Grass Roots

–adjective
of, pertaining to, or involving the common people, esp. as contrasted with or separable from an elite



Everyone has different feelings about what is ok to put into their bodies...food, people, I'm talking about food. Anything you want to put in your other parts is just fine with me, and I don't need to hear about it, thanks very much.

For example, some people love the fast food. Ok. It's gross, it's not real food, but that's your choice, and I might have to make gagging sounds if you eat it near me, but go for it. My friends and family expect that kind of reaction from me, because I care about them and don't want them poisoning themselves. They get to harp on me for various other sins I inflict upon myself, but the one thing they can't bug me about...my eating habits. Yes, I am an organic, free-range, fresh herb, pesticide-free, locally-grown/raised-as-often-as-possible consumer. There are lots of reasons for those choices, the first being that I respect my body. I may have children one day. If I do, they will spend their (literally) formative months inside my body. I'd like it to not be a cesspool of foreign hormones and random antibiotics and other drugs, should that happen. Even if I never do have children, though, why would I want anything less than that consideration for myself and the people I care about?

There are also all sorts of socioeconomic issues, like supporting small growers and local economy, but that all falls far second to my selfish reasons of not wanting to eat crap (again, literally).

I am a common blogger. After talking to a friend and fellow (common) blogger, we came to the conclusion that sometimes stuff out there in blogworld just can rub you the wrong way...enough to make a statement about it. Making a statement can be as simple as this little post and a small, almost unnoticeable gesture. So, when a very widely-read blogger says it's just a hippy thing, it's not that I get all riled up about it, I mean, I was raised by a hippy. It's just that I would like people to know that what they eat (yes, even just what remains after you boil a carcass) does matter. So, I will write this, and I will avoid reading a blog that was, by the way, one of the first I ever read, and that I still totally enjoy. But this month, while the reference to the free range thing sits atop, I won't. Am I kidding myself in thinking I'll be missed? Hardly...I do realize that in the elite blogger realm, my common voice is just a soft whisper amongst throngs of screaming voices. There is at least one other voice whispering with me, though.

(The banner below is not a paid ad. It just happens to also be Starbucks call-in day. How fortuitous. Click)



Some links are below, in case you're interested

• some basic organic/free range stuff


• even if you don't care as much as I do about the food thing, this is still totally entertaining.


• more than you probably ever wanted/needed to know