The author Wallace Stegner lived in Grass Valley, Calif., the town where our case study co-op BriarPatch Natural Foods Community Market is located.
His best-known novel, The Angle of Repose, is named for a mining term (Grass Valley was a gold mining town) that describes the ideal angle at which waste will fall from a hill—not causing an avalanche, nor taking up wasted space. The book is about balancing acts, particularly in relationships. The terrain is equally a character, one whose soils are particularly described by Stegner.
Certainly Stegner wasn’t thinking about building a sustainable local food system when he wrote his novel, but in a way, the book sends a powerful message about equilibrium, communication and mutuality. The fact that the land is so integral to the story mirrors the interests and concerns of food cooperators, farmers, and consumers who care deeply about supporting each other through agricultural abundance.
One of the people in the natural foods industry who has demonstrated that level of commitment and expertise to food and the land in his career is produce consultant Mark Mulcahy. We are pleased and thrilled to welcome Mark to the CDS Consulting Co-op team.
