Now that you mention it Guest, I remember it well..LOL!

I had the opportunity to live in Austria when I was 15 years old. My host family were farmers. It was a real eye-opener for me. The only thing these people bought from the store (food wise) was butter, cheese and pickles. Everything else came from the farm and the hard work we put into all of it (LOTS of manual labor....very LITTLE machinery as is often seen around the US). It definately gave me a new understanding of how things work and how very priviledged people are who can run to the store without a second thought.

Each summer we host children from New York City as part of the Fresh Air Fund. It's amazing to me (and honestly, frightening too) that the majority of these kids have NO IDEA where their food comes from. We had a 12 year old that thought corn grew on a tree, a 9 year old who had NO IDEA where milk came from and was absolutely horrified when she witnessed a goat being milked...they just don't know. As far as they are concerned, it comes from the store. Period. No further thought than that. On another occassion, there was a blackout in New York (just this past summer) and our Fresh Air Fund Child was concerned about the food in her mother's refridgerator spoiling and how would her mother get more food if all the stores were closed?

IMHO, education regarding agriculture and the raising of livestock is sorely lacking here in the US. Isn't it interesting that education is pushed for the 3rd world countries so that they can learn to do for themselves, but it isn't happening very much over here? Interesting and downright scarey.

Michelle