Inch by Inch

“A patent on seeds is a patent on freedom.”
- Ka Memong Patayan 

It never ceases to amaze me how often the world seems to come full circle. Or maybe how my life and the world often feel closer than 6-degrees of separation. Maybe it’s just ironic that my life and the circumstances in the world are feeling so parallel…or maybe not.

Less than a week ago, 22 agricultural associations, 12 seed businesses and 26 farms and farmers from around the United States filed a legal suit against Monsanto, a US-based agricultural biotech corporation. Monsanto, best know for its Round-Up resistant (yes, Round Up the Herbicide which has been banned in many countries for its impact on all creatures great and small) patented soy beans, corn and cotton seeds, has effectively and efficiently created a monopoly on genetically modified (GM) seeds. With this patent, other farms and farmers not using these seeds run the risk of being sued if the seed is found on their land, even if it was carried via wind, soil or bird poop and it is not beyond Monsanto to sue, threaten or harass small farmers right out of business should this happen. Their claim? Copyright infringement, seed stealing, etc,. This suit, which challenges Monsanto’s rights, would prohibit Monsanto from suing these small farms and seed companies, should they’re land/product/seed become cross-contaminated.  (visit http://www.percyschmeiser.com/ for more information on a real life example of the disastrous effects of this reality).

At the same time as all of this is transpiring, I am watching (with joy) as the  tiny seeds we planted last weekend have begun to unfurl. The heirloom tomato seeds…the pickling cucumbers…the lemongrass…all at various stages of bloom. Seed to dirt, water, sun, a little heat, some gentle coaxing and voila (!), my fears of failing my family begin to melt away. Such little effort and the fruits of our labor seem so close, I can nearly feel the sweat on my brow as I can a years supply of heirloom tomato sauce.  And though I have to believe that my tiny backyard garden will never be affected by seed-bullies like Monsanto, I struggle to understand what this really means for these farmers, the future of agriculture and food production as we know it.

The more and more I read and subsequently, the more and more I learn, I cannot help by feel discouraged by the direction our world is headed in . Naively, I thought I “got it” before we started this project, but I sheepishly must admit, I had no idea the scope or impact of what I would find. And though I feel ‘late for the game’, as it goes to talking about food production and sustainability, I have to say, I think the real conversations have only just begun. Leave it to me to equate singing songs to the tiny seeds on my windowsill with the impact of genetically modified seeds in rural Nebraska, but damn, I’ve gone and done it. And now you, well you’ve got to read about it. What’s your “6-degrees” or parallel process? What does food production mean to your family? And how does the proverbial “we” ensure that Round-Up resistant seeds don’t make it on to our kitchen tables, and into the bellies of our children, because right now, im pretty sure it’s closer than I want it to be. What’s on your table?

The Start of our Journey (or all the reasons why we shouldn’t commit to our 100-mile diet)

100-miles. At first it seems so far. I can drive 100-miles in half a day. If I was crazy enough, I could probably walk 100 miles. But eat food, only grown within 100-miles? Maybe too crazy… Or not?

The idea to first start a so-called 100-Mile diet first came to me about 3 years ago. The book Plenty by Alissa Smith and J.B. McKinnon was given to me and I devoured it. Next, I polished off Real Food by Nina Planck. Each of these books was inspiring and intriguing. Some new concepts and some that just made sense and I began to wonder, if they could do it– explain WHY and show HOW, then why couldn’t we make it happen in our own family?

Maybe it’s easier to start with the reasons why we SHOULDN’T commit to our 100-Mile Diet.

Reason Number 1.We’re busy. Not just “busy” but REALLY BUSY. Two parents with two full-time jobs. Three kids with three full-time lives (dance, piano, theatre, girl scouts, art, friends…), a dog, two cats, two huge fish tanks, one gecko and crickets (for the gecko). And though we work very hard to plan our meals ahead (cooking on Sunday to have home-made meals for the week), it’s time-consuming. The thought of driving 30-miles to get the ground beef that was forgotten for Tuesday’s Spaghetti Night, is enough to drive this over-tired, over-worked mom crazy. The 100-Mile diet will require planning. Serious planning. Can my overworked Day-Planner take anymore?

Reason Number 2. We’re not wealthy. By any stretch. As a matter of fact, sometimes it feels like all we do is stretch. Use this dollar here instead of there…Reuse this to cover for that. You get the point. In my head and in my experience, it cost more to buy locally and it cost more to buy organically. And I know this to be true from my sad “I’ll buy THIS organic but not THAT organic” grocery shopping experiences because sometimes it just cost too much (even though I know it’s the right thing to do). I can hear my mother thinking loud and clear when I rationalize this reason to not commit– it’s just not frugally smart. I mean really, who do we think we are? We may have the brains to back it up, but will our check book?

Reason Number 3. We have kids (see Reason Number 1 for description). Fabulously funny, creative and historically stubborn at dinner, kids. I’ve tried all kinds of strategies to get them to try new things… a “no-thank you bite”… disguising and hiding food (cauliflower as cheese in homemade mac n cheese/mushrooms chopped up real small in tomato sauce, etc…)…creating a family cook-book complete with a rating system to engage them in the food making and sharing experience…shopping together…heck, I’ve even resorted to begging, pleading and compromising. Despite all this, the message to them is still the same. Food- good food- makes you healthy, smart and strong. We eat good food so we can grow up to be healthy people. (insert this lecture over the visual of small child dejectedly pushing brussel sprouts around and around her plate). So the thought of picking up our summer CSA only to say “look kids, bok choy/brussel sprouts/rutabaga (insert decidedly unpopular vegetable here)” again and endure a dinner-table negotiation worthy of the Middle Eastern Peace Summit is a tad-bit stressful.

I could probably come up with more reasons why we SHOULDN’T commit to a life-changing, potentially overwhelming, planning and logistical nightmare simply to eat breakfast lunch and dinner but I think I’ve proven the point. We recognize that this will not be easy and we believe it will take preperation. But like our favorite Tim Gunn would say, we’re committed to “make it work”! And so, we’ve started the conversations happening- at the dinner table (“Does this mean I can’t eat Cheez-its anymore?!”), in the grocery store (“See, that banana is from Columbia. I wonder how far away Columbia is?”)- really, any chance we get. And we’ve decided that this venture will require some serious planning in order to be well prepared. (For those of you who know me, knows that this really means time to make some lists!). So we’ll take the next few months to organize– locate all our local farmers, plan some field trips to different farms and start to make our own garden.

April 22, 2011- EARTH DAY- will kick off our first of 365 days of local eating. Until then, we’ll hone our locavore skills. If we can’t get sugar, where do we get honey? If we can’t get olive oil, what are our other options? Who has the best meat available? Is a CSA a better choice than visiting the farmers markets every week? We’re also working on a few rules, so stay tuned. We’ll use this blog as a family blog so everyone can post throughout the experience. Feel free to add and share. We’ll take all the love, support and recipes we can get!