Day 86 (Merri-Bee Organic Farm - Nannup)

This morning Max had burst an irrigation pipe. Bee was out in Bunbury to do her weekly shop and Stuart was out collecting goods for the farm. We had to find the main water valve to turn it off. We found the tank at the top and could luckily switch it off.

Work duties have followed on from yesterday.

Tonight we watched a film called "Food Inc". I have heard of it plenty of times in the past but have never seen it. The film highlights all the factory processes involved with modern food and also how disconnected we are as a society to what we eat. In the film were a few defining moments that made me consider even more what type of foods I should consume. One of the most sickening bits of footage was in the factories where the hens are kept. They are trapped in a dark building so as to keep light out, and left to live there entire life on the feces they excrete. They can't move and only once all the chooks are taken the factory might be cleaned. They have artificial lighting glaring on them during the day and then switched off at night. In the dark its easier for the chooks to be collected. In my time at the farm I have noticed how much chooks respond to light changes, as we let them out just before sunset because they return to there place of shelter before dark. They do this for what I believe to be natural instinct in search for safety. The chooks are essentially altered by man, using hormones and man made medicines, to have a generic size and shape. The chooks grow so rapidly that their brittle young bones can't handle the excessive weight from the fluid in their muscle. The chooks will often lay on their backs unable to move and struggling to breathe. This is a big contrast to the farm here, as the chooks consistently run around, peck through the soil and have quite a social structure.

It is certainly a good time to watch such a film, as I have direct interaction with many of the foods from the film here on the farm. It is easy to see however how some people can become so disconnected with mainstream society. These people are viewed from mainstream as weird, social recluses - hippies or lefties that have no comprehension of the real world. I would by no means put Stewart or Bee in a field of extreme lefties, as they still participate in many mainstream activities.

Perhaps I need to watch my next film on media, and the role they play in zombifying the public, stereotyping and outcasting people who object to the predominant consumer style of living.