Take a moment and think… how many farmers do you actually know?
I’m going to assume that the number is quite low, you might know one or two actual farmers and spending on where you live you might not know any, heck you might have never even seen a farmer or a farm before. Before all of us were able to go anywhere and get the same white eggs, milk and bread we find in all supermarkets, before there were massive industrial farms to put the same looking tomato or avocado in your local produce isle everyday, you might have had to go visit a local farmer and trade or a co-op where you bought goods produced by the local farmers and artisans in your community.
In the United States, as of 2008, less than 2 percent of the population was farming or “directly employed in agriculture”. This could mean even less were actually farmers, meaning people tending to their own land and producing their own products from seed to harvest. With the abundance of readily available and inexpensive food products in all supermarkets across America, there has become less of a demand for humans to grow an produce their own food, or for that matter even know where the hell its coming from. 9 times out of 10 the food we find in a supermarket is grown on a gigantic industrial farm with little health and safety regulations, sprayed or injected with pesticides and/or hormones, shipped across thousands of miles and sometimes oceans all for your convenience at your local supermarket. Quite an oxymoron is you ask me. There seems to be hardly anything convenient about shipping produce from the Gulf of Mexico to a supermarket in Hudson Valley of New York, one of the most agriculturally rich regions in the Northeast.
If only there were a way to buy and consume food that was ten times as convenient, and a hell of a lot more natural for our bodies to consume. Before humans had the technological advances to store and preserve food products with chemicals and transport them around the globe, we simply grew it ourselves and if we did not grow it, we found it! Yes, we were provided with he luxury of having anything we wanted whenever we wanted it. You may be thinking, ‘how boring, growing and eating the same thing every day all year round’. However it is quite the opposite, the earth provides us with four seasons that have different climates depending on the region of the world you live in, these climates provide different growing seasons. Growing seasons are essentially responsible for what foods are able to survive in specific climates and weather. This is why we get watermelons in the summer and pumpkins in the fall (at least in the northeastern United States). My point being, that growing food is not mundane and it will definitely prove to be anything but boring and provide you with a richer and much wider palette that you might not even purchase from your local supermarket.
Not only does growing your own food allow you to live sustainably, but it is extremely rewarding to plant, harvest and eat things that were created by the earth and your own two hands. It also should encourage you to travel more to see what other farmers are growing in different regions of the world and to try new food and meet new kinds of people. If you only go to one place to get everything you ever needed, how will you ever experience all of the awesome people, places and food that the world has to offer.
Participating in growing, purchasing and eating local food products that you know the origin of, not only supports your local economy but also your health.
Flora Farmer 