RE-CONNECT TO FOOD

Today I went "shopping" in my yard. Yay! I LOVE food. Mangoes, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, kale, arugula, chard, mizuna, and basil, all from the trees and my garden. And all for FREE! I call it my "abundance walk" to see what gifts the yard has each day. It never even has a chance to hit my fridge. It's so EXCITING to actually connect to the food going into my body. I have only lived like this for one year now, in the country with fruit trees and a garden for food, and it still thrills me every single day. For years in the city I had NO connection to the animals and plants I was buying at the store, and it felt that way again this past week being away from home. We have started doing horrific things to animals because we have no sense any more of them being a life. We just buy something in a chunk in plastic wrap at the meat counter. Might as well be a cracker or a ju-jube. Not a living creature. Now don't go getting your shorts in a bundle. I don't believe there is anything morally wrong with eating animals for survival. We are part of the food chain after all. But we have created such an artificial way of farming them and slaughtering them that most of us never have any part in, and it is shocking when you do SEE it. We no longer kill for survival, we kill way more than we need, and we pay someone to do it for us. How did we get to this place? If we all had to go into THEIR environment where they actually live freely, and then kill them, we might have more reverence for what we are doing. Right now we are too dis-connected to feel their life before we take it. I LOVE the aboriginal cultures that still consider ALL life sacred. Is a Big Mac sacred? (ooh, funny image of someone worshipping a big mac...) And what if we didn't have meat every single day, several meals a day? I have discovered it is actually quite possible to live a healthy life without killing. So many people I have spoken with are so afraid to not eat meat. I too wondered when I stopped if I would get really unhealthy, but the exact opposite happened! Not killing AND healthier! Sweet. There may come a time when it is necessary for my survival, but not right now. And there may come a time when we don't "farm" them the way we do now. Meanwhile I am trying to live life with more reverence for the creatures I share this planet with, and it feels powerful. It's so fascinating to change that relationship and see what happens!

What about the plants we buy at a mega-store? Who knows what chemicals and pesticides have been slathered on them. I don't. In a recent Harvard study of Alzheimer's and dementia they discovered DDT in the brains of EVERY SINGLE PATIENT! Wow. That has been banned since the 70's but it is still in our bodies because it was sprayed on our food as it was being grown and now it is in the soil. Our bodies don't recognize it as part of Nature, and don't know how to get rid of it, so it is stored. And now there are a slew of NEW artificial chemicals that we have no idea how they might affect us down the road. YIKES!! So I am trying to re-connect with what I put in my mouth, and what has been done to it before it got to me! It's a big learning curve, and right now without stores I might starve! But I'm learning. I'm learning how to find food without artificial chemicals, and I'm learning how to grow some myself. The more I re-connect the stronger I feel. I LOVE this process! And I am more in awe of people who have been doing this for years and have so much knowledge about how to get things to grow and where to find food in the world around us, other than "finding" a grocery store...hee. I heard a very moving talk at an environmental conference about how we are losing not just "old growth" forests (places that have never been altered by humans), but also "old growth" peoples! Tribes that still know how to gather food and what is deadly or edible. That would be a horrible thing to lose, that ancient wisdom.

So let's re-connect to food! Let's pay attention to what goes into our blood and bones and brain. More than just our bodies will be happier.......Thanks for listening.