Farmageddon and Weston A. Price...

Food Ark article

In the new July issue of National Geographic there is a great article about the need to preserve the biodiversity of our heirloom seed varieties, as well as of the animal world. I am a supporter of heirloom varieties and attempt to use them in my garden whenever I can. I want to get more serious about saving my own seeds, not just from simple to save things like squash and tomatoes, but also from crops like carrots and beets. There is a great book available from Seed Savers Exchange called "Seed To Seed". It's a great resource and how-to for saving all types of seeds.

Seed to Seed

I was also gratified by the fact that one of the heritage breeds chickens listed in the article are Orpingtons, which are what we raise, and what I have always raised.

This article, along with all the news of the movie on sustainable farming, "Farmageddon", has got me thanking God that he has led me along the path that he has concerning the small farm life. I have had people ask me, "Yes, but, eggs are so inexpensive. Wouldn't it be far cheaper to just buy them?" It's really not about money. It's about living a responsible life. It's about being in contact with our own food supply. It's about far greater things than what I can buy an apple for in the store. I want to be part of the solution for the food ills of our modern day society, not part of the problem.

It's interesting to me that small scale women farmers are one of the largest growing business groups in our country. Moms, grammas, wives, singles, taking back the ground that our family food supply has lost in this past century of industrial revolution, and large scale agriculture and animal husbandry. Yes, we could probably buy eggs cheaper, but they would never taste like our eggs taste, never be as healthy and life sustaining, and never provide the deep satisfaction that producing our own food does. Yes, I could even buy a bag of organic carrots for less than the time that it takes to plant, tend, and harvest my homegrown ones, but they would not give the thrill of pulling a sweet fresh carrot out of the ground and feeding it to my family knowing I'm giving them the best product I possibly can.

I have not seen "Farmageddon" yet, just the trailer. I was very happy to see Sally Fallon (my hero) of the Weston A. Price Foundation on it. (For those not familiar with traditional eating you should check it out.) I came through my teen years in the "hippie" generation. As a young mom I really got into the concepts of healthy eating, studying constantly and attempting to feed my family the healthiest food I could. I baked all our own whole wheat breads, soaked and cooked all our beans from dried, consumed (mostly) all fresh vegetables even though they cost more to buy. My theory was that kids don't like vegetables because they are prepared in terribly boring ways. I always treated a plate of freshly steamed broccoli with fresh butter drizzled over it like it was ice cream...a treat...not somethings to be eschewed as yucky. And, wah-la, they liked veggies. Of course there were the failures, like the dish they labeled for all time, "Vulgar Bulgar"! But for the most part they embraced healthy food because that's what they were given.

When I ended up on my own, and the kids were exposed to a world out there that does its best to sell kids junk, I got away from things somewhat, but I am glad I have never lived completely separated from a traditional way of eating. I have always eaten butter, olive oil, mostly passed on other oils, soaked my own beans and grains, eaten traditional meats, raw milk products, and a degree of fermented foods. Now, since picking up Sally Fallon's book, Nourishing Traditions, I am working towards that way of eating more and more. I have several personal health goals in mind that are very important to me to achieve. I won't speak of them now, but will in the future.

Nourishing Traditions

The Food Ark article also had this great graphic! It compared the varieties of food strains from today and 80 years ago. Amazing! It is shocking how much we've lost. We hear the world grind on about the loss of animal species all the time, and I'm not saying that's wrong. I'm just saying I wish we would hear more about the same losses in the flora of the world as well as the fauna. The article makes a very good point in the Catch 22 that food production can represent at times. Scientists try to create disease resistant strains for instance, but in the process we too often lose the plant diversity that existed, and that our future may depend on. A great example is the potato famine of Ireland in the 19th century. 

I guess my point to this post is this: my daughter-in-law, Abbie, has just started a new food blog and she is dedicated to putting out the word for real food, cooked properly, grown sustainably, bought locally, and all those other aspects of our food supply that we too often take for granted. If I could speak from a place of experience to young moms out there? Learn to cook again. Cook from scratch. Cook real food. Grow it yourself, or buy it locally. Take food seriously again. Not just the eating of it, but what it is providing to the body. Don't buy into what the FDA, big business, and drug conglomerates throw out to you as what is health to your bodies when it is truthfully more about what is lining their pockets that counts to them. Some of it is invariably good, but much is bad. Read! Learn! Find out for yourselves. Be proactive with the food you are feeding your families. And don't be afraid to admit when you yourself have been bamboozled. I was bamboozled at one time about the use of processed vegetable oils. I bought hook, line and sinker that canola oil was a healthy oil, and that coconut oil was an unhealthy saturated fat. (Thankfully not for long, but...) 

Anyway...now I'm really hungry! Gonna go check out the pot of lentil soup bubbling on the stove. It smells wonderful! All from scratch...of course!