Season of "beginnings" includes Kingsolver's bestseller

I actually began this “beginning” a few days before the New Year.  

I had wanted to read Barbara Kingsolver’s bestseller, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle,” for a long time.  One of my sweet daughters bought it for me for Christmas, so I started it a few days later.   

I’m hopeful that I will eventually finish the book, which is beautifully written, but I’m notorious for starting books and not finishing them.

 “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” chronicles Kingsolver’s family’s quest to grow or buy local food as much as possible.  They began this experiment after moving from Arizona back to her home state of Kentucky. 

They learned that to eat local, one has to learn to eat in season.  When they discovered how tasty foods are when eaten fresh, the Kingsolver’s realized they wouldn’t be as deprived as they first thought they would be when they began their new eating plan.  

Her eloquent essay about asparagus stirred my appetite for the spring perennial that has become one of my favorites.

Although I’ve always participated in growing some of my own food, we never tried raising asparagus when I was a kid. I later tried canned asparagus and found it slimy and unappetizing…then I bought some fresh asparagus from a big box store and thought it tasted pretty good. 

A few years after we planted our own asparagus crowns, I finally got to taste it fresh from the patch.  That’s when I truly became a fan of the tasty spears.  Heck, even my husband likes asparagus, so it must be good! 

 Although it’s 20-something degrees outside, I’m dreaming of fresh asparagus roasted in a bit of olive oil.  Winter may be bearable yet.