I just returned from a visit to one of Alabama's most dynamic organic gardens, Snow's Bend. With me was Dorothy Kalins, an editor from Newsweek who is doing a story on "cooking with a conscience" for an upcoming article in Town & Country magazine. David Snow returned to Alabama a few years ago to reclaim some of his family's property (he is the fifth or sixth generation who have farmed this stretch of prime farm land) which occupies a huge bend on the Black Warrior River just west of Tuscaloosa. This is just outside the "black belt" but is classic rich and fertile bottom land that was once the site of a Native American village -- you can still see the mounds and shards of pottery turn up as they till the black soil, soil that has benefited from the millions of years of being enriched by the occasional flood. As we passed over a toll bridge, the directions called for us to turn down a dirt road alongside the county highway where we saw pecan orchards and old cotton fields. We then passed through an open yellow gate and arrived at a huge open field where levees border to the south. We walked onto a little patch of land that had not been previously planted with cotton, soybeans, or corn. This little area close to the river was too difficult to get the big tractors in, so it was ideal to begin farming organically.

This is where we found David Snow with his shaggy red beard and old-fashioned farmer's hat and his beautiful girlfriend, Margaret Ann. The two looked like they were straight out of central casting for the perfect hippie farmer couple. They barely slowed down from the endless work of tending their crops, and beautiful crops they were -- row upon row of emerald green fennel, bright lights Swiss chard in all the colors of the rainbow; golden, red, and candy cane beets bursting out of the earth, all kinds of turnips, Savoy cabbage, huge leaves of collard greens, earthy rutabagas, and salad greens of all varieties. This plot is one of the most prolific farms I have ever seen and I have gained an even greater appreciation for this duo who work from sun up to sun down growing some of the greatest tasting produce one could ever have. All of this in this late autumn, early winter garden, when most of the other farmers retire for the "off-season" and we miss out on all of the cooler weather crops that could be grown locally.

And I guess this is my point -- these two are setting the example for what could be happening in every community throughout America -- our tables could and should be supplied by local farmers for the great nutritional value, the superior taste, and the environmental benefits of supporting sustainable/organic/local agriculture.

So hooray for our farmers--thank you David and Margaret Ann and all of you who love and work the land.  And may all of us try to buy from the local farmer's market and enjoy our seasonal gifts of nature.