/Getting Over the Bananas
by camilleMany summers ago my best friend Kate, from Tucson, came out to visit our
farm in Virginia for the first time. She was enamored of our beautiful hills,
liked working in our garden, and happily helped pick blackberries from the
sea of brambles that skirt the surrounding fields. She did her part, carrying
with us the armloads of beans, cucumbers, squash, and tomatoes that came
out of our garden on a daily basis. But one day, on a trip to the grocery
store, we hit a little problem. When my parents asked if there was anything
in particular she would like to eat, she replied, “Let’s get some bananas!”
My parents exchanged a glance and asked her for another suggestion.
“Why not bananas?” she asked, feeling really baffled by their refusal.
My mother is not the type to say no to a guest. She waited until we were in
the car to explain to Kate that it seemed wasteful to buy produce grown
hundreds of miles away when we had so much fresh fruit right now, literally
in our backyard. We’d picked two gallons of blackberries that very morn-
ing. She didn’t want to see them get moldy while we were eating bananas.
“Plus, think of all the gasoline it takes to bring those bananas here,”
Mom pointed out. My friend was quiet while the wheels turned inside her
head. “I never thought about that before,” she admitted.
Kate has grown up to become passionate about farming and eating or-
ganic food. Since the banana incident, she has volunteered on small farms
and developed a sincere interest in agricultural methods that preserve bio-
diversity. She looks back at that conversation in the grocery store as a life-
changing moment. Some things you learn by having to work around the
word “no.”
Of course local eating gets trickier in wintertime. Fresh fruits and vege-
tables are rare or just gone then, for most of us. In the colder months we
have to think roots, not fruits. Potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips,
and celariac cover the full spectrum of color. Winter squash are delicious