Fed-By-Farm
The food, and supply, shortages which occurred at various points during the recent pandemic, highlighted the need to abolish reliance on large chains, and global corporations, for basic human needs - like food. It was a stark realization, as most of us had become accustomed to the convenience of one-stop-food-shopping.
In the old Proverb, We, as a people, are the man who was given fish to eat everyday. Well-fed, carefree, and lacking the need to ever even think about planning for the day when we were not given fish to eat. Thanks to pandemic shortages, we have lived through those no-fish days, filled with items-per-person limits, and empty grocery store shelves. After having had no other choice but to "learn-to-fish" for ourselves, now that we’ve come out the other side, we would have to be willfully ignorant to go back to the "status quo."
At this stage, many have come to realize the importance, and safety, of being part of a self-sustaining Community. Who really trusts the processed/factory-made and "nutrient-fortified", foods the various world governments have declared "safe-for-consumption"? And, why is flouride in everything? Whether you eat healthy, or not, who can argue that organic food isn't the healthiest for our human bodies?
As the SOE Global Network is based on a foundation of building bridges which connect people, causes, and communities, establishing a way to bridge the gap between organic food-supplier, and food-consumer, was integral to SOE’s launch. With everyone in the SOE Global Network free to follow their passions, SOE Community Gardens, and SOE Community Farms, were formed organically, by pocket-sized, local communities of established, and burgeoning, Gardeners, and Farmers.
SOE Community Gardens are located in more populated areas, and offer garden space for local Gardeners to grow their crops, and then sell their harvests in the local Gardeners’ Grocery. There are also limited-access areas of Gardeners’ Groceries which offer Kitchen & Baking Rental Space to local, small, and/or home-based, SOE Affiliated Companies (SACs), for those with businesses based around a product(s) for sale in the Gardeners’ Grocery, which is/are made via cooking/brewing/baking, etc., using crops grown in the SOE Community Garden.
[For example: Tom is an SOE Community Gardener who grows Wheat, Rice, Potatoes, and Produce, in the local SOE Community Garden, which he then sells at the Gardeners' Grocery. Maggie has just opened a home-based SAC selling sacks of her self-grounded Flours, made from ingredients like wheat, rice, almonds, and potatoes. After reserving Kitchen Rental Space in the local Gardeners’ Grocery, from which she can produce larger quantities of her Flours, Maggie then enters into a Smart-Contract Agreement with Tom. The agreement allows Maggie to purchase bundles of Tom's Produce at a discount, in exchange for giving Tom a set amount of discounted sacks of her self-grounded Flours, every month going forward. Now, just like Tom, Maggie also has product for sale in the local Gardeners’ Grocery.]
SOE Community Farms are located in more rural areas, and are comprised of entire communities of independently owned, and operated, off-grid farms. Among the various farms are: Nursery-Farms for indoor, and outdoor, ornamental trees, shrubs, and plants; Dairy Farms; and other Crop Farms. Example: Hemp crop, which can be used in textile production, and as a biofuel, produces twenty-five percent (25%) more oxygen per hectare than forests, and grows within six (6) months, compared to one (1) hectare of forest, which can take decades to grow. Hence, producing/using hemp-paper, as well as bamboo-paper - since bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on earth - saves millions of forests. All farm harvests are sold at the local Farmers’ Market, in addition to supplying all local Gardeners’ Groceries with Nursery-Farm plants/trees, and farm-grown/raised foods, like dairy.
There is no meat sold at the Farmers’ Market - or in any SOE-owned establishments across the entire SOE Global Network - along with no fur, or leather. Nor, are we "growing" meat in labs. For that reason, there are no slaughter houses - or labs - on SOE Community Farm-Lands. All animals on SOE Community Farms provide: non-meat food, like milk, and eggs; and/or non-meat materials, like hair, and wool, for other items. For example: naturally shed goat hair is used to make paint-brushes.
NOTE: Independently-owned businesses in the SOE Global Network (farms; groceries; dining establishments) may sell, and serve, meat.
If the pandemic has taught us anything it’s easy come; easy go. The hand that feeds, could just as easily become the hand that starves. Sure, it will be hard to give up the convenience of one, and even same-day, delivery service, in exchange for having to get up and go to the local Garden, or Farm. Suddenly, the kind gesture of delivering groceries to your elderly neighbour, will take more effort on your part than just an App download, and a few finger-swipes. But, humans are not, by nature, sedentary creatures, and we suffer ill-effects - both physically, and mentally - when we try to live as though we are. Besides, if you maintain the "status-quo", what happens to both you, and that elderly neighbour, if everything you need to fill your online shopping cart is “out of stock”?
The ability to see, in plain view, the garden, and/or farm-land, where your food was grown, at the time of purchase, goes a long way in knowing exactly where your food comes from. And a return to relying on the forging of strong Community bonds, as a way of both surviving, and connecting, is long overdue.