Food

 

Ah yes, the family farm! Just those magic words can fill your head full of images of dad up before dawn to milk the cows, mom and the kids up early to head out to the fields, feed the animals and maybe work on the barn. It is not an easy life but fulfilling, working through the seasons, being available 24/7/365 to deal with any emergency that sooner or later comes up. Yes, here in America, farmers are high up on the hero pole alongside veterans, police, paramedics and firefighters of course. Running for office, just add some serene family farm scenes to attract the "family values" and "hard work pays off" crowd. He / she supports farmers, they gotta be good. Farming also makes for great corporate branding (and greenwashing) as well. Who doesn't like "fresh from the farm" ingredients? Sounds good, right? I've only known one farmer, Don. 

Yes, Don was a hard worker taking care of cows, hogs, chickens and maybe a few crops here and there. He also worked as a truck driver and could build just about anything. Don was one dude you wanted around after the apocalypse to rebuild and even thrive. Oh, and he never raised his voice or lost his cool. So yeah, I think he deserves to be thought of as a uniquely American kind of hero. If other farmers are at all like Don they to deserve the unique status. The problem is cats like Don are getting harder and harder to find as time goes on. They are being replaced by big agribusiness. We hang on to the cool imagery via the marketing yahoos selling this or that candidate, juice brand, chain stores or food brand. For good or bad, family farms are slipping into the mythological past.            

So just where does our food come from? Please let me introduce Big Ag! Family farming is not dead but it is worth noting many families have traded in the over-alls and know-how gained through experience for coats, ties and business degrees. Farming is no longer an art mastered by working within nature to produce quality, safe and tasty food for a given community. It is now a complex system of producing commodities to be sold all over the globe with as little input from Mother Nature as possible thank you very much! What's a little industrial farm waste or some people getting crushed when there is money to be made this quarter? Animals abused? People living as modern day slaves? Towns being depopulated? But all that money... Nature cares not.

When we have cut down all the trees, ruined the soil and poisoned the water; then we will realize the real value of money. Yup, the whole circus grinds to a halt. Even the fun stuff will be gone; no more beach trips, skiing, cookouts or music. We leave behind a mostly dead world waiting to be swallowed by a dying sun. That's just bleak... We can do better! Learn to grow your own food. You can grow a lot indoors even. You can become just a little less dependent on the grocery store. Go to your local farmers market. Support food growers in / near your community. Meet cool people like Don. Pay attention to what's going on in your community and hold the local politicians accountable. Why stop there? Hold the national politicians accountable. Learn more! Do more! Let's fix it!