Zen and the Art of Eating Part 6: Three Reasons Why It Is Better To Grow Your Own Food.

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This week, I have been talking about eating since eating is one of the most powerful ways to deprogram ourselves from the old paradigm and help us regain our health, which by the way, is related to wealth as it is shown in their spellings.

 

When we talk about food, production is part of the process, because all animals obtain food by themselves; humans are the only species who get others to do the production.

 

Today, let me tell you three reasons why it is better for us to grow our own food.

 

First, it is safer for us. Recently, we don’t really know what contains in food we buy. It applies, even when we buy organic food. What does it mean by organic? It means chemical fertilizers aren’t used; organic fertilizers are used instead. What are organic fertilizers? Cow dung, swine manure, poultry manure, oil cake, rice bran, straws, fallen leaves, vegetable scraps, and so on. Where do they come from? What kind of food were those cows eating? How was the oil produced? Where was the rice grown? We don’t know. That’s the problem.

 

When you grow food yourself, you can control what fertilizers you use and what seed you use; not 100%, but to a certain degree.

 

Again, I wouldn’t get too worried about it, since you can’t make everything perfect in your life, but if you have an option of making your own food, I will consider it.

 

The second reason is that you become familiar with the process of growing food so that even if you stop growing food, you can always restart it. Acquiring farming skills is an asset. When you choose food, you will know what to look at, too. You will also be able to appreciate farmers by knowing what it takes to produce food. You are not completely detached from food production which makes you more like a regular animal.

 

The third reason is that by working closely with soil, you will have higher chances of interacting with microorganisms, which help you build stronger immune system, just like bacteria do when you ferment food. You will understand the eco-system more, by seeing what happens to plants if they don’t get enough sunlight or water, what kinds of weeds there are, and what kinds of insects there are. It will put you more in touch with nature and give you a holistic perspective.

 

Now I don’t grow everything; I only grow a few vegetables; the rest I buy from neighboring farmers. Partly because I don’t have enough time, and partly because I want to support local farmers. I now feel it is more efficient to have a division of labor within a local community than being self-sufficient in a family scale. Therefore I don’t think we all need to grow our own food, but I recommend that you try growing food once in your life; it will transform you completely.