Going nuts
30/01/16 05:41
Back in 1942 two couples, Clarence and Florence Jordan and Martin and Mabel England formed a partnership farm based on their understanding of Christian principles. They studied the Bible, especially the book of Acts and tried to pattern their lives after early Christian communities. Other families soon joined the venture and many people came to live and work there as interns. They called their enterprise Koinonia Farm. It was located near Americus, Georgia.
There were hard times in the early years. The farm’s commitment to racial equality was criticized and even attacked by segregationists from the surrounding communities. The Ku Klux Klan and others tried to force the farm out of the area. They responded with prayer, nonviolent resistance and a renewed commitment to the Gospel. As they continued to pay equal wages to both black and white workers, eat a common meal at a common table, the violent attacks began to become less frequent. While they were establishing the farm and their way of life the country was changing as well.
Founder Clarence Jordan set about to translate a new version of the New Testament. Working from the original Greek, he penned versions of the gospels in the vernacular of south Georgia. the “Cotton Patch Version,” became popular and Jordan was sought after as a speaker and preacher across the nation.
Many people know about Koinonia Farm because of its connections to Millard and Linda Fuller, founders of Habitat for Humanity International. Inspired by Jordan and working with other Koinonia members, the Fullers took lessons that they learned working in Africa and applied them to the need for housing in Georgia. Their concepts of biblical finances caught on and the organization continues to grow worldwide with its dedication to provide simple, decent housing in partnership with those in need.
Jubilee Partners, a community that welcomes refugees from war-torn countries, was also formed.
My parents discovered the work of Koinonia farms sometime in my childhood, and began to offer small amounts of support from a distance. They made modest donations and discovered the mail-order for the farm’s products, especially pecans. They purchased pecans for use in our home and for gifts to others at the holidays. My father developed a taste for pecan pie that he shared with his family, one that I carry.
We always felt a small connection to this little community in the south, even though I have never lived in the south and have only visited there infrequently. My parents did have the opportunity to visit Koinonia farms once, but I have never made that pilgrimage.
That’s a fairly long story to tell you how I grew up with a taste for pecans. There is another nut that comes from the same area that I like that really isn’t a nut at all. It doesn’t grow on trees. It is a legume that grows in the ground that we call a nut: the peanut. We grew up with shelled peanuts in our Christmas stockings, peanut butter in the cupboard, and plenty of peanuts available for snacking most of the time.
During the time that Jimmy Carter, a neighbor of Koinonia farm, was the governor of Georgia, his wife served on the board of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. That is where my father met her and first learned of her husband’s political ambitions. When Carter was elected president of the United States, my father, a democrat in a predominantly republican community, made a point of serving Jimmy Carter sundaes to all of his guests: vanilla ice cream with peanut butter and sometimes a bit of chocolate sauce to top it off.
I don’t have any stories about almonds. I just like to eat them. And I started out to write about them this morning, but it seems to have taken me more than half of my blog to get around to my subject.
What I wanted to say is that the price of almonds is falling. Prices are down about 25% in the last year. I was trying to cut back on almonds because of the high prices and because of the high water consumption of almonds. It takes more than a gallon of water to produce a single almond. California, source of 80% of the world’s almonds has experienced a drought. Less rain has meant less nuts. Shortages drive up prices. The farmers installed more irrigation to combat the drought, increasing the cost of production and the prices went up even more. At first we just paid the higher prices, and most other consumers seemed to do the same thing.
US markets probably could have sustained the price increases, with production decreasing slightly as prices continued to rise, but the strength of the American dollar meant that prices were rising much faster outside of the US. With around 70% of US almonds headed for the export market, mostly to China and Europe, sales started to fall. Exports are down by about 15% as we start this year. Decreasing sales means increasing supply and the price has gone down.
Still, I’m not sure that it is a good idea to consume too much of a product that requires so much water. It would be possible for the same land to produce other foods with a much lower cost in terms of water.
And the fact remains that I enjoy eating food that cannot be produced where I live. Part of the cost of nuts for us here in South Dakota is transportation. Of course I eat other well-traveled foods: apples from Washington, tomatoes from Texas, oranges from Florida and such. I haven’t given up eating spinach just because there is snow on my garden.
It is hard to determine which foods are best when trying to make responsible choices not just about nutrition and healthy eating, but also about responsible use of money and concern for others and for the sustainability of agriculture to feed the worlds ever-growing population.
I certainly don’t have the answers.
I guess I’ll get out the Koinonia catalogue and order some hickory smoked pecans to snack on while I ponder what I should do.
There were hard times in the early years. The farm’s commitment to racial equality was criticized and even attacked by segregationists from the surrounding communities. The Ku Klux Klan and others tried to force the farm out of the area. They responded with prayer, nonviolent resistance and a renewed commitment to the Gospel. As they continued to pay equal wages to both black and white workers, eat a common meal at a common table, the violent attacks began to become less frequent. While they were establishing the farm and their way of life the country was changing as well.
Founder Clarence Jordan set about to translate a new version of the New Testament. Working from the original Greek, he penned versions of the gospels in the vernacular of south Georgia. the “Cotton Patch Version,” became popular and Jordan was sought after as a speaker and preacher across the nation.
Many people know about Koinonia Farm because of its connections to Millard and Linda Fuller, founders of Habitat for Humanity International. Inspired by Jordan and working with other Koinonia members, the Fullers took lessons that they learned working in Africa and applied them to the need for housing in Georgia. Their concepts of biblical finances caught on and the organization continues to grow worldwide with its dedication to provide simple, decent housing in partnership with those in need.
Jubilee Partners, a community that welcomes refugees from war-torn countries, was also formed.
My parents discovered the work of Koinonia farms sometime in my childhood, and began to offer small amounts of support from a distance. They made modest donations and discovered the mail-order for the farm’s products, especially pecans. They purchased pecans for use in our home and for gifts to others at the holidays. My father developed a taste for pecan pie that he shared with his family, one that I carry.
We always felt a small connection to this little community in the south, even though I have never lived in the south and have only visited there infrequently. My parents did have the opportunity to visit Koinonia farms once, but I have never made that pilgrimage.
That’s a fairly long story to tell you how I grew up with a taste for pecans. There is another nut that comes from the same area that I like that really isn’t a nut at all. It doesn’t grow on trees. It is a legume that grows in the ground that we call a nut: the peanut. We grew up with shelled peanuts in our Christmas stockings, peanut butter in the cupboard, and plenty of peanuts available for snacking most of the time.
During the time that Jimmy Carter, a neighbor of Koinonia farm, was the governor of Georgia, his wife served on the board of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. That is where my father met her and first learned of her husband’s political ambitions. When Carter was elected president of the United States, my father, a democrat in a predominantly republican community, made a point of serving Jimmy Carter sundaes to all of his guests: vanilla ice cream with peanut butter and sometimes a bit of chocolate sauce to top it off.
I don’t have any stories about almonds. I just like to eat them. And I started out to write about them this morning, but it seems to have taken me more than half of my blog to get around to my subject.
What I wanted to say is that the price of almonds is falling. Prices are down about 25% in the last year. I was trying to cut back on almonds because of the high prices and because of the high water consumption of almonds. It takes more than a gallon of water to produce a single almond. California, source of 80% of the world’s almonds has experienced a drought. Less rain has meant less nuts. Shortages drive up prices. The farmers installed more irrigation to combat the drought, increasing the cost of production and the prices went up even more. At first we just paid the higher prices, and most other consumers seemed to do the same thing.
US markets probably could have sustained the price increases, with production decreasing slightly as prices continued to rise, but the strength of the American dollar meant that prices were rising much faster outside of the US. With around 70% of US almonds headed for the export market, mostly to China and Europe, sales started to fall. Exports are down by about 15% as we start this year. Decreasing sales means increasing supply and the price has gone down.
Still, I’m not sure that it is a good idea to consume too much of a product that requires so much water. It would be possible for the same land to produce other foods with a much lower cost in terms of water.
And the fact remains that I enjoy eating food that cannot be produced where I live. Part of the cost of nuts for us here in South Dakota is transportation. Of course I eat other well-traveled foods: apples from Washington, tomatoes from Texas, oranges from Florida and such. I haven’t given up eating spinach just because there is snow on my garden.
It is hard to determine which foods are best when trying to make responsible choices not just about nutrition and healthy eating, but also about responsible use of money and concern for others and for the sustainability of agriculture to feed the worlds ever-growing population.
I certainly don’t have the answers.
I guess I’ll get out the Koinonia catalogue and order some hickory smoked pecans to snack on while I ponder what I should do.