How are we able to navigate the convolution?

I recently started reading "Born Again Dirt", a book I've had for awhile and haven't taken the time to read. What I read in the first couple chapters, paired nicely with a conversation I recently had. There are so many things throughout life that are called the same thing, but the meanings are drastically different.

In the picture above there are two male turkeys (Toms). You may say to yourself that a turkey is a turkey and that is correct to some degree, but as you take a closer look, they are also different. The tom on the right is a Narragansett and the left male is a Bourbon Red. There is also a female, which isn't necessary for the point I'm trying to make here. These are all turkeys for sure, but different sizes, builds, and temperaments, and tastes.

When I took the above picture, it reminded me of the conversation I had with another farmer. I consider him a farmer because at times, he does plant some things and picks some things, but the operation he is part of is, in my opinion is basically a produce reseller that also sells a couple home grown items. The items that he does grow are grown industrially, meaning utilizing the methods of spraying chemical herbicides and fertilizers on their crops. His farm drives and picks up produce from a nearby city farmer's market and then back to resell at their location. The farm advertises "Local Produce". They have government endorsed labels, assistance programs, are labeled as a farm, and monetarily do very well. This is not an isolated case. When I approached the manager of the Landrum Farmer's Market, I was told that they try to make sure that the products being sold are from the person's property, but how can that be verified?

I ask myself if the above examples are really a farm?

Our operation gets organic poultry feed from Reedy Fork Farms in NC. There is travel involved to pickup the feed every two months. The poultry we grow did not originate here, but it is reproduced here, on site. Our gardening practices are regenerative, meaning we are regenerating the soil as we move poultry around to fertilize and scratch their waste (fertilizer) in. We compost our waste from processing poultry, household food items, grass clippings, manure, wood chips, and leaves. We haven't used chemical herbicides or fertilizers for a decade or more. We plant everything by hand, package every egg, and process every bird by hand. We don't apply for government grants, labels, and are at a monetary deficit concerning product sales. That's a choice that we have made at Embrace Farm, or is it? We want people to experience the joy and confidence that comes from eating poultry products that are raised humanely, fed organically, and processed respectfully. Our culture finds it perfectly fine to spend $5 on a single serving Red Bull or a Starbucks latte, but raise a disbelieving eyebrow when 12 pastured, organically fed eggs are $5. Or a pastured chicken that is processed by hand costs more than a Costco "organic" chicken. We operate transparently, not for our benefit, but for our member's. To have confidence in what they're getting.

The first example is all the buzz. People are enthusiastic when they drive down the road and see a farm stand with boastful signs and government endorsements. They see a parking lot full of cars and they say to themselves, "it must be a good thing". It leads me to asking myself if people really interested in "Making America Healthy Again"? Or are we more interested in doing what we've always done? We're great a looking the part, the most convenient way possible. Integrity is the furthest thing from our mind when there is an easier way to "look the part". Some would argue that America hasn't been healthy since precolonial times and I would agree. Why? The Indigenous Indians had integrity in their relationship with the land. I would argue that we should as well. The way we treat the land reflects our heart towards the Creator of the Earth. We've been trying to get everything out of the Earth for centuries and not giving anything back unless you consider petroleum based fertilizers and forever chemicals "giving back". We've got to give something different if we're ever going to get something different.

Two very different examples are given, yet both are called farms. This is where the book Born Again Dirt comes in. Noah Sanders (the author) writes that he began to understand that if he desired to grow organic food, he could not be a successful industrial farmer. On the other hand, if he wanted to apply industrial practices, such as applying chemical herbicides, insecticides, he couldn't be a successful organic farmer. Again, both are still called farmers, but there is a big difference. His book is called "Born Again Dirt" because we need to approach soil regeneration with a fresh perspective. One that is absent from always taking something from the soil and trying to make ammendments with chemicals that the soil responds negatively to. Industrial farming may produce the appearance of something that is delicious and high in nutrients, but a closer look will show that it really just "looks the part".

As stated earlier, we're great at "looking the part" and it makes sense that our production of things, mimics what we do ourselves. I recently shared with people to think of themselves as they're driving past a cop, most people let off the gas and possibly apply the brake. As soon as we're out of the cop's sight, we return to our normal practice of speeding. We practice this "appearance" in many areas of life and so do many farmers. So do church goers that call themselves Christians. This has impacted the world's view of Christianity much like I see industrial farmers. Fraudulent, disingenuous, and full of looking the part. We can easily become accustomed to looking a certain part for a certain portion of time to obtain a certain reward, once our goal or reward is fulfilled, we return to our compromised state.

What freedoms are available to us in the "Land of the Free" that eludes us? The freedom that comes from having integrity. The freedom of not having to put on a mask for a performance and then change back into our compromised state. When I look at it from an objective view, the charade just looks exhausting and unrewarding. It's exhausting to constantly navigate deception. You know, like trying to raise a child when all they do is lie to you. That's a much greater comparison than food integrity right? Or is it???

Deception breeds more deception, and more, and more, and more. When does it end?

Truth when handled with grace, begets more truth. Truth yields a foundation that can always be built upon. Grace is necessary because mistakes will happen. This is how the Creator made it and it's the way His Creation (the Earth) has tried to treat us.

When I consider that Satan convinced about a third of the angels to leave Heaven, I have to consider that deception is a dangerous weapon that I am not equipped to defend against, in my own power. I would argue that no one is and it's one of the innumeral reasons Christ came to Earth. To show us a better way.

Ephesians 4:17-19

'So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. '

Unity can only happen when there is Truth. Transparency is inherent in truth. Humility is inherent in Truth, because we all make mistakes. What's that do for us? It unifies us because we have something else in common. This world, culture, reality we live in is so full of hidden agendas that it leads to the Scripture above and it regenerates itself. Truth regenerates itself when the culture deals with it Biblically, when we deal with it unbiblically, it leads to deception, and that regenrates itself. It's time to stand for the Truth. Not condemningly, but honestly and gently.

Humbly and Respectfully,

Gordon