America loves its processed fast food. However, the reality is that fast food is not so fast. Produce is routinely shipped such great distances that by the time it arrives at its destination, a good portion of its nutritional value is lost, and through processing, even more. Multinational corporations such as Monsanto are also flooding the market with unsafe Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), with no labeling restrictions. It is time for consumers to demand to know what it is they are eating, and to fight the degradation of their food supply through localization of food sources.

The only way to ensure the quality of the food one buys is to know where it comes from and where it has been. Laurie Bostic and Kim Martin of the Barking Cat Farm in Texas left everything they knew to become local farmers. They say,

The state of our industrialized food system is alarming. The fast-food industry has significantly changed not only our culture but also how we as a nation treat the environment and the creatures we get our food from – and not for the better.

Consumers are getting wise to this and changing the way they shop for food. Yet even if you buy non-processed conventional and organic foods in grocery stores, you may not realize that most of it travels an average of 1,500 miles before it gets to the shelf. That represents a tremendous amount of wasted energy and results in a food product that is neither as healthy nor as nutritious as what we can pick from the ground and feed to somebody within hours of harvest. (2008)

Transitioning from dependency on multinational agribusiness to localized food sources is not as hard as it sounds. Individuals with land can plant their own gardens, and help others in the community to get involved by sharing some of their land, or mentoring a budding farmer. People who do not have land can lease a section of land from someone who has more than he/she needs. Local farming can become a successful business using the same method that Laurie Bostic and Kim Martin did, the community-supported agriculture, or CSA model. This is a “system in which subscribers pay upfront for the growing season. Each week everybody gets a box with the same contents, representing a sampling of whatever crops are coming in at the time” (Bostic, L., Martin, K., 2008).

Not only does this type of venture ensure that consumers are getting the freshest produce possible, but they can go to the farm, see it in the gardens, and find out how it is being grown. They can also give input on the produce they would like to purchase before it is planted.

Localization of food sources and the CSA model of farming is sustainable, environmentally friendly, healthy for the people involved in both the producing and consuming ends, and just possibly, the wave of the future in sustainable agriculture.

Copyright 2008, Barbara H. Peterson

References:

Bostic, L., Martin, K. (2008). Laurie Bostic and Kim Martin: We left it all to be farmers. Dallas News. Retrieved from LINK. 

The excellent French documentary titled “The World According to Monsanto – A documentary that Americans won’t ever see,” is evidently living up to its name. When I first became aware of this movie, I immediately watched it, then placed it on my websites. Today I checked the link, and found that the video is gone. In fact, when I typed the title “The World According to Monsanto” into the Google search engine, I couldn’t find the full video anywhere.

This is a call for action. If you find this video anywhere on the Internet, please let me know. If you haven’t seen it, you need to. If you have seen it, you know what a powerful video it is for exposing the corruption of Monsanto and the U.S. government. If Google Video has removed this documentary in acquiescence to the U.S. government or Monsanto, then that is testimony to the power and corruption behind the massive corporate movement to wage war on the environment and all living things in the pursuit of profit and power, the people be damned.

Siv O’Neall states:

The gospel according to Monsanto is that their patented GM seeds and their bovine growth hormone (BGH) will increase worldwide production of agricultural, dairy and meat products and Bt cotton to the extent that worldwide hunger and poverty will be eradicated.

The actual truth is rather the opposite. GMOs are creating serious damage all over the world and artificial BGH injection in cows cause numerous health problems, and even death.

Monsanto is not held back by any considerations of ethics and it hides the reality of its sordid machinations behind a wall of secrecy. Everything Monsanto does is exclusively with the intent of increasing its own profit – everything else be damned. [2008]

This is an information war, and it is highly possible that either Google Video is doing its part to help the corporate giant pull the wool over the public’s eyes so it can poison the planet with impunity, or has been threatened. Fight back! Spread the word and try to find a source for this extremely important expose’ about collusion between the U.S. government and Monsanto. It is too important to put off. Our planet is in imminent peril because of the machinations of this evil corporation.

If left to its own devices it (Monsanto) will most certainly destroy the livelihood of millions of farmers – a process begun a decade ago in India and certainly in many other countries as well. The planet’s ecosystems will be seriously threatened by unnatural ways of changing agricultural patterns. The dangers of GMO cultivation to the environment come in many forms:

·         Switching from age-old biodiverse crops that can tolerate low-level amounts of water to industrial monocultures of crops such as GM soya, cotton, sugarcane, etc. that require large amounts of irrigation.

·         Inundating cultivated lands with toxic herbicides, in particular the dangerous Monsanto product Roundup, to which the GMO seeds have been made biotechnically resistant. Any other growth should succumb to Roundup, were it not for the fact that weeds to a very large extent become Roundup resistant.

·         Putting an end to biological farming and poisoning non GM cultures through pollenization from GM crops and accidental exposure to Roundup herbicide.

·         Deforestation to make more land available for the culture of the GM seeds Monsanto sells at high prices to poor farmers. [O’Neall, 2008]

This issue is too important to put off. Please, try to find the video. People need to have this information. “The World According to Monsanto” is one of the most important videos I have ever seen. Help expose Monsanto!

© 2008 Barbara H. Peterson

References:

O’Neall, S. (2008). The World According to Monsanto – A documentary that Americans won’t ever see. The Intelligence Daily. 

If you are a collector like me, you have tons of stuff squirreled away such as jelly and jam jars, those huge Vlasic pickle jars, and all sorts of useful stuff that seemed like such a shame to throw away. Well, just when you thought that you might as well throw the stuff out, think again. Take inventory and use your imagination to discover new uses for what others might call junk. 

Those glass jars that you have been saving and your husband has been stuffing under the porch for years can be used to can fruits and vegetables. You can also tack the lids of the larger jars to a ceiling beam and place beans, oatmeal, dried fruits or vegetables, etc. in the jars and screw them onto the lids on the ceiling if storage space is an issue. Remember that paraffin you bought at such a good price when you decided to make candles, yet never got around to actually doing it? It can be used to not only make candles and save on electricity, but to seal odd-sized jars that you can use to can your harvested vegetables, jams, and fruits. The worn out clothes you would normally throw away make good patches, purses, wallets, curtains, comforters, and more. If you plant root crops such as beets and potatoes, use your saved store-bought potato bags to store them. These bags typically have holes in them to allow your harvested goodies to breath. Most sheep farmers here get rid of their wool every year at shearing time. They give it away in bags. Even if you don’t spin, raw wool can be washed and felted in the bathtub to be used as insulation for things such as water pipes and muck boots. I make little round felt coasters from leftover wool to protect my tables. Rita, the head Macaw of the family, gets a half-round of pine or juniper on the bottom of her cage. She loves to chew it, and while she does, trims her beak and creates shavings for the catch-tray under her cage. I also save things such as bread crusts, over-cooked cookies and waffles, and dry them under the fan. When they are sufficiently dry, I save them in a jar for Rita’s treats.  

Being a packrat is not such a bad thing. In fact, it can become quite useful when going to the store to purchase another whatzit becomes less than cost-effective. What I am suggesting is a new way of life that dates back to our great-grandparents’ days, and it is good. Conservation needs to replace the “use once and throw away” philosophy that we are bombarded with on T.V. This wasteful philosophy is not only bad for the environment, but also promotes laziness, and we can no longer afford that luxury. So instead, when you go to the store, look for items you need that are in containers that you can use again, such as pickles in the huge glass jars, glass jelly jars with handles, or any other useful items. This way you are killing two birds with one stone, and can recycle to your heart’s content. It’s time to get creative.

“You can use vinegar and hydrogen peroxide to disinfect your kitchen counters, produce and even your cutting boards. All you need is three percent hydrogen peroxide, the type you buy at the drug store, vinegar (white or apple cider), and two clean sprayers, like the kind you use to mist plants. Fill each sprayer separately, one with peroxide and the other with vinegar (don’t mix them together in one bottle – that makes peracetic acid, which isn’t safe and can give you a bad chemical burn). Spritz the item you want to disinfect, first with hydrogen peroxide and then with vinegar, then rinse off under running water. University tests show that this technique killed more potentially lethal bacteria, including Salmonella, Shigella, and even E. coli, than chlorine bleach or any commercially available kitchen cleaner.” (C. Gupta)(LINK)