For some reason when I'm in restaurants, it causes me discomfort to see people pick around at their plates, pushing food from side to side and then at the end of the meal, the waiter or waitress will remove their half eaten plate, throwing the contents away. We'll ask for a 'doggie bag' and bring anything home that we don't eat.
Bottom line, I just don't like to waste things. Being a farmer, I understand all too well how much work, how many resources and energy and time went into planting, growing, harvesting, butchering, packaging, transporting, and preparing of the food until it got to your plate. If you know about the work involved in producing food or were involved in producing it, I think you are less likely to waste it.
As the graph from the USDA below illustrates, we've seen a wholesale change in the American labor force. In 1840, almost 70% of the workforce was involved in agriculture. In 2000, less than 2% are involved in agriculture. That's a huge drop and one of the reasons (I think) for how wasteful people can be. We changed from being a society of producers to a society of consumers. I think that is tragic.
Image Credit |
One man's trash is another chicken's treasure! |
"Second harvest" |
It's not only the chickens and cows that get involved. Old Nellie will eat the cornstalks as well. She just keeps turning her head from side to side looking out for the cows as they don't like to share with her and will come head butt her away.
Nellie's fair share |
John 6:12New International Version (NIV)
12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.”
Clean your plate. Don't waste your food. Tenets leaned as a child, passed on to our children, and our animals as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment