food matters

Food. It’s always on my mind. When’s my next meal? What will I cook? Where will I dine? Thoughts about how wonderful something tastes or how strange it looks or how much work went into it, but lately I have been really consumed with some greater questions revolving around food. The collective mindset of humans is shifting in regards to food. As consumers we are beginning to question where our food comes from, who makes it, what it is, what is really in here? Who is really benefiting most from me eating this? And how does all that affect health and society in general? 

 It is about time we take it upon ourselves to pose these questions, and I think it is a sign of progress and growth that our nation desperately needs. These “food” issues and the much larger issues that stem out from there are on my mind all the time. I feel passionate about trying to explain it to others and continue to educate myself. I try to make my decisions and begin my ideas keeping in mind the forward movement that must happen in this area of life. This wonderful area of eating!

I believe so greatly that what we eat matters. Where it comes from, what it is treated with, how it is produced and distributed, who is making major decisions, and how we, as people can maintain control over it. We are what we eat, literally! That which goes in us fuels us and in turn, shapes our minds and bodies, and often action and behavior.  The food we eat is a simple and easy way to make a clear cut stance on social and political issues, and hey in the mean time get and stay healthy and enjoy some super tasty eats!

It is so clear to me! It makes perfect sense and it will be fun and most of all it will taste good. Food that is fresh is just plain and simple better than food that has been frozen, reheated, left out, transported etc. not to mention the amount of oil and industry it takes to transport food across the country, or import and export so that it’s always in season. (Or for reasons unrelated to staying fed, like industry for industry sake. Each year in the US we export 1.1 million tons of potatoes, yet we import 1.4 million tons, why not keep them at home?) Who needs Strawberries in January? I can do without, for they taste much better when they are fresh and local and free of chemicals!

Steven Hopp clearly states in the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle:

“If every US citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That ‘s not gallons, but barrels. Small changes in buying habits can make big differences. Becoming a less energy-dependent nation may just need to start with having a good breakfast.”

Fresh from the garden is far better, considering the work that goes into it will up the satisfaction factor, as well. Goethe wrote in The Sorrows of Young Werther:

“How good I feel that my heart can experience the simple, innocent bliss of a man who sets on his table a head of cabbage he has grown himself, and who now enjoys not the cabbage alone, but at one and the same time, enjoys once again all those good days, the morning on which he planted it, the lovely evenings when he watered it and when he took joy in its developing growth.”

There is a reality that the conversation about food has shifted dramatically in the past decade, and even more so in the past few years, and this is great. If this current conversation gives rise to an overall greater knowledge about food, and these complex questions around it, then it will have done some good. But I have a hope that it will do more. I hope that it will empower people and narrow the gap of inequality that exists around this necessary (and wonderful) fact of life: food.

I have chosen to take up my own form of education surrounding food matters and urban farming in general, and have recently completed a course in Permaculture Design. Each piece of information that I add to my mental library enriches my view of the grand scheme of things, in turn enriching life. I am taking the time now to sift through the myths and realities of the politics of farming and food and find what is best for me, for my body and mind. 

This eighteen minute video is not only very funny and entertaining, but it is clearly and concisely explains a lot of things I am interested in learning more about and continually implementing in my life, as well as sharing with others in hopes that they will do the same! If you have time please watch this funny guy explain some simple truths about gaining power through gardening.

I have also chosen to add a few selected readings and resourses for anyone who wants to know more (or feel free to contact me with questions):

Grist article on consumers losing faith in big business: here

Interested in keeping money in your community? Read this

To find farmers’ markets and farm share programs go here

Environmental Working Group website, so helpful and informative: here

Industrial Tomatoes - this is an eye opening article about tomatoes. years ago I made a personal decision to pretty much avoid tomatoes when they are not in season. They taste so good when they are fresh and ripe! I will wait all winter for those yummy summer gems. This article not only solidifies that decision in a nutritional sense, but also in a serious social sense. 

The Ethicurean - a resource for finding news and funny stories and ideas for cooking and keeping the food in your life healthy and fair. 

Improving School Food - and article by the Environmental Working Group that clearly states the cost and benefit of implementing healthy and natural school lunches for public school kids in order to combat health issues and boost mental growth. I loved this article, I urge you to read it! 

Michael Pollan's daily link - selected articles from news or other sources that caught the eye of food activist and writer Michael Pollan. Usually good stuff here. 

Do you trust Monsanto? - this is one woman's eloquent analysis of the giant corporation Monsanto, the makers of agent orange and DDT, who have a heavy hand in policy making for food.

Civil Eats - another all around information and ideas website for all things green and food related.

on dreams

originally posted on my other blog.

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“Your visions will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside dreams. Who looks inside, wakens.” ~Carl Jung

Last night I dreamt about some old friends from my early teenage years. We were in a far away land and just happened to run into each other. I was either investigating or running from a high-stakes art theft, where an expensive piece of fine art had been stolen, then illegally sold and stolen again. The misadventures led me to a dark, isolated, boarded-up basement full of the most expensive, famous art, jewelry, clothing, etc. I tried on this silver ring with an enormous green stone; it was heavy and gave me new power. Back at the house where the the painting had been lifted there was a very large swimming pool, I swam there for a long time, the water was deep and dark blue and quite cool, the water was also somewhat unruly-not following the law of gravity that we are so accustomed to. I don’t believe it frightened me, though. There was a carnival with old-school rides and dirty bathrooms, and the entire Japanese military standing around one enemy female soldier painting another woman wearing an ancient missing dress. 

Oh my dreams… this special private world I get to live in such great detail. I dream like this every night, and I usually remember my dreams with such precision it surprises even me. I remember my dreams for weeks, months, even years, and find myself recalling them at random moments throughout my day.

 What to make of it? Maybe I shouldn’t try to make anything at all from it- instead just enjoy it if I can, and keep on trying to remember. I think my dreams do more than just inform me of my subconscious; they also deal with day-to-day realities and otherworldly happenings. I often fly and swim and drive extremely top heavy vehicles up impossible hills. I go through wormholes through space and time to new universes and in new bodies. I have spiritual powers sometimes, and all rules of science and nature are optional. It is a fantasy world of my own making, real and frightening and glittering with excitement and truth. Sometimes there is horror, sometimes ecstasy, sometimes wonder, confusion, or just contentment. All in a nights sleep! 

It’s little realities such as this- dreaming- that make life so wonderful and make me feel so alive. Each moment, each experience and relationship between me and en object, a person, and idea, is unique and an opportunity to soak up more knowledge and meaning in this somewhat mysterious and strange existence. Sometimes it makes sense- why we are alive and aware of that- and other times it makes no sense at all and I think of my dreams, whacky and unpredictable, yet full of meaning in some way.

“Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living.” ~Anais Nin

“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.” ~Edgar Allen Poe

"Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.” ~Edgar Allan Poe

life as art

 We are an artist. We have been given certain tools to use and it is time now to create a masterpiece. We have this opportunity to work hard with what we have and eagerly seek new tools and methods for creative expression. Now is the most important time to realize that, while inspiration is key to a masterpiece, it is also the artist himself who creates his own art.

Think now of your life as art. Each choice a brush stroke, each habit a color, each response an accent. How we choose to live and what we focus our time on is what our character is formed from, and essentially who we are.

As John Paul Sartre laid out in his piece on Existentialism and Human Emotions, existence precedes essence. At first a man is without character, and it is up to him to make himself what he wills to be. “Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.” This allows for the possibility of choice, which he was greatly ridiculed for.

Why would autonomy cause people to ridicule and entire field of study? Perhaps people do not want to choose. In choosing lies a responsibility for one’s own character. This puts the liability onto the individual. Sartre also pointed out that those people who were quick to judge his belief that each person is in the making, and not born out of a premeditated essence, would see disgraceful and repugnant acts committed and state: “it’s only human”. If we simply chalk things up to human nature than we will not question grievances or injustice, we will not question our realities or our status, nor struggle against our place in society. We will quietly accept that the masses are lost and need a “strong hand” for guidance.

This simple mindset that Sartre is in opposition to can be powerful when it is in such vast numbers as can be seen today.

Man-in-the-making is not as common as it could be. Many are susceptible to the systems in place, be it some combination of advertising, materialism, blind acceptance, persuasive religions, ignorance, or miseducation, to name a few. This may cause them to fall into this category of being pre-packaged, pre-bought, and then sold back to themselves at the price of their own freedom and power to create themselves.

Offense could be taken at such claims, but it is no lie that reality is harsh. People don’t often take the time to examine things in life and yet they still defend them. People are adamant about the things they like and need, yet do they know why? These elementary questions can reveal answers that will likely change the way one views themselves, and this can be a tough change, yet all a part of taking responsibility for your self. You are your own master, create yourself. It’s not too late.

Life is an art… you are an artist. Beautiful art is appreciated and valued and can change the lives of many people, it can inspire masses, lead to revolutions and transformations.

It is easy to forget that the subject is me. The subject is you. We are the artists, we are the art. Upon organizing these thoughts and addressing these concepts I am aware of how it is not easy in this day and time to be self-made. It takes courage and good people to support you. It takes education and openness, but also a respect of intuition. How proactive are you in being your own creator? Are you proud of the masterpiece you are creating?

Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

a response:

follow up/response to: "A Child Of God In Misery: On the Origins of Spiritual Retardation" by Tony V

After addressing these things that have been a catalyst in the stunting of our creative, visionary ways, it is important to think long and hard about what practical solutions can be implemented to progress our sick society.

Many educated people believe that there are issues with the way we work- things are backwards, so it seems. The value of things is out of order and most folks are too distracted and uneducated of it! There is a system in place that seems to perpetuate itself. Yet through the thick gray cloud that hovers over America and reaches to the edges of the world, there exists a powerful and ever-growing undercurrent of eager minds.

But how can minds alone- no matter how many- create the kind of change that is essential and crucial for the future of humankind? We must interact, we must talk, and read, and write, and paint, and sing, and learn. Education alone will not do, but it is a powerful part of a more powerful whole.

Us humans have such a great potency when we work together and create.

That initial step can be the toughest part. It is unpleasant to examine the constructs of a reality we have lived and trusted for so long, only to conclude it is unfair and unhealthy and even has crossed into the catagory of "dangerous". Those who have not also done such examining will likely view with judgement those examiners as conspiracy theorists, or extremists. Sometimes it may seem easier to just "fit in".

However, after this initial step the world opens up and a community of like-minded individuals comes into view. There is much room for individuality and creative expressions, for camaraderie and love.

Through shared experiences and small, but carefully-thought-through, decisions we can effect our community and effect our future. It only takes a little bit of open honesty and a lot of genuine sentiment to reach others, and in turn they can spread this energy like a wild fire and one day, maybe, we can be free. We can make the world a sweeter place for those we raise and the many generations that follow.

welcome to the fermenting mind

our minds are undergoing great change. our lives are ever changing. we are all a product of our environment, and yet it matters greatly what elements we go into that environment with. so strengthen your minds, dear people, and be open to what comes as life unfolds in this beautiful and unpredictable way...