Food Glorious Food.

I had the pleasure of cooking for my son and his wife.  two separate curries one medium and one very hot. They seemed to go down well. There is something very special about cooking and sharing food with friends. It brings people closer together.

Earlier in the day, we were remembering back to when I grew all my own vegetables in my allotment. My daughter was remembering visiting the allotment and taking vegetables straight from the ground and home to cook. She was saying how much better it was than standing in the supermarket checkout.

I saw on facebook that one of my friends has been growing spring cabbage and she has just harvested one and was looking forward to cooking and eating it. I can almost smell and taste it.

In the past, most of the vegetables we ate came from gardens and fields close at hand. people lived close to nature. The objects they used and the food the ate were there to hand. 

They used sticks of bamboo to make chopsticks they used vines to make baskets and the shells of gourds as pots. They grew their own food and domesticated animals for milk and meat. Their lives were lived close to nature. Newborn babies were washed in the stream. The dead were buried in the land they had toiled returning nutrients to the soil.

Now, as my daughter says, our food is imported from distant places elaborately processed and packaged to the extreme. We often are unaware of how far it has travelled. It is convenience that is important.

We have the means of transporting food miles in little time. Sadly we have become insulated from our surrounds. 

I remember taking students out walking in the hills. Some of them had never ever been this close to a cow in their lives.

There is something so special about being aware of our food and surroundings. I am sure that my father's quiet gentle wisdom came from having to grow food during the war years.

I used to be sceptical of those who told me they found their god not in a church but out in the land. As I have grown older I am very aware of the truth of this. The closer we can be to the spirit of nature the more integrated we can be to life.

I make no claims whatsoever that this is the only way to spirituality but I offer it as one way of being in touch with your inner being. There is peace to be found out there not far from where we live no matter where we abide.

Have a great day.