by Carie Moore
Once upon a time there was a mom, who grew and raised food for the world, fed her family conventional/organic/GMO/gluten-free/almond milk/dairy/diet pop/water, supported consumer choices, and was happy. That’s me. I’m that mom.
My family is fed, healthy, and knows where their food comes from. They know it takes all kinds of people and farms to produce the food they eat. They know and trust the decisions we make on the farm and in the store. They get tired of me reading labels and explaining the different seeds and chemical we use, but I’m a firm believer that more is caught than taught in society today. Especially with kids. They see everything we do, good and bad. It’s important to me that what they see is a good example, not only in myself but in other farmers we know as well.
Kids ask a lot of questions and if they don’t, we need to ask them if they have any questions. Trust me, the wheels are always turning in their heads and they are usually honest and straightforward in what they want to know. Chances are also it’s things we don’t even think about. By them asking us, we can prepare ourselves to answer other students in the classrooms we visit and people we encounter in our lives. Sometimes we don’t have all the answers, but we should be able to explain our choices and what we do and why. Just like you would ask a doctor or a lawyer for clarification, we too should be ready to answer for our profession.
There are a lot of things in life that aren’t fair. Like why is a big sugar-laden bar or cookie at a high school event only $1 and could feed 2-3 kids, and a small tray of fruit or veggies to feed 1 person is $4? You don’t think kids pick up on that when a mom gives them $5 to spend? We want to teach them proper money management, but we also want to teach them healthy food choices.
That’s why we really should never discriminate against farms. When things are on clearance because people can’t afford them at full price, yes, I’m buying the organic chicken or lettuce mix at 75% off that week. My kids drink cow’s milk as do I for my lattes, but for my protein shakes I buy almond milk. There’s no shame in that. I know that we all work hard to provide for families even though they may not all be the same kind of farm.
I’m thankful we live in a place where we have so many choices. We all won’t agree on everything but we all agree we need food. We need people to produce it and people to eat it. And that’s no fairy tale!