Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

The highlight of this past week was definitely Tuesday!

The authors of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver and Steven Hopp (Kingsolver's husband), came to speak at Burrus Hall. The presentation didn't start until 8 p.m., however the celebration started earlier with a Virginia Harvest Celebration at D2, one of the dining halls.

Let me tell you, that food was AMAZING! Definitely the best meal I have had on campus by far! Plus, you could go back and get seconds, thirds, or even more! I ended up eating roast beef with au jus, pork with spiced apples, and vegetables of course! Then, dessert... well, let's just say I sampled a lot of dessert! I had poached peaches, fried apple fritters, and an apple and zucchini muffin. The poached peach was definitely my favorite, but all of it was great! The best part about it was that all of the food was locally grown, it think that's what made it taste so good!

On top of the amazing food, what made dinner even better was the atmosphere in D2. There were almost as many families, or older adults as there were students. It was crazy, yet it felt like a close community because of the fact that no matter how old, everyone was there together, to celebrate this book and the harvest. Also, there was even a live band playing country music the whole time!

Then, after dinner, everyone headed to Burrus Hall to scramble for a seat before Kingsolver took the stage.

For some reason, Burrus wasn't as packed as I was expecting though. I was hoping that maybe people were watching in their dorms on one of the channels, but I wasn't too sure if it was on television or not since I was there instead.

Kingsolver eventually spoke, and she ended up reading excerpts from her book. She chose very wisely and found the ones that would make an impact on the crowd. She showed the audience how much of a difference it would make, in the world, if we bought locally or grew our own vegetables.

Living and growing up on a farm, her words hit home to me because she's trying to show people that it is important to buy and support local farmers. Being part of a local farm I know how hard it is to compete with the huge farms out west and all around, and have always hoped that one day people will realize local farms are just as important. Hopefully, with encouragement from Kingsolver's book and words, people will soon open their eyes to local farmers!