Animal vegetable miracle

I've now finished Barbara Kingsolver's book on eating local for a year. I loved it. Completely adored her beautiful writing. I think I'm getting pretty familiar, theoretically at least, with the principles and benefits of locavore living and yet Kingsolver's prose drew me in. It's not being virtuous to read her; it's a pleasure.

Has it changed my own view on eating local? Not at all, but local eating on the South Island's West Coast is a fairly high level challenge. We ate fish last week, caught and sold by a local family we know through Fionn's school. The fish was divine. Not sure how long we'll have it though. The same week the local paper ran a front page article on the problems facing local fisherpeople. Fuel costs have risen 240% for them in the last year and some boats have stopped going out as they can't afford the overheads.

The only way I can get locally grown vegetables outside of my own garden (where I have greens but no starches) is to buy them from the fellow just outside of Hokitika. But there is no way I'm driving down to make a purchase from him given that it now costs me about $13 in petrol for a trip to Hoki. I used to make this trip for fun about once a month. No longer.

Next month is rooster killing month which will push up our local protein eating significantly.

What I could do is give up bananas.

Next Summer will be the summer of pumpkins I hope. In the dark of next winter, with some good fortune on top of the hard work, we may be eating our own pumpkins each week.