The Future of Food is Slow Food

I just watched the documentary, The Future of Food. It's all about how our food is losing its genetic diversity, thousands of varieties have gone extinct, genetic engineering and agricultural chemicals are taking over and the food supply is being controlled by a handful of corporate brats. It also discusses the erosion of the family farm and the hardships farmers go through when faced with evil agricultural companies like Monsanto. But there is hope: the organic and sustainable agriculture movement is growing and gaining ground and people are fighting back. Several countries including the European Union and Japan will not accept imports of our genetically modified food and farmers and citizens alike are standing up to seed giants. The future of food is a scary thing to think about, but the growing movement against GMO's and the corporate control of food brings hope. Watch this movie. (I rented it from Netflix, so I'm sure you can get your hands on it fairly easily.)
Also, I mentioned in my last post that there were things that I wanted to include in the latest issue of The Juniper but didn't have the space. One of those things was Slow Food. I wrote about buying local and buying seasonal and that's what the Slow Food movement is all about. It's a worldwide organization fighting back against the current fast food phenomenon. Quoting from its website, Slow Food "promotes gastronomic culture, develops taste education, conserves agricultural biodiversity and protects traditional foods at risk of extinction." There are chapters in over 100 countries and lots of ways to get involved. Check out Slow Food USA if you live here in America, or go to the main Slow Food website to find a chapter near you.

The Juniper #6: Out Now!

Just as I promised, The Juniper #6 is out in time for spring. You can go to my flickr account to see a picture of it if you don't believe me. This issue was a tough one; I had so much that I wanted to say and include, but alas time and space and funding are great restrictions so I had to cut a few things out... but don't worry, it's still worth a few minutes of your time. In this issue: houseplants (improving air quality and removing soil mold), the high cost of cheap food, buying local, seasonal foods, five acres to freedom, all written with much love and affection. So send your stamps my friends. One 39 cent stamp will do as long as you send it directly to: Dan Murphy, PO Box 3154, Moscow ID 83843. Or drop me an email if you lack resources or are particularly lazy: juniperjournal@hotmail.com