When you’re on a crusade to change the world, it can feel like a lonely place. Working on our NCSC Hearth I certainly feel sometimes like I’m all by myself, though I have a supportive board behind me. There are so many people who want this to happen, but they feel too overburdened to contribute to the “making” of it. The same thing happens in the world of local food, local economy, community building, animal welfare, and other worthy endeavors. It’s easier to look only at our own situation and focus on that effort, rather than look around and see how working together can make things easier.
In our Hearth project the local farmers providing fresh food and education to the community can support frustrated families who deal with food sensitivities or autism, but don’t know where to find the right food affordably. Breaking into a new community can be difficult, but if an organization is focused on creating a better world at large it is easier to find common ground than through the barriers of fear and guarding that can happen in some neighborhoods.
Wearing a “uniform” makes it easier to find like minded people, but rarely practical in situations that are non-military. While we may guess at people’s interests based upon how they grow, or what they carry, is one way, it is still based on being in the same places at the same time. When I was in college all my fellow students were dressed in flannel shirts, blue jeans and some sort of hiking boot. It was kind of “emblem” of the college of natural resources. Not exactly practical in an office setting.http://s3.amazonaws.com/..._(2).jpg?1387129068
Our Food Leader t-shirt is more than a fundraiser for North Country Sustainability Center, Inc. It is also a way to open conversations with people who may want to seek a new coop, discover local farmers, learn more about their food. Wearing a goat on your shirt certainly makes people take a look at you, and if they are like most people they are more than eager to talk about silly goat antics. Wearing that “Food Leader” shirt says to passersby that you are involved local food, building a more sustainable community and changing the world. Isn’t that a great way to start a new friendship?
You can find your t-shirt at www.booster.com/FoodLeader for $20.00 Your purchase will allow us to purchase an old mill to create a commercial kitchen, a training space for sustainable education and animal assisted therapy and a place for traditional arts like storytelling, poetry and folk music. Show your support for this effort, and get a chance to explain your own personal passions at the same time.
I hope you’ll join us and kick off a new year with a shirt that says “Follow Me to Local Food!” Imagine the parade to healthier planet that we could create! Thanks.
