I have always been interested in where my food comes from. As a child I loved going to pumpkin patches and you-pick farms. My siblings and I were always excited to have the chance to walk through a pumpkin patch searching for the perfect and biggest one we could find to bring back home. We would also pick the sweetest berries from the blackberry brambles that grow wild all over Nevada County. As a child I was more concerned with getting the darkest berry and the largest pumpkin. That’s still true today, but there is much more to it now.
We have become detached from knowing where our food comes from. There is an expectation that everything we buy in the store is clean and safe. How can we be sure or know for certain? Knowing more about your food can be your own source of food safety and regulation. As consumers we should be regulating the farming practices we like and don’t like by doing what consumers do best, buying. Instead we allow the government and other agencies to regulate and tell us what is safe.Â
I know it’s not possible to visit every farm that you purchase food from. Imagine though, what it would be like if you could see all the farms those items came from. I know that just in the Capay Valley you could get everything you needed from the farms located here. We have multiple organic farms growing a wide range of different fruits and vegetables. There are farmers producing fresh sources of dairy products and meats. You can even get fresh cut flowers, colored cotton, wool, and preserved goods. The most amazing part of all of this is that all these farms can be visited during a day in the Valley. Now I know this would work great in an ideal world.Â
Currently, I don’t follow exactly what I preach, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to. Of course money and time are always a factor. However, living in the beautiful Capay Valley has had endless rewards. Being part of this community has made me realize that food matters. There is one thread that connects us all and I think food is that thread. We all must eat to survive. So why not spend more time getting comfortable with the farmers who grow it?
There is a lot of transparency with the farms here and I love that. Most of the farmers here don’t mind having people visit their farm. They understand the importance of having people come out to visit. As consumers we should also have the right to be able to go out to farms and see what is happening. A friend, who grew up around Agriculture once told me that she would rather eat something from a small local farm than from an organic farm far away. She went on to make the point that we have no idea about what is actually happening on that far away organic farm. However, with a small local farm you can visit them and encourage them to be different.
For all of you that do get fruits and vegetables from Full Belly Farm I encourage you to come and see what’s growing. We always have opportunities for those we help to feed to visit the farm. In fact our next Open Farm Day is June 13th, 2015. This is a chance for us to thank you with a free tour of the farm. It is also a chance to come and check us out and see what we are all about. I look forward to seeing you then.Â
—Jordan Dixon
Outreach and Education Director
