News of Blessing the Hands that Feed Us
If you want to hear a live teleclass on my experiment in very local eating, join me on December 11, 5:15 PM PST. It's free and will be rich and fun and interactive.
The book, Blessing the Hands that Feed Us, is now in the capable hands of Viking/Penguin publishers. The advantage of a New York publisher is publicity, stature and distribution - very important for any book succeeding in a crowded marketplace. The disadvantage for an impatient soul like me is how long the process takes. You won't have the book in hand for a year.
You will however have all the ideas in the book delivered to your Inbox over the coming year if you subscribe to my blog or like the Facebook page.
Innovations in healthy, safe, accessible and affordable regional food are happening every day and everywhere. I intend to blog my little heart out this year keeping you informed and up to date. No reason why both of us should be ferreting out all this breaking news and inspiring stories.
What's the book about?
“Quick test: Could you, for a full month, eat exclusively what’s grown within ten miles of your home? What would you eat? Would you survive? Would you suffer? Would you even want to run the experiment given you can run to your grocery store for a cornucopia of delights?”
So begins the introduction to Blessing the Hands that Feed Us, which recounts my experiment in hyper-local eating and what it taught me about myself, my neighbors, my place on earth, my passions, my politics and the prospects for a prosperous future for the community of life.
The book is:
o A funny, informative, inspiring story about my effort to eat within 10 miles of my home in September 2010
o A brief education on relocalization, transition, and the global crises
o An introduction to “relational eating” – eating in the context of community (which is the way it is, we just forgot)
o A personal story of hope lost and found in my life as an activist
o A call to participate in re-regionalization of our food systems
o A spiritual story of redemption through community, of finding a true home
o Profiles of farmers and a community becoming stronger through food and feeding one another
o A topography of Whidbey’s local food territory that others can use in their lives and communities
o My next book after Your Money or Your Life – part of a series on finding sane ways to live in a crazy world – and by doing so, nudging that world back to health and wholeness.
I'm no food expert or a home gardener. I am an everywoman, torn between ethics and comfort, between confusion about which expert to believe while also trusting my gut, literally, to guide me to good choices. Through this 10-mile diet I undertook an empowering inquiry into who I am as an eater, how connected to and blessed we all are is by every life that brings food to our table and how we as eaters can become a blessing to the world. This is not a book about being thin or buff, about longevity or disease, about cooking or gardening – it’s about our relationship with food and the many hands that feed us, about a whole new sense of oneself as an eater in a living world.
Hope this whets your appetite, so to speak. And that you'll subscribe to one or another way of walking with me in this year of learning and connecting. You can subscribe to my blog or like the Facebook page - or both.
Blessings,
Vicki
P.S. - I'm available for talks based on Blessing the Hands that Feed Us - rousing, funny, inspiring, motivating, informative lectures. Through the winter I'll happily travel in my region (Pacific Northwest). In the spring I'm willing to roam further. It would be my honor to be a catalyst in your community for a more resilient food system - and more connected relational eaters.
