Update: I was corrected by someone and told that People’s Gardens are the name for Community Gardens, not people’s individual gardens. It still doesn’t sit well with me.

Last month the USDA announced People’s Gardens.

I’m sure that my thoughts on why this database will be questioned by the “anything having to do with gardening is great crowd,” much like my post on Michelle Obama and the White House Garden was, but this just doesn’t sit well with me.

When the S510 Food Safety Act was being discussed, I thought it smelled a bit funny. I think this smells even worse.

The headline that of the press release for the launch was, “USDA Launches Database for Public to Sign-up and Show their People’s Gardens on Interactive Map; Promotes Access to Healthy Food, Sustainable Practices.”

The press release goes on to describe the program:

With the opportunity for the people to enter their People’s Gardens into the database, they will be able to describe each garden, identify who is involved¸ where it is located as well as attach photos and add the contact information for their partners. For those who start a People’s Garden, they can ask to have a People’s Garden sign shipped to them. To view the interactive People’s Garden map and access the database, go to www.pubinfo.usda.gov/garden.

Of course USDA Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wants to promote access to healthy food and sustainable practices. I mean he did greenlight Monsanto’s genetically engineered alfalfa and has been in the pocket of the biotech company for years.

Come on. Let’s be real here. If Monsanto does indeed want to control the food and seed supply and Vilsack is one of their puppets, why would I ever register my garden and give them all of my information. Why would you?

Maybe I’ve read 1984 or other conspiracy theories too much. This screams of them wanting to know more about us and who is indeed growing their own food to eventually crack down on that. It would be the perfect chance to fine us for growing too much of it.

With all that’s going on and what the USDA and Vilsack have done, I just don’t believe that they want this information to promote what they are saying. I certainly will not be registering my garden.

What’s your thoughts on People’s Gardens?

There was a post on EcoSalon titled The Conscious Case Against Veganism by Abigail Wick.

The gist of the post was that just because one is vegan that doesn’t mean that they are eating in a more sustainable way than an omnivore. This is a topic that I wrote about in the past on GreenLifestyle Magazine.

To me what was most interesting about her post were the comments. The people who left comments were so tied to their label – be it vegan or omnivore.

“As a vegan…”

“Veganism is about…”

People are so tied to this label that they cling to it and let it define them. Like there are bylaws that have to define you. As someone who eats a predominantly plant based diet, I’m often told that I’m not a “true vegan” because I consume honey.

Who really gives a shit? I don’t want to be a “true vegan.” I just want to be me. Food is just one small aspect of me and who I am.

What I’d like to see is more people becoming conscious eaters. I’d love to see “vegans” and “omnivores” unite together against something that both can see something inherently wrong with…factory farming.

Let’s drop the labels that have been bestowed upon us by society and do something against this atrocity that’s now known as the industrial agriculture system. This issue is much larger and will have a greater impact on the environment and our health than the bickering that is currently going on.

So who’s down to join the conscious eating movement? How are you going to start today?

Tom Philpott beat me to the punch on this one. He wrote a similar article on Grist.org for the Vegan/Omnivore Alliance against Animal Factories. Let’s all join in on this and make some true change.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEF5VsKPlbE

When President Obama was campaigning in 2008, there was all this promise of “change”. That was the rallying cry “change.” Everyone jumped on board and was happy when he was voted in.

One of the first things that happened when he moved into office was his wife, Michelle, became the poster child for healthy living, especially for kids, with her Let’s Move program.

She also received and continues to receive a lot of press coverage from traditional media about the organic garden in the White House that she had created. She recently planted the third garden. Now she is coming out with a book on healthy food. It’s exactly what I want – a woman who joins forces with Walmart to tell me about healthy eating.

I mean this is awesome. We have a first lady that is promoting healthy living and organic gardening to the nation. Doesn’t get better than that does it?

At face value this might seem like the change that we were hoping for, but take a look at what her husband is doing such as appointing former Monsanto Executive Michael Taylor to the Food Czar role in the FDA and possibly being behind the push of GMO alfalfa.

So this gets me thinking.

Is she doing this because she believes in it?

Or is she doing it as a distraction while her husband does the dirty work behind the scenes and continues to undermine the American people and our food choices?

Every time she has one of these events based on the garden, traditional media outlets eat the shit up, but shy away from what her husband is doing.

She flashes her smile, takes a few pictures with some kids and a garden bed on the White House lawn and the world is a better place. To me it wreaks of a public relations cover-up and a photo-op. We need to look beyond the photo and look at what’s really happening to our food system and not be lulled by what she’s doing.

I don’t want to hear the she is an independent woman and can have varying views from her husband reason either. The opposing viewpoints of organic and GMO are like a Jew and a Nazi being partners.

Am I being a cynic by thinking this? Should we be happy that she is promoting organic gardening and healthy living? Or should we be outraged that she’s providing a decoy for her husband?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnpWagp-Pxo

Photo courtesy of USDAGov

There was a post on SimpleBites.net by Aimee titled Why (and How) You Should Create a Healthy Food Culture for Your Family that got me thinking about the food and health culture that I’ve created and the one that I grew up with.

Aimee’s talks about food culture as it relates to couples and kids, why food culture is important today, the food culture of her family and how you can create one of your own. I’d like to address some of those same issues and some others as well.

My Food Culture Growing Up
Growing up I always had to be home for family dinner at 6pm – no excuses and no exceptions. At the time I hated it. All of my friends would be at the park or on the street hanging out, and I’d have to go home to eat dinner with my family.

Looking back it wasn’t such a bad thing. Though there aren’t many fond memories or recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. That aspect is lost. To be honest my mom isn’t a great cook.

I don’t care if she reads this (she likely won’t), but she ain’t good. So there was and is no yearning for one of her home cooked meals.

When it comes to food culture people automatically think

• Pasta – Italian
• Borscht – Russian
• Noodles – Chinese
• Fat – American

My Food Culture Now
Nearly every night my girlfriend, Anita, and I eat a home cooked meal together. No matter what’s going on or how busy we are, we share that time to sit down, talk about the day and enjoy our meal together. Prior to each meal we give a quick thanks for the food and everyone that went into getting it to our plate.

Why You Should Create Your Own Food Culture
One of the biggest reasons that you should create your own is because your current food system is so jacked and screwed up. I’ve given plenty of reasons to grow your own food and those same ones apply to starting your own food culture. There is also the exploitation of women that happens in our current food system.

These are reasons to start your own food culture to start appreciating food, where it comes from and how it nourishes us.

Start Your Own Food Culture
You don’t necessarily have to have a spouse and kids to start your food culture. You can do it on your own or with friends and family. Once a month you can get together with friends and family to host pot lucks or dinners that feature whole foods and bring people together that way. Get creative with it.

What is the food culture that you have already created or want to create?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuNdeOA0qmc

The rising food prices have been in the news a lot lately. I mean c’mon it helped to cause an uprising in Egypt.

Here in the States, the food prices are starting to rise as well. While indeed that may be true, it’s not the food that is too expensive it’s everything else that goes into getting the food to your plate that’s causing the price to increase.

The Daily Green had a great post titled For Every Dollar You Spend on “Food,” Less than 16 Cents Pays for Food. They broke down where the money goes based on what the USDA reports.

Wait how much actually goes to the food?
As you can tell by the title less than 16% of each dollar goes towards the actual food. The other 84% goes towards the marketing of the food.

They break down that 84% even further. Food processing (19%) and services (34%) make the lion share of that 84%.

Food processing are the ones that process your food into the “food” products that can be found on the shelves. Food services are the ones that distribute, package and label the food.

Pretty much what this means is that most of the money that we are paying for food goes to the middleman NOT to paying for the food. This system doesn’t seem like one that can work and is sustainable in the long term.

That is the real issue.

Great food prices are rising, but what can we do?
Our current food system relies on these middlemen to provide us with our food. I say we cut these middlemen out of the equation thus bringing down the price of food.

There are a few ways that you can cut out the middleman and get your food from closer to the source.

• Start to grow your own food. You might not be able to fully survive off of what you grow, but every little bit matters.
• Go to your local farmers market and buy directly from the grower. There is no middleman involved there.
• Join your local CSA. This is a good way to connect with others in your area and to support the local farmers.

By doing any of those or a combination of them, we can combat the high prices of food and help to cause the change that we want to see.

What are other things that we can do about the rising food prices?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4txpTgGpvBw