Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Mar 9, 2008, at 8:22 AM, Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:

> Both lessons then.  Kingsolver has done much to point the way, AND  
> illustrate
> how, as far as local matters are concerned,  in SW Virginia one should
> consult those hewed from the very rocks rather than imported Yankees.

I don't know how she lives. I don't know how consciously she self- 
promotes. I do know that to sell books one must do certain things, and  
promotion is paramount. Many very good books have been written and  
will be written that you and I never learn about.

Another thought I have is what I alluded to some days back, to resist  
the impulse to underestimate the power of the affluent. Perhaps, with  
a professor father and a celebrity author mother, the family naturally  
travels in a different social place than the salt-of-the-earth locals  
you describe who don't know they are doing anything special by having  
a sign out front year-round that advertises home-grown.

So my thought is that locavorism will most likely only become widely  
accepted and practiced if and when it is promoted by the affluent.  
Somewhere I have written that we home gardeners eat better than Bill  
Gates. But imagine if Bill and Melinda started promoting home gardens.  
I have no doubt the practice would become popular much faster.