source

It occured to us that after two weeks of reading this book, we had never added a link to the website of the book itself, which is a shame because this website has a lot of good information.  All of the recipes that appeared in the book can be found here.  There are tips for finding locally grown food.  There are even additional online sources linked for continued research, and more.

Check it out.
-Zachary Brandt

Other interesting cource - Food Inc - Official Trailer [HD]

Summary Chapter 18-20

- Luke Mehring

Chapter 18 is about what the family eats in January.   These items include Winter Squash, Beans, Carrots, Potatoes, Chicken, and anything that they had frozen from the summer.  The author says they kind of luck out that they had enough food to make it through the winter without resorting to food from the grocery store.

Chapter 19 is another chapter on the turkeys Kingsolver bought to raise for food.  The turkeys are struggling because, as talked about in other chapters, they do not know how to reproduce on their own.  While Kingsolver bought turkeys that are physically able to reproduce they do not know how.  And when they do manage to get pregnant the mother turkeys do not know how to raise their young because the chicks have been taken away from the mother to be raised in a box somewhere else for generations so they do not know how to act.  This is the main struggle for the author in this chapter.

Chapter 20, the final chapter in the book, is an overall summery and conclusion to the year of eating only locally grown and organic food.  Kingsolver does the math and it turns out it only cost them 50 cents per person per meal over the last year to eat locally.  Of course they put in a lot more work and time to achieve this, and also lost out on variety over the winter months, but it is still very inexpensive.  

Another source "No Impact Man" - Official Trailer [HQ HD]

Discussion Leader 12/10/10

Why did the author feel so connected and take so good care of the turkeys?

I’m not too sure of the real answer to this question but I think it is just the nature of who she is. She is a very motherly woman like when she interacts with her daughter and always feels connected to her. I think she also takes a lot of pride in her work. She mentions many times how much effort she put into raising them and guiding through their life, and mentions also how amazing it is that they have lived to be as old as they are.

How does the world start changing at the end of the book?

One good example is when she goes to the farmers market and buys from a man who says he no longer sprays his plants. She also brings up global warming and how it is basically the wake-up call for everyone who was polluting and not eating locally and organically before. She says that it is her generations obligation, and if the problem is left for her daughter’s generation, it will be too late. She also brings up the point that in the future there will not be nearly enough farm space to support humans’ growing food needs.

Did the author change at all over the course of this book?

I do not think she did much. Her views on food, farming, and agriculture in general stayed the same. I’m surprised she didn’t give in more to buying processed foods since in the winter there is not a lot of food. However, I think she got more emotionally connected to the animals around her farm. For example, she really loved her turkeys and was fascinated with everything about them. Also, she helped her daughter raise the chickens and seemed to really enjoy the process.

What did this book teach us?

Through this book we learned a lot of habits to make ourselves more environmentally conscious.  Also we learned a lot about agriculture. For example, how wildlife is raised, like the chickens and turkeys, and the inhumane conditions in the cramped stock houses most meat comes from. Also, I learned a lot about how fruit and vegetables are grown, and how locally grown differs from the stuff in groceries.

-Calvin Nania

Chapters 18-20 Vocab

Melissa Briggs

omnipresent (301)- present everywhere at the same time

ubiquitous (301)- existing or being everywhere; omnipresent

broody (321)- moody, gloomy

prurient (321)- having, inclined to have, or characterized by lascivious orlustful thoughts, desires

heirloom (321)- a family possession handed down from generation to generation

provincialism (337)- narrowness of mind, ignorance, or the like, considered as resulting from lack of exposure to cultural or intellectual activity

monoculture (329)- the use of land for growing only one type of crop

expunge (330)- to strike or blot out; erase; obliterate

sleuthing (342)- to track or trail, as a detective

insuperable (345)- incapable of being passed over, overcome, or surmounted

photovoltaic (346)- of or pertaining to the photovoltaic effect

Chapter 17 Graphic Organizer

This is a graphical representation of Lily's debt to her mother for the startup costs of her egg selling business.  She started with $285 of debt, with $130 subtracted for the chickens that had already been slaughtered for the family's consumption.  At $2.50 a carton, Lily would sell eggs to her mother as such a rate that she would be debt free in about thirty weeks.

-Zachary Brandt

Vocab Chapters 16-17

- Luke Mehring 

1.       Chrysanthemums (page 259) – The flower of any plants that come from the genus Chrysanthemum, which originated in china and is known for its distant variety of colors in the fall.

2.       Befuddlements (page 267) – root word Befuddle, meaning to confuse or scramble up

3.       Grabbling (page 268) – Means a method of gaining a physical advantage over someone or something else.  It is commonly used to describe noodleing (catching giant catfish using your fingers as bait) but it is not used in this way in the book.

4.       Asafetida (page 268) – This is a plant commonly found in Asia that has a very repugnant smell when raw, but when cooked into a dish it delivers a delicious and smooth taste.

5.       Glycemic Index (page 272) – A scale used to measure the effect of carbohydrates in food on blood pressure and blood sugar.  The higher the GI the worse the food is for your blood sugar/pressure.

6.       Bygones (page 284) – means something that is from an earlier time, famous from the phrase “Let bygones be bygones.” Which means let the past be the past essentially.

7.       MSG (page 286) –  Monosodium Glutamate, a common food additive, is an naturally occurring non- essential amino acid. Which means that our body either does not need MSG or produces it on our own but it is still added to food to enrich flavor.

8.       Teff (page 287) – also known as Eragrostic Tef is a species of grass that is harvested for its grain, much like wheat

9.       Amaranth (page 287) – is a collection/group of species of herbs.  There are over 60 plants that are in the Amaranth group that all evolved from a common ancestor.

10.   Quinoa (page 287) – this is a species of “goosefoot” that is grown for its editable grain.  It is not however, unlike most grains, a member of the grass family, making it unique.

 

Interesting article

Article

8-12-10

Joseph Weirich

http://ezinearticles.com/?Instilling-Entrepreneurship-in-Children-at-a-Young-Age&id=4372522

                  Today’s article focuses on Lily and her chicken business. I was really impressed by Lily’s innate talent at running a company. Her ability to estimate cost, profit margins, debt, as well as maintain a professional demeanor at such a young age is great and hopefully inspiring to others. One thing to keep in mind is that lily’s situation is unique. Not many children have the resources to run a business like Lily’s. Surely a lemonade stand is a business but by no means in the same league as a chicken and egg producing venture.  The article above emphasizes the integration of and value of entrepreneurial classes in school, so that young children can foster an interest in future business management. 

Chapters 16-17 Discussion Leader

Melissa Briggs

1)      Camille discusses potatoes and their nutritional values in her excerpt at the end of chapter sixteen. Potatoes grown in the United States are the most pesticide-contaminated vegetables, containing DDT, dieldrin and chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides. Did you know that potatoes contained a lot of these hazardous chemicals? If not, does it make you second guess eating potatoes? Do you think the effects of ingesting these hazardous chemicals may be long-term, if there are any?

2)      Kingsolver mentions their 8-month abstinence from citrus fruits; how hard to you think it would be to give up certain foods from your diet, even though you are becoming “greener”? Do you think that eventually you would give up from the lack of fruit?

3)      The farmers’ market closed down for the winter in chapter seventeen. Kingsolver states that the relationship with the other farmers will be missed until spring. Do you think the farmers find other jobs for the winter? If so, would you think that it paid more than harvesting and selling their crops at the market? Do you believe that farmers harvest because it is self-fulfilling, raising the crops through its entire “life process”? 

Summarizer Ch 16 & 17

                The reading for today started out with a lot about pumpkins. The author – Kingsolver grew a few varieties of them and described all the pumpkins sitting out on front doorsteps for Halloween. She described her dismay when she realized that people almost never use them for their delicious edible properties. She then was further disappointed when she saw pumpkin recipes in the newspaper calling for canned pumpkins instead of fresh ones. She then talked about the growing cycle of potatoes, and the difficulties that can come along with the development of their roots. Also, Kingsolver talked about the different types of garlic and how they differ from what most people are used to seeing in the grocery stores. Her daughter Lily continues to make good process with her chicken business by selling lots of eggs and becoming very popular because of it in the community. Lastly, Kingsolver talks about the tradition of eating at Thanksgiving, and the memories that come with it for her.

                This section was written exactly like all the others, which is unfortunate because it is getting a little repetitive, though I liked the style at the beginning.  Kingsolver switches between dialogues and interactions she has with her family to describing vegetables and agriculture in general. She goes into lengthy descriptions of many vegetables, herbs, and fruits, and how they taste, are produced, and more.  While she is great at describing and has good information, it is written in long flowing paragraphs and is sometimes hard to keep track of different species of plants. I think this section, or book in general, could have been a lot shorter. Once being this far through the book I realized that every chapter basically has the exact same format, just with the specific events or food being described gets changed.

-Calvin Nania

Chapter 13-15 Discussion Questions

1.  How has the red state/blue state divide affected our assumptions regarding the growing of food?


There is a perception that people who live in red and blue states are fundamentally different.  This idea is flawed, but it creates a perception among blue states that red states (which happen to be the states that grow most of our food) are somehow inferior to them.  This fits into an idea that has come up previously in the book that white collar work is more highly valued than physical labor.


2.  What are some of the perceived ethical dilemmas associated with the inevitable correlation between death and food?


We are tempted to add a moral component to eating.  Nearly every culture has an equivalent rule to the commandment "Thou shall not kill."  Nevertheless, we are really deluding ourselves.  As animals, we survive by consuming other life, whether it be plant or animal.


3.  Based on what we've read so far, what has Barbara Kingsolver done to warrant a spot on Bernard Goldberg's list of 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America?


This question may require a bit of external research to understand, but Kingsolver does include some details about the nature of "the list" as she calls it.  The fact that people like Jimmy Carter are also on the list (a fact which makes her proud to be included) suggests that there is a political slant to the members of "the list."  Kingsolver and her friends fine the whole situation more amusing than anything else.


4.  What does Kingsolver point out as some of the differences between American and Italian cuisine? 


Since this question covers the content of most of the chapter, there is no one right answer.  One fact that she mentions (possibly in a previous chapter) is that dispite the variety, Italian food does have one staple ingredient that defines the menu; pasta.  She caps off the chapter with a sign saying "You can taste our dirt" in Italian to demonstrate Italian pride in the process of growing food.


-Zachary Brandt

Journal #3

Chapters 11-15

We found it intriguing how eating food from all around the world is not just an American phenomenon.  We have exported this bad habit of ours to every continent and the trend has taken hold.  Even in areas thought of as culinary capitals, fast food restaurants like McDonalds have popped up.  In Quebec, while many people try and do live off purely locally food as much as they can, it gets very cold in the winter and it is near impossible to not import food.  For example, in February when almost nothing grows in most of Canada, they import broccoli from South America and California.  They do manage to preserve things like apples, so they can be enjoyed year round.  They even use specific species of apple trees so the apples they grow are able to be better preserved.  We think this is fascinating because we always thought that the different types of apples are just for different taste when you eat them.  It never occurred to us that they could breed apples to be better at being preserved.

‘Zucchini Larceny’ is possibly the funniest chapter by this point in the book.  Unlike previous chapters where half of the material is taken up by dry explanations of the how’s and whys of the chapter’s subject matter, ‘Zucchini Larceny’ is almost entirely occupied by the stories themselves.  The two main events in this chapter are the coming of age of the chickens, and the first harvest of zucchini.  The zucchini storyline can be summed up by the claim that July is the only time of year when country folk lock their car doors to stop people from putting squash in the front seat.  The overabundance of the vegetable leaves the family’s kitchen full with seemingly nothing but the monstrous vegetables.  The story of the chickens is no less amusing.  Having come of age, the roosters begin to displace the most awkward attempts to mate that the author has ever witnessed (including high school teenagers).  The roosters also start to display a foul temperament which encourages Lily to name the birds, something the family had hesitated to do for fear of growing attached to birds, which would ultimately be slaughtered and eaten.  That fear is alleviated when the author learns that Lily has named the roosters Mr. Thanksgiving, Mr. Sausage, Mr. Dinner, and Sushi.

We think it would improve the book if the author spent a few chapters talking about something a little different from her usual template. For example maybe the politics or economic drives behind agriculture, though she does mention it a few times, she never goes in depth with those topics. Her rather minimal variety of topics seems to become boring during this part of the book, but then again it is hard for the author to travel away from the main topics.

The way the book is written is starting to get a little repetitive. At the beginning we really liked it, however, the more that we read, the more we realize that just about every chapter sticks to the same format. Kingsolver describes the flavor, texture, origin, history, or traditions surrounding some fruit, vegetable, or herb. She will then talk about an event in her life such as a family gathering and the food involved in it, including where it came from, its flavor, what it looks like, etc. The author uses a very long, flowing, descriptive type of writing style. Sometimes the most interesting part of the chapter is the essay from her husband Steven. He often elaborates more on certain subjects that Barbara just mentions, such as the National Animal Identification System in chapter eleven.

                This book seems like it would be most fit to be read by people who are involved in agriculture of food industry themselves, such as grocers, farmers, organic enthusiasts, or politicians who decide the laws for said industry and people. Also, we think anyone who is into cooking or family gatherings would definitely enjoy this book. Lots of mothers could identify with this book because of the connection she has with her daughters, how she cooks and provides for the family (no sexism intended), and the book is written in a more feminine voice. The author also mentions many life lessons that she teaches her younger daughter Lily, such as raising some chickens solely to be slaughtered for money, and that they are not pets.

Vocabulary- chapters 13-15

Vocab Builder

12-6-10

Joseph Weirich

Bourgeoisie (p. 206) - describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture.

           

Hippocratic (p. 209) - of or relating to Hippocrates or the school of medicine that took his name. Hippokrátēs was an ancient Greek physician and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine.

           

Delicata (p. 211) - An heirloom variety of winter squash, oblong in shape and having a cream-colored skin with green stripes. This squash member – as its name indicates – has a more delicate flavor

           

Khalil  Gibrna (p. 224) - was a Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob (p. 230) - disease or CJD is a degenerative neurological disorder (brain disease) that is incurable and invariably fatal.           

Piura (p. 226) - is a city in northwestern Peru. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. The population is 377,496. "Piura" is derived from the Quechua word pirhua, whose approximate meaning is "supply base", as the Incas used the area as a stop to get provisions during their conquest of the area's original inhabitants

Fresco (p. 246) -  (plural either frescos or frescoes) is any of several related painting types, done on plaster on walls or ceilings in water colors. The word fresco comes from the Italian word affresco  which derives from the adjective fresco' ("fresh"), which has Germanic origins.

Truffle (p. 246) - any of various highly prized edible subterranean fungi of the genus Tuber; grow naturally in southwestern Europe.

Chianina (p. 254) - is an Italian breed of beef cattle. It is the largest and one of the oldest existing beef cattle breeds in the world.

Grappa (p. 247) - is a fragrant grape-based pomace brandy of between 37.5% and 60% alcohol by volume (75 to 120 US proof) of Italian origin, similar to Spanish orujo liquor.

            

Chapters 13-15 Summary

Melissa Briggs

                In chapter 13, Kingsolver mainly discusses the family’s season of tomatoes. During the month of August they harvested approximately 302 pounds of tomatoes, all in which they had to pack and process into cans of sauce, freeze in plastic bags, or cut into slices and send them through the food dryer. Another topic that was mentioned was regarding “Appalachian Harvest”, which is a farm close to Kingsolver’s home that produces organic vegetables and distributes them to supermarket chains in the near areas. The organic vegetables that do not meet the store’s standards of color, shape, and size are delivered to low-income families in the area also.

                September is the month of animal harvest, and Kingsolver described their process of harvesting the poultry in chapter 14. They had another family come over to help with the harvesting, and both families had opportunity to enjoy fresh chicken for dinner that night. She also described the difference when raising animals to be butchered between her family and CAFO’s; after this experience she felt sympathetic for the cattle that live in stalls their entire life up to their knees in their own feces, rather than being able to roam freely within fences of a farm.

                In chapter 15 Barbara and her husband travel to Italy for a second-honeymoon. She talks all about the different restaurants they dine at, including the many meals that they are served in the restaurants.  One of the places where they stayed was called an agriturismo, in which guests stay on a family farm and have the option of participating in the hoeing of the garden and other agricultural activities. The main purpose of the so-called “bed and breakfast” is so guests get the opportunity to enjoy fresh meals containing only food from their farm. 

Chapter 13-15 Graphic

- Luke Mehring

This represents the choices that the family must make when deciding whether to keep all of the chickens alive or to harvest them now and eat them.  If they keep them alive they will get eggs, symbolized on the left with a sunny side up egg.  In the right is a chicken wing that they would get right now and not have to wait to get food from the chickens.

Article Finder 12/6/10

http://www.fmi.org/gr/USDA_OrganicProgram.pdf


This article directly relates to the reading in ch. 13 - 15. It is about the guidelines and rules set by the USDA concerning the storage, packaging, and shipping of organic foods, like tomatoes, which the author described in great length. It also relates to when the author was talking about the old tobacco plant - how the tomatoes had to be stored at a very certain temperature (56 degrees) and when she talked about how consumers at grocery stores only getting the perfect fruits and vegetables. The oddly shaped fruits or vegetables, or ones damaged otherwise, were thrown out before getting to the grocery. The article also states the rules for packaging, which i think sort soils the ideals of organic food by creating a lot more pollution with the excess waste and pollution.

-Calvin Nania

Chapters 11-12 Article Finder

Melissa Briggs

National Animal Identification System: USDA Needs to Resolve Several Key Implementation Issues to Achieve Rapid and Effective Disease Traceback

In 2003, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a nationwide program that requires farmers to attach an ID number and global positioning device on each and every one of their domestic animals. The purpose of this new law is to respond quickly to animal disease breakouts related to our food. Kingsolver provides a bias opinion on the matter, because the new identification is very time consuming and may run farmer’s out of business; the cost of tagging the animals and placing a locating device can cost anywhere from one dollar to twenty dollars per animal, which could potentially bankrupt the local farmers. On the other hand, the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) could potentially decrease the amount of disease outbreaks by finding the source sooner, and therefore then cutting off the selling of that product. The pros and cons of the NAIS seem to weigh out.      

http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-07-592

Vocabulary ch 11 & 12

155 Inkling – a slight suggestion or indication; hint; intimation

156 Benvenuto –(Italian) welcome

158 Polyethylene – a plastic polymer of ethylene used chiefly for containers, electrical insulation, and packaging.

160 Waxwings – any of several songbirds of the family Bombycillidae, having a showy crest and certain feathers

tipped with a red, waxy material, as Bombycilla garrulus (Bohemian waxwing),  of the Northern Hemisphere

.

163 DDT – a white, crystalline, water-insoluble solid, C ₁₄ H ₉ Cl ₅ , usually derived from chloral by reaction

with chlorobenzene in the presence of fuming sulfuric acid: used as an insecticide and as a scabicide and pediculicide: agricultural use prohibited in the U.S. since 1973. 

165 Martins – any of several swallows having a deeply forked tail and long, pointed wings. 

167 Atrazine – a white crystalline compound, C ₈ H ₁₄ N ₅ Cl, used as an herbicide to control weeds, esp. in corn crops. 

169 Paradigm – a set of forms all of which contain a particular element, esp. the set of all inflected forms based on a single stem or theme. 

180 Perennial – perpetual; everlasting; continuing; recurrent

181 Docility – easily managed or handled; tractable

-Calvin Nania

Chapter 11-12 Graphic

Luke Mehring

This is a visual interpretation of the family’s vacation.  Each spot they visited is on a different piece of luggage above the car.

Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 Summary

Chapter 11: Slow Food Nations

In Chapter 11, Kingsolver visits David and Elsie, a husband and wife couple who run their own farm.  The chapter serves to highlight the effects of different farming techniques utilized by industrial and family farmers.  The contrast is glaring when the Author and her friends drive between a pair of fields.  The first had been cared for with natural fertilizer and crop rotations by David’s family for generations.  The second had, until a decade previous, been farmed industrially with ammonia based fertilizer and a consistent crop year after year.  Even after a decade of small farming techniques, the formerly industrial field looked less healthy than the family run field.

In an interesting stylistic choice, Kingsolver declines to mention one key detail about David and Elsie until very nearly the end of the chapter.  The couple is Amish.  The most likely reason for this was to control the perception of the reader throughout the chapter.  Kingsolver wants the audience to think of the couple as “normal” and by withholding that piece of information; the reader doesn’t give a second thought to the couple’s cultural identity.

Chapter 12: Zucchini Larceny

Chapter 12 is dedicated to the comic overabundance of squash (zucchini specifically) that the farm harvests during the mid-summer season.  The following passage sums up the experience. “Garrison Keillor says that July is the only time of year when country people lock our cars in the church parking lot, so people won’t put squash on the front seat.  I used to think that was a joke.” 

Lily’s Chickens are also beginning to come of age in this chapter.  This is another source of comedy as the growing roosters demonstrate, “The most ham-fisted attempts at courtship I’ve ever had to watch. (And yes, I’m including high school.)”

Overall, the writing of this chapter is simply funny.  Much of the book (when it’s not relating statistics) has a deadpan sense of humor, but it is most clearly and densely demonstrated in this chapter.  Most of the chapter consists of these humorous stories, as opposed to the more serious relation of data relevant to the chapter.  As a result, the chapter is lighter on information pertaining to national farming trends, but heavy on entertainment.  It serves as a nice break between the previous chapter (which has been about the damage caused by pesticides and other industrial farming practices) and the next (which will cover the effects political ideology on views concerning farmers.)

-Zachary Brandt