Monterey Bay

The drive around the bay from Santa Cruz to Big Sur is 40 miles. In those few miles you pass the greatest variety of fresh produce you’ve never seen grown before. The artichoke and brussell-sprout plants were swollen and ready to extend their stalks in time for Thanksgiving harvest. The air was fecund with the aroma of freshly tilled earth and recently cut fields of cabbage and kale. The bent backs of the farm workers, cloaked in hoodies against the morning chill, were silent testament to all that we take for granted as we consume their labors and deny them their due. What do THEY eat? Where do THEY sleep? How do THEY live? 10 and 12 to a cabin in the best of circumstances and lacking sanitation, places for kids to play, schooling, medicine….money. Sadly, we see none of this in the carefully lit and “storm sprinkled” aisles of the Safeway as we search for the perfect peach and the freshest strawberry. I would challenge any of us to pick strawberries for one 8 hour day, bent-backed and weary, and not look at our food and our politics with a more discerning eye.

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