Many people never came back from the war. They missed the Memorial Day Barbecue.. The ones who made it home have an extra burden that may never quite go away.
Years ago one of my family members, a former Student Body President as well as top of his class at Harvard, came home very changed by his 4 years of war in the Pacific . His mother feared then that he would one day “drive through every red light in LA.”
So, then, his parents made the decision to sell everything they owned and move the whole family to a large faraway ranch . His mother later explained it to me. “ In my day, that’s what we did. We got people out in the hot sun with a lot of hard work.”
It took a long time, but by the time he departed this planet, 70 years later, his mother’s remedy had clearly worked. He and his many descendants not only survived, but benefited from the simple hard work, good food, hot sun and the time to heal together.
Memorial Day, with both food and war in the background, brings to mind the famous wisdom from Voltaire’s 1759 novel CANDIDE and his succinct “CULTIVATE YOUR GARDENS” mantra.
In 1755 a huge earthquake shook most of Portugal and changed the face of Europe. People struggled to deal with the suffering around them in the earthquake’s aftermath.
In CANDIDE, Voltaire points to the absurdity of blind optimism in the face of real-world tragedies like earthquakes. Voltaire rejected the opinion of his colleague, Leibniz, who wrote that “we live in the best of all possible worlds,”’
Voltaire pushed back against philosophical and abstract ideas, asserting that it was best to do practical work and improve human lives by doing so. This week I noticed that a noted financial expert had advised (and warned) amid the current bond market chaos, that it was now time for us all to CULTIVATE YOUR GARDENS !
Which brings us to the trifecta of Memorial Day, Food and War. Food shortages loom large today in California. For one thing, employees on our ranches and farms are suddenly departing the country. Their contribution to our Gardens could be irreplaceable.
In addition, recent federal funding for California’s free school lunches, Meals on Wheels, and food banks has vanished. Grocery store food, farmers market food and restaurant food all command big huge price tags now.
Our today’s new Substack dedicates itself to manifesting real food, priced for real people, and made by real people, right in your neighborhood.
It’s all about working together, With nonprofit kitchens, in partnership with our local regenerative farms, real cultivated gardens can genuinely feed the world. More details emerging soon.
