Posted on July 7, 2010 - by JamieYuenger

How Women are Farming, Cooking, and Advocating for Balance

Today we are thrilled to announce the first blog post of our brand spanking new blog series, Women Nourish Us. For the next three months, check out our blog every Wednesday for a new write-in by an inspiring and leading woman in the sustainable food movement.  On this fine first Wednesday, Temra Costa – AKA Farmer Jane – kicks it off for us!

Temra Costa is the author of Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat, which features over 30 women and how they are changing our food system for the better as farmers, educators, mothers, chefs, businesswomen, and policy workers. Temra works, cooks, gardens and writes in the East Bay of California. She also co-hosts the radio show The Queens of Green on Green 960.

While not growing up on an all-local, organic or even sustainable diet (minus the wild game and fish my father hunted and brought home), my learning curve was just the same as anyone else’s. In the relatively food challenged climes of Wisconsin, my family and I didn’t preserve foods or garden, nor were we aware of any farmers markets; it just wasn’t a part of our lifestyle. My grandmother, on the other hand, did have today’s much coveted food preservation skills. I remember eating her pickles, jams, and other foods she had stocked for the winter. However, for me, and for most that have awakened to the impact of sustainable foods, it took a special moment.

My visceral moment of “getting it” was at age nineteen when I walked into the Williamson Street Cooperative in Madison, Wisconsin. The smells of seaweed, organic vegetables, fermented foods, sprouted granola and whole grain bread, were part of an entirely unknown food universe. These foods led me to question, ‘What the heck were all the other ‘foods’? and ‘Where were they coming from?’ Once you start questioning the integrity of something as essential as your food, there’s no turning back. It was shortly thereafter that I made the determination that food would be my focal point for changing how we interact, not only with each other and our own bodies, but with our environment. And when the Center for Food Safety launched a campaign to preserve the integrity of organic food standards against the USDA in 1998, my role as a sustainable food advocate was set into motion.

In 2003 I wrapped up my International Agriculture degree from the University of Wisconsin Madison and was fortunate to land a job working to link farmers with school districts. After all of that studying of international food issues I could no longer ignore the fact that unless our food system in the U.S. reflected my values, it would be a bandaid approach overseas. (We also happen to be in the business of telling other people how to grow their food with chemicals and unaffordable technologies that have failed the claims of the corporations to feed the hungry.) It didn’t take long while working in the sustainable food and agriculture field before I realized that the sustainable food movement was being run by women. I was surrounded by them. From moms cooking meals at home, farmers starting new diversified farms, to the chefs and nonprofit employees, women were leading the charge for a more healthful food and farming system for the U.S. Women are, in essence, creating more balance in this world by advocating for health and the environment through food and beyond.

The male and female energies that balance our natural world have been out of whack for at least a century since the industrial revolution. But never before have we witnessed such decimation to our natural world as today. I’m sure there is a folkloric story out there that could aide me in explaining our present day imbalance as Native people the world over have respected the balance of man and nature for as long as they have been able to live within their natural means. People used to respect the natural world for for food, clean water to drink for their harvests, and the seed for their meal and so on. As we have surpassed the natural elements for food production (and life) with chemicals, irrigation, and genetic engineering we have become removed of what we depend on – the Earth. We have become imbalanced from our nurturing tendencies to care for the planet and this is where women are come in. The world over, women are stepping up to change environmentally destructive practices. Women are saying enough is enough. The balance must be restored for our natural environment and we need to return to living within the natural system. The line of thinking that has led us so far astray will mean that our grandchildren’s grandchildren will still be remediating the soil of our presence. That’s why it’s imperative that we start today. Each of us can start with our food, if we have the resources, or help others that don’t have the same resources to eat locally, sustainably, and as organically as nature intended.

Visit http://www.farmerjane.org for more information and resources for how you can get involved.

*If you believe in the power of women’s words and our growing sustainable food movement, please spread the word about this series via email, Facebook & Twitter (bit.ly = http://bit.ly/bJL46d). If you would like to host a screening of FRESH for your friends or organization, please – be in touch!