Some carrots build soil and community. You know the kind of carrots I mean the kind growing in the raised bed next to the coriander, where the brussel sprouts were last year, the bed just before the fence, near the raspberries. The CSA members like those carrots the best—dark orange, firm, and good for storing. Mrs. Gilligan said that they are perfect for carrot-ginger soup. She copied out her recipe to share in the farm newsletter. The deer almost got the crop last year. They jumped the fence the last week of October to nibble the green tops. That’s why we all pitched in to dig carrots the weekend before the house got painted. And it’s why the farm has to invest in a higher fence for this season. Let’s hope the beaver problem is resolved. The water table rose high enough to flood the compost pile on the south side of the field the pile where we dumped all our leaves. Is leaf compost best for carrots, or do they like manure? I’ll have to ask next time I’m at the farm.
Such carrots have a visible story that weaves together elements in the continuing chronicle of a particular place. These are the carrots we imagine when we think of “organic.”
Michael Pollan, science journalist and best-selling author, breaks this “myth of the organic” by tracing the hidden stories of some familiar products sold in the natural food aisles of supermarkets. In the process he discovers hundreds of acres of organic mono-crops separated only by a “line in the sand” from their chemically-raised neighbors. He analyses the packaging methods of corporate giants which cynically play on consumers’ identification of organic with small family-owned farms. He calculates the miles traveled in assembling the ingredients of that organic packaged meal before it reaches our dinner table. No soil is enhanced, no community is knitted together in this process.
Pollan’s engaging detective tale unfolds with infectious incredulousness. We so want to believe that the high-priced, “organic” apples in our shopping cart are truly supporting better health for our family, cleaner water and soil for our neighborhood, fair wages for family farmers, and the maintenance of an agrarian economy with its rural ideals. Don’t be so sure, Michael Pollan warns.
But he is more than a Cassandra, pointing out the dangers of an Industrialized food system. He has suggestions for how communities can encourage an authentic agrarian renewal through sound land protection methods and support of local diversified small farms.
Michael Pollan will speak on Sunday, March 16th at 2:00 PM at the St. James Church, 352 Main Street, Great Barrington, Massachusetts. His topic is “Following the Food Chain: the Politics & Ecology of Eating”. The occasion is the 2003 Annual Meeting of the Great Barrington Land Conservancy. Tickets are $10 at the door.
The Schumacher Center is a co-sponsor of the event together with Berkshire Co-op Market, Berkshire Grown, Berkshire Natural Resources Council, Community Land Trust of the Southern Berkshires, Eastern Native Seed Conservancy, Foggy River Farm, Indian Line Farm, New England Heritage Breeds Conservancy, New England Livestock Alliance, The Orion Society, and Taft Farms.
Michael Pollan is the author of the New York Times best seller, The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World, and other books. His writing has received numerous awards, including the John Burroughs prize (for best history essay 1997), the QPB New Vision Award (for his first book, Second Nature) and the 2000 Reuters-I.U.C.N. Global Award for Environmental Journalism for his reporting on genetic engineering. The American Booksellers Association recognized The Botany of Desire as a 2001 best book of the year.
In addition to his three books, Michael Pollan’s work includes many anthologies, notably Best American Essays and the Norton Book of Nature Writing. He is published regularly in the New York Times Magazine, and his articles have appeared in Harper’s, Vogue, Gourmet, Travel & Leisure, Garden Design, Gardens Illustrated, and House & Garden. He is also a contributing editor at Harper’s Magazine where he served for many years as Executive Editor.
Pollan has been particularly successful in creating public interest in science and nature through stories on botanical evolution, the beef industry, genetic engineering, and the welfare system for corn agribusiness. He wrote “This Steer’s Life: the highly unnatural journey of No. 534 from calf to steak” the March 31, 2002, New York Times Magazine cover story that detailed the unsavory practices of the American beef industry. In recognition of his accomplishments as a science journalist, he was recently appointed the 2003 Knight Professor of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.
Pollan grew up on Long Island, and was educated at Bennington College, Oxford University and Columbia University. He lives in Cornwall Bridge, Connecticut with his wife, the painter Judith Belzer, and their son, Isaac. He is currently writing a book about the system of food production.
The Great Barrington Land Conservancy recommends arriving early to secure a seat. No advance tickets are available. If distance or other commitments prevent you from attending Michael Pollan’s lecture, his book Botany of Desire is a good resource for organizing a local-foods consumer support group. When you purchase from local independent booksellers, you buy books that build community.