From reading Part 1 of this article, I hope you are starting to see why it is so important for your health to:

1. Know where your food comes from and what’s in it. 
2. Know how it is grown and processed.
3. Establish a personal relationship with the growers and suppliers of your food.

Regarding this, I am usually quite shocked at the frequency I see or hear various versions of the following:

“But that’s why we have government agencies
like the FDA, isn’t it?  … to make food supplies safe?
… I don’t have to worry
’cause they’re taking care of all that for me”.

If you know anyone who would agree with the above statement, just ask them to go to the Internet and Google the words, “FDA, corruption” and just browse a little. They’ll get the idea soon enough.

Supermarkets - A Double-Edged Sword of Modern Consumerism

Compared to traditional market places where farmers and produces come together to interact with you to sell their wares, Supermarkets are a different place altogether.

They are about as disconnected
from the original source of your food
as you can get.

You may not have thought about it much, but do you realize that when you enter one of these establishments you enter an artificial “world” specifically designed and created to “sell” ? In other words, ….. to entice and manipulate your mind.

{For an interesting read, check out the book We Know What You Want: How They Change Your Mind] ….. or simply do a Google Search, type in ”supermarkets, mind manipulation” and browse (but not right before bed time, OK?).

The point here is simply as a reminder
to STAY CONSCIOUS.

In so many ways, we are constantly “dumbed down, cajoled and manipulated” down a path to buy more and more, the things we really do not need.  Ask yourself the question “Do I want to become an automaton in the immense consumerism machine?”

When our consciousness
is left at the front door of the supermarket,
then we are in “double trouble”.

Why in “double-trouble”? Here’s the two key reasons,

1. You are letting others dictate what you should eat
Sure, you have the illusion of choice within the store, but it is quite shocking to learn how much outside “programming” has to do with your final choice.

They also stock the products that THEY want to stock. They buy from the growers THEY want to buy from. The biggest factor influencing their decision in anything, is how it affects their profitability as a business.

2. You are left totally out of touch with where your food comes from and (perhaps even more importantly), what it takes to produce it.

As was pointed out in the previous article, hundreds of thousands of family farms have been forced out of business primarily because of the onslaught of the corporate juggernaut involving Biotech and Agribusiness interests. As with point #1 above, do you think that these companies have YOUR health and best interests at heart?

The media is overflowing with endless accounts of abuse and disregard for the well-being of anything but the corporate bottom line.

Now, here’s a totally contrasting scenario.

Imagine, for a moment, that your neighbor
had the means, expertise and desire to grow
all of your food needs for you,
and you had some mutual agreement of fair exchange.
 Imagine that they grew it right next door.

Please FEEL for a moment what this would be like. Would you not expect that neighbor to be more likely to hold her relationship with you as a high priority?

Now imagine, that your (food supplying) neighbor, has established a track record (of many months, or years) of supplying you with top quality food and had demonstrated a personal caring for the quality of what she produced.

If she now suffered a setback of one sort or another, that affected the continuance of your food supply, how would you feel?

Would you be concerned just about how it affect the food supply or would you also have concern for your neighbor as a person?

Would you want to do what you could to help so your relationship could continue?

The above example of comparing the supermarket environment with the experience of interacting with a local grower highlights …..

…. how easy it is
to become insulated and disconnected
from the land, the people and the process
 that provides items that are so basic
to our very survival and well-being.

This is a great place to introduce Part 2 (less than 6 minutes) of Ken Meter’s interview Building A Local Food Economy. He acknowledges the problems of disappearing family farms and the problems faced by enthusiastic young people looking for ways to make a difference.

Especially inspirational, was his account of the personal efforts of a councillor (Kamyar Enshayan) in Black Hawk County, Iowa. Mr. Enshayan’s involvement with the BUY FRESH BUY LOCAL campaign, after 10 years, has resulted in the local economy now trading about $2.2 million of local food.

I will continue this discussion in my next installment The Local Food Economy and Health – Part 3 , tomorrow.

In Part 3 of this article you’ll be surprised at how many people do not know where much of their food comes from, how we can change this and inspiring grass roots movements working to make a better world.

In Support of Sustainable, Wholesome Living.
Cheers, Sven