> I have recognized sage for a long time due to long walks with my
>grandfather who pointed it out.
>
> Not all of us are lucky enough to have our grandparents, or parents
around for that matter or to have ownership or access to land.
>
> I think the "general public's" failure to recognize sources of what they
> consume is complex - education, politics,socio-economic
considerations etc.
>
> We all have a lot to learn.
But who's doing the teaching, absent our parents or grandparents?
What is it going to be like, when we are second or third generations
away from the land and even the parents or grandparents don't know
what sage looks like, except in a plastic box in the grocery store?
We are losing corporate memory. Many of the crops and practices we
learned on the farm or in graduate school have been replaced, to the
point where (confession!) I don't recognize some of them any more.
So, where can I learn them, so I can explain them and teach them to my
kids?
I'd like to see a field guide to agriculture, even a field guide to
sustainable agriculture, equivalent to some of the birding books I have,
but better. I have a "Reporter's Environmental Handbook," but haven't
seen anything equivalent for food and agriculture.
I'd like to see the food industry help us bridge the gap between farm
and table--maybe an interactive exhibit at the grocery store that would
tell me what a jicama is, where it comes from, even how I might prepare
and serve it. It could start with "sage."
Len Carey
Media Relations
USDA Cooperative State Research,
Education, and Extension Service
lcarey@reeusda.gov
Voice: 202/720-1358