Painting Produce : Jill Berry Blog

Painting Produce

Posted on July 30, 2009 - Filed Under Visual Inspiration

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Yesterday was our day to pick up our produce at Cure Organic Farm in Boulder. We belong to a CSA there, or Community Supported Agriculture. Here is what they say on their website:

CSA’s strive to develop an available local food supply, encourage land stewardship, and build a sense of community. CSA’s began over 30 years ago in Japan when a group of women became concerned about the increasing food imports and the decreasing farm population. As a result they became committed to the local growers in their area and supported these farms directly. This group of women knew where and how their food was being grown and the farmers had a direct market for their goods. This idea came to the United States around 1985 and is being adopted slowly. Now in the U.S. there are over 1500 CSA programs.

Every Wednesday we pick up our stuff, a mix of herbs and veggies and fruit. It is a headfirst dive into summer, driving home with fresh fragrant basil and cherries and beets. YUM!

Last night is was raining and I was alone. Heavenly. I unloaded my bounty on the table and felt instantly moved to paint it.

P7295086 This is my journal. What I like to journal about is right NOW. It helps me to stay appreciative, and current. Here are my pages, not quite finished.

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Produce-2 Barbara Kingsolver wrote a book called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle that made a huge impression on me a couple of years back. Until I read it, I had not thought a lot about the inefficiency of our food. I did however, notice that when I lived in Italy, you could actually smell the produce. The markets were heavy with fragrances of all kinds, it was at times overwhelming. For the first time I realized how what I had eaten most of my life had traveled or been packaged so much so far it lost its smell. When was the last time you walked into Safeway and thought “Ah, the peaches have arrived!” Even in the middle of the produce section, you could close your eyes and have no idea what was around you. Barbara has some other ideas I won’t be sharing, like butchering my own meat. Though I do come from a ranching family, have to draw the line there, right at the hypocrite mark. Ah well, we do our best.

Tonight Steve and I will make pesto, and roasted beets and some exotic thing with squash. We will enjoy the rain and the quiet and fresh cherries. And we will be grateful. Then maybe we will have a food fight.

Comments

One Response to “Painting Produce”

Kim Rae Nugent on August 25th, 2009 10:30 pm

Yummy journaling! I was at the coffee shop the other day and had my journal out. I thought about drawing my blueberry muffin, but I had already ate it. I considered buying another one, of course for drawing purposes…

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