42 pages 1 hour read

Barbara Kingsolver

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2007

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapters 13-16

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 13 Summary: “Life in a Red State: August”

This chapter takes its title from the huge tomato harvest the family gets in August, which is the month that “always brings on a surplus of nearly every vegetable we grow, along with the soft summer fruits” (199). To make the most of this bounty, Kingsolver cans or dries the tomatoes and many other vegetables. She is careful to point out that one must can items carefully and with special attention to acid levels.

 

She uses the description of her family’s huge harvest to describe several interesting issues that local farmers have faced. The first concerns the brand “Appalachian Harvest,” which packages food from participating farmers who grow organically (202). The company sells to supermarkets which “only accept properly packaged, coded, and labeled produce that conforms to certain standards of color, size, and shape” (205). As a result, it doesn’t accept lots of “perfectly edible but small or oddly shaped vegetables” (205). The company donates this food to low-income families instead.

 

During the same summer, many organic tomato farmers found that supermarkets were not buying their produce. Instead, organic tomatoes “from California had begun coming in just a few dollars cheaper” (211). They, too, gave away their excess to those in need, but suffered losses.

Related Titles

By Barbara Kingsolver

Plot Summary

logo

Animal Dreams

Barbara Kingsolver

Animal Dreams

Barbara Kingsolver

Study Guide

logo

Demon Copperhead

Barbara Kingsolver

Demon Copperhead

Barbara Kingsolver

Study Guide

logo

Flight Behavior

Barbara Kingsolver

Flight Behavior

Barbara Kingsolver

Study Guide

logo

High Tide in Tucson

Barbara Kingsolver

High Tide in Tucson

Barbara Kingsolver

Plot Summary

logo

Pigs In Heaven

Barbara Kingsolver

Pigs In Heaven

Barbara Kingsolver

Study Guide

logo

Prodigal Summer

Barbara Kingsolver

Prodigal Summer

Barbara Kingsolver

Study Guide

logo

The Bean Trees

Barbara Kingsolver

The Bean Trees

Barbara Kingsolver

Study Guide

logo

The Lacuna

Barbara Kingsolver

The Lacuna

Barbara Kingsolver

Study Guide

logo

Unsheltered

Barbara Kingsolver

Unsheltered

Barbara Kingsolver