A barn fire Sunday morning killed 90,000 hens and caused $2 million damage in Overisel Township. The fire was contained to one barn on a farm with eight barns and nearly a million chickens. The AP reports that the barn and chickens were insured.One million chickens. Here is a photo of my grandmother from the 1930s. She kept poultry to provide eggs and meat for her family. Some geese and chickens--countable on two hands, enough during the Great Depression. Each bird was fed and slaughtered by her hand for the sake of her family. The poultry was the insurance.
Today, we are cut off from the truth of food production and the fact of our vulnerability. We are separated from the struggle to provide for ourselves and our obesity proves it. We are "shoppers," "consumers," and "customers"--half of the production/consumption equation, rather than wholly self sufficient persons who understand the power of enough.
