Value-Added

On the best kind of recent fall day, I was out picking through the black beans we planted this year.  No wind, bright sun, the red oak tree in front looking as good as she ever does.  Planting things like shell beans-- which come cheap to buy and take awhile to come to fruition, and some work to make usable--are one of my favorite things to plant.  Kind of like our potatoes this year.  B came home from the store the other day and said, "You wouldn't believe how cheap potatoes were at the store!"  I do believe it, but I replied that we were not planting a garden because it saves a lot of money.  It's a value-added kind of thing.
Reasons to plant potatoes (or black beans, or an apple tree):

1. The mailing from the United Farm Workers this week included pictures of worker housing.  Since most produce harvested in the U.S. is harvested by the kind of folks this union represents, it's good to pay attention to their working conditions. The photo that caught my attention more than people sleeping in their vehicle or in old motels, was the one with 6 people in a one-room shack with no utilities.  Each person who lives there pays $180 a month rent.  Knowing where our food comes from helps us know the real price, beyond $0.99 for a 10 pound bag. 
2. I read a book once by the brilliant science-fiction writer Octavia Butler.  She writes into a future where people are surviving drought and the state of California is burning.  Survival is the name of the game; the protagonist making it, in part because she knows something about seeds and growing food.  Older people in our contemporary society often speak of surviving the Depression because they lived on a farm and "we were never hungry".  Not to cross over into the survivalist mentality of those storing up food in Montana, but then again, they may be right about some things...
3. Just take a bite of a peach or an ear of corn that you grew yourself.  Taste how much spicier the arugula is.  How much juicier the pear.  How much better the salsa is when it's made with genuine vine-ripened tomatoes.
4. It's a matter of pride.  Or is it humility, because one never really knows how it works...or doesn't.  All this life and nourishment is merely a miracle.
5. Caring for the earth and co-creating beauty makes the world a better place for the whole.