The first question I get asked about The Joy of Plenty is “If I’m not going to the grocery store to get food, where do I go?”
Where you go is The Hive Food Network. It answers that question, and I guarantee it will make the whole subject of buying food much more fun. And you’ll look back someday and wonder how you ever got along without it.
The Hive Food Network is:
- The Joy of Plenty pantry partners and groups connecting with wholesale and farm-direct food suppliers.
- A way for farmers to tap directly into organic food markets.
- A community based on respecting others and sharing connections, knowledge, and kindness.
- A way to improve pollinator health by increasing the demand for organic food and decreasing the need for toxic pesticides.
- An avenue of creative reform for the current food system.
The Hive gives you the ability to leapfrog over intermediaries, and this increases your purchasing power. Buying food via The Hive stretches your food dollars by about 40 percent, so you can afford to buy more organic food. If you are already eating mostly organic, you can use the money you save for something else – or you can just save it! In some cases, the food won’t cost less, but the quality will be much higher. And it’s like going on a treasure hunt – you can sometimes find items that seldom appear in grocery stores.
When you’re in The Hive, you’ll be able to eat as if you are dining at a five-star restaurant because you will be buying the same kind of food famous chefs buy. Except by doing it yourself, you can kick up your eating experience from five stars to six stars. Think six-star cooking and six-star kitchen. Why not? I have done it – I know you can do it, too.
Over time, we have experienced inflation in the cost of food. This is the result not only of higher prices, but also of the lowering of the quality of food. Many of us don’t even know what we are missing – that incredible sensual pleasure of extraordinarily high-quality, “high-vibe” food. The kind of food that not only tastes utterly fabulous, but also feels good to eat. The kind of food that has an aura, which puts a whole other spin on the idea of soul food. And you can be free from worry that the animal you are eating was treated inhumanely and raised in slavery. You can be free from worry that the produce you are eating was heavily sprayed with pesticides that are weakening the bees and that those residues are accumulating in your body.
Protecting the bees is probably the best reason to participate in The Hive. Overuse of agricultural pesticides has been linked to the decline in the bee population, so the sooner we can reduce our society’s dependence on pesticides, the better. The more organic food we buy, the greater the likelihood that there will be bees around to pollinate food for future generations. Or, as Elise B.C. says, “We once grew food without chemicals. We never grew food without bees.”
The Hive Food Network will be built by everyone who participates, friends joining with friends and friends joining with farmers, in a spontaneous and creative uprising. The blueprint for The Hive is in my book, The Joy of Plenty.
In The Hive Food Network, food is love. What could be better?