The World Is Made of Food
After mowing the back yard for the first time in over a year, I discovered a baby bunny. He was cornered by the fence and too terrified to run. I managed to fight off the urge to pick him up and play with him, but I did run inside to grab my camera and get John to come outside and see him.
“Should we feed him?” John asked quite sincerely.
“He’s a bunny. His world is made of food.” John immediately felt silly for asking such a question. As though us humans would do a better job of feeding a bunny than he could do for himself. Humans don’t even know the difference between actual food and the boxes full of chemical-laden junk they sell in grocery stores.
But it got me thinking. The world isn’t only made of bunny food. It’s made of food. For everyone.
If there was a food shortage for a few months, most of us would starve to death while edible plants were growing all around us. Or worse, we would have already killed them off with weed killer. They now sell dandelion greens in natural food stores. People pay $3 for a bunch, while mowing over the dandelions growing in their own yards.
Don’t have a green thumb for a vegetable garden? You can still include some garden fresh foods in your diet. Find out what grows in your area. Dandelion, lambsquarters, plantain (not the banana), and lots more are probably growing all around your neighborhood right now. Let a portion of your yard grow wild. See what shows up.
There is nothing more nutritious than wild plants. Just make sure you pick them from areas free of car exhaust, pesticides, and passing dogs.
2 Comments Posted by Diana | Category: Articles, Gardening
Had a private ironic chuckle recently when some visitors were here who had just come from a week on the Appalachian Trail. They had stories of other hikers who were doing the entire trail and whose chief problem was that they were hungry – not just hungry at the end of a day of hiking and sure am ready for some supper but ran out of food two days ago hungry. Some actually offered to pay my friends for the food they’d packed in. But my friends didn’t want to run out of food either. I couldn’t help but wonder at all this hunger in high summer in the wilderness – to be surrounded by nature’s bounty and unable to help yourself or others. Set me to pondering the meaning of ‘wilderness experience’ …
Love the bunny. They are just so darned cute, aren’t they? I like John’s question and your answer. You are always wise… and funny too.