Board News & Views Farm to table, human to human. By MMFC board member, Chris Hayden
I'm sitting in one of my favorite local coffee shops, reading about chronic pain and the human nervous system (I know,exciting!). The mug of coffee warming my hand contains beans roasted in this very room. Though the beans came from far away, people here work hard to ensure that the growers are paid fairly, even visiting in person to establish real connections: human to human. These local people formed a co-op, Farmer to Farmer, that sells coffee at Menomonie Market and other grocery co-ops. The people around me talk about all kinds of things, like local food, social issues, and healthcare. Occasionally I take a break and join in; it's a great benefit to have places where these conversations flow from group to group, from
day to day. So much happens in these conversations that cannot happen in isolated minds. "We the community" is indeed greater than the sum of us individuals! Social life is vital to our health. Social isolation is understood as a strong risk factor for chronic pain and even death. Our nervous systems are strands in larger webs of family, friends, neighbors, and wider communities - the health of the individual and the group depend on each other. Speaking for myself, shopping at Menomonie Market is as much a social experience as a culinary one. I enjoy talking with customers, employees, and producers. Eating is such a social act for us much of the time, and shopping for food at a co-op or farmer’s
Left to Right: Gary Hanson, Chris Hayden, Wendy MacDougall, Patrick Pesek-Herriges, Rick Remington, Gary Hanson, Mariann Holm
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2018, Issue I
market starts the social aspect of eating off on the right foot. My purchases here contribute to a wider community of people, animals, plants, and soil. The emotional benefit of giving back is good for one's health in itself. Our Ends Statement begins "Menomonie Market will be central to a thriving, healthy, community". It's a tall order, but as Ursula le Guin wrote, "Shoot for the top, always. You'll never make it, but what's the fun if you don't shoot for the top?" I think that co-ops will always wrestle with this word "community". It's right under our noses, yet it is abstract. It's vital to our being, like sunlight, and needs occasional tending, like a garden. But we know there is no thriving, no community, without that intangible sense of social connection. We have a long way to go to meet our Ends. Sometimes it seems like communities become more and more fractured as economics, environment, and misuse of technologies coincide to divide us from each other. I see it in the neighborhoods around me; people don't wave to each other or know each others' names. My hope is that places like the MMFC and other small businesses can be seeds for a resurgence of social health, as we work toward our goals and remember the sign over our door: "Everyone Welcome."