Do you research how much water certain produce requires to grow?

March 31, 2020 by Joshua
in Awareness, Nature

Someone asked on a message board, “Do you research how much water certain produce requires to grow?”

I responded:

Yes. At the beginning, when I felt obligated to act and it felt a burden, I avoided learning new things, feeling if I kept learning, there’d be nothing left and I’d feel guilty eating anything.

As I practiced more, met the farmers behind my CSAs and farmers markets, and learned how delicious all fruits and vegetables are, I came to act out of love and passion. Like an artist, attention to detail emerged as joyful. Now I love learning more about everything I eat.

The result keeps bringing me back to more local foods. Yes, in New York in March that means I’ve coming off months with few greens in favor of parsnips, radishes, turnips, beets, and mostly root vegetables, but I enjoy them more. Supermarkets with pears from Argentina etc seem increasingly disgusting.

I don’t see avoiding polluting things as deprivation, though it took a lot of practice to get here. I’m not saying I’m perfect, only describing how my motivations and feelings of reward have changed in answer to the question.

The answer applies to researching factory farming, overusing pesticides, overusing fertilizer, and other practices that hurt people and wildlife.

By contrast, plenty of local farmers grow food sustainably, steward the land, and love selling me their delicious, affordable, and healthy produce. The more I buy from them, the more they can make their produce available to others, like in food deserts. The system overwatering and polluting tends to create and augment food deserts.

We’re in this together.

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