River Cottage, Fruit Share, and the Importance of Our Relationship to Creation

Last updated on: October 19, 2013 at 11:45 am by David Russell Mosley

River Cottage, Fruit Share, and the Importance of Our Relationship to Creation 2013-10-19T11:45:47-04:00 David Russell Mosley

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

David Russell Mosley

19 October 2013

On the Edge of Elfland

Beeston, Nottinghamshire

Dear Friends and Family,

One of the many things about which I am really quite passionate is food. Specifically locally grown and reared food. I have to admit upfront, that I still don’t do enough considering my feelings on the subject, but I am trying.

Today we find ourselves in a culture of prepackaged, pre-cooked, reheated, food. We have no idea from whence it comes, who grew it (or reared it in the case of meat). Animals are being filled with steroids and cooped up in spaces far too small for a quality of life that is necessary for truly excellent tasting meat; seeds are being genetically modified and farmers are being sued for trying to use their own harvested, non-modified seeds (under the pretension that some of them might be over the patented, modified variety due to geographic proximity to modified crops). Even churches are giving mostly non-perishable food items in their food banks because its cheap and many people wouldn’t know what to do with fresh vegetables or fruit if you gave them to them.

Our Veg Patch in Early Spring (or Ver)

There are probably a lot of ways to fix these problems. Stricter governmental regulations over food; buying more from local farms (the creation of more family or town owned farms); growing your own food; etc. As Christians, it is our duty to care for Creation, it is, after all, our sister. And I think churches everywhere should doing everything they can to ensure people are cooking and eating food that is good and wholesome for them. One of the ways to do this, however, is to start with the children and get them involved.

On that front, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of River Cottage has begun a new project called Fruit Share. Several years ago, Hugh began a project called Land Share, connecting people who wanted to grow their own food with people who had land to spare (here in the UK that is). This new project, Fruit Share, has me very excited, albeit unable to do much about aside from get the word out about it. Fruit Share is program to give free fruit trees to British schools to begin small orchards so they can begin supplying their kitchens with fresh fruit. The kids get to help plant and care for the trees, and then enjoy their bounty. I currently have no children in school nor do I work at one, but I want to encourage everyone who does (teachers, parents, School Governors, etc.) to check out the Fruit Share project and sign up their schools. In the not too distant future I hope to do some more posts on the theological implications of growing food and buying and eating locally, but for now I just want this post to be an encouragement to join in the Fruit Share project. I talk all the time about the enchantment of Creation, well Creation can seem disenchanted if we don’t have a better relationship to it, if all we do is rape the land for industrial purposes. Let’s bring the Kingdom of God (insofar as we can this side of the resurrection) to Creation which is groaning for its own redemption.

Here is the link for the Fruit Share website as well as a brief video about it put out by the River Cottage team:

Fruit Share Website

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg6y5a2b7u4&w=640&h=480

Sincerely yours,

David Russell Mosley

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

orchard

River Cottage

Previous Post

October 5, 2013

A Life of Rhythm: The Church Calendar and the Divine Hours

Next Post

October 22, 2013 A Life Update: Ordination News, Thesis Update, and Babies

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Secular Age Advent Apologetics Atheism Beauty Being a Catholic Evangelical Being Catholic Being Deified: Poetry and Fantasy on the Path to God Blogging Book Reviews C. S. Lewis Catholic Imagination Catholic Social Teaching Catholicism Christmas Church Calendar Church Fathers Church Life Community Conferences Cosmology Creation Curdled Words Deification Distributism Easter Economics Education Epiphany Essay Extracts Eucharist Faerie Faeriean Metaphysics Fatherhood Films Folk Liturgy Food and Drink G. K. Chesterton Harry Potter J. R. R. Tolkien Jove King Arthur Language Lent Life Literature and Poetry Liturgy Medieval Theology Music My Publications Mythology On the Edges of Elfland Ordinary Time Ordination Parenthood Parish Patristic Theology Pentecost Politics Prayer Racism Radical Orthodoxy Restoration Movement Sacramental Ontology Saints Science Sex and Sexuality Sophiology Stories The Inklings The Radical Catholic Reimagination of Everything Theologians in the Church Theopoetics Thesis Research Uncategorized University of Nottingham What I'm Reading Writing

Select a Month December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 July 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz