For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s All About Organics page and our Organic Transitions page.

These days, one of the most important things to be thankful for is access to healthy food. We seldom think of the work that goes into making food – especially when that work is done with little fanfare or support. If you are one of the people doing that work, this letter is for you.

Whether you are a famous farmer like Joel Salatin of Virginia or The Barefoot Farmer of Tennessee, or you’re just trying to feed your family and a few friends with real food, you are healing the world! And your hard work does not go unnoticed or unappreciated.

What would we do without your organic veggies and fruit, without your grass fed beef and free-range chickens? We are so blessed to have access to your food – whether it is through a CSA, the local farmer’s market, or even the side of the road.

Thank you for planting heirloom seeds. Thank you for honoring the animals that you raise for eggs, milk, and meat. Thank you for doing your work honestly. And thank you for sharing your food.

Thank you for giving us options so that we don’t have to rely on (or give our money to) giant corporations selling industrial raised, diseased cows, pigs, chickens, or GMO veggies and fruit, sprayed with pesticides, and herbicides.

Thank you for being a steward of the land and its people. Thank you for sticking to your principles – for doing things the right way – even when that means that you are doing things the “hard” way.