Good Stuff NW: A Close, but Necessary, Call
I have to confess that, since the election on November 6th of 2024, I have been in a state of stunned disbelief. My initial thought when the result became official was that I was not living in the country I thought I’d been living in all of this time.
It sent me into a spiral of questions that couldn’t be answered with any certainty, causing me to carom from depression to anger to hopelessness at the thought of returning to the chaos of eight years ago, facing an administration bent on division and the destruction of the core values I cherish.
To be completely frank, I came close to pulling the plug on 19 years of writing Good Stuff NW.
But I came to the realization that, even as February will mark the beginning of my seventh decade on this planet—a moment when in some quarters it’s expected that I should hand in my keyboard and fade quietly into the background—there are still issues I care about, developments that need to be discussed, and opinions I want to express. More than that, though, I believe we are at an inflection point, where it’s incumbent on all of us to recommit to our core values, to take action, even small ones, on those values and to support each other in our communities—local, national and global.
As my friend Robin Johnson said, “Action fights despair!”
So look for coverage on the Oregon legislature’s 2025 session and actions we citizens can take on the issues affecting Oregon’s food system. Get details on the efforts of industrial factory farms trying to buy their way into our state with wads of cash and false promises, leaving taxpayers with the bill when they’ve extracted what they want. And, yes, there will still be luscious recipes making use of the region’s bounty that will fill our bellies and feed our souls for the work ahead.
Thanks, as always, for reading and for your support. It means the world.
Best,
Kathleen Bauer