Earth plus Sky equals Food

I have tried to remain aware of the fact that as a New Yorker I, more than most people, am divorced from the source of the food I eat. It's not so bad as the scene in Feed (M.T. Anderson) when Titus visits a fillet mignon farm (or possibly veal farm) where all the meat is growing out the ground) and says, "I really like to know where things come from." But still, it's pretty bad. Driving through Indiana and Illinois this became utter apparent to me. You just drive through mile after mile of corn and soy bean fields - especially when you get off the Interstate and drive on smaller roads. And I know this is obvious but it was still heavy. Food comes from the earth. The sky and the ground get together and make plants that we can eat. There it all is. No packaging or preservatives or signage or any thing. Just food coming up from the ground. That's how it's worked out so we can manage to live. And there it all was stretching out on either side of us as we drove. I was amazed and humbled.