The truth is, I do want the planet and  civilization to be saved - in the most peaceful and painless way possible. The question hanging in the air is: Is it too late? The climate crisis in full swing. Our rivers are toxic, our oceans are dying. Our forests are decimated, the people are sick from the toxic malnourishing "food" they eat. But you know all that. 

Here's my answer: Nurturing ecosystem gardens, creating habitat that will support a flourishing local food system, learning to eat well and to eat and grow a diverse array of options, creating massive diversity and localization of our food systems, is the only way I see for the possibility of a pleasant survival in a post-excess world. 

The truth is, corporate food and corporate medicine are making us sick and we need to learn to take care of ourselves again. We need to remember. For our own health, for the health of the planet and because this oil thing is precarious and the whole system is on its way out. I'd like to be prepared, and I'd like our civilization to be prepared, and for us all to enjoy ourselves and be healthy and well fed in the meantime. 

If we continue to rely on giant corporations to manage the planet's highly mechanized, highly chemicalized, highly genetically modified food system, if we cede this basic human right to grow our own food, then we put the health of the planet and the health of our own selves in major jeopardy. 

It's not too late to bring the power back down to the people, back down to the land. But we are getting there, and if each of us continues to rely on packaged food, then each day we are putting more organic farmers out of business, more local farmers out of business, more heirloom seed companies out of business. Each day, as a senior citizens passes on, we are losing the knowledge about how to feed ourselves without the multinationals mega-food giants.   We are creating the future with every bite we take. 

This project of going 30 days without packaged food was a recognition that we need to experiment with and practice and discuss the methods for living well in today's world. If we want to change things,  we need to change things. Simply not grabbing for the plastic produce bags at the grocery store, in the sea of people grabbing for them, is changing my perception of the food I eat, and what is required for me to get that food into my belly. The thing about this experiment is, it's so easy. It really is so easy. 

So, why bother? Why bother becoming a Backyard Agrarian? Eating and nurturing yourself and your land and your food system and your ecosystem like an agrarian? I'd say, because it's our only hope - our only hope of staying healthy, of saving the planet, and of weathering this storm: and from the looks of things, it's going to be a doozy.