My summer adventures in Western North Carolina continued this weekend with a field trip to a most succulent destination: berry picking at The Long Branch Environmental Education Center in Leicester, NC. http://www.longbrancheec.org/
This fertile and fruitful oasis was found 35 years ago by eco-visionary Paul Gallimore and his wife. Long before the organic and raw food movements were a rumble in the tummies of green farmers (and a ringing in the register of green marketers), Paul was steadfastly and quietly nurturing 1600 acres of organic berry patches, apple orchards and gardens. He's recently compiled his experience and wisdom into a tome called "Healing Appalachia".
The not-for-profit center charges a minimal fee for harvesting the fruits of the earth and provides as little or as much eco-education as you can digest during your stay. Hosted by volunteers like our guide, Steve, a 20-something nutritionist whose glow and enthusiasm practically bellowed "I'm high on healthy!", you can almost feel the antioxidants doing their magic right on the spot. (I felt a twinge of guilt about the decidedly non-vegan north carolina bbq I'd eaten with gusto the night before. But boy oh boy, was it good!)
I wandered in awe with my bucket as I took in the abundance of nature's generosity. The berries were bursting from the bushes, full and juicy from last week's torrents. I could hear the "thump" of apples falling from the trees, ripe and full. The center will be pressing cider soon in an attempt to use up some of the bumper crop. We buzzed from bush to bush like bees, gathering some, nibbling some, our fingers sweet and faintly blue.
And yet in the midst of all this abundance, I felt some sadness too. How is it possible that there are people right here in Buncombe County, not to mention Africa, South America and Asia who go to sleep and even die hungry? Nature's way is the way of abundance, not for the sake of productivity, (can you imagine the berry bush anxiously awaiting it's performance review?) but for the sheer joy of it. How can we as humans be have a grace to receive that goodness? And have the courage and creativity to be a channel for it. There is, as economist Jeffrey Sachs and others assert, no tangible reason that poverty needs to exist. http://www.earth.columbia.edu/pages/endofpoverty/index
Could it be true? Is there really enough--more than enough--to share? Looking at berries spilling over my countertop, I want to say, to know, the answer is YES!
This fertile and fruitful oasis was found 35 years ago by eco-visionary Paul Gallimore and his wife. Long before the organic and raw food movements were a rumble in the tummies of green farmers (and a ringing in the register of green marketers), Paul was steadfastly and quietly nurturing 1600 acres of organic berry patches, apple orchards and gardens. He's recently compiled his experience and wisdom into a tome called "Healing Appalachia".
The not-for-profit center charges a minimal fee for harvesting the fruits of the earth and provides as little or as much eco-education as you can digest during your stay. Hosted by volunteers like our guide, Steve, a 20-something nutritionist whose glow and enthusiasm practically bellowed "I'm high on healthy!", you can almost feel the antioxidants doing their magic right on the spot. (I felt a twinge of guilt about the decidedly non-vegan north carolina bbq I'd eaten with gusto the night before. But boy oh boy, was it good!)
I wandered in awe with my bucket as I took in the abundance of nature's generosity. The berries were bursting from the bushes, full and juicy from last week's torrents. I could hear the "thump" of apples falling from the trees, ripe and full. The center will be pressing cider soon in an attempt to use up some of the bumper crop. We buzzed from bush to bush like bees, gathering some, nibbling some, our fingers sweet and faintly blue.
And yet in the midst of all this abundance, I felt some sadness too. How is it possible that there are people right here in Buncombe County, not to mention Africa, South America and Asia who go to sleep and even die hungry? Nature's way is the way of abundance, not for the sake of productivity, (can you imagine the berry bush anxiously awaiting it's performance review?) but for the sheer joy of it. How can we as humans be have a grace to receive that goodness? And have the courage and creativity to be a channel for it. There is, as economist Jeffrey Sachs and others assert, no tangible reason that poverty needs to exist. http://www.earth.columbia.edu/pages/endofpoverty/index
Could it be true? Is there really enough--more than enough--to share? Looking at berries spilling over my countertop, I want to say, to know, the answer is YES!
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