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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Dinner at Beck Grove
  • Date: Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:18:10 -0700


LocalHarvest Newsletter, December 15, 2009
Dinner at Beck Grove
Welcome back to the LocalHarvest newsletter.
[Linked to http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M7033?r=nl

A few years ago, my husband taught at a school for teenagers who didn't fit
in any of the other schools in town. One day he asked his students how many
of them regularly ate a meal with their parents. Of the ten kids who'd made
it to class that day, only one raised his hand. The rest said they just
fended for themselves, grazing in the cupboards when they got hungry enough
to take a break from their video games. They shrugged when they said it, like
it didn't matter. Most of these kids' parents were working long hours at
several jobs just to get food in the house in the first place. Still, among
the many hard things these kids faced, between ourselves we counted the
absence of family meals high on the list.

Nowadays many families eat together only sporadically, due to parents' work
schedules — driven by necessity or the habit of overwork — or to children's
extracurricular activities. Yet this time is irreplaceable. It is, to my
mind, what makes a house a home, and part of what makes a group of people a
family. These are the people I come home to at the end of the day, and cook
for and sit with; this is the hour we bless with our presence to one another.

There is much attention being given these days to the need to improve the
quality of food served in our nation's public schools, and rightly so. To
serve our children the best food, grown with care by farmers who are also
part of the community in which the children reside is a sensible and widely
beneficial thing.

But let us also remember the value of the meals we share at home.

Last night I spent an hour making supper, as I do almost every evening, and
at some point between chopping the garlic and browning the onions, these
thoughts came loudly to my mind, "I love to cook. I love to make food for my
family." Yes, I thought, as I listened to my husband and daughter playing in
the next room, this is a sweet part of the day. And then we sat down
together, lit some candles, said our grace — "Thank You for this food, and
that we are together" — and ate.

Cooking and eating together need not be elaborate, but it is best, it seems
to me, when it is consistent. Like most such commitments — planting the seed
planted in early spring, bringing the baby home from the hospital — the fruit
may be months or years in the ripening.

At all times, but especially in this season of holiday bustle and stress, may
we all slow down long enough to invite one another to the table, and when we
get there, to look around and welcome with gratitude those who have gathered.

As always, take good care and eat well,

Erin Barnett
Director
LocalHarvest





  • [Livingontheland] Dinner at Beck Grove, Tradingpost, 12/15/2009

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