Dear Shopper,
Here is a short video interview with Virginia’s own Joel Salatin, who has come out with a book that all of you who are interested in knowing more about why we should be buying local and what we can do to maximize and optimize our options for doing so should read. Michael Pollan’s books are great as motivational education, but I think this book will reach us at a different level, because we know Salatin has lived what he believes and that he has done much for other farmers in southwest Virginia along the way. It’s always invigorating to learn from someone who is actually sharing what he has learned on the field of play — or in the fields of work, as the case may be.
Joel is pleasantly strident because he knows how far removed we are from growing real food and getting it to our tables in good time and with little processing. And I hope his indignant and incredulous wonder at what we have wrought is contagious.
Here in our own little community there is activity on all levels promoting local producers and improving our opportunities for buying local. There are efforts to educate us about how to eat healthy all of our lives to minimize so many of the chronic illnesses that are now afflicting our children, no longer waiting for middle or old age to catch up with us.
I would like to see more attention paid to these subjects in our schools as part of the larger curriculum, not just the one semester of health that children get in elementary or middle school. This is an issue of lifestyle that has major ramifications for our economy and our health system, and who would argue that these are not issues to be discussed in school if not at home? And most important of all, there are facts out there that can inform the personal issue of eating for health.
I am never tempted to throw anything at the TV, but even the Orioles’ long and easily repaired history of losing does not upset me as do the news stories and ads provided by the drug companies that encourage us to ingest supplements to overcome deficiencies in our diets. If our bodies are not getting the nutrients we need to live long and healthy lives, then we need to eat the foods that will correct that — not eat like idiots and then make up for it with expensive pills. I haven’t quoted my girlfriend’s mom lately, but it never hurts to remember her saying that “food is cheaper than medicine” when even the most expensive apples, collards, good-quality meat or free-range eggs will never cost as much as the supplements and medicines we will need later on in life if we eat junk or poison ourselves slowly with the toxins in much of the food we buy and eat now.
So listen to Joel and get excited about doing something, and then get in touch with me. I will be happy to refer you to one or more of the groups working on these issues in our area. I also look forward to greeting the droves who come to the market this week.
See you at the market!
Jean
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