Emanuels blog: Peaches, Blueberries and the Future of the World

aaah, i love blueberries

My friend Kathie and I were picking peaches and blueberries yesterday. Just around the corner where I work right now is a small scale, organic farm where you can "pay and pick".

It was great! I used to do that as a kid, back in Austria, picking all kinds of berries and fruits in my grandmas garden and in the Alps.

But since then, I had not done it for ever.

So it felt like a trip back to my childhood, standing in this field, with a little box in my hand and hunting for the biggest, ripest, bluest sweetest blueberries in the world.

Not only was it fun, but it also it made me realize something more.

Last year, in my "Management for sustainability" class, one of colleagues gave a presentation about local food supplies and farmers markets. One of his main arguments was, that people who go to local farms reconnect with the land. They see, how food actually grows, get aware of seasonal food, the balance of nature and the unmeasurable worth of the land.

Let me say it differently:

I think we instinctively defend the place where our food comes from. Right now, for 90% of the people that is the Supermarket or Grocery store of their choice. But that's not where it actually comes from. Food comes from farms, is grown on land, by farmers that need money to survive. Big companies want to hide away this fact, cause people could get the idea of trying to protect their land against chemical agriculture, fertilizers, genetic engineering... destruction.

Being on that farm yesterday reconnected me with the land. It made me aware of the precious treasure we have and we forget to worship much to often.

I think everybody should have this experience regular. See where our food comes from, to see how important it is to keep our planet alive.

And it would be so easy.

Just imagine:

every school has a small garden, where students grow food, vegetables, berries, fruits, whatever grows. And every class would just spend 1 hour a week in this garden to maintain it and help growing the food.

Everybody would benefit. The students would reconnect with nature, learn about plants, how to grow a garden and what grows at which season. The school would have fresh, organic food to supply their own kitchen, and could provide more healthy, nourishing food for the students...

aaah... a perfect world would be so awesome ;)