New Old Things

What if you can’t find an apple?

July 20th, 2008

Badlands: beautiful, but not tasty

I’ve been following the posts on Our PDX Network, many of which are about local eating, bicycling, public transport, and other gifts of living in a city nestled in a fertile valley. Abundance.

I’ve driven nearly 2000 miles from Portland. We’ve gone to the geographic center of the United States in Belle Fourche and are now heading home. We’ve seen crops of potatoes, corn, wheat, and cows, but no green vegetables or fruit orchards. Groceries with produce sections seem to be spaced 200 miles apart, and their aisles are filled with Washington cherries, California tomatoes, and bagged spinach imported from who knows how many miles away.

Our bug-splattered Prius is usually the only one on the road, giving me a chance to share its virtues with many curious folk at rest stops. This should be more shocking given how far one must go for carrots, but it isn’t. The weather is dramatic here and the need to haul stuff long distances apparent. This is not bike-commuting country.

This landscape, while beautiful, is also harsh and a little bit scary. The possibility of an early death is clearer out here. “Caution! Bison gore visitors!”, harsh elements, and more cemeteries than produce aisles. The culture is rooted in religion and legends, celebrating heroes long gone, and kind of makes you want to wrap yourself in several tons of 4wheel drive security.

These places challenge me. I’m trying to teach my kids about sustainable living, local eating, and finding that balance between work and play that allows us to live responsibly, healthfully and joyfully. It’s one thing to bend the rules while on vacation, but what if they someday moved out here? How could they apply Portland ideals in this prairie environment? How could I?

The easiest answer is not to try - to make sure we always live somewhere abundant. That answer is uncomfortably narrow for me, though. I believe that successful ideals will be those that you can carry with you to new places and see reflected or at least possible in those you meet.

When as a child I moved from the logging towns into the city, formal organized religion quickly diminished then disappeared from my life. We went from 3-times-a-week thumpers to nothing in the course of under 3 years, because our strict denominational interpretation of salvation just didn’t hold up when I became friends with Muslims and Bahai and even some much-feared Catholics. I fear the same is true for the Portland lifestyle. Much of what I feel to be an expression of who I am, what I personally value, and how the world ought to move is really an expression of the Willamette Valley and our wonderful community of like-minded souls.

I think I will need to take the boys out of the valley again and often so we all can more keenly appreciate what a blessing it is to live where we do. And no, I’m not homesick enough to cut the trip short! Although getting out of Havre today will be very, very nice.

Entry Filed under: Adventure