Many people wrongly assume that The Harvest begins on October 31st, but the truth of the matter is that this is not enough time to ensure the safety of the seed that has grown to flower. So the harvest actually begins on August 31st. It’s the day that around the world farmers everywhere prepare their tools, their homes, and their work life, for the beginning of the day that the seed and the crop are pulled from the earth.
Most farmers that I’ve known or heard of, always say a prayer of thanks before, during and after the harvest, to the earth from whence their food comes, but very few of us think about where our food comes from. We don’t think about all the times that people cry because they’ve lost an entire crop which means that not only do our families go without but so do theirs.
Most people wrongly assume that our food comes from the country that we live in, without realizing that exploration is a massive industry around the globe specifically because it allows us to feed the continuing growing nations around the globe.
Where Does our Food Come From?
Wine from California, Cheese from Paris, meat from Texas or Alberta, water from Italy, yeah that shit happens, and it costs millions of dollars to package this crap, billions to send it around the globe, and yet we still have a planet that is dying so rapidly even though there’s enough food for everyone on the planet to eat for the rest of their lives, there seems to never be enough money to ensure that those who need it the most get what they need.
How does that work? Yes, part of it is capitalism, but part of it is the fact that we’re all so stuck in the trauma of falling through the cracks, of being abused, undereducated, and living in poverty that those of us with the best of ideas don’t have the education that we need to capitalize on them.
In Africa right now there is a genuine cure for aids, but the kid who knows how to solve that problem isn’t educated enough to prove they can solve that problem, because they’re too poor or hungry to get to school if they’re even allowed. In Afghanistan, there is a young woman out there who knows how to cure cancer. She knows how to shift through time and space and ensure that cancer can’t kill, but she doesn’t know how to explain it to people outside of her brain, because she’s not ALLOWED to go to school.
Our Food Comes From Those Who Have The Courage To Live Outside The World in Order To Protect It.
We’re so stuck in life, so stuck in the way that we’re told to be. Be strong, be powerful, be beautiful, sexy, pure, honest, be true, to what? What the fuck is the point in doing any of that stuff if we don’t leave the places where we’re comfortable and explore the world?
I have a few friends in prison, and by the time they are allowed to travel, they will be in their elder years. If they even make it to that age.
So many of us are stuck in life in the city that we don’t think about what a privilege it is to g out to wine farms or to farms in general, and the farmers don’t see us as hard workers because they have no idea how difficult it is to live in the city.
Each of us in our communities, regardless of where we live, has our struggles, but the one thing that brings us all together is food. Even if you’re sitting in a cafe or restaurant yourself, you’re still surrounded by other people who might be feeling the same as you even if they hide it, but we don’t consider that.
There’s one Jamaican restaurant that I eat from here a lot – it’s got the best food, but the service is…meh, the point though is that the food that they cook is Jamaican when it’s cooked but when it starts out its just carrots, potato, tomato, and these veggies and meats come from all over the fucking country, and the hands that seed the land, feed the animals that I eat, they come in all different shades.
Each of these pairs of hands is connected to people who are from different races, creeds, nationalities, sizes, and orientations, and we don’t consider those hands and hearts as we sit down to eat.
We’re too busy to remember that prayer is never for ourselves. We don’t thank God because we believe in the Christian idea of God or Goddess, we pray to God so that they will protect the hands that brought all that food to our table. From India, Africa, China, Japan, Germany, and North Korea even, we have a rich and beautiful world filled with people who have, and those who don’t.
So many people say “well that’s a Christian tradition…” saying thank you are Christian? Oh cool, I thought Greeks said thank you too, I thought French people say thank you, EVERYONE says thank you, so taking a moment before you eat to say thank you to the person who served you the meal, and the people who cook for you, and the people who clean up after you shouldn’t be that much fucking work.
It’s Gratitude Day, that’s what the Harvest has always been about. So if you see this post, take a moment to say THANK YOU to someone, anyone who inspired you today. Even if that person is yourself.
Sending all my love,
Devon J Hall
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