Eavesdropping at the Farmer's Market, You Hear the Strangest Things

Well, I wasn't meaning to eavesdrop. It's just that these women were standing next to me while I was waiting to purchase some wholesome antibiotic-free, non-animal-parts-fed pig strips: bacon.

One woman was mentioning how she just put a deposit down on her free-range, antibiotic-free, pastured Christmas turkey (I put my deposit down last week). Her friend says, "Wow, you really are way out there, aren't you?"

"Way out there"? How is buying healthy turkey meat because you don't want to consume unnatural chemicals "way out there"? Have we gotten so brainwashed as a society that we think eating absolute crap is "normal"?

I could only wonder what she would think of my ridiculously abundant, chemical-free garden, my attempts to preserve healthy veggies for winter, and my intent to grind my own flour, make my own vinegar, and reduce my eco-footprint. In fact, I wonder what friends and family really think about all my atavistic attempts to eat healthier--maybe they think I'm "way out there." Heck, even I was beginning to think I was "way out there" until I read a chapter from Michael Bunker's book-in-progress Living Off-Off Grid. I was reassured--somebody out there is going to even greater extents to live with nature instead of against it, or even despite it.

And I think that's where we've gone wrong as a society. We have become so indentured to the creature comforts that technology provides, that we have lost sight of the consequences of our actions--not just the impact on the environment of these marvels of modern science, but also the impact on our health.

If buying healthy food is "way out there," then "way out there" I'll be. Anybody care to join me?