Growing food is super important for young and old alike!
“To me, it’s sort of funny that wasting food is not taboo. It’s one of the last environmental ills that you can just get away with.”Jonathan Bloom, journalist and author of American Wasteland.
That’s precisely the problem. People today take for granted how easy and convenient it is to get food. People then find it easy to waste food because they think it is so readily available and abundant in the grocery stores. Wasting food is an affliction of the well-off.
There was a story I heard from a lady who escaped from North Korea, Yeonmi Park. She mentioned that when she was in university she and some of her friends caught a frog. They all looked at it for a while then were going to set it free. Yeonmi stopped them saying don’t let it go, that’s food. They all looked at her incredulously. They told her we don’t eat frogs here in America. She was amazed.
You see, because food is so scarce in North Korea, the people are very aware of their food sources, even if we find it offensive. Their connection to the very real danger of starvation is strong. And because food is so abundant in the West, we have a nonchalant attitude to food.
That is in part why we have the Fresh Food for Life: Get Growing Challenge. We want to reverse the negative attitude to food. We want to encourage and inspire others to get reconnected to nature, the land, and most importantly the effort needed to grow food. When we get people, young and old appreciating what it takes to grow tomatoes, or kale, or beets, then we can get more people thinking about the true cost of wasting food so casually.
Why This Challenge
We were there too! I guess you could say we all started out as young sprouts! Believe it or not, there once was a time when we were disconnected from growing. Yup, being city slickers, we totally connected with the big box grocery stores and disconnected from real nature.
Then we had an awakening. We found that just getting our hands into the earth and trying out what it is like to grow food worked for us. Of course there were mistakes. But we learned and continued to grow! And you know what, growing is fun and contagious. And I tell you, I’ve never had cucumbers as sweet as the very first crop I ever planted. I wish I had saved those seeds. But you live and learn.
How The Challenge Works
It’s simple. Just get something growing in your world and take a photo of it and post it online at our locals community. If you’re not a member, just create an account for free to join us on there. We’ll take the photos, add our official challenge title and logo on to it and showcase it along with other growers. Now your family and friends will see that you’re a part of a community of people who just want to get growing! The challenge is open all summer from May 1 until September 11, 2023.
How To Participate
- Enter your details below so we can tag you when you send us a photo of your growing.
- You can participate via our locals community or via instagram.
- Post your get growing challenge photos on instagram and tag us @freshfood4life. Use the hashtag #2023FF4LGetGrowingChallenge. That way, you can connect with other growers too!
- You can also join our locals community at: https://freshfood4life.locals.com
- There is a FREE level or you can become a sponsor if you like.
- When you complete the form below, we’ll send you the challenge Timetable.
- Download our Challenge Timetable and print it and stick it on your fridge.
- Every day, take one or more photos of what you got growing.
- Post the photo in our locals community or instagram with hashtags and tag us and you’ll get bragging rights over your friends who don’t have their photos featured. Lol.
- We’re excited to see what we’re all growing!
- Have fun all summer!
