The Fruit Of Hard Times

[The Helpful Gardener]

The processing of foodstuffs has had massive effects on how we eat and what we eat. Our distrust of naturally raised products with the occasional blemish has led to us eating poisoned products to assuage our distaste for the imperfect. I am often regarded with incredulity when I offer up a wild food, or even produce from our garden. I am reminded of an aquaintance that would give eggs from her chickens to her mother, only to find that Mom was ditching them as they were "wierd; all different sizes".

The key message here seems to be unclench the butt cheeks and embrace the natural aspects of natural food. Perfection is not natural, and it cannot be attained with natural methods. It is like when I see a perfect, dark green lawn, unblemished by a weed. At what cost to the environment, the wildlife, and most importantly, the inhabitants? It seems exposing ourselves to potential dangers is the cost of perfection.

Is it worth it?

HG

[muland]

For me the weird shapes and unexpected crosses in garden vegetables is part of the fun. When Fukuoka talks about growing at least some of his trees from seed he knows they probably won't be commercially viable (about 1,000-1). But he loves the diversity and the plain fun of having unexpected things going on in the yard. Plus, what fruit is produced from those trees will not be wasted as they will be gladly eaten up by wildlife.

[Toil]

HG, I was having some corn on the cob the other day, and my dad pointed out that it's the only produce people will still eat if it is blemished by pests. We wondered if it's maybe because the husks always look good.

If we could take that and spread to apples and oranges, what a step that would be!

But my point is that it isn't impossible. If they can accept earworm they can accept anything.