tomato
Dear Readers,
If you’ve been wondering about the silence over the past week here at Vegan Reader, please let me share with you that we’ve been moving house. For our family, this isn’t just a shift from one abode to another, but a change in our life that we’ve been working toward for several years. We have finally managed to rent a country home with the land we need to begin our quest for greater sustainability.

While we don’t have enough land at this point to grow our own wheat, and our area isn’t appropriate for growing grains like rice, we aim to begin producing some 75% of our own food here. As vegans, all of our meals come from the plant kingdom, so by surrounding ourselves with an organic garden, we’re going to be able to eat well and affordably once we get things going. This is a really big deal for us!

Also of great importance is the fact that we’ve managed to escape the choke-hold of the vineyards which have robbed us of our health and peace with their constant spraying of pesticides. Doubtless, we’ll be facing other challenges in our new home, but vineyards will not be one of them. Praise be!

We are still surrounded by packing boxes and in eager search of a rototiller, but every morning, I wake up here with thankfulness and an increased commitment to continue fighting the use of pesticides in California. I will never be able to rest truly easy knowing that, at any moment, a neighbor may wreck our organic farm by spraying his conventional one.

It occurs to me that every Californian who sets about using the land to gain either food for the family or profits from the market faces a choice. It’s a money choice. If I could stand in front of you an offer you two pricey lifestyles, one of which was addiction to expensive drugs and the other of which was purchasing organic food, you’d have some thinking to do. Both routes will cost you money, but one will buy you sickness and death and the other will buy you health. It’s your money and your choice.

By the same token, the farmer can invest his money in chemicals and pesticides or he can invest it in improving his soil so that his plants are naturally healthy and disease-resistant. One route buys you toxic food, the other, healthy food. Both choices require a serious financial investment. The substance-addicted farmer can purchase that pesticide year after year, forcing his sickly plants to produce food-like objects from sick soil, but the organic farmer’s investment will build on itself as the years go by. His soil will get better and better with each passing harvest and the quality of his produce will likewise improve. His is the sustainable choice.

As you can guess, our family is going to make that sustainable choice. Our compost heap is already under way and I have spent the past few days planting bird and bee attracting plants around the perimeter of our little farm in hopes that I can encourage these helpers to come be part of our small eco-system here. We’ve got a long road ahead of us and a ton to learn, but I believe we are finally getting to take our first steps in the right direction and I hope you will celebrate this big move with us!
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Photo Credit to Manjith Kaini