Edible Shasta Butte: Issue #55 – Fall/Winter Holidays 2020

In a recent On Being podcast, Sharon Salzburg, author and teacher on meditation and Buddhism, used a metaphor that has stayed with me. She quotes the Buddha’s teaching that our minds are “radiant,” “shining,” and that “it’s because of visiting forces that we suffer,” not because of something inherent to us. She imagines such a force knocking on her door (she names her visiting force Lucy), invites her inside, and gives her a meal. Not “the run of the house”—a meal.

So I find myself imagining my holiday table.

The usual human suspects will not be eating there—but visiting forces will be! Bring a side dish! Bring bread to break! Pies!

Welcome!

This issue of Edible Shasta-Butte combines our typical fall and winter issues into one. Combining is one way we have chosen to invite the Covid suffering in. It means we approach our advertisers once instead of twice, since they have their own visiting forces knocking. It means our costs are halved.

I am heartened that the CSA movement grows locally, as well as nationally. That so many people shop at farmers’ markets hereabouts and cook at home, sometimes offering what they make to others. That local kitchens, whether in restaurants or storefronts or repurposed garages and outbuildings, offer takeout and delivery. That coffee shops have opened and deliver. And that new restaurants and new farms are finding customers, even in this moment.

If you possibly can, support these ventures. Gift certificates from them will both delight recipients and support local businesses. If you can, support this magazine too by subscribing and giving a gift subscription. We knock on your door in these moments. Invite us in.

Candace Byrne, Editor