being a good steward and staying to the outside isles

I just finished watching this video of Bill Moyer interviewing poet/author/farmer, Wendell Berry back in October 2013, https://player.vimeo.com/video/76120469. It was so good! I love his take on how we should treat the land; that we have been given the task of being stewards by our Creator. He feels we need to take action because America has turned its back on the land and rejected Jeffersonian principles of respect for the environment and sustainable agriculture. Berry warns, "People who own the world outright for profit will have to be stopped; by influence, by power, by us." He goes on to say in the interview that he doesn't mean this in a violent way, but that people need to be educated and learn to "do the right thing" instead of just looking at profit. I read his book, "The Unsettling of America, Culture and Agriculture", it was quite eye-opening and revealing. He wrote this book over 35 years ago, which meant he could see it coming a long time ago! 

I have always been drawn to the land and animals, but didn't quite know how to satisfy this desire. Today it seems difficult to live close to the land and provide for yourself from it. In the early 1800's approximately 90% of the population farmed, today less then 3% farm. So it seems that our choice is to be satisfied with the industrialized food product or learn some farming skills on our own and use the land we have.  It may not be a lot of acreage; it may just be a city lot or even an apartment balcony, but if we can learn a little bit about where our food comes from and grow some on our own I believe we will all benefit.

I'll be the first to admit that this is not easy. I am struggling to learn things that were common knowledge just a generation ago. The learning curve can be quite long and inconvenient. Our culture is such that we have been accustomed to having everything now and in every season. And when we buy something it should have a long shelf life! Because of this attitude, not only is the land suffering, but we are too. I also recently watched a documentary, "In Defense of Food" with Michael Pollan. He talks about how we should eat; food, not too much, mostly plants. Because we eat so much processed food, we are not getting the nutrition that our bodies need. We are eating so much fat and sugar that we are now seeing a lot of heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Two things that Mr. Pollan suggests is to look for the "quiet food" and stay out of the inside isles of the grocery store. Quiet foods are the things that don't claim or advertise how healthy they are (fruits and veggies) and the inside isles have all the packaged, process food. I think this will also save us a lot of money!

So anyway, I am going to make the effort to plant some veggies, raise some chickens and stay to the outside isles of the grocery store. How about you? What things are you doing to steward your land and stay healthy?

Blessings,

Mamawizzy