I’ve been thinking a lot about Farms and farmers these past few months . Not because I saw a documentary, which seems to spur on most contemplative American moments these days. But because I am thinking about people, Land, place, food, population , hunger, the need for healthy food, and plants that are genetically modified . From these I come to consider farms, where is our food grown, and by whom. I think about farmers. I think about food, how intimate food is just by the fact that we take it into our bodies, that the food we eat results in our physicality, our state of mind, our overall energy , our potential for creativity and expression.
What I am troubled by is that instead of recognizing the intimate connection we have with food, we consume it with the same disconnected attitude we have for most things we come in contact with. We disregard food, it’s origin, it’s value , it’s necessity and it’s ability to connect us to the world around us; mind, body, and spirit. When we disregard the origination of our food , where it comes from and who has grown it for us, we disregard a primary and critical link between humanity and planet, between people and place. We give away our rights and responsibility to be a participant on Earth.
What makes me hopeful these days is the recent increase in discourse about food and farmers. Who grows what where, why particular foods are grown, and the value of what is grown relative to the place and the community. There is a connection being made between farmers, the food they grow for us , how they grow it ( organically or other) , and how their choices fit – or don’t fit the land it is grown from. There is a beginning of a recognition of how food is grown by these committed farmers, not abstractly as a commodity for an uncommitted population, but instead for a committed people.
This connection between farmers, food and us extends beyond the delectable recipes photographed in Food and Wine or Gourmande magazine that encourage us to become weekend warrior chefs, but to instead join the day to day living that makes us whole, and part of the planet.
Engage in intimacy, enrich your soul and feed your body, meet the farmer who grows your food, thank them for committing their lives to your health, to caring for the planet, and considering what comes next.
between here and there 