The economy is improving….that’s what I heard. Interesting that the word “ improving” is used. There is an assumption that a growing economy is a good thing. Is it? A growing economy is all about consumerism and our society tends to consume unconsciously. Consuming without a consciousness, without regard to consequences, is the cancer that has brought us to our world condition. I am preaching to the choir but you are the only ones listening and maybe some of what I will say will show up in your conversations with your circle and it will spread. Every time we spend a dollar we are voting for the thing we are buying. We tend to be buying what the media says we should be buying or what we have become accustomed to having. Unconsciously we are conveniently destroying the planet. Craig asked me this morning if I wanted to continue with the farm. We will be profitable with 150 more customers. It is a battle up stream for stronger or maybe younger people than I. It’s holding a believe so strongly that the day to day trials or the bumps in the road are just that, bumps in the road. Nothing more. They only need solutions to move forward. The critical thing for me is to remain inspired. To keep the focus of the farm day to day without losing sight of the bigger mission. Keeping that focus and inspiration comes by accident or maybe by divine intervention but it comes….as it did a moment ago… I am sitting here talking to one of our customers. He is working on our computer system. His name is Leo and he just had a conversation with a friend about our food. The friend was intrigued and asked what he was paying of his food. Leo replied “I don’t know. All I know is that I get $50 worth of meat a week and we love it. I know it is healthy. The farmer isn’t feeding my cows other cows and I know I am doing the right thing by buying local and environmentally healthy food”. The friend said “That’s crazy. Your probably getting ripped off. I don’t care if they feed my cow car tires, I just want to have the meat cheap”. Leo didn’t really have anything left to say that wouldn’t inspire a food fight so being Leo he inspired the food fight and I can’t print the rest of the conversation…. So the cost of the food. You can look at our P & L. It is sitting on my desk. Happy to show it to you. You won’t get that information from the food in the supermarket. What is missing from the cost of your steak in the super market:
- the oil costs to grow the grain for the cow to eat
- the antibiotics to keep it alive while it is eating the corn or soy (as it is poison for a cow to eat grain)
- the antibiotics are also used to keep the cow from becoming ill standing knee deep in manure and urine
- the cost of the cleanup of the manure ponds leeching into local ground water
- the cost of the millions of gallons of water to feed confined cows and clean the buildings in which they suffer
- the cost of hauling the animals from the farm to the feed lots to the butcher to the distribution center to the grocery store and then you to your house and back from the store.
