My weekend was spent driving back and forth from UCSF visiting Nigel. As most of you know he is in for cancer treatment; chemo and stem cell transplant. Spending so much time sitting around at UCSF I did a little research on cancer and agricultural workers, and this is a bit of what I found out. Apparently farmers, farmer’s wives and farm workers tend to live longer because they have physical jobs and more often do not smoke. Well that is very cool, but...
“However, compared with the general population, the rates for certain diseases, including some types of cancer, appear to be higher among agricultural workers, which may be related to exposures that are common in their work environments. For example, farming communities have higher rates of leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and soft tissue sarcoma, as well as cancers of the skin, lip, stomach, brain, and prostate.” http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/risk/ahs
Cancer aside, the increase of food allergies we see in our children today is more than alarming. Then there is obesity, diabetes, heart disease in young teenagers, all occurring at unbelievable rates. Modern day food and farming practices are literally making Americans sick and even killing us. The promised food security of Roundup Resistant GMO crops isn’t working; the weeds are outsmarting the Roundup. Now they are introducing stronger herbicides. More spraying, more crop dusters flying, more poisons running off into the Bay and polluting the air. There is no escaping these toxic chemicals.
An Eatwell Farm CSA Farm Box is packed with nutrient dense, sustainably grown organic produce.
Photo by Kia from WithLovely.com.
But we can make a difference. Every CSA subscription is a vote against the standard practices of industrialized food production. So I ask you, all of you, please join us in making the changes we so desperately need; tell your friends and neighbors, co-workers, family, the friendly person on BART about your Farm and your CSA.
We have new postcards you can put out in the break room at your office or your school, hand out at your book club meeting, or your place of worship, Boys Scout or Girl Scout troop meetings. You can order them for free as an add-on to your CSA box.
Emily and I are available to come and speak at your organization’s monthly meetings (we even have a sweet little slide show now), and we bring treats! Use us, I LOVE to talk. Food is my passion, and I want to make a difference, especially for our kids. I will come and cook with your kids if you get enough of them together. Talk about changing the world, imagine what a difference we could make just by teaching our kids how to cook!
Together we can make things happen. Let’s not fight Big Ag, let’s make them irrelevant!
Lorraine