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The New Urban Cowboy: The Backyard Farmer
The New Urban Cowboy: The Backyard Farmer
Author Susan Anderson July 2009
There is something in the air this year, and it's catchy. It's a bird, it's a plane, it's-- it's-- well---it's the newest
urban cowboy, the backyard farmer. About twenty years ago, my husband Scott and I were taking a walk
through the neighborhood we were living in and he made what I thought was the strangest comment In fact
it seemed so strange, I still remember it today. He said something to the effect " You know, some day,
everyone will be growing food on their front lawns because they have to." I looked at him as if he had two
heads. What do you mean on their front lawns? You mean in their backyards as a small garden. He was
very clear -out front -large gardens- to grow food. Ground would not be used for lawns but food. He felt
that some sort of crisis would require this type of action. Back then I didn't realize that my husband
sometimes can be quite the visionary.
Back Up To Move Forward
Now lets back up a bit in time and see what has transpired over the last twenty odd years in regards to the
foods we buy then eat. Here is just a short list of some of the things that come to mind:
1. We have seen an increase in the amount of processed foods on the grocery shelves, and a decrease in
small local stores carrying fresh foods.
2. The addition of high fructose corn syrup is found in more foods than one could possibly imagine. Today
approximately 25 percent of our average caloric intake comes from sugars, with the larger fraction as
fructose.
3. We have been introduced to the so called "low fat" foods, which come with a high price tag - artificial
ingredients and additives.
4. GMOs, genetically modified foods, have taken front and center. The Big Four GMO crops are corn,
soybeans, canola, and cottonseed.
5. Irradiated foods came onto the scene. Foods that can be irradiated include fruits, vegetables, wheat,
meat, poultry, pork, spices and herbs. Interestingly enough, they do not need to be labeled.
6. Continued use of transfats occurs in packaged and prepared foods.
7. Animals feedlot practices include the regular use of antibiotics which then reappear in the foods we eat.
Feedlots use other questionable procedures as well.
8. Industrial fish farming became a big hit- where fish are feed antibiotics and chemicals to survive in these
unnatural conditions.
9. Factory farming of livestock expanded with animals maintained in unhealthy and frequently inhumane
environments.
10. Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame becomes a staple ingredient in many products, including
unsuspecting ones, like over the counter medications.
11. The addition of dangerous food additives such as MSG, an excitotoxinsin, is found in many foods,
under a variety of misleading names, such as yeast extract to name one.
12. High levels of pesticides are found in most conventionally grown foods.
13. Food safety and contamination issues, such as e-coli and mad cow disease, become a reoccurring
concern.
Ok, I am going to stop there, because I think you get the picture. In the last 20 plus years our foods are
lacking the high density nutritional quality that should be the norm rather than the exception.
People Are Waking Up
Even with all the misleading information that comes through mainstream media outlets, we are seeing a light
emerging. This light is helping people to wake up and realize that the picture we have been handed is in
good part illusion. It is though efforts at the grassroots levels - such as organic organizations, alternative
wellness programs, and interested, caring individuals, that we are starting to tune into the messages being
given about healthy food and healthy living. We are starting to investigate. We are starting to question.
We are starting to empower ourselves once again.
Is It Just Me?
We are told we live in the richest country in the world, with the best of everything. I used to buy into that
thinking, but over the last decade, as my outer vision has started to decline, my inner vision has gotten
much sharper. So, I don't know about you, but there are plenty of questions running through my mind. Why
are there so many sick people in our country? Why are most of the elderly taking bagfuls of medications?
Where has our healthy food gone? Who benefits from us being sick? With all the brains and smart people
in this country, why hasn't there been a single cure for one major illness? Could our economy be
depending on keeping people functionally ill? Is it just me, or are you too starting to smell something in the
air?
The Urban Cowboy Appears
Well as the awareness levels of the state of our food is brought to our attention, as we start to take a good
look at our personal health and as the economy begins to shake, We The People, or at least some of us,
are starting to wake up. Some of us are starting to take notice. Some of us are starting to break out of the
trance like state we have comfortably settled into. Some of us are starting to take personal action.
So have you noticed as you drive around your community and neighborhoods this summer, the increased
amount of home gardens that are growing food? I am not just talking backyard gardens, but front lawn
gardens. Amazing! The Urban Cowboy has arrived, but this time dressed as a gardener.
Benefits of Home Gardening
I am not going to kid you, gardening is hard work, a labor of love. But given some of the alternative choices
available, it is a good direction to move into. This year we have expanded our gardening area to grow more
food, and next season, we plan to go even further. Why would we choose to do this?
1. We grow organically...without ingesting chemicals into our body
2. By enriching the soil, we are eating nutrient dense foods.
3. We eat as much as we can of what is grown locally, which is how our body is meant to eat.
4. Connecting with Mother Nature is a deeply spiritual practice which helps us evolve.
5. There is very little delay time, from garden to table it is the freshest food available.
And what can beat the taste of fresh food?
6. Food safety is no longer an issue when you grow your own food using good organic
practices.
7. You save money...and if you learn to save your own seed, you can receive additional
savings the following year.
8. Provides fresh air and exercise, something we don't get enough of at times.
9. Work with others to create a sense of community. If you have land and know someone
who doesn't, share the space. If you don't have land and know someone who does,
offer to help in exchange for growing space.
10. Waste less and share more. When you grow the food, you want to eat it. If you have
too much, share with friends. Good planning will also allow you to freeze, can, or dry
food for later use throughout the year.
So if you have not given it much thought, why not planning on joining the ranks with the newest
Urban Cowboy-- the backyard farmer...or maybe you can be a front yard or side yard garden-farmer.
The name doesn't matter, the action does. Start now, give yourself a jump start on good health.
Additional Resources:
Not quite sure yet you want to move into this direction? Check out some of the resource information below.
You are always better off when you self-educate, doing your own research, and making your decisions
based on both what your know and what you feel.
What's Wrong With Irradiated Foods?
Institute for Responsible Technology
The Campaign for Healthier Eating
Organic Gardening
Pesticide Database
Organic Consumers Association
High Fructose Corn Syrup
More Resources
About the Author:
Susan Anderson is holisitic practitioner and non-denominational minister who has been
working in the alternative health and wellness field since retiring from teaching in 2000.
She has been operating Seeds for Change Wellness, as well as developing this website
and various newsletters and blogs. Her hope is to contribute a small but inspirational
role in helping to improve life on this planet.
Author Susan Anderson July 2009
There is something in the air this year, and it's catchy. It's a bird, it's a plane, it's-- it's-- well---it's the newest
urban cowboy, the backyard farmer. About twenty years ago, my husband Scott and I were taking a walk
through the neighborhood we were living in and he made what I thought was the strangest comment In fact
it seemed so strange, I still remember it today. He said something to the effect " You know, some day,
everyone will be growing food on their front lawns because they have to." I looked at him as if he had two
heads. What do you mean on their front lawns? You mean in their backyards as a small garden. He was
very clear -out front -large gardens- to grow food. Ground would not be used for lawns but food. He felt
that some sort of crisis would require this type of action. Back then I didn't realize that my husband
sometimes can be quite the visionary.
Back Up To Move Forward
Now lets back up a bit in time and see what has transpired over the last twenty odd years in regards to the
foods we buy then eat. Here is just a short list of some of the things that come to mind:
1. We have seen an increase in the amount of processed foods on the grocery shelves, and a decrease in
small local stores carrying fresh foods.
2. The addition of high fructose corn syrup is found in more foods than one could possibly imagine. Today
approximately 25 percent of our average caloric intake comes from sugars, with the larger fraction as
fructose.
3. We have been introduced to the so called "low fat" foods, which come with a high price tag - artificial
ingredients and additives.
4. GMOs, genetically modified foods, have taken front and center. The Big Four GMO crops are corn,
soybeans, canola, and cottonseed.
5. Irradiated foods came onto the scene. Foods that can be irradiated include fruits, vegetables, wheat,
meat, poultry, pork, spices and herbs. Interestingly enough, they do not need to be labeled.
6. Continued use of transfats occurs in packaged and prepared foods.
7. Animals feedlot practices include the regular use of antibiotics which then reappear in the foods we eat.
Feedlots use other questionable procedures as well.
8. Industrial fish farming became a big hit- where fish are feed antibiotics and chemicals to survive in these
unnatural conditions.
9. Factory farming of livestock expanded with animals maintained in unhealthy and frequently inhumane
environments.
10. Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame becomes a staple ingredient in many products, including
unsuspecting ones, like over the counter medications.
11. The addition of dangerous food additives such as MSG, an excitotoxinsin, is found in many foods,
under a variety of misleading names, such as yeast extract to name one.
12. High levels of pesticides are found in most conventionally grown foods.
13. Food safety and contamination issues, such as e-coli and mad cow disease, become a reoccurring
concern.
Ok, I am going to stop there, because I think you get the picture. In the last 20 plus years our foods are
lacking the high density nutritional quality that should be the norm rather than the exception.
People Are Waking Up
Even with all the misleading information that comes through mainstream media outlets, we are seeing a light
emerging. This light is helping people to wake up and realize that the picture we have been handed is in
good part illusion. It is though efforts at the grassroots levels - such as organic organizations, alternative
wellness programs, and interested, caring individuals, that we are starting to tune into the messages being
given about healthy food and healthy living. We are starting to investigate. We are starting to question.
We are starting to empower ourselves once again.
Is It Just Me?
We are told we live in the richest country in the world, with the best of everything. I used to buy into that
thinking, but over the last decade, as my outer vision has started to decline, my inner vision has gotten
much sharper. So, I don't know about you, but there are plenty of questions running through my mind. Why
are there so many sick people in our country? Why are most of the elderly taking bagfuls of medications?
Where has our healthy food gone? Who benefits from us being sick? With all the brains and smart people
in this country, why hasn't there been a single cure for one major illness? Could our economy be
depending on keeping people functionally ill? Is it just me, or are you too starting to smell something in the
air?
The Urban Cowboy Appears
Well as the awareness levels of the state of our food is brought to our attention, as we start to take a good
look at our personal health and as the economy begins to shake, We The People, or at least some of us,
are starting to wake up. Some of us are starting to take notice. Some of us are starting to break out of the
trance like state we have comfortably settled into. Some of us are starting to take personal action.
So have you noticed as you drive around your community and neighborhoods this summer, the increased
amount of home gardens that are growing food? I am not just talking backyard gardens, but front lawn
gardens. Amazing! The Urban Cowboy has arrived, but this time dressed as a gardener.
Benefits of Home Gardening
I am not going to kid you, gardening is hard work, a labor of love. But given some of the alternative choices
available, it is a good direction to move into. This year we have expanded our gardening area to grow more
food, and next season, we plan to go even further. Why would we choose to do this?
1. We grow organically...without ingesting chemicals into our body
2. By enriching the soil, we are eating nutrient dense foods.
3. We eat as much as we can of what is grown locally, which is how our body is meant to eat.
4. Connecting with Mother Nature is a deeply spiritual practice which helps us evolve.
5. There is very little delay time, from garden to table it is the freshest food available.
And what can beat the taste of fresh food?
6. Food safety is no longer an issue when you grow your own food using good organic
practices.
7. You save money...and if you learn to save your own seed, you can receive additional
savings the following year.
8. Provides fresh air and exercise, something we don't get enough of at times.
9. Work with others to create a sense of community. If you have land and know someone
who doesn't, share the space. If you don't have land and know someone who does,
offer to help in exchange for growing space.
10. Waste less and share more. When you grow the food, you want to eat it. If you have
too much, share with friends. Good planning will also allow you to freeze, can, or dry
food for later use throughout the year.
So if you have not given it much thought, why not planning on joining the ranks with the newest
Urban Cowboy-- the backyard farmer...or maybe you can be a front yard or side yard garden-farmer.
The name doesn't matter, the action does. Start now, give yourself a jump start on good health.
Additional Resources:
Not quite sure yet you want to move into this direction? Check out some of the resource information below.
You are always better off when you self-educate, doing your own research, and making your decisions
based on both what your know and what you feel.
What's Wrong With Irradiated Foods?
Institute for Responsible Technology
The Campaign for Healthier Eating
Organic Gardening
Pesticide Database
Organic Consumers Association
High Fructose Corn Syrup
More Resources
About the Author:
Susan Anderson is holisitic practitioner and non-denominational minister who has been
working in the alternative health and wellness field since retiring from teaching in 2000.
She has been operating Seeds for Change Wellness, as well as developing this website
and various newsletters and blogs. Her hope is to contribute a small but inspirational
role in helping to improve life on this planet.
