"It is not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? It is not enough for you to drink of the clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?" Ezekiel 34:18

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Public Lands, Public Goods

Nicolas Kristof has a great article in the NY Times this morning about the state of our public lands. He describes how he and his daughter hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and how the trails and bridges were collapsing in on themselves. The most poignant part of the article is when Kristof says we built up out public lands when we were a poor country, and now as a rich country they are decaying from neglect. And the reason for this? "That’s not because of resources. It’s because they were visionaries, and we are blind."

I am afraid this is a wider symptom of "if you want to enjoy the great outdoors, then buy it" syndrome. My worry is that soon there will be no more public goods in this country. Public schools, National Parks, clean water....they will all be former shadows of themselves, which you can argue that they already are. 

Friday, July 12, 2013

Fruit Foraging

So, the other day I was working from home and at lunch I decided to go for a stroll around the neighborhood with my son. Low and behold, as I turned out onto Lee Hwy., I saw her. An older woman with a sweat rag wrapped around her neck. She was picking wild blackberries on the side of the highway. She was grunting a lot, and with the presence of a sweat rag I deduced that this was serious and hard work in the Virginia summer sun. In fact, my husband Andrew pointed out later that day that we frequently drive by people on the side of the highway foraging wild berries.

I think this is great and environmentally friendly to boot!. I am just not so sure that I could ever bring myself to stop running into Wegmans for a fresh, $20 fruit pie when I am in a pinch. It is not so much that I am above foraging on the side of the road as my fellow American blow by me in a car driving 50 mph, but the thought of cooking the stuff exhausts me. And fruit has a short self life when means I couldn't take 3 weeks to finally work up the energy to cook something with the fruit. And don't mention that I could freeze or can the fruit. That seems even more daunting than baking.

Well, if you don't have an aversion to baking, NPR has a great article on modern-day fruit foraging. They even have a map where you can find locations near where you live to go foraging. Maybe you will tun into my neighbor?