In The End, It Will All Work Out
Seth Godin continuously offers us gentle nudges to wake up. I keep a copy of his book What To Do When It's Your Turn in the bathroom.
It can seem that the mission of the Real Organic Project is hopeless. As Seth reminded me, “Dave, you are never going to take down Cargill.” How could a small group of farmers and eaters change the food system of America? To change the food system, we need to change everything.
Now I am getting dizzy.
But there is a nagging whisper gnawing at my feet. We are immersed in a culture where it is “normal” to eat terrible junk food. A system where real food is getting harder to find. Where modern agriculture is killing our planet.
We can either ignore all this and reach for the Doritos, or we can try to change it, to change ourselves.
Real Organic is not trying to fix a few government regulations. We are trying to change how we think, how we live. We are trying to reignite a movement whose work is not yet done. Just begun, in fact.
As we leave 2023, we thank all of you for your support, for participating, for taking the time to read these letters, to watch these videos, to listen to these podcasts. To share these thoughts, and to add your own to them.
When a writer interviewed me last Fall, I was stunned by how much he knew about our food system. I asked him how. He told me he had learned by listening to our podcasts.
We have a lot planned for 2024. We have a virtual symposium being produced for March. We will release interviews this year with Vandana Shiva, Mark Schatzker, Eliot Coleman, Zephyr Teachout, Dan Barber, JM Fortier, Mwatima Jumo, Glenn Elzinga, Tim Wise, Alice Waters, and so many more. Speaking of, we have a new interview with Seth Godin. Together we can take a deep dive into deep organic.
We will continue to connect and certify Real Organic farms across the country. We will champion that which is precious and endangered. Our joint venture with Naturland will start to bring some Real Organic products into the US from the rest of the world.
By the end of the year, we will release our first Real Organic Masterclass.
We will see you at Churchtown in October.
If you appreciate having any of this in your life, please join the Real Friends and donate today. If you have already donated, get a friend to sign up to receive our letters.
The best is yet to come. Love the tension.
Dave
You’ve been hacked.
People in power have taken advantage of glitches in our personalities and errors in our instincts to create an environment where they profit and we come out behind.
Politicians count on our short attention span. Banks know that we’re impulsive, Bosses exert power over us based on our fear of failing. They all fuel a culture that keeps us in hock.
Hack back.
Many powerful organizations fear a truth-teller. They work hard to avoid being confronted by an individual who sees the world as it is and by a person who cares enough to change things.
Most of all they have no plan for dealing with someone motivated enough to walk up the broken escalator.
—Seth Godin in the book What To Do When It’s Your Turn (and it’s always your turn)
If you read these letters or listen to our podcasts, YouTube videos, book club sessions, or farm hacks, please join us.
SUPPORT the Real Organic Project
(a 501c3 non-profit) this giving season. Just do it!!! Donate so we can do it together. And then forward this email to your friends and family.
To hear more from our friends at Real Organic Project, sign up for their weekly newsletter here.