I always click on what Carrie posts. always an interesting article . This particular one really spoke to me. So I thought I would share it with the rest of you. Most of you who know me, know how much I love food and how it is important to me. You also know how domestic I am, and how I like to wear aprons, and bake :) I like to grow things, and enjoy trying to make everything from scratch! I enjoy and value very much having connections with people, and developing meaningful relationships. I also value the connection I choose to have with the earth. If I could have my way, I would make everyone start from scratch again. And then everyone would remember what's most important. And what's most important its so very basic. And so very human. :)
http://sasquatchnews.com/b
Borrow a cup of flour
"This issue’s column was originally going to be about sprouts—how to grow tiny, nutrient-rich green things in a jar during the final weeks of the long Saskatchewan winter, before the spinach, chives, rhubarb and asparagus begin to peek their heads out of the softening soil.
But the fact that this is my last opportunity to communicate with you, dear readers, makes my job feel urgent. I have one last chance to tell you something about food that sums up how central an issue it is. So what will it be?
It won’t be instructions on growing sprouts, making yogurt, or keeping chickens. If I can suggest only one thing, it is to talk to your neighbours.
Our society encourages us to live in isolation from one another. As a culture, we drive from our houses to our places of work, then to the grocery store and back home again. We take little time to talk to each other, especially people we don’t already know.
Our isolation chips away at our capacity to live in community: to live connected to one another, to the places we live and to the land that sustains us. We share less — fewer values and fewer resources. And as our connections decrease and our divisions increase, we forget what we once knew about the benefits of being accountable to our neighbours and to the planet.
If there is a single thing I would urge you to struggle against it is this division — the separation from your neighbour, your soil, your watershed.
Food is a simple and deeply powerful way to engage in this struggle. Growing food undermines isolation. It forces us to go outside and have a relationship with the earth, while creating opportunities for learning, teaching and sharing. Cooking and eating food together connects us across differences and creates opportunities for conversation and the sharing of ideas.
Food can also be a bridge across virtually any other issue. If you work towards ending poverty or war, then equitable access to food for all is a no-brainer. If you’re an environmentalist, sustainably managing the caloric needs of ballooning numbers of humans on finite planetary resources is a must. If anti-racism or anti-imperialism turns your crank, then understanding who has (or doesn’t have) access to the world’s resources is fundamental. If you’re a feminist or health activist, the relationship of food to healthy bodies and minds is key.
If you’re grappling with one or more of these issues, food can be an empowering and tangible way to make connections both within yourself and with the people around you. I recently heard food activist Wayne Roberts speak about what he termed “the 1,000 points of food.” The food movement, he argued, needs to be one of dialogue – not either/or – because people come to food issues from so many different perspectives. At the same time, food represents a universal need we all share. It creates unlimited potential to bridge people who have been separated. All we need to do is grow, cook and eat together."
