The Excitement of Color

I am not sure that there is anything that gets me more excited than seeing the vibrancy of the color of pastured egg yolks.  If you have never bought eggs directly from a farmer who pastures their chickens, you have no idea what you are missing out on.  The eggs bought at the supermarket are so deficient of egg yolk color, and even a bit watery compared to pastured eggs from a small farm.  Beyond the color of egg yolks, the next best thing is   going to a farmers market, and being overwhelmed by the amount of colorful food.  Everytime I go to farmers market in a larger city, such as Minneapolis, I am amazed at the variety of vegetables that can be grown in the area.  Today I saw Apples, Kohlrabi, a bazzilion varieties of tomatoes, grapes, plums, radishes, lettuce, beets, carrots, Okra, Eggplant, Zucchini, onions, spinach, squash, pumpkin, green-beans, cucumbers, leaks, in addition to things such as honey, beef, pork, bread, milk, and eggs.  All of these things beautifully displayed, with no advertising other than the beautiful vibrancy of their colors, and the smiles of those who oversaw their growth.  The amazing thing to me is that my home state of Minnesota is able to grow such a wide variety of things.  I am told that I can expect that the farmers market last into the first week of November.  All of this variety that I see at the farmers market leads me to wonder why the farm policies of 70's has led us to a time in history when, at-least here in Minnesota we farm soy beans, and corn from fence row to fence row, with essentially no bio-diversity in our conventional agricultural systems?  Thank goodness, this madness is coming to an end, and we are once again taking part in our food production by either growing a portion ourselves, or connecting with farmers in our community.  In the process, we discover once again that it not only is better for our community, environment, our bodies, and even tastes remarkably good...  Now, please excuse me while I pull my fresh bread out of the oven, and pour myself a bowl of my colorful vegetable lentil soup.

Farmers Market

I often talk to people who think that the whole idea of natural and organic food is only for those people who can afford such luxuries as these.  I understand where this notion comes from, but I think that it is vastly misinformed.  It comes from a shopping experience in a conventional grocery store where there are highly processed foods that have the label organic on them, and happen to be twice the price of its conventional counterpart.  If this was the only future that organic had, I would certainly abandon the idea of organic, or naturally grown foods altogether, but thankfully it is not.  There is a whole new movement underway that goes far beyond organic grocery store products that simply mimic their counterparts, or are shipped from places far away to us, the naive consumer.  This is the local food movement, and as the name suggests, you are highly likely to find some in your local area.  This food, if not highly processed, is generally the same price, and maybe even cheaper that the conventional counterpart.  Why? you might ask...  Well, this local food is generally grown with far less chemicals, all of which add cost to food production.  It is generally moved a far shorter distance than its counterpart as well.  The average plate of food has traveled an average of 2000 miles before it reaches the the plate here in America.  In contrast, local food generally travels less than 100 miles from farm to plate.  All of these things lend themselves to a lower cost of food production, not only in terms of monetary value, but also in terms of environmental impact.  So, before you make the claim that Organic and natural food is only for the elite, check out your local farmers market first, because most of it is probably 90% organic, and by the way, it tastes a hell of a lot better than the stuff shipped a bazzilion miles across the ocean that is found in the grocery store.

    

A New Season

Just as the earth changes seasons, so I am now entering a new season of my life.  Fall is well on it's way, and I am certainly ready to start my senior year here at North Central University.  Among the most exciting things that has already occurred this fall is the internship at Restoring Eden, that I am about to take on come the 13th of this month.  As those of you who are familiar with me know, I have always had a passion for food (good food), faith, nature, ecology, and local communities.  Not necessarily in this order, but...  You get the point.  These issues have gained increasing importance over the last few years of my life, as I have had the opportunity to dive into the recesses of my faith tradition for thoughts and theological reflections on the nature of how we eat, the communities that we live in, the ecology and environments that surround us, and it's vast connection to faith.  It is because of this reason that I am starting this new blog series.  It is here that I will be posting my thoughts and reflections as well as any papers that I write on this topic while I am doing my internship at Restoring Eden.