Why Try??

If you ended up on this blog and are taking the time to read these posts, then you like me are probably a bit concerned about the food available in this country.  I live in Eastern Oregon, just a few miles from Boise Idaho, so I have access to all sorts of food options. I am not going down this road because we live in the middle of no where.  Rather, I have learned over the past few years what exactly is going on with our food and as a new father, I think my daughters and wife deserve better.

Like wise, I am not what some of you might refer to as a "granola." My involvement in this "movement" is new and growing every day it seems.  Perhaps in time I will reach full blown "granola" status, but for the moment, I am just as normal as any of the rest of you.  I get up in the morning and slip on my slacks to head off to school where I teach 3rd and 4th grade.  When life is crazy, we reach for the Mac and Cheese (whole wheat these days, can't even taste the difference in my opinion) just like many of us do.  I love college football, coach middle school basketball and love nothing more than spending time with my wife and daughters.  I am just your typical, everyday American.  

So why try?  Well, I guess it all really started a few years ago when my wife and I stumbled across a movie you may have heard of.  The title was "Food Inc." and what my wife and I saw was a food system that we felt was out of control.  Animals being treated cruelly and living is horrible conditions.  Farming practices that we not in the best interest of the farmers who were working hard to provide for us.  Which was further emphasized when we watched "King Corn."  I remember looking at my wife in amazement. We literally had no idea how the world was really working.  My daughters videos about farms show cute old farmers with bib overalls, a sheep, goat, pig, cow and horse all living side by side while ducks and chickens pecked in the yard while the rabbits jumped around happily.  This is what everyone thinks a farm is, but this type of farm is virtually non existent these days.  Instead it has been replaced by super farms that typically focus on just a few specific crops.  

I know this old boy who grew up on the farm he still runs with his son and brother.  He tells me stories about how when he was a kid the farm that they now own supported no less that 5 or 6 families.  When he was a kid, they raised chickens, for both meat and eggs, rabbits, and pigs all while running a small dairy operation. Today, they grow corn, wheat, and alfalfa.  Most of which from what they have told me is used for animal feed both here at home and abroad.  They have a small herd of cattle, but other than that, this "typical american farm" focuses on just a few specific things, mostly from what I gather is because it would be far too expensive to get the equipment necessary to try to grow anything else, and because in our area, there is not much of a market for anything else, other than onions. 

I fear that the industry has lead farmers down a road that isn't designed to provide actual food. Instead, they grown feed for animals to feed our ever growing desire for meat...... particularly beef, but also pork and chicken as well, which I am sorry to say appear to in large part be treated as resources instead of living creatures. And of course, to supply the raw materials needed to make that ever popular ingredient, High Fructose Corn Syrup.  

So, why try?  Because I think that we all have the capacity to do a little something for ourselves and our families.  I feel that we can all generate a significant portion of our own food right in our own back yards, and in the process, provide our families with food that is not only better tasting, but also better for us, and better for the environment.  

So, here is to a great year and making the choice to get started.