Knolltop Farm Wife (Melissa Hart)

Welcome to my blog! I'm a wife, mother of four and a self-employed freelance writer. In addition to writing, I am involved in producing several dairy magazines and am the editor of Dairy Agenda Today where I have a blog there as well! This is a place where I can get what's in my head, down on paper (the internet). I hope you find encouragement and maybe a giggle or two!
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Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Spoiled Rotten

This weather is crazy! Yesterday I milked in my long underwear...this morning just a turtleneck and I was warming up fast. It's 54 out and foggy this morning on the Knolltop. I like the fact that we can't change the weather...that's one thing we aren't in control of..although the Al Gore would like us to think we are....with all his global warming rhetoric.

Anyway... I made one mention of spoiled Americans and did I get the email. Boy...you people really want to hear about how spoiled you are!

Here it goes....after visiting with our friends the Tingleys who are home for a visit from Indonesia, we were awakened to their way of life. We had just a small taste of what it must be like down there. The first tidbit was when their ten year old daughter looked a the bowl of grapes on our table and said, "Mom....look..it's grapes!" She was honestly excited about having grapes because they don't have grapes in Indonesia.

As we began to talk, I found out they don't have beef...just water buffalo, which aren't as tasty they say, plus they don't have many dairy products. They have to drink milk that's on the shelf, not refrigerated, they don't have access to cheese, they have to make their own yogurt from a powder mix and I didn't even ask about ice cream.

When we began discussing the safety of their food supply, Marc's response was, "America has the safest food supply and they don't even realize it." He went on to say that when they go back, they will get sick because their bodies will have to readjust to the food there. They will spend a few days being sick, then they will be fine and they will also have to take worm medicine.

When Christy wants to cook a meal she has to make everything from scratch even down to going to the market and buying the live chicken. Actually she sends a native, otherwise she would be taken advantage of and have to spend more than it's actually worth. It will take her at least three hours to cook a meal because everything is so different. No opening a bag of salad and pouring into a bowl, no taking the chicken breast out of the freezer and putting it in the oven to cook. She has an oven but it's very temperamental and small. No opening a can of corn or peas or going to the freezer and taking out what she was able to freeze over the summer. No going to the pantry and getting a jar of applesauce that she made during the fall apple harvest. No ordering pizza on a busy night, no drive through meals, no picking up pot roast with all the fixin's already in the package and baking it up in a snap. And that's just the cooking. I haven't even covered the fact that their mattresses are about 2 inches thick and they are one of the lucky ones who have indoor plumbing.

I wish those who are complaining about the use or rBST, GMO corn, pesticides, fertilizers, bleached white flour and pasteurized milk would just spend a week down in Indonesia or another under developed country and maybe they'd come home more concerned about what they need to get rid of or maybe they'd think about how much money they could give to those who have given up the comforts of their own home and the conveniences of modern America to help others have a better life.

For that matter, do we really need to go south for this? No, we just need to visit our local food pantry, Salvation Army, homeless shelter and we'd realize most of us have our priorities all messed up. So I ask you...what in your life is necessary? What can you live without? How much can you give? And are you willing to forsake your own wants for the need of another?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't know if the hormones are just out of control this morning or what, but your blog has me in tears this morning. I would like all those that read your blog to know that the Tingleys very much enjoy our life in Indonesia and we are all very homesick! I also would like to know about this roast in a bag with the fixins. I haven't seen that yet. And our family has very nice mattresses, the Indonesians sleep on cement or dirt floors or 2 inch mattresses.
I would also like those that are now considering giving to those willing to go, to contribute to the J.W. Hart fund so he can visit us in Indonesia and make that 10 year old girl's day!!
WE LOVE THE HART FAMILY.

Anonymous said...

Americans need to be reminded frequently how blessed we are to live in this country. We are indeed spoiled! Have you considered what will really happen when the next major event hits in your area?
Everyone needs to stock up on the things they would need to survive. Stores like Wal Mart are stocked daily and the shelves would soon empty.Can Americans survive without packaged food and all the common things we have now?

Melissa Hart said...

First: To the Tingley's thanks for posting your comments here, I'm so glad you are willing to share your life and help us open our eyes. But isn't it amazing how blessed you feel even though you don't have the stuff you used to have.
Second: Thanks to Linda for pointing out what we might do in a crisis. I don't think we have a clue, those of us who can, preserve, freeze, raise our own meat, etc...we are clueless about how much packaged food and fast food is consumed in this country. I know I feel like everyone else must cook like me, a little from scratch, some packaged stuff and drive through on a busy day. In all honesty, I wonder how many Americans know what to do with a bag of potatoes. The mere fact of how many successful fast food restaurants there are on a city block is evidence of how much fast food we consume.
Thanks to both of you!