What Happened To Our Food?

I don’t trust our food system the way I used to.
Our food chain has become enormously complicated.
Food travels thousands of miles. It’s grown with pesticides, processed with preservatives, recalled because of pathogens, and loaded with added sugar. Much of what fills grocery store shelves is produced by enormous corporations with enormous financial interests.
And somewhere along the way, we’ve become disconnected from our food.
We don’t always know where it came from.
We don’t know how it was grown.
We don’t know what was used on it.
We don’t know how long ago it was harvested.
Sometimes, we barely recognize the ingredients.

It didn’t used to be this way.

There was a time when growing some of your family’s food was simply a normal part of life. During the Victory Garden years, millions of American families grew vegetables in backyards, community plots, and whatever little patch of ground they could find.
Today, most of us depend almost entirely on somebody else to grow our food.
And I think we’ve lost something because of that.
Today, most of us depend almost entirely on somebody else to grow our food.
And I think we’ve lost something because of that.

I know that’s strong language.
But I feel strongly about this.
We’ve become remarkably disconnected from the food we eat—where it came from, how it was grown, what was used on it, how it was handled, and how long ago it was harvested.

And every time there’s another recall, contamination problem, or concern about what’s in our food, I’m reminded why I started growing so much of our own in the first place.
I don’t believe everyone needs to become a farmer.
I don’t believe everything at the grocery store is bad.
And I’m certainly not suggesting that growing a few vegetables or microgreens is going to replace the grocery store.
But I do believe that every bit of food you learn to grow for yourself gives you a little more knowledge, a little more confidence, and a little more control over what you put on your family’s table.

And you don’t need acres of land to do it.
You don’t even need a yard.
You can grow fresh food in a garden, on a patio, in containers, on a shelf, or right on your kitchen counter.
You can introduce your family to foods they’ve never tried before—a few leaves, a few shoots, a few tastes at a time.
You can change your own palate.
You might even change your kids’ palates.
And you don’t have to figure all of this out by yourself.
You don’t need to spend hours searching the internet, sorting through confusing, contradictory, and sometimes just plain wrong answers.

Sometimes you just need someone you can ask.
Someone who’s actually grown the stuff.
Someone who’s made the mistakes.
Someone who’s tried again.
Someone who’s been doing it for a very, very long time.
That’s what I’m here for.
You can start with something as small as one tray of pea shoots on your kitchen counter.

Let’s grow some food.

And you don’t need acres of land to do it.