Confessions of a Budding Locavore

 

For the past several months I have been going to the farmer's market in Goshen, the town just south of here. This past Saturday I went for my bi-weekly shopping. I live in an area that is next to one of the largest Amish areas in the US. There are also small farms scattered around the area so there is enough food grown even in winter to enable the market to stay open year round.

I could buy the food cheaper at a supermarket, but it wouldn't be the same food. The salad mix I bought from Kate who runs Sustainable Greens, which is just over the state line in Michigan, was picked the day before. Her micro mix is an assortment of spicy greens that adds a wonderful bite to my salads. I also got fresh asparagus from the Amish woman who I have been buying sweet potatoes from. A few months ago, I bought some hulled black walnuts from her. She cautioned me to be careful as they had been hulled by her elderly mother. (The walnuts were perfectly hulled without a trace of a shells.) She doesn't have any more sweet potatoes now, but I got some beautiful locally grown ones at the Maple City Market, the food co-op in Goshen.

Before leaving the farmer's market, I also bought some locally made cheese and fresh radishes. The tiny baby carrots (natural ones not the machine-produced ones sold at supermarkets) were not available this time but I had bought two batches last time and delighted in their colors and sweetness. I still had some eggs from the farmer who assured me he had no roosters so his free-range, naturally raised chickens only gave infertile eggs.

At the co-op I also bought Trader's Point Creamery raspberry yogurt. Located in central Indiana, Trader's Point's cows are pasture raised and are not given artificial hormones or antibiotics. Nor does the creamery use pesticides or artificial fertilizers on their land. The yogurt is wonderful and comes in glass bottles that are ideal for storing other foods when empty or for recycling.

I can't get greens like this at the supermarket. Or asparagus. Or raspberry yogurt.

At the supermarket, I can't talk to the farmers and ask how their food was raised. I can't buy dairy products secure in the knowledge the cows and chickens were raised humanely, and the land was treated with respect and in a sustainable manner. I can't buy food that was picked the day before at the height of its taste and food value, and which traveled not 1500 or even a few thousand miles, but merely ten or thirty or a hundred miles. I can't experience the joy of seeing that a favorite food is now in season and relish the taste made all the more enjoyable by its rarity.

But at the farmer's market and co-op, I can.

I can talk to the farmers. I can buy food raised for taste, not for its ability to travel great distances. I can eat dairy products knowing the animals were raised with care and respect. I can enjoy local foods knowing the land they grew on was carefully stewarded, not plundered until it was worthless. I can chat with the people standing next to me as we wait our turn to make our purchases. I can drive home, relaxed and happy in the knowledge that I did my very best to  "do no harm."

Hatred is a Poison

"To take revenge on trouble-makers is only to create more problems and disturbances. You must realise that negative feelings and hostile actions could only bring harm and suffering to both you and the trouble-maker. In order to take retaliatory action, you have to harbour intense hatred in your heart. This hatred is like a poison. Since the poison is initially in you, surely it will harm you before it can harm anyone else. Before you throw a blazing iron at another, you get burned first. Your action merely goes to show that there is no difference between you and your opponent.

By hating others, you only give them power over you. You do not solve your problem. If you become angry with a person who simply smiles back at you, then you will feel defeated and miserable. Since he did not cooperate with you to fulfill your wish, it is he who is victorious."

"We can live happily without fanning the fires of hatred. Perhaps you may not be strong enough to extend compassionate love to your enemies; but for the sake of your own health and happiness and that of everybody else, you must at least learn to forgive and forget."

~ Ven. Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda

Forgive and Forget

Think you can’t do it? Or that the person doesn’t deserve it?

Recently, I was talking to a woman who owns a small company. A successful businesswoman, she is also an accomplished Buddhist. How so?

She told me that an employee embezzled some funds, a considerable amount of funds. When a third-party discovered what had happened, they contacted the police and the employee was arrested. The police asked the business owner if she wanted to also press charges. Asking if it was necessary, the police said no because the third-party had already done so. The case was clear-cut and the evidence complete.

The businesswomen said she’d prefer not to press charges and then asked after the welfare of the embezzler. As you can imagine, the police were taken aback by the business owner’s unruffled demeanor and concern about someone who had stolen from her.

Why did the business owner react this way?

She told me she must have owned the employee from a past life, so hopefully the debt was now re-paid.

If you think this is a Pollyanna reply, please reconsider.

What good would getting angry have done? Would it have gotten the money back? Would raising her blood pressure have made her feel better? Would testifying against the former trusted employee have made her happy? Made the situation disappear?

Getting angry would have caused the business owner to suffer physically and karmically. She knew this because she understood cause and effect. She understood the situation. The embezzler had been stopped. Seeking revenge through testifying would have prolonged any upset the owner had felt. Letting go of the desire for revenge through understanding and compassion, she was not suffering from this betrayal of her trust and friendship. She was able to quickly move on. She was again busy helping others through her Buddhist activities and looking after the interests of her clients who depended on her.

I have spoken with many people who cannot let go of their anger and wish to get even. I have also spoken with people who understand causality and have been able to let go. I have seen the results of both approaches to adversity. And I admire and respect those who can let go and move on for they are truly happy.

When Can We Stop?

A few days ago a comment was made on another entry. The writer wrote that he could see that,

"Whenever we're being treated badly…it's our bad karma. When others treat us badly, it's perfectly all right for them [to do so]. So at what point does this stop? Surely, we can't keep 'accepting' or suffering bad treatment? At what point do we stop being takers?"

Personally, I wouldn't say that it was "perfectly alright" because the person who is mistreating us is committing their own harmful actions and will have to suffer their own painful results in the future. They will find themselves in a similar position to our current one. So ideally we would feel badly about the future suffering that the other person is currently creating for themselves.

What of our situation? Our bad retributions are the results of our bad actions. If I do something wrong, how can I expect to avoid the consequences? It is fair for me to receive the results of my actions. It would not be fair if I could evade the results. And if I resent these karmic results by becoming angry or upset, I’m just committing more wrong actions that will result in additional bad results!

The reality is that I laid the ground work for my karmic retributions. There's no point in blaming the person who delivers these retributions to me. We're not "taking it" in the sense that the other person is mistreating us for no good reason. We're simply receiving what we created for ourselves. So there's no point in getting upset with the "messenger."

And actually, with our current understanding that painful situations are the direct result of past wrongdoings, this is the best time for us to undergo our bad karmic consequences. As much as we have difficulty accepting these retributions even when we have learned of causality, imagine how much more difficult it will be in a future lifetime when we know nothing of cause and effect.

It's Habits

It's all about habits.

It's our habit to use the plastic and styrofoam utensils that are provided when we go to a snack bar or the continental breakfast at a motel. It's not our habit to carry a set of utensils and handkerchief with us when we know we'll be eating out.

It’s our habit to run to the store for a forgotten item whenever we please. It's not our habit to plan our meals for the week, make a list of everything we need from the drugstore, figure out what other errands we need to do, and then do everything in one trip.

It’s our habit to run the dishwasher when it’s only half full or do a partial load of laundry in hot water after having worn the clothing just once. It’s not our habit to conserve water and heating fuel by waiting for a full load of dishes or wearing our clothes a few times before washing them in cold water.

It’s our habit to buy what we want, the minute we want it. It’s not our habit to wait and see if we really even need it. Or can afford it.

We can think these new habits are inconvenient and a bother. We can justify our actions by saying we don't have time to get some reusable utensils, nor do we want to be thought of as a crazy environmentalist. We can tell ourselves that we have too many important things on our minds to not do something when we want to. We can say that one pair of shoes or another paper napkin won't make any difference. We can give ourselves any number of "reasons" for doing things in a way that is convenient for us. We may view all these conveniences as things we are entitled to.

We may not even think.

But we need to. We need to realize that we are all standing around a very large—but not bottomless—container of resources. Each time I reach in and take something out, there is a little less for everyone else.

We need to think about every action we take. We need to make new habits.

And we need to do so quickly, because every day we are getting closer to the bottom of that container.