Life in the Echo Chamber

I read and hear a lot about farms and farming. I go to farmer's markets weekly, I read The Omnivore's Dilemna and I subscribe on RSS to the NYT Dining page, Gourmet's free online content and my chef's blog. Then I go to work, where we talk about the farms supplying us each week, the produce that we get and the challenges faced in a drought-stricken state.


Honey likes to talk about the economics of it all, so I'm getting better-versed in that aspect of farming, and we take The Economist which does nothing if not cover exhaustively. And since I've been given free reign over a friend's backyard for gardening purposes this year, I've started reading about organic gardening. I've read lots about farming in the past year.


So I was tempted not to share the umpteenth farming article to appear in my Reader. It's good, don't get me wrong, but much of it is information I've already gotten in one place or another in the past few months.


What I forget is that people who don't work and shop where I do often don't think about the importance of farming and farm policy. They aren't aware of the current agricultural landscape in America, and the problems that it poses, economically, culturally, or environmentally. Maybe they didn't have time to read the last three articles that I diligently read and shared.


So I've shared the article from Gourmet. The first three pages are mostly about a specific family; it's interesting, but the most important stuff is on the last three pages. Read it so I don't feel compelled to post the same farm rant yet again. And check out the new links to the left. Atlanta Music Therapy is my old roommate's blog about his weekly music forays, and frontburner is chef's blog. Both warrant investigation and subscription.