food – Susan Feathers

Accelerate Regenerative Farming

The adoption of regenerative agricultural practices is a low-cost, ready-to-deploy approach to combat the climate crisis on a meaningful scale. But numerous challenges remain that hinder widespread adoption. ~ American Farmlands Trust

This video is from the podcast, No-Till Growers.

I have drafted a fiction story based in Kentucky about a young woman farmer who sets out to regenerate the land of her family’s legacy farm. Readers learn the challenges that stand in the way of family farmers and young people trying to do the right thing on their land.

In part, I based the novel on the experiences of the No-Till Growers whom I came to know when I lived in Bowling Green, KY. I was part of a Community Supported Farmer network who grew my food.

These young farmers are the true dreamers of America. And I think you’ll agree with me that this is a time for dreams that are based in reality.

Afternoon Glow Just Before Hay Harvest at Dream Acres Farm

Diet for a Small Planet arrived like a rolling earthquake in sunny California in 1971.

50th Anniversary Edition

In 1971 (when I first read Diet for a Small Planet), Frances Moore Lappe’s research brought to light the nature of capitalism in creating hunger and poverty. I recall her riveting question then, and just how relevant it remains today:

How much is enough?
Frances Moore Lappe

Instead of the world not producing enough food to feed everyone, she demonstrated how we produce enough food to feed everyone and that remains true today. Then why hunger? Unregulated capitalism and concentration of wealth to a few people and companies causes many problems including hunger. Access to nutritious food remains an issue of human rights. In the introductory remarks to the 5th edition, Frances doesn’t hold back on the perilous point in history in which we are poised. She titles it: Our Choice, Our Promise. Ever positive, Lappe shows us how most of our current ills are a question of democracy.

What is Democracy Anyway? For me, at the heart of democracy are the rules and norms for living together that meet our deepest needs–bringing forth the best in our species while keeping our destructive capacities in check.
Introductory Remarks, Diet for a Small Planet, 50th Edition, xx1.

Frances centers her work in food justice within democratic norms. She describes humanity’s greatest needs: personal power (voice), meaning (our lives matter), and community.

Go to Small Planet Institute

No one understands the problem of hunger and its solutions better than Frances. I highly recommend her book, Diet for a Small Planet. See also 22 other books Lappe has published at this link.