Learning to Love You More*

[rebeccmeister]

I'm in the midst of reading a book by Gary Nabhan, Coming Home to Eat, and am really enjoying it. Nabhan writes about trying to eat locally in Arizona, and the book is a nice follow-up to reading Kingsolver's book about local gardening in another part of the US. Unlike Kingsolver, Nabhan seems to feel that it's possible to eat locally in the desert, but his approach to food-gathering is different and less garden-centered: he hunts for roadside greens, collects saguaro fruits, and cooks up some fresh roadkill. I really enjoy how he mixes together a lot of information about food here with language that celebrates his life in this place.

Several of my friends have recently mentioned efforts that they are undertaking to get more familiar with Arizona; one friend is considering an Arizona-only diet, while another friend plans to shop only at local businesses. The latter feels that shopping locally will help her develop a better appreciation for this place.

For all of the days when my gaze is northwest-ward, whenever I actually stop and look around I'm amazed by how much I've learned about this place, and I want to keep developing the local connections that I've established. I have yet to try a saguaro fruit, for example, but I've enjoyed learning about local growing seasons and eating local foods. I do miss the tall trees and succulent berries, and the smell of cedars, but I love the smell of desert creosote and look forward to the beginning of the citrus season.

It can take a very long time to feel settled in a place, but the gradual revelations of this space are wonderful.

*(the title is kind of an inside joke to annikusrex, who may or may not get the reference)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I really miss the smell of the cedars! We recently got our dog a new cedar bed and I come into the living room just to smell him in the morning because he smells like a cedar tree. It's the best we can do right now, I suppose.

[zinniazayda.livejournal.com]

I am also reading that book, as I mentioned. Haven't gotten too far, but I'm excited about it. I do like that he is specifically a native plants guy, and that he is eager to eat local foods that aren't "normal" fare. I think that's very important; you can't expect Arizona to be like rainier places. But it has some delightful foods of its own, which most people are unaccustomed to.

[annikusrex.livejournal.com]

mj! i miss prickly pear jelly. if you make some, i want it for a christmas present!

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

dingdingdingdingding! You win! (of course, I figured you would)

Oh man, I probably won't be able to get enough fruits for jelly-making (although that gives me an idea...I'll have to look around). So perhaps I'll cheat and bring some that's made by someone else.