With Spring just around the corner ( I'm a glass half full kind of person!!), one begins to think of everything coming back to life. From the early plants and flowers that start to pop up out of the ground to the buds on the trees beginning to awaken. This is also the time when  people start planning and getting ready for the upcoming gardening season if they are so inclined.

But what if that little garden in the backyard was all, or most, of what you had to depend on? What if there was a shortage of good quality food at the supermarket due to one circumstance or another? What if our own government created rules and regulations that restricted our right and our ability to eat what we wanted and from whom we get those foods?  Be it an oil shortage, drought, flood, earthquake, forest fire, pest infestation, our own government or simply a lack of farmers, are we prepared? Could you grow enough food to get by? Do any of us even have the skillset to know how to do it? Do many of us even know where most of our food comes from or how dependant we really are on cheap oil?

These are questions we really didn't have to think about in the past, but we can't ignore them now. Food was always there, cheap oil was always there, farmers were always there, and it would all last forever, or so we were led to believe. We were told that if drought effected one area we would simply get our food from somewhere else in the US or somewhere else in the world. Or if we ruin all the soil, we'll simply figure out a way to genetically modify the seeds and grow everything in the lab. But when we put all of our eggs in one basket, and plant hundreds of miles of the same plant in one area and rely heavily on a global food system in an unstable world, we're setting ourselves up for disaster. When we allow the consolidation of our seeds and foods to just a few mega-corporations, we're asking for trouble and trouble is what we now have. See Chart This is one reason why decentralizing the food supply to a more local and regional one would be healthier, safer and  sustainable. By sourcing our foods more locally, we're reducing the risk that a major disruption would cause, be it man-made or natural. A big spike in oil prices would effect us less if our food only had to travel 30 miles as opposed to 3000 miles. Also, by buying our foods and goods from people and farmers that live in the area, the money stays within the community and recirculates, thereby helping the local economy rebuild and sustain itself.

This is where organizations such as Slow Money come in. They are trying to help build the infrastructure to allow for a more locally based food supply and economy by investing money in helping small farmers and businesses develop CSA's, Farmers Markets, restaurants, etc. Connecting the local community to the local farmers and businesses. This is also where We The People come in. Learning, or relearning, those skills that used to be handed down from generation to generation; not because they wanted to, but because their survival depended on it. And buying once again as much as possible from small, local businesses instead of the big box stores.

Maybe as Thomas Jefferson once said, "We are a Nation of Farmers" and perhaps as the author of the first article believes, it's time to once again become that nation. Not all farmers obviously, but millions and millions of small farmers and gardeners, growing our own food once again for ourselves and our local communities, in a sustainable way. And since we all can't be farmers or even gardeners for that matter, we can support those that are and that will make a world of difference.

So unfortunately, or fortunately as I see it, depending on how you want to look at it, we are coming to the end of business as usual as many of us are slowly realizing. Things we thought we could always depend on are becoming less and less dependable as time goes on.  Becoming more self sufficient by growing our own food or getting to know the farmers that do, and being prepared for possible future events isn't supposed to be about becoming a survivalist and living in the woods somewhere by yourself. It's about empowering yourself with the skills and knowledge to be better prepared and to reach out to others in your area to build a community that will be there to help each other out, with or without a natural or man-made disaster.

So I hope you enjoy the articles and as always your feedback is welcomed and encouraged.

Dr. Grosman

PS. Stayed tuned to your email for a special event at the office in the next few weeks that will continue on with this topic.