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Episode #80: Joel's Diary: What I Learned on My Trip to Israel · Beyond Labels Premium

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Start with baby steps and do it and do it with small experiments.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: And Cena, I think that goes right along.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know why it took me the last farm to finally put that together in my head.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was so concentrating and my heart was so burdened for the need.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: I could see where they needed to go, but how do you get there?
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you get there with baby steps.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: You get there with experiments.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's what we've told people in this podcast and in the book Beyond Labels is of course it's intimidating.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been eating at McDonald's and having squeezable cheese and sending lunchables with your kids to school, what we describe here is is like looking at desolation, uh thousands of acres.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh and so you don't have you didn't get here overnight and you won't get out of it overnight.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't need to.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: All you need to do is take a baby step toward something positive to build your own confidence and and and and speak to your own heart.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I am affirmed, I'm affirmed in this direction, and I'm gonna continue moving in this direction.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, everybody.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Beyond Labels.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Dr.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Cena McCullough here with my co-host, my favorite farmer, Joel Salatin.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: And today we have a special treat because Joel just returned from Israel, and he's gonna give us a rundown of what he encountered in terms of farming and the food supply out there in Israel.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Go ahead, Joel, take it away.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Sina.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, I've just been in Israel for a week uh doing workshops with farmers uh under the umbrella of uh of Hayavel.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's H-A-Y-O-V-E-L.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's Hebrew for Jubilee.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so I I don't want this um I don't want this podcast to generate into some sort of partisan uh partisan things.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: As soon as you say Israel, all sorts of things uh uh uh crop up.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: But let me give you just a smidgen of context here.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so in 1948, and and then I'm I'm gonna focus on the farmers, but I want to give just a little bit of of uh of context.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: In 1948, when the UN all agreed that Israel should have a homeland, they carved out a boundary for that homeland and uh and and Israel became a nation.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: In 1967, five of their neighbors uh decided to try to obliterate Israel.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so they launched the Six-Day War, if you'll recall, in 1967.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And not only did Israel win that war, they actually uh they actually overran and and took over territory uh and realized their vulnerability that they did real before, realize before.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Things like the Golan Heights, uh things like the the high uh land around Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and um and so uh they they took that from Jordan, partly defensively, and partly they were so successful in those six days, and uh that that they uh that they actually uh uh controlled more land.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: So so uh in that they took back from Jordan the land of of ancient Samaria and Judea.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm trying to be uh careful about um not using the term West Bank, uh, which is uh which is a term that the Arabs have invented to try to um to try to make it look like uh this isn't Israel.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's the ancient land that was given in the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis chapter 12, uh biblically, to the to the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you remember the first king of Israel, Saul, uh, came from the tribe of Benjamin.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: So uh so there really is no West Bank, and I know there will be there will be pushback on this, but um I'm trying to be clear that this is Samaria, this is ancient Samaria and Judea.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so this was uh so the control of Jerusalem, Samaria, Judea was taken back by Israel in 1967 war.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, um uh this gave Israel a more protectable, it gave it a more strategically protectable uh place.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so then you know things things progressed, and um, and by by the mid-19, uh by nine, uh by I'm sorry, by uh 1990, uh things were uh things were in in in turmoil.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so there were the Oslo Accords, the Oslo Accords in I think whatever, 1995, something like that, where everybody agreed um that that that the the this this new one territory of Samaria and Judea under Israel's control, that Israel would give up uh uh actual control of that and let the Arabs, uh known as the Palestinians, the Arabs uh control certain zones.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: So they they made so imagine imagine uh you're living in a state, okay?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um whatever state you want to call it.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: You're living in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Kansas, whatever.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And and that state is now carved up into three zones: A zone, B zone, C zone.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: So you've got it's literally like a like you threw you through something against a wall, you know, and and and you you drove you um made lines around these zones.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: A zone is Arabs only, B zone is Arabs and Israelis, C zone is only Israeli citizens, and there are some 100,000 Arab Israeli citizens.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so there's there's a mingling in those Israeli zones.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: There's not a mingling in the Arab in the A zones.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Those are completely 100% Arab and controlled by the Palestine Liberation Organization, the PLO.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I want you I want you to appreciate that the landscape, the landscape uh was designated into these zones that just that just uh wander.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: There's no real rhyme or reason.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm sure there was at some time, but um that that they they they're they're like somebody slapped uh a pepperoni on a pizza and and and imagine you know uh these different zones just kind of kind of being willy-nilly throughout the landscape.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what's that's this that's the political situation since the Oslo Accords.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so the Israelis are trying obviously to uh to hold on to control of zone C.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: The Arabs are holding on to control of zone A, and zone B is a little bit of a hodgepodge.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: And the and so the the tension, the tension is is the encroachment uh uh uh especially of the Arabs into zone into these Israeli designated lone uh zone seas.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, uh again, I'm I'm I'm I'm feeling the pushback.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: I know we've got all sorts of people, and I don't want to get disparated.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: I can tell you, I can tell you having been there now on the ground, seen it, driven through the checkpoints, talked to the guards, seen what's going on.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: I can tell you that that Israelis are not encroaching into zone A, but Arabs are encroaching into zone C, and therefore there, and there's the tension.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: So the farmers I met with throughout Judea and Samaria are trying to hold zone C land until Israelis can metabolize it with villages, with with manufacturing plants, with you know, with with I mean the Israelis do a tremendous amount of high-tech, you know, high-tech stuff.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: And um uh one of one of the jokes I heard uh while I was there, you know, like this, um, was when Henry Kissinger came and met with Golda Mayer, Prime Minister Golda Mayer, back, you know, uh many, many, many years ago.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Golda Mayer said to Henry Kissinger, she said, in the rest of the world, 95% of the people are stupid and 5% are geniuses.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Here in Israel, 95% are genius and 5% are stupid, and they're the ones that run the government.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, so so you know, so so Israel is known for innovation and creativity in many, many areas.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and so so these farmers, these farmers, so imagine this this basically wasteland out here.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: There's nobody there, and these farmers are trying to hold these 2,000 acre, 3,000-acre kind of wasteland areas until it can be incorporated by the Israelis as zone C.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: So you might have a little a little village.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so where I was staying was, for example, you know, there was a 400-family Israeli village, you know, perched right on the corner of one of these zone seas, all right.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: And and and and out from that, from that little little circle in a in a bigger zone is you know, all the zone sea, and it's just basically wasteland.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so these farmers are out there.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: And and um and and and so these were large acreages.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: The farmers don't own the land, that they don't own the land.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know all the particulars of how who gets what.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: I just know that there aren't very many people who want to be farmers.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um just like America, most most smart people want to go to the city and you know and have a IT job.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so there's there's a lack of farmers, that's for sure.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but but the ones that are out there are basically, you know, uh holding an outpost, if you will, uh uh, you know, to to that to that particular property.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so as a result, security, you know, I had several things that I I didn't know that I learned while I was there.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: And and one is that because of all that, and and because of the the uh the the terrorism, um the security is the is the number one factor on these farms.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: So imagine, imagine, Cena, if you couldn't leave your house uh, because if you left your house, it would be burned down by by by by neighbors who lived half a mile away, uh, that they that they would come and burn your house down.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: You couldn't leave your pets, uh, they would be shot.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you couldn't leave your animals, you couldn't leave your your garden, it would be pulled up.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: You couldn't leave uh uh you couldn't leave a hay field because it would be burned.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you couldn't build a fence because the fence post would be pulled up.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: You couldn't build a fence because it would be torn down and the and the wire cut.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what these Israeli farmers are facing.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so as a result, they barn keep.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what I'm heading out of the agriculture.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: So they, because of security, they they have their hub where they live, they've got their equipment, and they've got their mainly sheep.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so the progression is sheep, sheep allow you to kind of you know occupy a place, a big place easily.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then the next step is vineyard, and the next step is is civil is is a civilization, is city, you know, businesses and things like that.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of a kind of a step uh progression.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: First is is kind of let's have the animals out there uh establish that you know we're using this for grazing, and then the vineyard, and then and then uh um uh additional uh actual people living there.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: So so what they've done is for security, they've they've brought all their animals and stuff, and they only they only take them out to graze, you know, maybe five, six hours a day, and they can't leave them.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: They stay with them, and then they bring them back into barns.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so the the the sheep, and you know, there were some large flocks, you know, um 400, 500 sheep.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, these uh these were not little, you know, little backyard operations.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, all the farms I was on were were pretty good-sized operations uh because they're trying to hold on to you know the these larger parcels of land, which are are as desolate as anything you can ever imagine.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can't drive on them, it's just rocks, it's just it's just uh piles of rocks.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: The soil has long ago eroded.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, um, and and you you can't you can't drive over it, uh, you can hardly walk over it.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the animals can navigate it fairly well, uh, but it's it's it's a very, very desolate uh situation.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so these farmers for security, they bring their sheep all into the and into barns.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and there's no trees.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's no trees, so there's no carbon.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so they're in these barns with no bedding, just manure.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so get this, Cena.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Here was one of the biggest aha moments when I realized none of these farmers allows their lambs to nurse their mothers.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: That lamb is born, and immediately that lamb goes to a nursery.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: The reason is because if they leave the lambs on their mothers, the the conditions in the barns are so filthy that the lambs will die because it's so unsanitary.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, so the so the lambs never get to your to nurse the ewes, and the farmers buy milk replacer.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: They basically buy uh you know, lamb formula, okay.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and I don't know of any other place on earth where lambs are not allowed to nurse their mothers.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's one of the primary things of mammals, right?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Is is is uh milk milk production.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh and so the lambs go to a nursery, they get fed a milk replacer, just a uh basically lamb formula, and then the lambs go into um into a a feedlot uh on grain.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: They don't get grass, uh, they get they get grain, and uh it's all about grow it faster, um uh you know, uh generate more lambs per year.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've talked to one farmer that had a 40% mortality rate.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: 40% mortality rate.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's I mean, that's just I've never heard of that in the in the world.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: And and so uh so all of this, all of this, you know, the the um the blame, the blame for all of this, of course, is on security.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we we we've got to secure secure things.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, so throughout the week, you know, my um my prayer as I went was help me to help me to be a quick study here, you know, help me to be able to see, because I'm very sensitive about I'm from the West and I'm here to help you.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm very sensitive about that.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, a lot, a lot of of horrible things have been done in the name of you know, foreign development, foreign aid, and I'm from the West and I'm here to help you.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm very sensitive about that.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm saying, how can I um I mean, I know that if they that if they do the um mob stalking orbivorous, you know, control thing, um that that that they'll that they'll do well, but you know, how do you how do you tell them to put up a fence when when the you know when the the the Arabs next door are going to come and tear it down?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: How do you tell them to leak to put their lambs out?
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: So what what what's happened is I didn't meet a single farmer that was profitable.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they because they buy all their grain, you know, Israel's not a grain producing area, so they buy all their grain from Ukraine, from Russia, from Uzbekistan.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, guess what's happened to that?
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: So suddenly their grain prices have tripled, their milk replacer prices have tripled, hay prices have tripled, fuel, fuel costs are through the roof, and uh and so they're all they're all suffering from the vulnerability of having to you know bring in, you know, uh being completely dependent on off-farm off-farm inputs.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh I I I had a couple of uh things that I was able to, I think, punch through with them.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: And and I mean, I I met farmers that were that that that pushed back pretty quickly on any of my ideas, and I and several of them were totally eager to to start, but but how?
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so here's what I want to uh leave, I think, with our listeners today.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of the breakthrough came.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: The the last farm I was on, um I I I was standing there looking at this, you know, 2,000 acres of desolation out here.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: There's no trees, nothing but rocks, um uh and and and uh and terrorist neighbors next door.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what am I supposed to tell this guy?
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: He's eager to start.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to, he, he, he understands how moving the animals around uh would be helpful.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it struck me what he needs is an experiment.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: He he needs an experiment that's doable.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I told him, I said, look, we're right here at the hub.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Just just take 20 or 30 acres right here and and and put your fence up.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: They they can put fence up.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: They they can absolutely do that.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh actually, their T metal T-posts are cheaper than wood.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh they they can put that up.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, just make two or three paddocks, continue doing what you're doing, but use these two or three paddocks in your you know, in your uh your controlled grazing and um and and experiment.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Do a little prototype right here by your hub.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to worry about them being stolen or shot, and you can and you can try to, you know, uh uh uh do an experiment to build your confidence and see what it'll be.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe it'll take a couple three years, but once you see the benefits, you'll be ready to say, okay, let's let's launch this.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: My my bottom line for all these guys was that if they took if they took all the money they spent on hay, fuel, the losses on lamb mortality, the cost of milk replacer, exorbitant veterinary bills, wormers, grubicides, parasiticides, uh all of those costs, if they took those and offset them with security out in the field, let the flock be in the field, let the flock be on the pasture.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: And okay, so you've got a higher security, you know, somebody that spends the night with them.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that's fine.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: All you need is a human presence.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and and if you took all of those costs and eliminated those and hired security instead, you'd be way farther along.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: But that was such a big leap.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I could see it, I could appreciate it, but I also could appre uh I also felt completely intimidated standing there with them looking at this, these, these, you know, thousands of acres of desolation.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I was intimidated, you know, by by by that kind of prospect.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: So uh small prototype experiments are really, really uh a way to try something new.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: If if you're wanting to make a big change in your life, don't jump off the cliff.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Start with baby steps and do it and do it with small experiments.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: And Cena, I think that goes right along.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I don't know why it took me the last farm to finally put that together in my head.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was so concentrating and my heart was so burdened for for the need.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: I I could see where they needed to go, but how do you get there?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you get there with baby steps, you get there with experiments.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's what we've told people in in this podcast and in the book Beyond Labels is of course it's intimidating.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been eating at McDonald's and having squeezable cheese and sending lunchables with your kids to school, what we describe here is is is like looking at desolation, uh, thousands of acres.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so, uh, and so you don't have you didn't get here overnight and you won't get out of it overnight.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't need to.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: All you need to do is take a baby step toward something positive to build your own confidence and and and and speak to your own heart.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I am affirmed, I'm affirmed in this direction, and I'm gonna continue moving in this direction.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, that was said so beautifully.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that's spot on with both of our mentality and perception.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then and I make sure too, when I every time I make a step forward, because you and I are still on our journey as well, right?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: We just survived, we're still on a journey.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: So every time I take a step forward, I do take a moment to kind of congratulate myself.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yes, I did one more step, you know?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um instead of looking back and being with regret.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, oh my goodness, I can't believe I ate that for so many years, or how did I not see it?
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's not helpful whatsoever.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: You can only act upon what you know.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so, just like, you know, at the last farm, it all of a sudden appeared, right?
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so you acted upon what you knew.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: That was the data set.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's a wonderful way to look at it.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm excited about your experiment idea for them because as you're describing the conditions upon which their food supply is being raised, I'm thinking, how unfortunate that you know, if you're gonna raise your own food to eat it, wouldn't you want it to be like the best quality food that you can provide?
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I would not want to eat that food that they are raising, right?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: In those kinds of conditions.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I hope that at least that last farm does take your advice and starts this little experiment.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because they could, there has to be a better way, right?
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like there has to be, God provides in all situations.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: There has to be a better way.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: My question for you is in listening to the conditions there and whatnot, um is kind of a two-part question.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: That region that you were in, do they want to be food independent?
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: And could they be food independent given the landscape and the conditions?
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great question.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, do they want do they want to be food independent?
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: And if they wanted to, could they?
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: I asked that to I got a wonderful, wonderful audience with kind of um the the whatever, the the agrarian patriarch of the of the country, um uh named Auvri, Auvey Ron.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: What a what a gem he was.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and and he he um I asked him that question.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: And he he is known, he's supposedly the largest organic farmer in uh in the Middle East, and uh, and certainly the largest one in in Israel.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you and I, you know, so he's an organic farmer.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: All right, listen to this.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: He's got 14 chicken houses.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: He's in he's in eggs, and these chicken houses have anywhere from 7,000 to 14,000 chickens in them.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: He uh and they're completely factory farming.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing, you know, but they're organic, they're organic certified, okay?
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and and guess where all of his organic certified grain comes from?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: It comes through uh it comes through Istanbul, Turkey from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: Ah boy, you know, we've been down this uh uh story, but but he he was a wonderful guy, and I'll tell you what, he milked uh he milked goats and made a drinkable yogurt.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my, I think I could live the rest of my life on drinkable uh yogurt.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, it was flavored with mangoes and blueberries and strawberries and bananas and stuff.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, I mean, I could just chug those things and and you know, I I could live the rest of my life on drinkable yogurt.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, I asked him that exact question.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: I said, could Israel feed itself?
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because right now they're importing like 500,000 lambs a year from uh from uh mainly the number one is Spain.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think number two is uh is Australia.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and he he didn't bat an eye.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: He said, absolutely we could feed ourselves.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: And uh but but like so many countries, they they have this desire, they want to export.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, why do you need to export?
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Just feed yourself first.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: So what you have is you have you know, you have these food systems.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's like Iowa.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Iowa, only five percent, I mean Iowa, the the the some of the richest soil in the planet, only five percent of the food consumed in Iowa is from Iowa.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, 95% Hawaii, Hawaii, only five percent of the food consumed in Hawaii is grown in Hawaii.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, a place that can grow uh uh you know, macadamia nuts and bananas and and pineapples, you know, uh can't feed itself.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: And and so so we we have this kind of love affair, the the the whatever, the big corporations.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: We have this love affair of let's let's move it back and forth uh instead of just let's keep it at home, you know.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh why why not do that?
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: And he he didn't bat an eye, he said, absolutely we could do it.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: Here was one interesting thing from a consumer standpoint there.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm doing these presentations, and I had an interpreter because uh in every group that I spoke to, there was a handful that didn't understand English.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so I had a wonderful uh interpreter, um Bot Bhatkia, and uh she was just she was just superb.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so she would take this, you know, a handful of people over here kind of the corner, and she would simultaneously quietly uh interpret for them while I was doing the main presentation.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: Most of the people could understand English.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: And and I talked about food security and your own home, you know, your own home stash, uh uh uh creating so that you're not just dependent every day on somebody outside.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: And they do not have, get this, they do not have an equivalent word for pantry or larder.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: They they do not have a Hebrew word for for uh a food storage place in your home because they go to the they go to the they go to the shop every day.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and and they mentioned that there are lots of cultures where you don't actually store food in the home.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it was it was just really an interesting discussion that led from that.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, here in America, those of us that are foodies, we're always about have your stash, man, you know, uh don't but but uh but a lot of other cultures don't even they don't have a they don't have a food, whatever, like a a daily food acquisition um mentality uh in in their minds.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they they want bread, they go down to the to the baker, they go, you know, uh they go around and and get stuff on a daily basis.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just amazed that they didn't have a word in their language that that that was for that was for a you know a stash of food uh you know in in your home.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: They never thought about it, never, never even had it.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that stimulated quite an interesting discussion with with non-farmers uh that I talked with, and and and their own their own food security, I mean here they are, they're you know, they're um I mean no nobody nobody is as uh whatever I'm gonna say vulnerable, ganged up on as Israel.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the you know uh uh Jewish prejudice is still extremely rampant in the world.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and and so I I encourage them, uh you probably should have like a month of food in your house so that you know if things uh kind of deteriorate, um you know, you can you can get along.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: And um and the fact that their language didn't even have a word for that was was truly truly remarkable.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: And and so I so I I think I I think I woke some people up to just trying to create a bit of a a bit of a stash at home so that they would be so they'd be more food secure.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: I am a little surprised, we're almost out of time, but um I am a little surprised at that, especially given you know with COVID and the food shortages, uh, that they wouldn't have supply on hand.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: But um I'm wondering, since you were there, you were on the ground, you looked in their eyes to talk to these people, are they not afraid of not having food?
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like, because there is a sense of fear, like here in America, there is a sense of fear that, oh, we, you know, the food may be cut off for multiple, you know, motivations from the higher ups, right?
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: We don't need to get into that right now.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: But so there is a sense of fear of it, might they might take it away, it might be cut off.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: Let me hoard some food, in essence, you know.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: So so it is in in large part fear driven.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm wondering, did you pick up on fear there?
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: Or, you know, I believe that you can't have fear and faith at the same time.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: They don't jive.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: You either are in full faith or you have fear, right?
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so are they just in full faith that God will provide?
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so they're not concerned about it, or is it denied?
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, no, no, in in general, in general, they think the government will provide.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: It is Israel is a socialistic, you know, it is a it is a pretty much uh predominantly socialist uh uh uh country.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh so in general, uh people assume that the government's gonna, you know, um uh take care of them and keep things keep things going.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: And and and and yes, I do think, I do think that there is a a very visceral, uh a visceral understanding uh that God will provide.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I do uh among the Israelis.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um but but overriding that, believe me, right now from a from a from a practical political standpoint, uh it is it is dependency on government.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: Government will take care of us, government will protect us, government will make sure we're okay.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that is the overriding uh that's the overriding thing.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the reasons why they're you know uh they're not on the in in on this thing.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: I I I think that this this the um the cultural uh I think this is more more cultural than I think it's more cultural than faith driven.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, culture can be part of faith as well.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but uh I I think right now it's it's more because I asked about that.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: I you know we started this discussion.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: I said, why is this?
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the the answer that came back routinely was well, this is a primarily socialist country, and so people just depend on the government and assume that it's all going to be okay.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um well maybe you should put them.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: That shows up, yeah.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: That that shows up starkly contrasting with with Americans.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, sure, do we have a bunch of socialist socialist Americans?
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, we sure do.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: But as a culture, as a culture, our DNA for all of our problems, our DNA still has a really independent streak to it.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: And more more so than any country in the world.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: Still, still, even as whatever, as as top heavy as we've gotten, um, uh, we still have uh a streak of independence.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'll do it my way, you know, Frank Sinatra.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so um and so we we have that we have that going for us, I think, uh, in our culture as a cultural thing, as opposed to uh cultures that that have grown up with with government being viewed as as as uh as daddy.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we don't view government as daddy.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: We we view government as a um as a as a necessary whatever uh a necessary evil almost.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we don't we uh and you and I uh definitely don't view government as a as daddy.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but but but when you go to a culture where you know where government is viewed as a daddy, and and many cultures are like that.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: Many cultures are like that now, uh where government is viewed as daddy.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: And when you have that, you have a real different mindset uh among people and and and the fact and it shows up in things like this.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: What pantry?
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: What you know uh food stash?
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: There's no food stash here.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we go to the market and get it when we, you know, every day when we when we want it.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and so that that was a that was a real interesting, uh, interesting thing.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: And we we it it stimulated quite a discussion when she went when she she looked at me, she was translating, and she and and she stopped, she looked at me, of course.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: I looked at her, and we had this discussion about what is this?
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what is this?
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: It was truly, it was truly remarkable to not have a word for for pantry.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, I love these insights that you're able to provide because you know, even if I read an article, for instance, about what's happening in Israel and the surrounding areas, it I wouldn't walk away with the same understanding, with the same feeling, right?
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't jump off the page, like having you on the ground witnessing and sharing this with us.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's really great takeaways from this.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: One, again, like most of your travels, one is I feel very grateful for living here and for what we have.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um and also to remember that it takes baby steps, right?
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's like it's like losing your health.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: That didn't usually happen overnight.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: It took time.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: You need to take time to regain the health.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and three is yes, let's be prepared, right?
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: Let's be as independent as possible, and but let's not do it from a state of fear, right?
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, let's do it more from a state of I I want to be independent, and this is gonna help me feel secure in myself, in my family, in my own home.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm just gonna simply take the baby steps toward, you know, building a larder, you know, stocking my pantry.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: And and so this really reaches out to those who have not done that yet.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: Take it in baby steps, you know, buy buy more of something when it's on sale, right?
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: Try to find a bulk discount on something, do it slowly and methodically so you're not overwhelmed and that you're not coming from a frantic space of, oh my goodness, all the food's gonna be gone and we're gonna left with nothing.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, it's just it's like Boy Scouts.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_01: We're just being we're learning how to be prepared one step at a time.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and uh, and you know, uh go buy a freezer.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just uh, I mean, no, nobody, nobody had a freezer in their home.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody had a freezer.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now they had a refrigerator, okay.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: You got a refrigerator, but the only freezer they had was the little, you know, whatever the little freezer component was.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they just didn't have they just didn't have food stores.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't have um, you know, uh uh they didn't have food on shelves.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: They just didn't uh didn't have it.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: And and and the kitchen, the kitchen was uh the smallest room of the house.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um instead of, you know, for many of us, for uh uh for us, especially those of us who are in this this food kick, we want our kitchen to be the biggest room of the house.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we we spend a lot of time there.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there, the kitchens are the smallest room in the house uh because they don't they don't they don't have to store anything.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: They go get they go get daily whatever their you know our our daily bread.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: They go daily to get their stuff and uh and they don't have any stash.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thanks for letting me uh uh share the story, Cena.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's bit it what it was a fantastic trip, wonderful memories.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh warm, warm folks, and um and uh I'm I'm I'm looking forward to getting some positive reports uh over the next year or two from some of these farmers that they've they've taken a baby step and they're starting to make some progress.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks everyone for listening to another Beyond Labels podcast.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: We look forward to seeing you next week.