...by giving me a bag full of fruit from his yard : ) His name is Tony, and although I am sure he does not have a Gmail account (he's mid 70's) this post is dedicated to him. Nameless to one another until the end, he invited me into his home, and in a way we broke...well not bread...but a tree branch or two together over a heartfelt discussion about the pleasures of fruit trees. It is people like him who I admire and strive to be like. Thank-you.
I feel that the time has come to explain to all of you why I am obsessed with not just food, but local, fresh, and more specifically home grown food. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been working in (Sacramento and now San Jose) California ( the state in which you can grown pretty much ANYTHING) and I have been taking full advantage of being here (yes, stealing fruit from people's yards AND the capital lawn hehe.) Being from the mid-west, I am accustomed to apple picking at orchards and seeing hundreds beyond hundreds of rows of corn in the out skirts of the metro Detroit area. So, when I came to Northern California to become the best damn organizer that one can be, my love and passion for the Food Revolution deepened beyond measures. You see, there is something awe inspiring when you see a tree from afar, but when you get closer you see that hidden and camouflaged to perfection are these beautiful limes, olives, or whatever it maybe. I can't help but act like a kid in a candy store when I see trees that bare edible fruit. It's literally pure joy that I feel. It's the bigger connection to this circle of life that I feel. We all have to eat, but there is a profound difference between just eating and thinking and THEN eating. We owe it to ourselves, our past, our future, and to the land. Think about this for a moment...
For those of you who think you're truly vegan...think again if you dare...or...ear muff it and blind fold it...
The soil in which your food comes from ( and yes ALL the foods you eat, even the fake shit, comes from dirt) is filled with millions if not billions of microorganisms that break down dead and decaying matter. What dirt ultimately is...is well...the feces of these organisms. This "crap" if you will, is FULL of all of the necessary nutrients that plants need to survive. It takes the perfect combination of these nutrients, plus sunlight, water, TLC, and I am sure other things I am missing...to bore and sustain plant life. So, when you're eating that carrot, or apple, just think about this life cycle, because like it or not, you're a part of it in more ways than one. I hate to tell you my fellow homo sapiens, but your body will one day be a meal to be feasted upon by those microorganisms and the beauty that comes from your break down...well...it's more life : )
Last thought for the night...
When you eat locally grown produce and grass fed meats, you're connection to the sun is 3 degrees. Think about it: we as humans can eat BUT not break down the cellulose in grass. Only animals with ruminants (cows, sheep, goats, and lots more) can. Therefore, they are the only animals that can utilize the sun's energy directly. When we eat animals that are grass fed (which means that they ARE NOT factory farmed because factory farmed feeds animals GMO corn products) we are more connected to our energy source. Geeky...I know...but that's me : )
