Discussion group to focus on responsible eating

View larger image Aldine Musser, co-pastor of Stephens City Mennonite Church, holds a jar of her strawberry jam along with a display of other canned goods she grew in her garden. The church is starting a discussion group that will focus on eating local foods. Rich Cooley/Daily View larger image Green beans that Musser canned are shown above. View larger image The book “Simply in Season” will be used as a reference for discussion groups that will meet at Stephens City Mennonite Church starting this month and continuing through August.

By Jessica Wiant - jwiant@nvdaily.com

STEPHENS CITY -- For Aldine Musser, combining food and faith just makes sense.
As co-pastor of Stephens City Mennonite Church, Musser says global issues and the effect our actions have on others are important -- even down to eating habits.

The church, for example, buys fair trade coffee and tea out of concern for how the people who are involved in making them are treated.

She thinks about what food to offer at church potlucks, avoiding dishes full of empty calories.

She also tries to patronize local farm markets and other business she knows do well by their workers, and she gardens and preserves her own food.

Musser, who considers herself a "lifelong learner," is joining with others interested in the local food movement to explore the topic. The meetings -- or conversations -- will begin on March 23 and continue through the summer, and are open to the public. By simply talking about the issues, Musser hopes to find out if others are interested.

"I'm not coming at this as if I'm an expert, because I'm not," she says.

Not really classes or workshops, the discussions will be based on a book titled "Simply in Season," written by two Mennonite women, Musser says.

The book was a Christmas gift from her husband, who is also co-pastor of the church, and it includes stories and recipes and "shows the importance of eating local, seasonal food," according to the description of it at www.worldcommunitycookbook.org.

The book also includes various calls to action that the group will consider.

After receiving the book, Musser shared it with others in the congregation and says she found they were also interested in the issues it covered. The idea to host some discussions came about from there -- paying attention to this aspect of life and having some purpose to how they eat.

The book will serve as the textbook for the discussions.

One example, Musser explains, is "can we make our food stories shorter?"

By that she means getting foods that haven't traveled far and used up fossil fuels to get to the table -- foods that are in season and available nearby.

"It does make sense to move in this direction," she says.

Other key ideas from the book are that eating is a spiritual act and environmental issues are not separate from human concerns.

Another reason the issue matters, Musser explains, is that as members of the congregation get older, many are struggling with weight issues and want to eat more meaningfully -- not by putting a bunch of stuff in their mouths without knowing where it came from or how the people who made it were treated, she says.

"Overall, it's about our health, and the next generation's health," she says. "To have a healthy body you have to respect what you put in it and how you treat it."

It's also about more than just saving money, she says. It's about doing what you can afford, and cost isn't everything.

Conversely, it is important not to be wasteful and to stretch resources as much as possible -- take an imperfect tomato or fruit, cut out the bad part and use it anyway, she says -- and the lifestyle can turn out to be a money saver. And eating healthy can lead to fewer doctor bills, she says.

Musser stresses that while faith has a role, it isn't the main thrust of the discussions, and the conversation would be "much advanced" by having a diverse group in attendance.
Middletown resident Joanne Thompson says it's important for people to know it doesn't take a lot of land to produce your own food.

Thompson's family has less than an acre, but has its own goats for milk, hens for eggs and garden for vegetables.

"It's a way of life," she says.

Her family didn't always live that way, Thompson says. They moved to Middletown from the Fairfax area in the '80s and little by little became more interested in producing their own food.

The classes will allow people who share that interest to get together, and she says she hopes to both learn and inspire other people that they can live that lifestyle even without a lot of land.

For Musser, it's about exploring what can be done to take responsibility for health and live in a way that is sustainable -- ideas that aren't only Mennonite.

For more information on the "Simply in Season" workshops, call 868-0136.

"Simply in Season" workshops

• March 23 -- Food production chain
• April 13 -- Sustainable agriculture
• May 18 -- Treating our bodies with respect
• June 8 -- Time
• July 13 -- Purchasing local seasonal foods
• August 10 -- Meal with locally grown foods

Each class will be held at 7 p.m. at the Stephens City Mennonite Church at 5540 Valley Pike in Stephens City. More information is available by calling 868-0136.