BADSEED
Celebrating Local Food,
Culture, & Community
Dearest Connoisseurs of Local Organic Delights -
This is your crazy Farmer Brooke and I am here to talk about where food comes from! Well, to be honest, the answer to that question has become a little complicated. In today's world (a place where the family farm has been replaced by mini malls, lunchables, and fast food joints) it is no wonder that many kids cannot identify a potato or a tomato in it's raw form. When your entire world since birth has consisted of french fries and ketsup, suddenly real food becomes a mystery.
So, sure, I get it: today's youth is completely disconnected from the source of their food & mother nature. But what blows my mind is that it isn't just the younger generations, it is majority of the public, even those who grew up on farms!!
Here is a rather funny example of what I am speaking of. The content that follows involves the "birds and the bees" and it is fairly explicit. If you are a sensitive reader just skip over my little story. (I would hate to offend anyone....)
So a couple mornings ago I was sitting at the breakfast table with good ole' Grandpa enjoying a strong cup of coffee before the day's labor. We were looking out the kitchen window together admiring my beautiful hens who were on the hunt for early morning worms in the green grass. Recently the City had forced us to get rid of our stately Roosters that had been part of our flock for over a year and a half. Grandpa was lamenting their absence and asked me how the hen's were doing without their cocks. I said they were fine, a little lonely and confused, but content for the most part. I then went on to comment about what a shame it would be to no longer have delicious fertilized eggs. (Fertilized eggs have a better flavor and less cholesterol in the yolk). Grandpa looked at me rather confused...."What do you mean fertilized?" I told him that generally all the eggs are fertilized whenever there is a rooster in the flock. "How does he fertilize them?" I thought he was just playing with me, and I rolled my eyes - "you know Grandpa....you used to raise chickens!". "No really", he pressed, "what does it mean for them to be fertilized". After some back and forth conversation on the subject I finally got impatient and blurted out: "IT IS WHEN THE ROOSTER EJACULATES INSIDE THE HEN!!!". His eyes got really big, he nearly spit out his coffee, and then he got all giggly. (just like a kid)
I got to thinking about it later. Grandpa was raised by a Sicilian father who had immigrated to this country. Growing up he was in charge of the chickens and the milk goats that his father always kept in their small backyard at 27th and Cherry. He painfully recalls his father forcing him to do all sorts of barnyard chores like culling excess roosters and milking the goats twice a day. To this day, he will not eat Ricotta cheese, as that was a family staple (made with the whey from the goat's milk) because they could not afford meat.
Grandpa has come a long way from his childhood at 27th and Cherry. Today he joyously eats industrial foods out of boxes and cans. He loves the microwave! He shops at Aldi (for the best deal), and he refuses to prepare the many fresh Italian vegetables and fruits that I grow in his massive backyard. He misses his riding lawn mower (the garden, the orchard, and the animals have taken over the 2 acre lawn that he once enjoyed mowing so very much).
My grandpa is happily disconnected from his food & the farm (despite the fact that there is one in his backyard!!). For him, realizing the "American Dream" meant getting as far away as possible from his childhood and the sort of peasant activities that his old-world father celebrated and lived by. He made money, bought a big property, owned lots of cars, and had children and grandchildren that could live comfortably in the wake of his successes. But the world is a funny place and things always come full circle. At 88 years old, Grandpa has chickens in the backyard once again because his crazy granddaughter did everything she possibly could to abandon the "American Dream" and get back to the dirt!!
So, I guess that answers our initial question: Where does real food come from?? It comes from the dirt. Eat up "dirt-lovers"
this Friday at the BADSEED Farmers Market from 4-9 PM.
Okay enough already.......lets get to the GOOD STUFF ( brought to you by your bona fide field expert and Veggie Pervert ) -
***Sexy Veggie of the Week***
Celebrating Local Food, Culture, and Community
