Spring Farmers Market Story

Spring has finally sprung! April showers are bringing May mushrooms (or flowers, if you prefer that sort of thing...). The monolithic parking-lot-snow-mountains have shrunk and finally slunk off in a watery retreat to the rain gutters of our fair village. The tips of sprouts are courageously poking out through the brown, frostbitten soil, buds are breaking the ice hardened skin of the bushes and trees, and all around us the bright green chlorophyll is tentatively singing the first few bars of her sweet song of promise. If you listen, you can almost hear it...it sounds like a collective sigh of relief as we all plunge together into the brief season apparently known in these parts as 'Not Winter'.



With Spring upon us, it seems that all we can talk about is gardening, farming, planting and growing food. There is no doubt that this instinct is as human as thousands of years of agriculturally based civilization can possibly make it. Let me clarify, at our core, we creatures of the earth have the simplest mechanism to keep us alive, that of survival. The desire to follow successful survivors is a manifestation of that base engine, and as humans, the successful survivors have been agriculturalists. So naturally, when spring reminds us of its bounty, we are culturally compelled to prepare the soil, to plant, and to plan for the harvest. Frankly, if we weren't so compelled our genetic traits would meander off aimlessly and probably fade from the gene pool altogether.



My grandfather was a dentist, but was raised on a farm in East Texas. At his home in Bryan throughout his life he kept a small vegetable patch, a few fruit trees and a few chickens. I think he was just cheap; when you are raised on a farm it is likely difficult to spend money on things that can be produced so easily at so little expense. (I'm joking, of course, I mean he was definitely cheap, but farming is not easy...) The beauty of his example, though, is another fact of farm life that we are all quietly aware of. Fresh food tastes better. He knew it and couldn't be satisfied by the grocery store's poor excuse for quality, and we know it, but suppress the knowledge because our busy lives have made the idea of farming and even gardening seem like hobbies or vanity projects. The industrial age has been a noble human pursuit, but it has come at the expense of the flavour, healthfulness and quality of our food (and our lives), and ultimately our connection to the earth itself. This is illustrated clearly by both health crises we are facing as humans and by the looming threat of global warming, a health crisis for our planet.



But Spring has sprung. Everywhere we look or listen today people are talking about these issues. Commercials for organic baby food have entered primetime, hybrid cars are not just for tree huggers and hippies, recycling and energy conservation are now the winning buzzwords for successful politicians, not just the claptrap of the fringe. Is the battle over? No, of course not, it's just beginning, but it is beginning in earnest and with vigor. I know in my heart that humans will turn this mess around, and I'll tell you why. Survival. We always end up rooting for the winning team. We are so hardwired to win this game that we will do whatever it takes to make it happen. And mark my words, those who don't will wander off aimlessly and their genetic information will fade from the gene pool altogether.



What can you do? Eat local, shop local, buy those funny looking light bulbs, quit driving so much and quit buying from people who drive so much. If you do buy from abroad, and we all do, choose organic. The branch will be starting a Sunday afternoon farmer's market on May 27th; let’s all pitch in and support our local farmers. It's our best good chance to win this race. This human race.