Just choose one thing: Josh’s Day 9

Just choose one thing: Josh’s Day 9

Do one thing.  Just one thing.

 

I can’t tell you what that one thing is.  Over these 25 days you will see lots of information from smart, thoughtful people.  They will point you to other smart, caring, committed people with novel and innovative ideas and small or large projects that are reshaping the global food system.  Together, the one thing that that person does adds to the one thing that that organization does and the whole of it pushes together to change the course of the future of food.  That sounds like a big goal, and it is.  If you start doing research on the internet, you could quickly get bogged down with “40 organizations that are changing urban agriculture”, “24 TED talks that will change your mind”, or “101 encouraging facts about the food system in the last year.”  Just choose one thing.

 

I’ll share with you what my family did and has been doing.  Maybe it will connect with you, maybe it won’t.  Maybe Andre’s blog about micronutrients or Nabeeh’s post about brain food will interest you more and lead you to action.  That’s great.  Just do one thing.

 

Our first thing was to join Door to Door Organics after we did 25 in Change.  This was a choice we made in favor of improving our diets after we spent 25 days being gluten-free vegans, a dramatic departure from our bread, butter, sugar, and meat-loving former selves.  We loved receiving a wide variety of fruits and vegetables on our doorstep and we felt that the source was important to our new-found values (see the FAO document on environmental benefits of organic farming here ).  Finding that we loved many different kinds of vegetables, we decided to plant our own raised garden bed.

 

Then we heard about this awesome organization that runs a plant-one-give-one program building custom raised garden beds in urban underserved neighborhoods.  So we had Re:Vision come build us a second beautiful raised garden box with included irrigation system.  These two boxes brought us many greens, tomatoes, and spicy hot jalapenos, my favorite.  Now we were enjoying the benefits of ultra-fresh, ultra-local produce that was making us healthier and not producing kilotons of carbon emissions in transport from Mexico to our house (Point and Counter-Point)

 

Then along came Polly…I mean 25 Farms.  25 Farms was started in late 2013 to support the work of 25 in Change.  All profits from 25 Farms go to 25 in Change.  But even more than their benevolence , they are changing the way food is grown and delivered.  For $25 every two weeks, we receive a big box of greens and vegetables on our doorstep.  These aren’t just any greens, they are some of the most unique, gourmet, delicious vegetables I’ve ever had (edible flowers and mustard greens anyone?) and they’re all sustainably grown right here in Denver, picked the same day they’re delivered, and delivered by a smiling bearded man who cares about everyone making a living wage.  Perfect.  This one thing is making a big impact….our health, our environment, fair wages, our community.  Go to https://www.25farms.com/ for more info.  That could be your one thing.