An Opportunity for Growth and Community

As you may have seen circulating recently, one of the long serving members of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), gave a somewhat scathing “exit interview” of sorts, upon his term expiration. It followed a quite heavily attended recent meeting, in Florida, at which during a very close vote, a newer, and somewhat controversial, method of farming was granted permission to use the Certified Organic label. (Pending final approval by the USDA)

I imagine most of these meetings are somewhat uneventful. This one, however, was attended by the likes of organic farming pioneer Eliot Coleman, who practically invented the modern day practice of organic Four Season Farming – in a climate that generally folds up and puts away its gardening duds around Labor Day. This was no ordinary vote. This was considered an historical decision by many. 

As you can read for yourself, Francis Thicke is leaving the board a bit troubled at what he’d experienced over the past 5 years as a NOS board member, as well as this final change.  And it’s led me to consider the ramifications of what he’s laying out and how we can do something, locally, to help counter them. 

Would you like to pay the cost of a higher quality car that simply had a different brand’s emblem glued on the trunk?

 

Many of us have seen something like this coming, the erosion and abandonment of, the USDA’s Certified Organic label. Once it stood to differentiate superior foods grown in soils that had been painstakingly cared for through practices as old as dirt itself. 

Farmers, wanted to be sure that those who simply farmed conventionally, but claimed otherwise, we not able to scam the public and also reap a premium.  And people wanted to have some way of being reassured that the extra effort they took, and sometimes a little extra cost they spent, to obtain organic food, was justified.

Would you like to pay the cost of a higher quality car that simply had a different brand’s emblem glued on the trunk? Certainly not. And while there are plenty of studies and claims out there regarding nutrition, safety, and value, the bottom line is that false advertising is false advertising. If you build a Ford, you can’t put a Mercedes emblem on the back and sell it as a Mercedes. 

But now farmers, who had used organic farming and ranching methods for decades before this label came along and the USDA created a new, trademarked definition of the word, were not even allowed to say they used organic methods anymore.  Not unless they paid the USDA to send out an inspector to their farm to look for things on a list created by the NOS board and check them yes or no. They also must submit a stack of record-keeping, including financial data and abide by what could be considered by some a ridiculous (and ever growing controversial) list of products sanctioned by OMRI, or GRAS. 

It has been coming to light for many years that the bigger ag producers wanted a piece of the tiny little pie organic farmers had baked for themselves. And as that has happened, they have slowly amended the list of ingredients to include things you would not normally find on a typical organic farm. 

Oh you might find an old bottle of what is considered a cross-over or "blended" fertilizer, to rejuvenate yellowing or nitrogen deficient crops during streaks of cold, rainy days when the soil feeding biology is asleep, dormant from the colder temps. Or kickstart with it if biology is absent altogether in a leached out or soil-less seed starting mix where a farmer may be desperate to keep seedlings alive when, for instance, wet conditions have kept them from transplanting and they are suffering nutritionally. This is rarely, if ever used and generally is backed up by a good dose of biological stimulating, too. Organic farms depend on this biology to keep soils alive!

You may even find a bottle of some kind of weed killer the farmer used to kill that persistent patch of poison ivy near their tool shed where they kept brushing against it and getting the itchy, painful rash no one wants to suffer. 

But rarely, if ever, did you hear of them locking up their cows in a huge confinement barn, depriving them of access to the out-of-doors or their natural type of food – grass, and instead replacing it with artificial lighting and grain or other organically grown (hopefully), feed mix. (But when you have imported fraudulent “organic” grains, who knows what these cows were eating?) 

 I wanted to create a bit of a utopia I guess.
A place where the public knew the food they’d buy was safe to eat, because I knew, or got to know, the producers and the methods they practiced; and, the producers knew they’d get a fair shot at selling their product because I’d not allow a 2nds and surplus dumping ground and had worked to cultivate a public that appreciated the value and the slightly higher cost sometimes associated with small, organic growing operations. 

It's sad to me because I know some of the early pioneers who proudly displayed that label. Even though it meant paying “the man” not to put poisons on their own land -something that has never made enough sense to me to join them. Meanwhile, those who create toxic cesspools that freely travel our bodies of water causing pollution world-wide, pay nothing.

And many paid up for decades. Putting up with constant increases in fees, changing lists of record-keeping requirements and all the while watching large corporate run farms bend the rules, or make new ones, because, quite frankly, the spirit of organic farming was never MEANT to apply to huge swaths of monocultured crops. It’s not a method meant to be applied to a mass-production, big agri-biz assembly line. It’s just not. 

Organic is not a list of what you are or are not supposed to use. (Which is, in part, why the addition of the label to a soil-less farming method has so many up in arms.)

So, this brings me to the main point for all this rambling. If I’ve not lost you yet, yes, there is a point.

When I first opened Eden’s Organic Garden Center, the last thing on my mind was to become a farmer. I was first an organic gardener, primarily interested in helping people grow a safe and pretty yard. 

I wanted kids to be able to run through their yards without worrying about absorbing poisonous ant killer through their feet. Or, putting it into their mouths. I wanted pets to be able to roll in the grass and not carry any kind of toxic flea or tick killer into the house to be rubbed on the faces of their families. I wanted to create a safe paradise – hence my original tag line “Your Paradise Found”. 

I morphed myself into a farmer, you could say, because I grew increasingly aware of the toxins present on food found in grocery stores. At the time I had started the garden shop, my yard was mostly shade and didn’t grow much of a vegetable garden. I, like many of you, relied on the supermarket for my food because I was a bit discontent with the city of Dallas’ farmer’s market; both the layout and the fact that tropical fruits were being shoved in my face were both unappealing and offensive. I’d not yet discovered a market nearby that was open at a time my shop wasn’t and I had to work.

 

So, when I moved the shop down to Balch Springs and nearly lost my shirt doing so, I decided to invite organic, local, at the time, TOFGA (Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association) farmers and ranchers to sell their wares at a once a month, old fashioned, “Market Day” I’d host on the shop grounds. It was a bit self-serving and at the same time, community serving, as I'd learned first hand what little access to really fresh, much less organic, produce there was to a person without their own transportation or with low income. I couldn't qualify for SNAP, but those who did, would be able to use it here for produce and vegetable/fruit plants and seeds.

I had also heard rumblings from farmers and ranchers of TOFGA that the big market wasn’t always a fair playing field for them because of the price gauging by non-producers that re-sold product that was often inferior. So I wanted also, to create that level playing field for these people who I’d come to know as hard-working folks just trying to scratch out a living while feeding the public safe to eat, nutritious and tasteful food. 

I wanted to create a bit of a utopia I guess.

A place where the public knew the food they’d buy was safe to eat, because I knew, or got to know, the producers and the methods they practiced; and, the producers knew they’d get a fair shot at selling their product because I’d not allow a 2nds and surplus dumping ground and had worked to cultivate a public that appreciated the value and the slightly higher cost sometimes associated with small, organic growing operations.  

The Market Day events grew pretty quickly at first. I was the only one in the DFW area who could claim to be an all farmers/ranchers and all “clean” or certified organic farmer’s market. I believe I still am the sole market that can make that claim. And at the time, I was one of only 2 or 3 other local markets.

The popularity of the theory of this kind of market has grown. The market’s attendance by both farmers and customers, has suffered, however.  In part, the influx of so many communities hosting their own “farmer’s markets”, and the recent overhaul of the big downtown market, means farmers have had to focus on higher traffic markets and people typically want to stay close to home if they can. 

Many of us had high hopes for the downtown market’s facelift because we knew many of the people involved had righteous intentions. They wanted to fairly represent local, in-season foods grown on local TX farms and ranches and small batch artisans.  I don’t know the exact number of miles they determined “local” to be, but nothing was being flown in, I think I can safely say. OK and LA are neighboring states, not that far from our DFW area, and in many cases, closer than some of our south TX farmers. I was not at all opposed to truck farmers coming in, especially with things our local farmers didn’t supply.  I even started joining fellow lady farmer Beverly Thomas from Cold Springs Farm and came to be known as Two Lady Farmers at the DFM on Sundays.

However, as is also making the local news lately, many of the people responsible for those changes at the downtown market, have themselves changed out and many of the standards have gone away with them. “Meeting customer demand”, is what we’re told. It seems a large enough consensus of the DFM shopping public either doesn’t understand local, in-season shopping, or just doesn’t care to have a market that abides by the principals of a producers-only, in-season, local food farmer’s market. 

  

I, on the other hand, do understand, and care. And I know many, many of you who do also. I hear from you almost daily. I don’t see nearly enough of you, however, at the little community market twice a month that I have been struggling to keep running for the past 10 years. 

I know, many now have to work weekends, or families have various activities planned for their kids on Saturday mornings. Sadly, they don’t seem to include a trip to their local urban farm to shop at the market. (I was a kid, I hated going grocery shopping, I get it.) 

But many of you do, apparently, shop at these ever increasingly popular “faux” farmers markets or there wouldn’t be so many of them popping up across the DFW area. And the one’s I’m talking about are not featuring local, small batch, or in-season, much less, organically grown, produce or products. You might stumble upon one that has some gardeners there – and hooray for those few. But many are, as one fellow grower called them, “farmerless farmer’s markets” 

I need your help understanding what it will take to bring this little market that could back to full steam.

Because now more than ever, perhaps, as our certified organic label takes yet another beating, and more and more farmers leave it behind, you probably want a place where you can go that you can trust the faces behind those tables and the food.

I’m honored that so many of you have come to trust me to vet farmers and ranchers that sell here. That the food coming here to be sold is safe to consume, is very important to me. I've uninvited or not included a handful of farmers or products that I felt had less than righteous intentions or didn't meet the standards for the kind of products I wanted to carry. And I've also mentored a few previously conventional growers, over to the "non-conventional" ways followed by myself and many of my colleagues. We can always improve, and I will always strive to do better.

I need your help when it comes to making this market more of what you want it to be, so it can become the vibrant Saturday morning local community food hub it used to be. 

While I intend to keep the focus on fresh produce and other raw ingredients like grass-fed meats, wild caught fish (from fishermen I have come to know and trust), and small batch artisan value-added foods, I also want to grow the market to include some activities that enrich the experience. 

I’m in conversation with chefs about providing cooking demonstrations and on farm meals. We can bring back the food competitions like our chili cook off, salsa/pesto challenge, ice cream crank off, farm to screen events and kids’ activities, too. 

But coordinating these things takes legwork. And the two hours or so it will take me to type, edit and produce this piece is easy to do today since the animals are fed and there’s a cold steady November rain outside, and I’ve run out of vacuum cleaner bags so I can’t do anything much else right now anyway. 

But this needed to be said whether it rained or not. I’m just glad the weather gave me the opportunity to give it so much thought. Even though it made for a long read. Some things are worth taking the time to explain in a bit of a drawn out way. I think this is one of those things. There are a lot of moving parts to the local food movement. And they're not always pretty.  It's become a way of life for me and it's worth defending and explaining. If I need to take a morning to do so, I will.

I really enjoy hosting Market Day and have come to love growing food for people who really appreciate what I and so many others I know do for a living.

I saw a few thousand and met at least a hundred of those people, chefs and the general public alike, over the past weekend at the Chefs for Farmers marathon of events. “Tell me about your farm!” “I love what you’re doing!” “Thank you for doing what you do!” It was music to my ears and that I'm sure of all of the other farmers in attendance.  Want to make a farmer feel good? Tell him or her how much you appreciate their work. Thank her or him for harvesting in that cold November rain so you can have your CSA pick up at the regularly scheduled time so as not to inconvenience anyone’s schedule and risk them not-renewing their memberships. 

I need a few volunteers, at first anyway, to be able to consult with and explore the best way for Eden’s Market Day to move forward.

More people from out of state are moving here to N. Texas, and they have expectations for what comprises a “farmer’s market” because many of them came from cities that "get it". Many are wise to what many who don’t know any better, are not. And they don’t know what to do to find what they're missing. Some turn to home delivery options, I suppose, hoping they’re getting a better quality product and are willing to pay for the convenience. 

And many farmers are scrambling to save their businesses from this kind of green-washing competition. No, most of those point and click national companies, and even a few local ones, do NOT get most of what you buy from them from local, (not local to YOU anyway) farms. There are some exceptions and I’ve known a farmer or two who have had sufficient quantities to sell to them sometimes. But then we have to ask ourselves about the carbon footprint all of that packaging leaves. I know, it’s always something. And once in awhile, buying this way may not make a big difference in the big picture. But you should at least know what you’re buying, right? And if it’s causing others or our planet to suffer, do we still want to support it just because it’s easier/cheaper? That’s up to you.

I want to help small farmers, and I want to provide a service to those of you who say no to that question. But I need your help in the way of participation, too. I’m a one woman show and I can not continue to be effective and do it all.

 

I need a few volunteers, at first anyway, to be able to consult with and explore the best way for Eden’s Market Day to move forward. 

Do we keep it a private market and look for funding sources to run it? Or do we take the big 501C3 plunge? That costs money and requires paperwork upkeep, etc. It certainly opens the door to lots of funding sources, but that, too, comes at a cost. 

How do we reach out to our local communities here in southeast Dallas County? We have a private bus service that runs 6 days a week now, so transportation for those without their own is better. But we still  need to communicate to everyone the value of making the trip and the best way I know to do that is to bring them right to the source.

Help me help you. My ears are open and I check email often. It gets crammed up with spam frequently, so be patient if you don’t hear back from me right way. (you can help me sort through it by having a clearly stated SUBJECT line.) 

I firmly believe, that people who participate in their food’s journey, choose better and that those involved in a project are more likely to support it. It’s possible that the past 10 years out here on my farm have left me out of some loop of society that would cause my thinking and beliefs to be mistaken, but prove me wrong, or please, help me engage people in what we're all pretty passionate about. 

What is the value of a small, urban farm? One that you can pretty easily take your kids to, every week or every other week, for free, and where they, and you, can experience small livestock, food growing in the ground, and food being harvested in real time, the fresh aroma of freshly harvested foods and the peace of mind of knowing where at least some of the food on your plate comes from? 

Is it worth a few hours a month to help out? To possibly stand in for a farmer who can’t be in 2 places at once? To perhaps run out to a farm an hour away in your gas efficient auto, (unlike the '86 F150 I drive), to pick up some boxes of goodies they want to sell, but have to get the next seasons’ crops in the ground because the timing is critical? 

If you can answer yes, that the value is worth doing any of these things, then please, shoot me an email, give me a call, or set up an appointment to meet with me. 

People in southeast Dallas county and all over the metroplex deserve a market that they can count on to bring them Real Food, Grown with Integrity. Let’s do this!   

And if you’re reading this but not in the DFW area, please, go ask your local, REAL farmer’s market if you can help them. Or, see if a local organic farmer in your area can use your help getting their produce to the people. 

Together, we can do better for the good of everyone. Whether the USDA wants to help or not. 

Marie Eat Your Food - Naturally!

Back to the Ground - Part II

Last post I mentioned that I’d share some gardening tips with you. Since I started gardening back in the 80’s, a lot of new things have come to market, but for organic gardening, it’s pretty much the same story – feed the soil. But what if you are starting from scratch – in other words, starting from a lawn - how do you get started?

I wish I’d learned about permaculture a long time ago because my farm, and previous yards, would look a lot different. But, we learn and implement what we do as information becomes available to us and from that, we often grow. In this case, literally!

So I’m going to share with you a bit of a modified version of how I used to suggest starting a garden from an existing lawn area. And this is true even if you just have an overgrown patch of weeds, too. But many reading this are converting lawns to gardens – and YAY for that!

I generally start out my gardening classes with the disclaimer that my way is by far not the only way and that I don’t hold all of the answers. 

Much of what I have learned and apply today, was learned by listening to others who have much more wisdom and experience than me. I always try to remember my sources to give credit, too. That way you can look up more information or clarify something I’ve said. 

In this case, the method I’m going to share with you is part of a permaculture technique called “Sheet Mulching”. This technique has been called a variety of things and is taught by many others in various forms, including brilliant homesteader and wonderful gardener and author Ruth Stout who wrote How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back.

Toby Hemenway is the author of an awesome book called Gaia’s Garden. If you’ve not ever read it, I’d really suggest picking up a copy. It’s a great resource guide that I was told about while taking a permaculture class given by Larry Korn, who studied under another great teacher, farmer and author of yet another great book, called One Straw Revolution, Masanobu Fukuoka. So what I’m going to share with you, is nothing new, but it’s certainly revolutionized many people’s gardening attempts, and it seems permaculture is making a broader appearance lately. 

Step 1, in my opinion, is to start small. Seriously. Once you get an idea of how much time the upkeep will take you for the size plot you start with, you can gauge whether or not you’d like to increase the size the following season. But let's not bite off a huge chunk and let it get away from us the first season. It's not really difficult to grow some of your own food, but it will take some time.

Plot location is as important as plot size in that you need to have at least 4-6 hours of (preferably) morning sun. Afternoon sun really doesn’t benefit growth as much do the sun’s rays during the early part of the day. There are some plants that can grow without much sun, and if you’re patient, you can still have a garden with only 4 hours of morning sun. But let’s hope you can find a corner or plot somewhere with a bit more than that. 

So, now let's say we’ve selected a nice, manageable slice of land that gets at least 4 hours of sun.

Here’s the abridged directions of what Toby calls the “Ultimate, Bomb-Proof Sheet Mulch”;

I would change one thing around, just to make it a bit easier, and that is to mow grass/weeds low before you start, rather than after his step 1, as he outlines in his book. Leave the clippings on the ground.

• Water area to be prepared the day before – or better yet, plan to do this the day after a good, soaking rain.
• Add any soil amendments needed for your soil type. Such items would include, lava sand, rock phosphate, perhaps some kelp meal. We’ve discussed soil amendments a few times before (or you can check the web site for more info.)
• Loosen heavy clay, using a garden fork. You are not digging or turning the soil. Just push the garden fork in and rock it back and forth a bit, all around the site. This adds air to the soil and allows amendments to soak in faster as well as give soil critters some wiggle room. 
• Add a thin layer of a source of nitrogen. You can use a general organic fertilizer like Texas Tea or Lady Bug, cottonseed meal, feather meal or even some decomposed farm animal manure. Horse and chicken manure is in abundance here, so that’s generally what I use.
• Layer with several sheets of newspaper, or, much easier to use, large pieces of cardboard. Be sure to overlap the edges by about 6 inches, to block out light. That is KEY! Newspaper needs to be about ¼ - ½ of an inch thick. Weeds can push through otherwise. Wet each layer thoroughly as you lay it out. Hopefully, you saved some rainwater from the last rain event.
• Sprinkle another thin layer of the nitrogen source over the “sheet” layer.
• On top of this, add 8-12 inches of a bulk mulch material, like finely ground tree trimmings, leaves, (abundantly available this time of the year) or even old straw bales. Be careful NOT to use old bales of Bermuda grass hay. It can have seeds in it and we don’t want to go “there”!
•  Wet this layer down well. It will encourage rotting of any weed seeds that may be present and help material to break down faster. The consistency of a wrung out sponge is what you’re looking for.
• Now, add a layer, about 2 inches thick, of compost. Homemade is the best, but if you’re just starting out, you may need to buy some. Give me a call and I can order it bulk for you and have it delivered to your house. I have a favorite source I’ve used on and off for many years back when I was doing landscapes and had a more active garden center. They test their compost regularly and it’s safe for use in a vegetable garden.
• (Before you partake in any “free” compost, ask questions.
• What is their source of raw materials?
• Do they test it for herbicides? (You don’t want to apply some kind of herbicide ridden compost to your new garden. Not only would it defeat the organic component, but if it’s got a broad leaf weed killer present, you’ll also damage your desired plants’ growth.)
• If the compost isn’t moist, wet it down.
• Top off with a nice clean, weed free layer of shredded mulch. I like to get free mulch from local tree trimmers. You can also use a thick layer of leaves, however when they dry, they tend to blow around. Mulch’s job is not only to provide a nice, finished look, but to help reduce erosion. 

Note; You may choose to edge your garden plot with metal edging, some decorative bricks, non-treated lumber, or, just give it about a 12" mulched border between any remaining grass and your first "row". That way, you can keep the weeds and grasses from sneaking over into your garden across the mulch more easily. 

That’s it! You now have a garden in the making. Go back inside, make some hot tea, look at some seed catalogs and dream!

The winter rains will help break down the layers of newspaper or cardboard and all of that yummy organic matter will be creating a wonderful, living layer of topsoil, complete with earthworms and other beneficials, and a growing bed for your new spring garden, while you wait out ol’ man winter.

You actually can plant sooner, if you want to, by slicing open the newspaper/cardboard and setting weather appropriate seeds or transplants over the openings.

Onions are not fans of weeds and this type of weed free garden bed may be a super easy vegetable to start with. “Onion Sets” are available here at Eden’s as well as in most other garden and feed stores. Look for “short day” varieties.

NOTE: I suggest waiting until about mid February as onions are biennials and can be “tricked” into their 2^nd growing season by our topsy turvy temperatures. But many people have planted early and get a decent to very nice crop planting at various times. There’s no hard and fast rule with onions and when you’re not planting hundreds of row feed, you can afford to take a few risks. But just a word of caution; if planted too early, some may begin to flower before they finish making a full sized bulb under ground.

If you’re a rookie, you may want to start with transplants this spring for things like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, which can be a bit tricky starting from seed.

But for squash, melons and other larger seeded veggies; go for it! Direct sow them, according to directions on the seed packets or our spring planting guide (available at the shop), and get ready to watch them come up.

The roots of seeds or transplants will find their way into the nice, rich and weed free plot you’ve created without breaking your back, a shovel, renting a sod cutter or hiring a crew to dig up the grass.

Git Yer Hands in the Dirt & Eat Your Food - Naturally!

Marie 

An Independent Memory

About mid way through my early farming days, a most amazing and interesting man came to my farm. He said he was inspired by what I was doing here at my little place, and yet, it would become a mutual inspiration.  He would go on to show me his views of how the simple act of growing one’s own food, was a bold step of revolution – peaceful, but revolutionary still the same.

I’d always thought of growing food as logical, creative, deep and almost magical all wrapped up into one. Why grow a bunch of ugly, water hogging grass when you can raise beauty and food? Why buy something at the store you can grow yourself? Especially when it can be grown at a much lower cost than you could buy it for, and it comes with the added bonus of knowing that it is safe to eat.

And, growing your own food, for me, has always been a deep connection to all of nature. I am really communing with my Creator daily on the farm as I rely on Him to awaken the seeds from the soil into their perfect colors and textures; to orchestrate the choir of earthworms and microorganisms in their complex act of breaking down solid materials into nutrients, so the plants can absorb them; to bring the sun, rain, wind and the temperatures together in a perfect melody to provide a perfect growing environment; to send along the majestic little honey bees and native pollinators to almost magically cause the beautiful flowers forming, to turn into vegetables. To watch this process happen; a beautiful plant to grow up into something edible, from a simple seed I put into the ground with hope for it to grow – is nothing short of beauty and magic, mixed with common sense. I guess that’s why it has always just felt perfectly right for me to do this; growing things.  

Now this man I’m talking about, he saw all of this, too. After all, we spent many a day playing in the dirt side by side, laughing, singing and talking with each other and the plants, insects and all of the life in the garden – whether seen and heard by others or not, we had a great time. It was always an experience way beyond just the act of sowing and harvesting, preparing and selling. The connection to the people we sold to, was also a bonding experience of nurturing, empowering and giving back, forming the whole idea of farming and gardening as a most beautiful thing to share with someone.

But, no, this man I knew, he saw farming and gardening as something even further than all of this. To him, it was also an act of revolution for the people. What greater act of independence is there, than to be free from a corporate run government food system? To join together with neighbors, friends and family and grow food was freedom! Whether in a community garden, or in someone’s front or back yard, people coming together in a place where everyone helps each other work, shares in the bounty, breaks bread together in the sunshine – ok, we’re in Texas, so we break bread in the shade - and it's gluten free these days, too, I suppose.... But do you see the picture? I did. And it was inspiring.

And when you are growing your own food, it means no more eating GMO foods or food with pesticide residue, grown in fields sprayed time and again with herbicides that float down into the water tables. This not only means safer to eat for you, but it means, we’re not supporting the exploitation, abuse and neglect of farm workers all over the world, Si Se Puede! - or the abuse of our planet.

Yes, growing a garden is indeed revolutionary – a great and peaceful act of independence. This man has been a great inspiration to many with his art and led many peaceful actions throughout his whole amazing life as he’s stood for what he believed in to be good, beautiful and lovely. He can really have a great impact on growing food locally and empower many more people with his ways. I look forward to playing in the dirt together again some day. Among many other things, he has a fresh set of eyes to see beyond what gardening and farming could mean to people and he had such a gentle way of sharing that vision. I’ve always wanted to empower others to grow their own food so they could better control their health through nutrition. Now, you can add to it, that it is also an act of a peaceful revolution. Happy independence day, wherever you are. 

Marie

Eat Your Food - Naturally!