The Great Disconnect

In the past year since my father and I started this garden I became aware of how much work it actually takes to produce food. Before that, I had no idea! I just went to the grocery store and picked out whatever the hell I wanted anytime of the year and that was that.

It takes A LOT of work to produce enough food to live off of. And you have to have the right tools.

We are very fortunate (or unfortunate depending how you look at it) that we can drive to the grocery store and pick out over 50,000 items to feed our faces. In my life and my parents' lives we have not wanted for food. But I believe we are the exception not the rule.

I think that if Americans were more in touch with where our food comes from and how hard it is to physically grow your own food and knew what it was like to kill an cow and cut it up that we would be eating much much differently.

I'm not sure how it happened to be this way but there is absolutely no connection between the animal that was living and the perfectly packaged pieces of meat in the meat department. There is no connection between the farm and the produce we eat- especially considering most of our produce is now imported so we have a fresh array all year long. (I'm not complaining considering I live mostly off of these plants that we are importing.)

bet you never thought you would be staring into a bumble bee's ass
sticking out of a squash flower

Over the past 2 years of going on this "becoming healthier so I don't get cancer" journey I have done some things that I never thought I would do- stop eating meat, stop eating cheese, stop eating cooked food, live on juice only, meet the animals that would be my meat, grow my own food.

I have gone to extremes, and I usually bounce back to somewhere a little healthier than I started, but one thing is for sure... I appreciate real food and what it can do to my body and soul. I have heard people who are in the holistic health/food industry speak about how when you change the food you eat, your whole life will change. I didn't believe them at the time, but looking back over the last 2 years to before I started this, my life is completely different.

I am more aware of what food does to my body. I am aware of how food affects my mind and my mood. I am more aware of stress and how to avoid letting it get the best of me. I am happier. I am working on surrounding myself with people who will support me and lift me up and getting rid of the Negative Nancy's.

Is it a coinkydink? I don't know, but I'm sure as S-H-I-T happy that this is happening to me. (bet you thought I was going to get through this whole post without using the S word)

So a summer project for you all! Go to a farm and talk to a farmer about whatever it is that they grow- corn, cows, chickens, whatever! Ask them about how they care for their crops and animals, and what their beliefs are about what they are doing. Start to get to know where your food comes from and I promise you Oreos and frozen chicken tenders won't look as appetizing once you realize they come from a factory and are made of chemicals and animal "parts".