REDEFINING LOCAL

I have this 8-year-old boy who pays attention (most of the time). He looks, listens, watches and stores things away in that sweet little head of his. His intense blue eyes see things that we often think he misses. He processes things in an adult like manner and often shocks us with his words. Not in a bad way. Just in a old-soul kind of way, you know, like he's really 8 but he sounds like he's 48.

We were once in Kroger and he saw the sign that told customers that the carrots were "local", so he asked, "Mama, whose farm were they grown on? Do I know them?" I chuckled and said, "No son, they were brought in from Georgia". He tucked away that nugget of information for a later date, not saying anything else at the time. Until recently. He was sharing with a new store visitor this week that most of our products are really local. He lifted those boy-in-the-sandbox fingers up, made some air quotes and informed them that "Georgia carrots aren't really local". He's right. And all around us right now are people truly producing local foods. Farmers who's hands can be shaken. Men and women who grow what you need, right here in this county.

If Covid-19 has given us nothing else, I pray that the desire to support local that has grown from it, will continue long after our masks disappear and we begin to hug again. I pray that we long to know the men and women who produce our food. Who until now, when the grocery store shelves have gone bare, have been just a pretty landscape to drive by, a passing thought.I pray that this brings about new skills in our homes, that we embrace things that were normal a few generations ago. That we say good-bye to pre-packaged foods and the easy, time saving conveniences that we have grown accustomed to. I pray that Covid-19 teaches our country to redefine local. That my 8-year-old can say, "Mama, Mr. ________ grew them.”

I would encourage you to be intentional about finding local sources for your daily needs. Maybe you aren't a bread-baker. Someone in this county is. Perhaps you can't design your own website. Someone in this county can. There's a good chance that you don't have a cow (nor would you know how to milk one). There's someone in this county who does and can. Isn't it time that we live and function as a community. Take a few moments to ponder the word "local". What does that look like to you? There's a little boy here who would be quick to tell you that it's not "carrots from Georgia".