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Publicizing Oklahoma Food
Info handed out at an All Oklahoma Food Banquet
About Tonight's Food. . .
The ingredients for tonight's banquet come to us via the Oklahoma
Food Cooperative. The purpose of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative is
to create a business that operates with three Core Values: social
justice, economic viability, and environmental sustainability.
Everything
we sell was grown or produced here in Oklahoma. We have 700 different
products available from 58 Oklahoma farmers.
The meat comes to us from Hinton, and the ranch of James Steppe,
doing business as Wichita Buffalo. You may be interested to learn
that buffalo meat (actually, it is more correctly referred to as
bison rather than buffalo) has less fat and cholesterol than chicken,
while at the same time having that robust flavor associated with
beef. The meat was seasoned with herbs from the Epiphany kitchen
garden, planted over the last couple of years by myself and Tracy
Osterman, our youth director.
The vegetables and salads come from certified organic and all natural
farms in eastern Oklahoma, mostly from the McGehee family of Okemah.
They have farmed their land since 1916 and it has never had chemical
fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides used on their property. They
also raise goats, chickens, lambs, pigs, and cattle. It is a busy
120 acres. The sour dough bread is from the Callens of Kiowa County,
the 100% whole wheat flour is ground on their farm, using certified
organic wheat from the Gosney family of Fairfield. The pound cakes
are from Lawton, baked "from scratch" by Mrs. Chadwick. The strawberries,
alas, are from Albertsons. If any of you would like a nice part
time business, I encourage you to plant small fruits like blueberries,
blackberries, and strawberries. You will sell everything you can
grow and you can practically name your own price.
Epiphany Parish is a member of the cooperative, as is the Archdiocese,
and the parish has generously helped us by allowing us to use space
to sort our groceries for delivery to our customer members. The
Catholic Church has a long tradition of supporting cooperatives as
an important factor of rural urban development. The cooperative
model of business organization is considered to be a practical realization
of the social justice teachings of the church. Two of the leading
cooperative systems in the world - the Antigonish cooperatives of
Nova Scotia, and the Mondragon cooperatives of Spain, were organized
by Catholic priests. Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II have
both written of the importance of supporting rural life, and have
spoken of the role that cooperatives can play in revitalizing rural
areas, as have Leo XIII, Pius XI, and Pius XII.
The average age of an Oklahoma farmer is 61, the traditional small
family farm as we have known it is practically an endangered species,
and rural towns are becoming ghost towns. I believe that the best
support we as "eaters in the city" can provide to our rural cousins
is to buy food directly from them. That's why, while wearing my "Catholic
Worker hat", I started the Oklahoma Food Cooperative. I consider
creating jobs and economic opportunity to be one of the most important
works of social justice. When you spend a dollar in a grocery store,
perhaps 10 cents gets to a farmer, but at the Oklahoma Food Cooperative
100 cents out of every dollar goes to the farmers. By purchasing
the food for this banquet from Oklahoma farmers, our dollars do double
duty. Not only do we get great food, but we also support grassroots
economic opportunity for our neighbors in rural Oklahoma.
Robert Waldrop
Director of music, Epiphany Parish,
President, Oklahoma Food Cooperative www.oklahomafood.coop
What Can Parishes Do to Promote Rural Life, Social Justice, and Environmental Stewardship?
From the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, founded in 1923,
www.ncrlc.com
Get to know and support your local farmers. We are losing family
farms at an alarming rate. Help to create community-supported agriculture
groups. For more information go to www.foodroutes.org.
Some churches use their own parking lots for markets and some churches
go the next step to establishing vegetable subscription services
where parishioners buy food regularly from specific farmers. Many
churches have commercial kitchens that can assist farmers in value-
adding food such as sauces, salsas or soups. More and more farmers
are trying to sell directly over the Internet.
Support local and renewable sources of energy. Find out about energy
conservation and local options for wind and solar energy. Also consider
using more public transportation, a car-share service or hybrid and
electric cars.
Invest your savings within your local community instead of the stock
market. You can help provide low-interest loans for small businesses
and support living in a healthy and sustainable community. Put your
money in a local instead of national bank.
Ask your store where your food came from. For instance, is the chicken
free-range, were the hogs pastured or factory-farmed, were the cattle
grass-fed?
Seek out local clothing designers. Buy "sweat-free" labeled clothing
for any items you can't find from a local designer.
For every item you consume consider ways to reduce waste, use less
or recycle. Also, find ways to make your home and office less toxic
by using "green" cleaning products, or "green" dry-cleaning services,
for example.
Not enough is being done to assist beginning farmers. The federal
government could do far more. Helping match retiring farmers with
new farmers needs to be expanded. Provide technical assistance so
new farmers can ease into farming with rented land and shared equipment.
Confront the immorality of our food conglomerates. Junk food does
not just happen. The food giants put billions into advertising while
the government puts a few million into encouraging people to eat
healthy. The obesity debate is finally gaining traction and much
of our fast food should be nutritionally challenged.
Exporting our way out of low agricultural prices is no longer a sensible
solution. We need to develop local food systems -- and Catholic parishes
should be leading the way in this!
A Prayer to Saints Isidore and Maria, patrons of farmers and gardeners
We bless God,
Whose greatness is proclaimed by your lives,
Whose love is revealed by your love.
As life partners, you lived simply on the land,
Formed by the rhythms of nature and church.
With you, we thank God for our rural lives,
Formed by the rhythms of nature and church.
With you, help us to rejoice
In the relationships with God and each other.
Isidore and Maria, Pray for us. Amen.
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