My Favorite Things
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No, this is not one of the Oprah-esque lists where I tell you about A Few
Things I Love, which turn out to be $400 slippers and a box of 22k gold
toothpick...
5 years ago
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adventures in small-scale sustainable farming
why farm? why food?
Wendell Berry, from "The Pleasure of Eating":
I begin with the proposition that eating is an agricultural act.
Eating ends the annual drama of the food economy that begins with planting and birth. Most eaters, however, are no longer aware that this is true. They think of food as an agricultural product, perhaps, but they do not think of themselves as participants in agriculture. They think of themselves as "consumers."
...How does one escape this trap? Only voluntarily, the same way that one went in: by restoring one's consciousness of what is involved in eating; by reclaiming responsibility for one's own part in the food economy.
...Eating with the fullest pleasure -- pleasure, that is, that does not depend on ignorance-- is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world. In this pleasure we experience and celebrate our dependence and our gratitude, for we are living from mystery, from creatures we did not make and powers we cannot comprehend. When I think of the meaning of food, I always remember these lines by the poet William Carlos Williams, which seem to me merely honest:
I begin with the proposition that eating is an agricultural act.
Eating ends the annual drama of the food economy that begins with planting and birth. Most eaters, however, are no longer aware that this is true. They think of food as an agricultural product, perhaps, but they do not think of themselves as participants in agriculture. They think of themselves as "consumers."
...How does one escape this trap? Only voluntarily, the same way that one went in: by restoring one's consciousness of what is involved in eating; by reclaiming responsibility for one's own part in the food economy.
...Eating with the fullest pleasure -- pleasure, that is, that does not depend on ignorance-- is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world. In this pleasure we experience and celebrate our dependence and our gratitude, for we are living from mystery, from creatures we did not make and powers we cannot comprehend. When I think of the meaning of food, I always remember these lines by the poet William Carlos Williams, which seem to me merely honest:
There is nothing to eat,
seek it where you will,
but the body of the Lord.
The blessed plants
and the sea, yield it
to the imagination
intact.
Links & Enthusiasms:
- Mark Bittman - food/cooking
- Boston Localvores - food news around here
- Food Project - sustainable ag. with urban youth
- Ethicurean - all kinds of news on sustainable food & policy
- Grist - environment & sustainable agriculture news
- Presbyterian Hunger Program Campaign for Fair Food - farmworker justice
- Fair Trade Boston
- JG Hymns
- Boston Faith & Justice Network
- Coalition of Immokalee Workers
- Atlantic Magazine Food Channel
- Small Planet Institute - the Lappes
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moi
- liz
- Starting my fourth season farming in New England, growing organic food. Interested in sustainable farming as a connection between hunger, health, environment, and local economies.
1 comment:
Exciting!
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