Mourning Broccoli

One fateful evening dinnertime in 2011, I made a discovery. I was preparing some vegetables, being careful not to have any onions go astray and land on the floor because Zanzi was eyeing me ready to pounce on debris. She is a passionate scavenger. Even now, at seven, I give her treat balls filled with half of her dinner, so she can take an active role in eating. It is fun, satisfies her instincts, keeps her mind and paws active, and aids digestion as she doesn't wolf it all down in a few gulps.

Well, as my veggie prep remains were piling up, I sliced off a 5 inch stalk from a head of broccoli.

I thought, this is a perfect bone size. It would be such a perfect thing to gnaw on, as I refuse to give her rawhide and raw bones are problematic, as she gnaws to swallow, quickly.

In a moment of sheer genius or intuition. I plopped that huge broccoli stalk down in front of her. Assuming I'd pick it up, untouched, after my dinner.

She immediately started sniffing it. Then she started eating it. My dog LOVES broccoli. Raw broccoli. Preferably the stalks. She will get around to eating the florets, eventually. But she starts at the hard, dried out bottom of the stalk and works her way up. When she does get to the florets, it is a treat for me, because she starts shaking them apart like prey.

Broccoli brings us joy.

So, yes, I did have a rather intense upset over broccoli yesterday. Zanzi was sick. Grumbling tummy. Constantly wanting to eat grass. We don't have a suitable patch of medicinal-grade grass. So I decided, nature knows best, and to help her feel better I needed to procure green goodness in the form she craves the most. (She also eats kale and chard stalks, green bean ends – basically she is my always on hand vegetable composter.)

I went to a nearby large market stand. I pick up some Deb stuff, avocados, shallots, limes, red peppers, as I make my way to the end cap full of broccoli. I pick a few up. Nothing but florets. No stalks. This has been a disappointing fact in grocery stores for a few years around here. I asked the person putting out spinach if there was another area with full stalks attached.

We had a five minute conversation about the fact that to save space, all broccoli now comes sans stalks. A very edible part of a very nutritious vegetable is now completely off of our menu because of industrial decisions.

As a Highly Sensitive Person, I had some moments of despair at Zanzi never being able to dive into a 5 inch broccoli stalk again.

I railed against this image I had of a broccoli stalk bonanza being trucked off to a landfill each and every day.

I thought we are going to have to buy a broccoli farm, grow our own stalks.

I brought her home a few bunches of florets with a little nub of a stalk, just barely holding them together. She was elated. Nosed them in the bag and danced around in circles as I rinsed them off and gave her a portion.

As expected, eating some cool, delicious broccoli soothed her tummy practically instantly.

But my soul felt loss. Not just for our little arrangement, but for the way a perfectly edible human food stuff has been removed from our stores by some cost cutting bureaucrat.

Ultimately, as I noodled this over, I realized that most likely some new broccoli harvesting robot has been programmed to be able to only cut the profitable bit.

But I want to live in a world where decisions aren't solely about profit, to the detriment of humans, canines, and all of planet Earth's ecosystems.

If anyone has any ideas how I can work to have an impact on a broader stage, I am wide open for suggestions. This ability to take something everyone throws away and repurpose it in a joyful and sustainable way, is the type of work I really crave getting my noggin around.

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I am a Soulpreneur Strategist using my technical consulting background and heart-centered communications skills to help the independent healers of the world run their businesses, create their websites, and maintain a social media presence without taking away from the time they need to devote to their clients. Find out more or buy one of my books on my virtual home > www.InsightsOccur.com