Virginia

I suppose that I should put Virginia in here. I'm way up near the top, across the river from DC. I've been here a week now and think I'm getting settled in. I'm staying with my brother and sister-in-law. My room is really beautiful. The house is gorgeous, is surrounded by flowers, and has a vegetable garden.



It's all good, but the last item is very good. During this week I've been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Barbara Kingsolver, her husband and two daughters, decide to live a year on their farm in Appalachia as locavores. They will grow their own food or buy locally. There are a few exceptions. Who can live without olive oil? And there are no local flour mills. So they understand that there are things that don't fit into the plan. But they don't get all tense over it. It's about trying to avoid the cost of processing and shipping food.

The book was read by Kingsolver, her husband and her oldest daughter. That made the book even more enjoyable. She writes about the daily parts of their endeavor; he writes sidenotes, usually more information about a topic she mentions; the daughter gives a teen's views and writes about menus and recipes. Everyone who has read the book likes it, so it's not just about the readers, but I thought they did a good job.

I've tried to do more of this local eating and cooking while I've been here. I get to cook. Hurray! Cindy had a great kitchen, so this is pretty easy. I don't miss much of the kitchen that I left with Adrian, she has many of the same things. Eric bought a new barbeque, I've learned how to use that and will be 'cueing some local meats and vegetables this summer. It is way to hot too do much cooking in the kitchen, but I've managed to do that too.

As we know, LIG.