Book Excerpt #1
Sharon January 28th, 2007
My co-author, Aaron Newton and I have decided to post occasional excerpts from the book drafts as they stand. You can see his over at his blog www.powering-down.blogspot.com. Here’s the first of mine. Remember, these are early drafts, so be gentle in your comments 
.
This one is from my section that argues everyone should be a farmer because the food is better. As you’ll see, that ain’t all that’s better:
“The food is sensuous, luxurious, beautiful, lush. It will make you happy, feed every sense as well as your hunger. Growing it and picking it with your family will give you a sense of warmth, security, happiness and joy. It will improve your health, improve your diet, improve your sex life.
Wait a minute. Did she just say “sex life?” Yup. Food is sensuous. We all know that. Ever read _Like Water for Chocolate_ or see the movie _Tampopo_? Ever feed each other strawberries or enjoy the taste of coffee on a lover’s lips? Well growing food is the ultimate sensual experience. The range of tastes and textures, the pleasure of the sun on your shoulders, or the warm rain on your back, the smells of herbs, flowers and warm earth, the rich colors and silky textures… Whether you fall down and take one another in the garden or wait until bedtime, the taste of ratatouille or blueberry pie still on your tongues, gardening together improves your sex life. It awakens your awareness of one another, warms up your muscles and gets your juices flowing. You are talking to a woman with four kids here. Trust me.
It is also an excellent family activity, if, by some chance, you should be so swept away that you lie down among the eggplants and forget your diaphragm. If, in the pleasure of generation you decide to do some generatin’ yourself, rest assured that gardening is one of the best things you can do for your family. It gets you all outside. When children help grow food, they are more likely to eat it. They can play in the garden and learn to help at an early age, pulling weeds and planting seeds. Children are naturally attracted to the garden, and it nurtures them, helps them develop a sense of place and an appreciation for their environment. It is good for their bodies and good for their souls to be out in the garden, especially with Mommy and Daddy, working and playing together, watching the sky and the butterflies and nibbling at the strawberries. This is what childhood should be.”
Cheers!
Sharon