Secret Santa

I've written before about my feelings regarding Christmas, and it is typically a lot of "Bah Humbug", but occasionally I'm reminded that there are many people out there who feel like I do, and highly influential ones at that. Why buy more stuff, stuff that the people in your life don't need? After the first addictive rush of "Gimme!" wears off, they're left with an awful, empty hangover feeling from a binge that gets them no closer to where they really desire to be. Do something real for them this season by giving to someone who really needs it. They may not thank you immediately, but what you're doing lasts far longer than whatever piece of cheap (and toxic) plastic they'll eventually toss out. Hang in there and go the distance, because that's where the real good stuff is.  I'm with you on this one.



Here's yet another "secret" (that's not so secret) from a real life "Santa" who always gives :) Facebook users, click on the link for a great Xmas tip: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152091712840590&set=a.336319760589.197360.114205065589&type=1&theater 

Food: Farming

By now, we've read the articles and seen the news stories about GMO Frankenfoods that threaten our health, and contribute to a lack of biodiversity that is the agricultural form of extinction. Monsanto controls seeds and food production, Tyson muscles farmers through their production schedules, resulting in horrible food factories that don't even feel like farming to the farmers they pay, and the old lady who wants a pear out of season (the same one who clips coupons and haggles for a bargain), is the same person who eats produce that's traveled further than she will ever travel in lifetime, having been flown in exclusively for her consumption all the way from Chile. It's a bizarre mindset that needs to change, and it slowly has.

I've posted items on my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Illuminations/371196022892113), with sayings like "Growing food is like printing your own money", and how collecting rainwater is now illegal in some states, to illustrate the growing separation between food production and our day-to-day lives. Do you want to cede that power to a huge business conglomerate? Would they have your best interests at heart? Of course not. Their executives aren't paid to do that like your family doctor is, because they're paid to sell you stuff.

Into the growing debate come visionary doctors who speak out, like Dr. Joseph Mercola (http://www.mercola.com/). It's in this very climate that I've begun to see the land around us as a huge opportunity for change. When I walked by a corn patch growing in front of a modest home last week, it reminded me that I grew up surrounded by farms: the small one next door to our house, my mother's humble garden, the little orchard that used to be part of the farm next door, and fruit trees in such natural profusion, that I still find apple and cherry trees growing right by sidewalks in town (http://mariedoucette.blogspot.com/2013/06/nature-edibles.html, and http://mariedoucette.blogspot.com/2011/10/fall-harvest.html).

We have a chance to redefine our access to fresh, local, in season and affordable foods by supporting local farms, farmers, and producers through frequenting nearby farmer markets with locally made goods. Which brings me to the next motto that's gathered steam: you have three opportunities to vote every day when you decide what to eat. 
We can't always make the best decisions, for a variety of reasons (economics, availability, poor health, etc.), but thinking precedes action, and by questioning our mindsets, we've already started down the path towards change.

What will you choose to eat today?