On memes

The first salad of February

Friday was our third snow day in eight days. Crazy.

It was also Tag El for a Meme Day, it would appear. Pattie hit me for the 7 Random Things meme; seeing as I have done this one twice before and really don’t think you all are interested in Things 15-21 That You Don’t Know About Me, so I will simply rehash my other two. (Yes, it’s cheating. Oh well.) Danielle, though, hit me with one I hadn’t even seen before, much less fallen victim to. This one is an Archive meme wherein you cite some of your own favorite posts in five categories. This one has legs, I thought; maybe I will try this…if only because I am sure many of you haven’t the patience to backread 500-odd posts. I’ve put the rules of this one at the bottom.

Confession. When I think “meme,” I don’t think “Meem,” I think “memememeMEEE” because, frankly, that’s what they’re mostly about. Snore-boring, in other words. But I take my hat off to Pattie and Danielle. These are two selfless individuals who regularly blog and work for greater change, greater awareness of food and the making of food. Pattie works to make everyone consider themselves part of a foodshed: we’re all connected, she says. She is also gung-ho to get people gardening and has begun a Victory Garden quest for us. Danielle’s love of food and family have led her to do what we did: uproot and move to the country for a better life. She’s a lot more selfless about it in that she runs her own CSA. (Me? I won’t part with my veggies unless I really LIKE you.)

So here’s my take on these memes (remember, ME figures highly, sigh).

Family: One’s family should be the raison d’être of anything they do. I don’t blather on about my family much here. I’m a fairly private person. But moving to the farm was done to put magic into our daily existence, and this post exemplifies it.

Friends: I don’t mention real, actual, flesh-and-blood friends much here, but my friend Tim has consistently tried to keep me honest. He really thinks this nation’s issues with food are positively psychotic, and I readily agree.

About Me: There is one post that defines me and my beliefs absolutely, and it is this one. I garden for the food. It might be the only socially acceptable form of gluttony. But I still scratch my head often about how little our society values what it eats, and I was really on a tear about it a year ago(1, 2, 3, 4, 5). I still wonder, but I think I have moved more into the Let Them Eat Twinkies camp; maybe I have simply lost hope that America’s redemption will be found in a Brandywine tomato or a hybrid car or a compact fluorescent lightbulb.

Something I Love: No surprise, folks: it’s compost. It’s more about the compost, though: it’s about the circle of life here, about befriending things you don’t see. It’s as close to faith as I get.

Wildcard: It’s here I will answer Pattie’s call to the 7 Random Things. I answered Monica’s call to a 6 Weird Things, and then Tracy tagged me for a gardening-related meme in the 7 Random Things.

(Archive Meme Instructions: Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you’ve written. … but there is a catch: Link 1 must be about family. Link 2 must be about friends. Link 3 must be about yourself, who you are… what you’re all about. Link 4 must be about something you love. Link 5 can be anything you choose.) I am thinking heavily if I want to force people to do this meme. It is useful, though; I might just tag Pattie back with it!