Another Greeting Card?

I peeked out our living room window to watch a soft mid-February snowfall. Imagine my delight when I was greeted by a snow-covered lawn completely blackened with a huge flock of robins! It was pretty clear that those red-breasted beauties were picnicking before the snow became too deep and the wind got too boistrous for lawn activities!

It made me grin and think again that I had received one of God's famous greeting cards. And just in time for Valentine's Day! Lucky me.

Those little robins were simply living authentically. The only way they will survive is to follow their instincts and eat live, whole food. What happened to humans that we began to box up food, pretend it was edible, advertise its "virtues" and sell it to other human beings?

Oh. Now I remember. It had to do with PROGRESS. Yes, and greed.

Yesterday I was treated to the stories shared by a folklorist, Kay Young. She has interviewed very elderly Nebraska people who fondly recalled the many times from their early childhoods when their families hunted, gathered, and ate the foods that grew naturally on the native prairie. Is that what contributed to their longevity? It couldn't have hindered it.

Incidentally, Kay Young's book, "Wild Seasons - Gathering and Cooking Wild Plants of the Great Plains" is available from the University of Nebraska Press in Lincoln and London. It is a great read with marvelous illustrations done by Mark E. Marcuson. I'd have to say that it is a must-have for anyone serious about vibrant good health.

Kay Young is much wiser and much more knowledgeable than I am about a great many things. She is all about goodness and love and nature and she related a comical episode she and her neighbor experienced. They have been absolutely PLAGUGED by squirrels. In fact, squirrels chewed through the belts of her car as it sat in the garage! This kept our friend from arriving at our home the week prior! She and her neighbor trapped a collection of squirrels and took them to a nearby cemetery for a new life and fresh start. Alas, Kay declared those silly squirrels beat the women home!

So, the robins have their autheticity nailed; the squirrels are eating raw, with the exception of those belts, and we are eating stuff we saw advertised on television. Does this give credence to the idea that raw foods are for the birds and those who eat raw foods are squirrelly? I dearly hope not.

Here's hoping you will enjoy Kay Young's book as much as we have at our house. We also hope you will check out some tasty ideas from Kristen Suzanne as well as Leanne Ely .

Connie Baum