A Sad and Inspiring Day

For the last few years, I have loyally bought pasture-raised pork from TLC Ranch. It started as a social/political/lifestyle choice - I wanted to shop at my local farmers' market in Mountain View; I wanted to buy meat raised in an environmentally sustainable manner; I wanted to support a local farmer. The choices became easier after I discovered how damn good the pork chops were. It became fun when Loren, their "farmers' market dude", started recognizing me and gave me advice on how to best roast that shoulder or prepare that pork belly. It felt great when I took my daughter then 2 yr old daughter, Kaiya, to a TLC Ranch "farm day" where she ran with the piglets, played in the chicken coop, and met Rebecca the farmer. It felt inspiring when I read Rebecca's article titled "Do you have the balls to really change the food system?"

And now I'm sad. TLC Ranch is closing. As Rebecca explains it, making a living at sustainable farming is hard. So I'm sad. I will miss having a convenient purveyor of sustainable pork at my local farmers' market. I will miss the early Sunday morning rush to see what Loren brought that particular week (pork belly? bacon? soup bones?) or if there any free-range eggs left (they sold out fast!). I will miss taking Kaiya to "Rebecca's farm", as she called it. And I will miss those delicious pork chops, that in the words of anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss via Michael Pollan, were good to eat and good to think.

Yet I'm inspired. Connecting with the food I eat has a greater purpose. I think I do have the balls to really change the food system. I know I have the power to make choices as a consumer of what I eat and who I buy it from. And I can make choices (and do my part in compelling others to make similar choices) that enable small family farms like TLC Ranch to be viable, thriving parts of our communities and everyday lives. I'm sad that it's too late for TLC Ranch, and inspired about what I can do about it today and going forward.