My essay submission, "The Simple Life," is a discussion of the morality of our current system of food processing in the United States, as well as an inside look at the lives of Peter and Susan Corning, a retired couple who decided to pour a significant portion of their life's earnings into restoring an old dairy farm into the fully functioning biointensive organic farm that it is today, Synergy Farm. Located in the San Juan Islands, off the coast of Washington, their small farm produces organic eggs, a variety of veggies, a handful of fruits (depending on the season), and in the summer, fresh roaster chickens. My former NYC roommate, Lucy, spent a year as a Synergy Farm intern. And when I was in Seattle back in January of this year, I had the pleasure of riding the ferry to Friday Harbor, WA, and getting an up-close and personal taste of the way they do things there.
My favorite part? The chicken coop, as you'll surely see when you read my excerpt, posted on the Morality of Profit blog/website.
In short, my farm-stay inspired a great deal of thought and reflection. And so, when I came across this particular essay competition run by the SEVEN Fund (in my never-ending search for scholarships and other means of funding my master's degree in nutrition), I jumped at the chance to share some of my more coherent food-industry-related ramblings with an audience who might actually care to listen!
On July 1st, they'll be announcing the three overall cash-prize winners, as well as the 15 additional essays to be published (by the SEVEN Fund) as part of a compilation of contributions from thought leaders around the world. To date, they've received more than 2,200 submissions from over 88 countries, so no matter what happens, I'm excited to be a part of it all!
But here's where I need your help: They've invited those of us who submitted essays to post a 250-word excerpt on their website/blog. The goal is to get as much traffic as possible to the excerpt, in the hopes that not only will thoughts be provoked, but that the posts will be further shared via social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. The author of the excerpt that gets the most visitors will be given the chance to work with the SEVEN Fund editors to be included in the publication along with the winning essays! Being a writer at heart, and an avid food reform advocate, this would seriously be a dream come true for me.
So please, spare a moment to stop by my excerpt, leave a comment if you feel inclined to do so, and then share the link with your friends via Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, and/or word of mouth. Pretty, pretty please?
And on that note, I'll leave you with some pics of my super-short stay at Synergy Farm...
the egg-laying hens with their "modern-looking feed contraptions"
my friend and informal farm tour guide, Lucy
Hi there - I shared the link of the excerpt on twitter and then realized I do not know your twitter name. Mine is citylifeeats.
ReplyDeleteYour blog looks so pretty!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Valerie! I actually just started a twitter account the other day, sort of unofficially... I'll find you on there ;-)
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you, Miss Music... I just changed the layout; glad you like it!