Just me again. Lacing up my boots, pulling my jeans over the tops, adjusting my flannel and smearing on some lipgloss before lifting up my foot to step up on that soap box I lug around with me from time to time.
*Steps up on box.*
Ahhhh, the view from up here is lovely. I am a farmer. This soap box moment is brought to you by that world view. Consider yourself warned.
I want us to stop pretending.
I don't like to draw hard lines in the sand where God has not. Therefore, I will never make food in-and-of-itself a moral issue.
But there is a broader context in which we can understand God's creation. He is the Ultimate Artist, the Divine Creator, the Author of Life. He has created a world that is infinitely complex and yet beautifully simple. It is incomprehensible in it's magnitude and in His mercy, He has given us dominion over that creation.
How do you think we're doing with that responsibility?
We were given potatoes. And we've now genetically modified them so that we can grow more, completely neglecting the long term effects these have been shown to cause on our bodies. All the while wasting over 60% of what is grown, marketed, and sold to begin with. Could we benefit greater by taking care of what is already there?
Instead of opting for balance in growing crops, we've instead run our land raw and watched it bleed for help. Should we be farming in a way that nourishes the land we've been gifted?
We no longer feel the need to cook for our family, often hiding under the mask of ease and busyness, all the while contributing (arguably) far too much of ourselves to entertainment and leisure. Perhaps the problem isn't that we don't have enough time – perhaps we've given too much time to the wrong areas of our lives. What say you?
Our children are sent to school with bellies full of sugar and technology. We can't understand why focusing and concentration are increasingly difficult. Could our children benefit from eating something different?
We live in such a state of “overabundance” that simple “abundance” just doesn't satisfy us. At the cost of taste, we're willing to sacrifice for constant over-saturation. “Peasant food” doesn't have a place in our line up. Noses are quickly stuck up at any foods that aren't familiar. Over 55% of an animal is wasted in the slaughterhouse because we're too rich to care. The food that sustained people for thousands and thousands of years is no longer good enough for us.
Let's stop pretending our food was grown by magic fairies. Someone planted those potatoes and leeks and fertilized them with something. Someone harvested the avocados and apples from somewhere. Someone birthed and transported and fed and butchered the meat. Somewhere, some chicken just layed that egg you're enjoying.
This is all done in damaging way to our environment. Or not. There's a choice at hand.
We're all given different passions in life. Food just happens to be mine. I realize that it's not everyone's, and yet still, all of us must sustain our bodies with something if we're going to survive. There are a thousand things that tug at our pocketbooks and calendars, no doubt. But at the end of the day, surely, we still must eat.
When we start to care more about excuses than we do about overcoming them, that's a symptom of a problem. I get emails every day from those who ‘don't have time to cook meals' and yet can find the time to write me an email telling me so.
We do have time to care about what sustains us. Get off of Netflix. Get off of Facebook. Heck, get off my blog. Get out there and care about this world and your body.
Sit down and eat a proper meal with your children. Yes, that's a command. There's a reason Jesus broke bread and drank wine with his disciples, my friends. Our souls are fed as much as our bodies during this time of fellowship and hospitality.
Teach them to love local, fresh foods. Teach them about where it comes from. Let them shake hands with the farmer. Make dishes with them. Stop giving them other options other than food that nourishes their little bodies.
Stuart says I'm preaching to the choir here, and maybe that's true. But if you do care about these things, consider this your encouragement to keep fighting the fight! There are days that it's hard to be “that family”. I get it. But press on – you're not alone.
At the end of the day, we have to be willing to work our know-you-whats off. Lord knows, this ain't easy. It takes a constant death to convenience and ease.
But we have the freedom to make that beautiful choice where thousands, even millions, haven't.
Let's not pretend we don't.
We CAN do this!
Now onward to grilled steak with peppercorn cream sauce, fresh spinach salad, and sourdough hot crossed buns…
And Amen.
Cheryl
April 13, 2017 at 6:01 pmWell said Shaye. Well said. And I’m a Jew…..Jew farmer too!!! (Talk about being different!!! HA!!!!!)
Carly
April 13, 2017 at 6:22 pmI love you. And I’m serious. I KNOW we would be friends in real life and I am not even a farmer or anywhere near one! But I am a learner and a watcher and a listener and a doer and you are an answer to prayer today. I have been feverishly trying to find the line between eating and preparing food that supports my views on sustainability, nourishment, and stewardship of the earth, while at the same time not feeding my mentally unstable side that turns food into a moral issue. When I label my food choices as being “bad or good” I start to think I am bad or good because of them. But this is it. You found that sweet spot. It’s okay to care about. It’s okay to treat our bodies and our creatures (of the animal and our offspring variety) with the upmost respect and sanctity. This is the stuff of life and it is refining us.
Monika
April 13, 2017 at 6:31 pmSimply well said. We ditched the city life (Miami, FL) to move to a rural SMALL town in NE Ga & farm. Literally no one understood why we wanted to do this but we had an itch for a simpler life to live & raise our kids in. We have goats, chickens, ducks & guinea hens with mice secretly wandering around. Our 4 acres of beautifully hand-made, shlept together, whatever we could find farm is our haven. As most of us feel, society is seriously disconnected from where their food comes from & where our attention is being consumed. I know we were. But there is something so beautiful & therapeutic in farming! More people need to be getting dirt under their nails instead of getting them done!
A wise person once said “Anyone who has time for drama isn’t gardening enough.”
May
April 13, 2017 at 6:57 pmBeautifully put, Shaye! If you’re going to eat something, it had better be darn worth eating.
Randi
April 13, 2017 at 8:01 pmVery Joel Salatin, well said. We spent a few years outside of homesteading and it was honestly- dreadful. Thankfully we’re back at it and it feels so…freeing and responsible. Preach on!
Gina
April 13, 2017 at 10:38 pmPreach it! This brought a smile to my face. I know all to well the turning up of noses at “peasant food.” I don’t have children of my own but the younger of my nephews shows utter terror when I confront him with homemade mac and cheese or chocolate chip cookies. The other day I gave him a whole grain muffin made with homemade peach jam and he shoved it away in disgust. Lucky for me, his older brother keeps eating those beet green quiches I make and clamors for more. He tries the fresh blueberry bagels and grinds grain with me in the kitchen. Yesterday I made my second sourdough bread ever and it felt good. Others gape at the things I make from scratch because they think ‘why bother?’ In fact, some people call me crazy. But, the smell of fresh bread and the good food in my belly is all worth it. I will keep fighting the fight and sneaking my nephews those homemade meals!
Michelle
April 14, 2017 at 1:18 pmA hard truth I needed to hear. Returning to work full time outside the home, with a long dang commute has drained my enthusiasm for the made-from-scratch meals I once loved creating. More and more, I find myself tearing open that package (it’s from Trader Joe’s, GMO-free, but STILL), and telling myself I deserve a Netflix binge…but in my heart I know this is not living. More than supporting sustainable agriculture, more than making healthy choices, I miss the CONNECTION to my food that comes from making our own. Thanks for the reminder and the inspiration.
Mona
April 14, 2017 at 11:31 pmPreach on sister friend!! Preach on!
Debby
April 15, 2017 at 9:57 amI love this. Thank you for putting my thoughts into words!
Dani | Desolatehomestead
April 15, 2017 at 1:12 pmAMEN! Eat meals with your kids! Stop serving “kid food”. Meal time doesn’t have to be stressful.
Kayla
April 16, 2017 at 10:06 pmYES!!! Thank you!!!
Janet
April 18, 2017 at 8:42 amThank you Shaye. This was a good reminder that I’m not crazy to work toward a simpler life (funny that we have to work hard for simplicity these days). I was moved to tears by your words. Let’s do this! And Amen!
Marcia
April 18, 2017 at 1:14 pmSeems like there is many of us with the same ideas! YOU helped inspire us to leave Denver suburbs for 7.5 acres in rural Texas!! It may take a couple of years to get it to where we want it….but we are on our way. We go to bed sore, but we are so much happier!
Keep preaching , sister. I’ll turn the pages!
Melissa
April 18, 2017 at 1:16 pmI love this post. Love it. Love it. Love it. I’m in the choir and just love these words. XO.
Kristy
April 20, 2017 at 2:36 pmThe whole world needs to hear this message! When did we become a “food snob” because we care about what we eat and where our food comes from? Shaye, you have such a way with words, love reading your blogs and completely share your point of view!
Mandy
April 22, 2017 at 12:51 pmHi Shaye. I am taking time out of my ultra busy day to write a little comment. We raise our children on a farm. We take time to eat and sit around the table 3 times a day. ( minus harvest and planting time). We grow a huge garden, I can, I freeze. We raise and butcher chickens for meat. Every Sunday you will find us sitting in the church pew. A lot like you. We are famers. We proudly grow GMO crops. We have seen the benefits modern farming practices have brought to the health of our soil, land and community. Every night we have our kids in the chicken barn collecting eggs. I realize this your blog…but please do remember that the people growing the food for the majority of the nation are people, families, mothers, fathers. Most of us were born into this occupation, inherit the land our parents and grandparents toiled on. We are not destroying it…we are taking care of it the best way we know how with the hope that one day our children will be able to farm it as well. So yes…please meet your local farmers, shake hands with us, ask questions, by all means, buy local, learn where your food comes from.
Laura
April 27, 2017 at 11:22 amI needed this reminder. It feels like a constant uphill battle to make nutritious/ethical food choices, especially when we’re still in the Dave Ramsey no wiggle room in the budget phase of our lives. I feel like every grocery shop is an moral dilema :/
jackie
April 28, 2017 at 9:42 amTotally agree, I’ve seen this time and again…no time to cook…but plenty of time play on facebook and spend hours in front of the tv. We’re trying to raise our kids differently, and yep we’re ‘that family’. I feel like we’re an oddity. I’m also seriously considering just tossing our tv set entirely, I loved your post on it a while back. How is that going now?
Karie Murray
April 29, 2017 at 1:20 pmYes! And Amen! Friends keep coming to me asking for diet advise….. My #1 response is know where your food comes from!
Monica Mansfield
May 1, 2017 at 8:27 pmPreach sister!
Morgan
May 10, 2017 at 9:12 amYes. This. All of this. Your words are lovely and true. You have articulated here what I have been trying to put in to words. I’ll definitely be sharing this. The world needs more folks thinking this way. Thank you!
Elli
July 5, 2017 at 11:19 pmGiirrrrrlll! if we lived closer we’d be tight! Our culture raises is to NOT think through the ripple effects of our actions. Abuse, exploit and produce; as long as we don’t see (or acknowledge) any negative right in front of us poor stewardship is just normal. So sad. What wonderful things would happen if Jesus-people took stewardship seriously?!
Matt Johnson
July 21, 2017 at 1:59 pmI love this I just found your blog today. I myself have a garden and an aquaponics system and have meat rabbits. I live in town so I can’t have the pigs and cows but, I am looking to get some land so that we can start our own homestead on a bigger scale. this post hit close to home because I am really wanting to get away from all the pre-made GMO farmed and additive added foods. I have read a lot of your posts just today this is a great blog keep up the great work.
Gina W.
August 14, 2017 at 9:05 amGirl! You. Are. My FAV! I love your blog. I love your writing. I am a sustainable farmer/homesteader/homeschooling/entrepreneur – reading your blog is like reading my life! You totally nail it, Every. Time. Thanks for taking the time to write what you write – it is such a blessing to so many of us fighting this fight.
AND seriously that Eggs Florentine recipe – totally the bomb diggity! We may live like paupers on our farm, but we sure eat like Kings and Queens!
Thanks for sharing Shaye!
For His Glory Alone!
Gina 🙂