Thursday, April 22, 2010

Food is the key to being Green

Watched "Food Inc." last night on PBS.

There were the usual villains, corporate ag monsters such as Monsanto and Monfort.

Unexpected heroes in small farmers and ranchers.

It was entertaining and disgusting. Empowering, too. Three years ago I resumed my intermittent gardening career. A few container tomatoes became a backyard garden plot and then two plots and an expanded area this year. I enjoy growing things and eating them. So, my motives in the beginning were entirely selfish.

Well, not entirely. I caught on to the "Victory Garden" idea. The garden had a political sense, a way to stick it in the eye of George W. Bush and his overseas wars and rapacious oil companies and the energy inefficiency of corporate ag. My three tomato plants against the world.

I didn't discover the local food movement until I was well into the process. I live in Wyoming where food is trucked in from temperate climes. No way to be a locavore in this cold and windy place.

Or so I thought. I had to expand my idea of "local" to encompass a 100-mile radius. That brings in the many local and organic farms on undeveloped acreage along Colorado's Front Range. I had to do my homework, get out and meet people at farmers' markets and research local food producers online. I've been sharing asome of my research here. I also have sidebar links on this blog to Wolf Moon Farms and Grant Farms. There are resources in Wyoming and western Nebraska.

So, on Earth Day, there's no reason to look to the skies -- unless you're watching out for hail and snow and tornadoes. Look to the dirt. Plant something. Grow it. Eat it.

3 comments:

bigfrank said...

You might want to look at who those "usual villains, corporate ag monsters such as Monsanto and Monfort" support. Your old party gets millions of dollars from them along with the Republicans. Your party working hand and hand with the other party trying to kill your three tomato plants along with the rest of those small farms and ranchers.
I am well into the "food movement" and when you see who is all against your "three tomato plants" you will see that you are starting a revolution with them. To celebrate my freedom this year I am adding apple and peach trees to my Kiwi, grapes, blackberries, black raspberries and raspberries. This is in hope of not having to get that GMO crap that your side lock step with the other side wants to force us to eat.
Would love to see you blog for "Wyoming Food Freedom" and see the threat that comes to this wanted back freedom that has been taken away from us by your side working with the right.

Michael Shay said...

I posted several times about Rep. Sue Wallis's proposed legislation. I also support Wyoming Food Freedom. I've been following WFF on Facebook and will be posting about that movement in the future. I wonder why Wyoming has not joined in the lawsuit against Monsanto. Montana's on board. Idaho copped out as did Wyoming.

bigfrank said...

As a fairly new and just pop in now and then visitor I didn't see those posts but thank you for standing up for this freedom that we are very quickly losing because of bipartisan support for it. Matt Mead said no this isn't a good thing but try to convince him. Meyer said she does it but she is smart enough to know what to get and the public isn't. Micheli said nothing is wrong with the way things are now. Simpson is the only one saying hell ya this is a good bill. Not to many house dems seemed to jump up to defend it along with republicans in the senate. Which tells me the answer to the question you asked might be in that.
Look at the Monsanto money trail and you might find why Wyoming and Idaho failed to try to get Monsanto and company out of our food supply.