Farm to Fork

The cover of this book displaying the two different types of forks immediately intrigued me.  The first fork is what typically comes to mind, a dinner utensil. The other fork, a farming tool frequently used to lift hay. These forks symbolize the connection of two worlds that normally have very limited interaction with one another other than the farm providing food for us to eat. Food is such a huge part of our lives, yet so many of us know very little about where it comes from. I admire Kurt Timmermeister as a chef for venturing out to build a bridge between food as nature and food as a product. Just like a shiny new Barbie doll, you can grab a shiny new apple right off the shelf without a thought about where it comes from or all the effort that went into growing it.  Although I knew there was a lot more to the story I did not realize how many hoops Kurt would have to jump through to run such a small farm.

I found the Raw Milk chapter to be the most intriguing. Who knew that you could take part in illegal activities just by milking your own cows? The chapter also led me to realize how much responsibility a farmer can hold. The days of hunting and gathering guessing which berry was going to kill you or help you survive are long gone. People nowadays take it for granted that when we purchase food, it’s going to be safe 99% of the time. The farmer is now responsible for the product it gives to its buyers. If your raw milk gets a child deathly ill, that’s a big cloud over your conscience. This is a pretty powerful concept that I never thought about before, and one that I think Kurt didn’t really consider either when he first decided to start this small farm. Kurt’s hopes and expectations for this book are pretty simple—that the reader will simply stop and think about where the product came from the next time they grab a carton of milk from their local grocery store. Next time I put a few drops of honey in my tea I will definitely reflect on how thankful I am that people like Kurt are willing to be swarmed by bees to make that little moment of happiness possible.