Local Food Standard

Driving across the country has been my--dare I say it?--crash course in driving a standard transmission vehicle. I had gotten a lot of practice from California to Tennessee, then had my final exam early one morning when I found myself driving on 95 North through Manhattan.

As we approached the George Washington Bridge and read from our Google map directions: "Take the Lower Level," we wondered why that was the recommendation. The sign read, "Lower Level, local traffic; Upper Level, express."

We both agreed to take the express route--a no-brainer--or so we thought.

We paid the toll and found ourselves immediately surrounded by tractor trailer trucks on all sides. They were honking and moving progressively closer to our car, while we sat baffled and helpless in the rapidly ending lane.

The experience was not only frightening but also brought to a head the trend we'd been noticing from coast to coast: cargo truck after cargo truck carrying food from huge industrial farms to grocery stores...and then to the American table. This is a tragic reality not because the trucks endanger inexperienced New York drivers, but because of the immense demand they require on limited fossil fuels, not to mention the toll it takes on our connection to the earth as the source of our food.

Sunrise in Oklahoma City.  (The semi-trucks are barely out of view.)

The sun is up!  And we've been driving all night long...

Food from afar has become the American standard, although our population was once composed of fifty percent farmers. Just as the automatic car became "conventional" over standard transmission vehicles, our idea of "conventional"--or typical--food has come to mean something unnatural. And the term "organic" has come to mean expensive, rather than living and nutritious.

The good news is, there's hope. While the current system may seem ominous, everyone can make the change...right in our own back yards. If you don't have a back yard, you probably have a window where a box of herbs could grow. If you don't have a window, perhaps you have a roof.

The point is that we can all grow food for ourselves and our families--regardless of income or experience. If you have a question about how to get your garden growing, just contact one of us. It is our goal to take the exclusivity out of gardening. Because everyone deserves to eat food that's not covered in chemicals, and the planet deserves a break from all this oil we use for food transport.

And now, for the part of the story in which we turn off our standard transmission, stop using all that fossil fuel, and relax at our destination.

The station wagon full of things has been unloaded, and we have taken off the surf board we carried all the way. (We actually finally put it in the water two days ago, in Cape Cod, where Richard and I met his family for beach time and a surprise engagement party.) One might presume that the surf board was an inefficient addition to our load, but we found the car had better gas mileage than usual on our trip, and we can only conclude that the board acted as a kind of spoiler, giving us a bit of lift as we drove.

We certainly got a lift from the gentle waves at Nausset Beach, and we're happy to be home.

The two of us, after beaching it, at the family engagement party.

Our little plum saplings at the lake--now with leaves!