For this, I thank the organic farmers whose produce I buy each week at the Hollywood Farmers Market.
It's a lot of work to leave home at 7:20 every Sunday morning, drive the dangerously curvy 110 freeway and the Hollywood Freeway, walk through the homeless and hipsters to get to the market, and then haul pounds of produce to the car.
But the farmers work even harder. I am in awe of the bounty they bring to market. As I revel in the single excellent tomato Larry picked in our garden this week, the farmers steadfastly produce bushels of them from their fields.
It takes hard work, knowledge, intuition, courage and commitment to grow food organically – in rhythm with the seasons of the earth; in harmony with the organisms of the soil; in these times of drought.
I think organic farmers are the bravest people in our culture. They should be rewarded far more than they are.
Which is why on Sunday mornings I go to the Hollywood Farmers Market and put money directly into their hard-working hands.
And today, Thanksgiving, I thank them. As I do every day of the year, at every meal, when I prepare the healthy food Larry and I love.
Thank you Ha's Apple Farm for apples, eggs, pears and chestnuts; T and D farms for onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash and more; Finley farms for world-famous spinach, lettuce, peppers, cukes, parsnips, greens, strawberries, corn and more; South Central Farmers Cooperative for amazing collard greens, amaranth, cabbage, beets and more; Jorge for the grapefruit we eat every morning and the oranges we squeeze on Sundays, as well as limes, pomegranates, persimmons and my favorite pomelos; Flora Bella for nettles, chickweed, arugula, turnips and other greens; the Lompoc Farmers for the excellent beans including barbecue beans and heirloom pinquitos; Kuroda Farms for the brown rice that is unlike any other, along with barley and chickpeas; and the other farmers whose produce we buy and enjoy. We are lucky to have you in our lives.
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