Think grocery shopping is a chore?
It’s really too bad when you view the very thing that sustains your life as a ‘chore.’ But it’s easy to become disconnected from the planet and the people who have dedicated their livelihoods to providing you with the food that you get to put on your plate.
So maybe it’s time to reconnect a little.
Have you ever tried your hand at growing your own food? I have — and I suck at it. And that makes me that much more grateful for those who have the ability and the dedication to take these tiny little seeds and nourish them to life. A life that becomes our food. What an amazing skill.
Our agriculture has turned into agri-business, where getting the highest-yielding crops has become the priority (with good intention, I believe — there are a lot of mouths to feed and everyone needs to make a living).
But we have lost the true care of the soil and have brought on the use of pesticides, herbicides, genetically-modified seeds and poisons to kill off some of the “bad critters” in an attempt to produce more and more food.
Is that really the best way?
Many pesticides can’t simply be rinsed away in the sink when you wash your produce.
For example, the pesticide methyl iodide, which was recently approved for use on strawberries grown in California (where most of our strawberry supply comes from) is considered “one of the most toxic chemicals on Earth,” according to Dr. John Froines, UCLA professor of Environmental Health. It is known to cause cancer, late-term miscarriages and contaminate the ground water. Scientists actually use it in the lab to create cancer cells.
Does this sound like something you want in your food and water supply?
In order to have a nourished body, you need a nourished plant and in order to have a nourished plant you have to have nourished soil. Soil is not just dirt that you can throw some fertilizer in and it will grow anything. It’s a living substance and needs to be fed not only all the right minerals but good bacteria as well — coincidently enough, just like our bodies.
If the right minerals aren’t in the soil, they’re not in your food. And this takes a strong understanding of the land.
The use of things like kelp meal and planting a variety of crops so that one crop doesn’t just suck the soil dry of the particular nutrients that plant needs are just two of the many ways to improve the soil conditions.
The thing that fascinates me the most is when the soil is in optimal condition, plants will produce the proper essential oils that are actually indigestible to these simple creatures that we have been fighting off with chemicals.
So why not make the effort to really create a healthy crop and let the plants fight off all the bad stuff for you?
Maybe this won’t happen tomorrow . . . but perhaps it’s something to work towards?
Some great resources to look into further come from people like Jerry Brunetti and John Kempf, both experts in eco-agriculture who can explain how feeding the soil properly will essentially yield more produce with higher nutritional content.
And isn’t that ultimately what we are trying to accomplish?
We all tend to think that buying “local” and fresh are two key things to getting some of the best produce. But have you ever asked your farmer what they are spraying their crops with?
It’s become the responsibility of the consumer to demand the best from their food suppliers.
So when getting your produce this summer, don’t be afraid to ask your farmers what they spray their plants with.
There are great resources in your area for real quality food.
Kristin Fraser, BSc, is a registered holistic nutritionist and local freelance writer. Her column appears every second Wednesday. She can be reached at kristin@somethingtochewon.ca.