All summer long I opted out of my weekly delivery box of farm fresh veggies and fruit. During the late spring and summer it is all too easy to make a weekly trip to the farmer’s market instead but I have missed that delivery box sitting on my step every Friday afternoon. When it arrived my kids would dive in and exclaim over everything in it. Its just food (and we pay for it) but it really feels like you got a wonderful present. We are lucky that we have this option because there are any who don’t live near good farmer’s markets and there are many who don’t have organic delivery services or CSAs.

I have heard of mail order services that provide fresh produce but I never had a reason to try them. But the lovely folks at The Fruit Guys sent me a complementary produce box to try and we were not disappointed. It arrived in a cardboard box with cardboard partitions (post consumer recycled) and printed with soy inks so it was pretty eco friendly packaging. It had some cloth ice bags that we saved for future use and a couple green bags we also saved to reuse. It gets an A+ for packaging in my book. Our local delivery service uses far too much plastic and Styrofoam.

The box was also filled yummy looking produce.  We got white peaches, red plums, nectarines, Beefsteak tomatoes, Cucumbers, sweet corn, sweet bell peppers, yellow onion, and oregano. Some recipes were also included in the box. LOVE how some CSA’s and delivery services thrown in that extra touch. All was quickly devoured by my brood. I think the fruit was the first to go. Its like candy to may kids. The bell peppers were devoured by the husband and by our three reptilian friends. The sweet corn was used in a chowder. The tomatoes we also ate straight away. I managed to get through an entire summer without eating tomatoes and mozzarella drizzled with vinaigrette. How in the heck did that happen?!?!

Well, I made up for lost time. My kids love this simple dish as much as I do and it, along with fruit, was a simple and easy dinner.

We were quite pleased with our Fruit Guys box and if I had the need in our location I would not hesitate to use them regularly. I think it is awesome that you can still get that bit of farm fresh, whole foods, goodness even when you don’t have access to a good market or CSA and they deliver fresh seasonal produce all year long. To keep it as local as possible they have hubs across the U.S. in South San Francisco, Phoenix, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Plus they support small farms and local communities. Your food is likely coming from the region surrounding the hub nearest to you and thus supporting local, small scale agriculture there. Their GoodWorks program allows them to donate more than 150,000 pounds of produce to food shelters annually. I think that is really awesome, especially after we saw so many pounds of apples at our local orchard that are just left to rot on the ground instead of being picked up and sent to food banks. I HATE it when companies allow food to go to waste instead of feeding needy people in their area.

If this is something you need in your area you can peruse their website for more info.You just choose your mix, case size and how often you want delivery and they do the rest.

Do you use a produce delivery service in your area or do you DIY and shop at local stores?

So of course when I saw a local foodie book at my library this morning I had to scoop it up. The book is The Feast Nearby: How I lost my job, buried a marriage, and found my way by keeping chickens, foraging, preserving, bartering, and eating locally (all on $40 a week). The title is  mouthful but the book is quite an awesome read. It is a personal journey mixed with stories of family, neighbors, and food. It also has lots of recipes for all the delicious dishes the author mentions in the book. I think I will end up buying it for the recipes… some of them I just need to have on hand!

Mather, the author, picked up and moved from a big city to a small town in Michigan and a small lakeside cabin. She has a very modest food budget of $40 a week so she buys up food when it is in season and cans and preserves it for the cold weather months. She doesn’t have much of garden space but she does have chickens and the rest of her food comes from local sources. I loved reading her story month by month and sometimes week by week as new food items come into season and she buys up extra to preserve them each and every week until she has enough to last the winter. When she buys them up she also makes her weekly meals with them too so there are lots of great seasonal recipes and preservation recipes in there.

I loved going along with the author as she would go to the farmer’s market and score the first beets of the season and chat up the farmer’s about this or that. I also loved the stories from her childhood meals she would tell, mixed in with the daily grind of feeding her chickens or making batches of raspberry preserves. Since she had/has a limited budget she made all her meals from scratch and she bartered for things… trading her preserves for fresh greens and potatoes from her neighbor. She also didn’t need to sacrifice quality on that $40 a week. She had local lamb, beef, and chicken regularly as well as her favored but pricey milk. It just goes to show you that you can feed a family of 4-5 with organic, fresh, pastured, nourishing foods for only $150ish a week, without growing your own.

Anyway, I read this book in just a few hours and can’t seem to keep my mind from wandering to all the goodies I will find at my own farmer’s market this week. Can’t wait!

Here is a photo I took this week of what we are eating at the moment… yum!

It is so easy to just walk into a grocery store and fill your cart with foods that look delicious.  Today’s grocery stores even have ‘organic’ and ‘natural’ foods for you to choose from.  For many the label makes it easy for them to feel that they are getting the best foods available, while still maintaining the convenience of purchasing all their food in one place.

But just because you can purchase all of your foods in one place does not necessarily mean that you should, and it is a fact that even the ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ foods in most grocery stores are not locally grown foods.  While they may be natural or organic, the benefits may be countermanded by the distance they had to travel.  Besides that, there is more to eating locally than simple freshness.

Six Benefits of Eating Locally

Local Foods Are Fresh and In Season. It’s a fact, if you purchase locally grown foods you know that they are in season.  They have to be in order to be grown and harvested. And fresher, in-season foods just taste better and they are better for you as well. Many nutritionists believe that eating with the seasons is the best way to keep our bodies healthy because nature has cycles and it knows exactly what we need to eat.

Locally Grown Foods Have Less Impact on the Environment. Shipping foods across country – even foods labeled organic – can have a negative impact on the environment.  By eating locally grown foods you are significantly lessening the carbon footprint you would otherwise leave by eating foods grown out of state or in another country. Most times you won’t even need to sacrifice organic standards either. More and more small farmers grow their food without chemicals, they just cannot afford expensive certification. Get to know your farmer and you may be pleasantly surprised.

Locally Grown Foods Maintain Farmland. Buying locally grown foods ensures not only that you keep the carbon footprint of your foods as small as possible, but ensures that there is plenty of green space and farmland maintained in your local community in order to sustain the locally grown market.  This is good for everyone who appreciates fresh air and a view of more than city streets and sidewalks.

Locally Grown Foods are Safer. By cutting out the middlemen; those individuals who process and package and ship the food, you cut down on the chance of your food getting contaminated – even inadvertently. Knowing where your food is grown and who grew it tells you something about the food itself, and knowledge, as they say, is power.

Buying Locally Grown Foods Boosts the Local Economy. You were going to buy the lettuce (or spinach or apples) anyway, why give your money to some big chain store or huge agri-business company?  Why not keep that money in the neighborhood where you know it will do some good? If I have a choice between padding the pockets of a big corporation that may use my money to lobby against environmental issues or giving my money directly to a family that needs it.. I know which I would prefer. Purchasing food locally also cuts down on the amount of taxes and red tape involved in purchasing the food; money that would probably come out of your pocket anyway due to price hikes.

Purchasing Locally Grown Foods Create a Sense of Community. When you purchase food from a local grower it connects you to that person; through their land and the attention they have given to their produce, and how many of us want a connection to some big uncaring chain store?  Making local connections instills a feeling of belonging and of community.  People get talking, they share themselves with you, and with others, and everyone is better off.

If you are interested in more healthful living, in sustainability for your local farms, and in creating a sense of true community between yourself and those with whom you share your area, eating locally grown produce is definitely the right decision to make.

Recommends Reads for Local Eating:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (My Review)

The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (My Review)

The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating

The whole week is a local foods celebration here in Ohio. We started off the week with our first ever visit to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. They are local to the area and they use local, seasonal ingredients for the most part. The cream comes from the local, grass fed, Snowville Creamery that provides us with milk each week. It was just named America’s Best Ice Cream by the Food Network too!

The flavors are a bit different but oh so yummy. Of the flavors we tried today, our faves were hands down the Salty Caramel, the Goat Cheese with Cherries, and the Goat Cheese with Cognac Fig Sauce. I think a trip to Jeni’s is going to be a regular monthly thing! Reminder to self though… bring along our wooden spoons so we can decline the plastic ones in the shop…

I ran across two separate articles today that essentially shared the same alarming trend. Unethical farmer’s, agricorp, and chain grocery stores all want to cash in on this Farmer’s Market – Local Food craze. Those of us who love greener living and natural foods LOVE our farmer’s markets and when I read this stuff I  get REALLY pissed.

Farmer’s markets are one of the number one ways we have to tap into local food. I myself also use a local food delivery service but other than that.. the farmer’s market is the way to go. Our local Whole Foods is great but when I want food that is grown within 50 miles of my house then I go to the Farmer’s Market. I know from speaking to the vendors there that my apples were grown nearby and that the booth next door is selling apple butter that incorporates their apples. I know that the lady who sells the honey has bee boxes on her property and you can go and see them yourself. All that is sold there can be verified as local by simply getting in the car and taking a drive. We HAVE to be connected to our food chain. We just HAVE to be. When we allow a disconnect then we eat processed mystery foods that have questionable ingredients and nutrition. You know the whole phrase about when you stand for nothing you will fall for anything. As a society we have made some hugely BAD decisions in regards to food and for many us, local food has been just what we needed to get back on track. But now even that is under attack.

In Seattle, Washington, Idaho, and Oregon lately… some chain grocery stores posted signs with the term “Farmers Market” above produce displays in front of their stores. Even if the food is local this is just plain wrong. The beauty of the market is that you buy direct from the farmer without the middle man. You get to talk to the person who grew your food AND they get decent pay for their food. With chain grocery stores you have to take their word on how the food was grown and the farmer may have gotten paid a few pennies out of the deal. These companies are recognizing certain power words like Farmer’s Market and are trying to get in on the action when the very essence of what they represent goes against these terms.

In bigger cities you may also have something else to worry about… that your favorite market may have been corrupted. In Southern California some Farmer’s Markets have been caught in false claims and outright lies. A group of NBC investigators recently discovered that some of the “local farmers” are in fact getting their produce from major agricorp and even from out of the country while their own farms were nothing but dirt lots. The group also tested some of the produce they got for pesticides after the farmers promised that no pesticides were used. 3 out 5 had pesticides and too much for it to be cross contamination, which was the lame excuse given by the farmers when they were confronted. I guess it shows that if some farmer’s cannot hack it, they will get creative with their truth telling.

All of us need to be vigilant when we attend our local markets. We need to talk to the vendors, question them, and even do our investigative homework by taking farm tours and driving by their operations. Ethical farmer’s will welcome our inquiries because we have to protect the one system that exists to keep us connected to our food. We can also help them by spreading the word about wonderful farmers.

So what do you think? Are these isolated incidents or is this just the beginning of big agri-business trying to co-op our local food chain?

Local food finds: Homemade bread, tomatoes, and Greek Yogurt w/herbs

Vegetarian Egg Drop soup with local, pastured eggs

Local organic foods delivered to our door… sweet corn, milk, zucchini, garlic, and pastured eggs

Full Moon Rituals

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Recommended Reading: Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection

What are you eating this summer?

Or is it really a downside? The kids sure loved finding these guys and finding new homes for them in our yard. It certainly is a huge plus to be able to go to the local farmer’s market and buy 2 dozen ears of non GMO, organic corn for dinner and chit chat with the farmer that grew it. Bugs or not. ;)

As the summer approaches there will be an abundance of local food available to us. For those that struggle with eating local, and heck that is probably quite a few of us, this is the season when it gets a whole lot easier. There are so many health and planetary reasons to choose local and organic foods that are in season. For one thing, it saves fuel; for another, it builds community; and for yet another, it’s healthier for us to eat that way. Let’s look at some the reasons to hit those farmer’s market this year:

1. Less Fuel

It takes quite a bit of fuel to power the airplanes, ships and trucks that deliver produce from foreign countries or for miles across the United States so that it can be served up on our plates. Buying local food means less fuel is used and fewer emissions expelled into the atmosphere. That is win for our health and the planet.

2. Its Fresh!

In order to keep food looking and tasting fresh during its long transport, it is sprayed with all sorts of preservatives such as waxes and fungicides. Local food does not to be stored for a long time and therefore does not need artificial preservatives. At a farmer’s market you are likely eating produce picked that same day… not a week previous.

3. Health

Local produce is in sync with your body as discussed in the book Eating With the Seasons: How to Achieve Health and Vitality by Eating in Harmony With Nature. Your blood actually changes with the seasons, and your body adjusts to the change in temperature and light. It stands to reason that foods grown during the current season, in your area, are exactly what your body needs and what is more healthful for you. Your body is likely to be more receptive to digesting and absorbing the nutrients of seasonal foods as well. Local organic food is also fresher, and fresher is healthier.

4. Less Expensive

Local produce that is in season is more affordable than food that has to be shipped. All the transportation and preservatives cost money. It’s also more expensive to grow food out of season.

5. Community Support

You also support your local community when you buy local and building a strong, close community is important to everyone’s health and prosperity. Dollar for dollar your money goes twice as far when you spend it with a neighbor and really wouldn’t you rather do that than give it to big agribusiness?

For those of us who live an organic lifestyle (or try really hard to), it’s knowing where our food comes from that matters to us most.  What confirmed my conversion was learning my son’s developmental delays were due to a dysfunctional digestive system and vitamin deficiency.  Since his system can’t efficiently remove toxins, I have to minimize his exposure.  My sister’s organic choices are based on healthy eating and being environmentally conscious.  Both of us have chicken coops in the backyard because homegrown organic eggs are an important way we can contribute to our family’s health and be environmentally “green”.

Many supermarkets today do a terrific job carrying organic products, but that still requires us to trust a label.  The term “certified organic” can be really confusing because of differing state regulations and industries.  Raising your own backyard hens in a chicken-tractor has some distinct advantages over the carton of organic eggs purchased in a store.  It can be achieved in even very small backyards.  Here are some of the advantages:

1)      No egg is more rewarding than eating the one you just collected that morning from your own chickens.

2)      You know exactly what you are eating because you feed the chickens – grass, scraps, organic feed, soy-free feed, etc…   Grass-fed or pastured chickens have the highest levels of Omega 3, beta carotene, and vitamin E in their eggs compared to store bought.

3)      Unless you buy local organic eggs, there is the carbon footprint from shipping and transportation (may even be out-of-state).

4)      If you have children, chickens are perfect way to communicate the values of responsibility and informed food choices.  Kids these days are disconnected to the origins of food.  Many have never seen a live farm animal, much less tended one.

5)      Proper use of a chicken-tractor fertilizes the yard with no use of chemicals.  It’s green living.

6)      Chickens are fun and beautiful animals.  They can provide hours of entertainment (running, pecking, exploring) and many become beloved household pets.

7)      Home raised chickens are happy chickens.  They don’t live in tiny cages or have their beaks cut off.  They aren’t stuffed with medication or forced to molt. They can live a carefree lifestyle envious of anyone.

8)      Chicken owners are like a special community.  You’ll connect with people who have a fascinating view on life, just like you.

Even with these terrific reasons for raising backyard chickens, many still hesitate.  There are the questions of time, money, convenience, city regulations, and all that chicken poop.  For you doubters, here are some answers:

1)      Tending chickens, like any other pet, does take time.  Some make it an extensive hobby but it doesn’t have to be.  A lot of it depends on how the tending is arranged.  Getting the right coop makes a huge difference.  Make sure the family is on board in their participation, and get connected with other chicken owners.  There is a vast online community happy to help.  Owning chickens 20 years ago and owning them now are worlds apart (kind of like raising kids).

2)      Chickens are a long-term investment and require upfront capital to get started, but keep in mind the returns are more than saving a few bucks at the grocery store (reference the list above).  A hen can lay eggs for many years.  A good coop can also last many years.  In any case, certified organic eggs are the most expensive eggs to purchase so breaking even in the long run is not impossible.

3)      Modern society is all about convenience. We want it all with little effort on our part. Well chicken coop manufacturers have caught on and the options appear endless (like that helps).  I recommend a chicken-tractor for backyard poultry owners because of its size and benefits.  These can be tricky to build so getting a reliable, prefab one will save a lot of heartache.  Believe me, there is a whole science to building a quality coop.  Prices can range from a few hundred dollars to a couple thousand.  You get what you pay for. Here are some quick shopping tips for making a selection:

1. Make sure the coop is durable against weather and predators.  In suburban areas dogs are the biggest problem.  Many coops come with a sunroom or run which are good for chickens but can be an area of weakness for predators if not built well.
2. Use accessories like nipple waterers and feeders with a storage bin.  This keeps you from having to feed the chickens twice a day (unless you want to).
3. The coop should have nests and a way to collect the eggs externally.  You don’t want to climb into a coop and search for eggs.  The coop also needs a roost to so the hens can sleep comfortably.
4. A chicken-tractor coop helps keep chicken poop under control. Regular coops require the poop to be removed (that’s a thankless job).  A mobile coop moved every day or so spreads the manure as fertilizer.  The coop should still be periodically cleaned (sprayed down) a couple times a year.  Access doors make this easier.  Read here for a comparison between a traditional coop and a mobile coop.
5. If looks are important, there are many cute coops on the market.  Just don’t fall victim to only aesthetic charm.  Function will matter more to you than form in terms of convenience.

4)      Most cities have a regulation regarding poultry or livestock in your backyard.  Many cities allow for chickens in small numbers and without roosters.  If you aren’t sure and don’t want to risk a fine, check it out in advance.  If they aren’t legal you can bet there are citizens already petitioning for a change.  Help them out. Chickens are becoming very urban.

Besides eating healthy, backyard chickens are a great family project or personal hobby.  If you have computer savvy kids, get them to research chicken breeds, coops, and social networks for support.  Set aside a family day to build or assemble the coop.  Pick chicken names.  Argue over who gets to collect the fresh eggs. Wow friends and extended family with a tasty, fortifying quiche (spinach from the garden, right?). 

Organic living is not just about consumption choices, it’s about quality of life.  With homegrown organic eggs there is never a dull moment.  You can learn more about chicken coops and care at www.tufclimatecoop.com.   Also find your closest source of organic chicken feed at www.organicfeeds.biz.

Written by: Marguerite Inscoe, Homemaker, part-time employee of Egganic Industries and my dad, the inventor of the Henspa and many other backyard chicken coops. Contact: marguerite@henspa.com

In an interview with TreeHugger Joel Salatin made a couple comments that really struck home with me. I am a HUGE fan of Mr. Salatin… just read my 5 post review of his book Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal.

Just imagine if people began discovering their kitchens again, and if the average household instead of popping irradiated amalgamated prostituted reconstituted, adulterated, modified and artificially flavored extruded bar coded un-pronounceable things into the microwave, actually prepared whole foods for all-down-together family meals. It’s not normal for a culture to eat things it can’t pronounce and that it can’t make in its own kitchens. Ever try making corn syrup. Or red dye 29? If we quit feeding cows corn, and practiced mob stocking herbivorous solar conversion lignified carbon sequestration fertilization, 70 percent of the world’s arable land could return to perennial prairie polycultures building soil and sequestering carbon. That would completely destroy the power of the grain cartel, the multi-national corporations, petroleum usage. If every surburban–or urban, for that matter–lot and mega-yard became an edible landscape, supermarkets would be gone. I don’t have a vendetta against these institutions, but I do think that the world we currently live in is a veritable blip, an abnormality cyst, in the continuum of human history. Chances are in the distant if not near future our food system will be more decentralized, localized, and in-home prepared than it is right now. And that looks a lot more like the food system of 1800 than the one of 2009.

Powerful stuff, no?

The industrialization of food has destroyed our food in so many ways. It has meant the addition of preservatives, pesticides, and genetically modified organisms, all of which can be harmful to our health and to the environment.  Additionally, it means that there are generally only a handful of large farms growing the majority of any particular crop throughout the country.  That means distribution is costly both in terms of money and resources and our options are fewer by design.  It is not the same food that our grandparents ate… they more closely resemble Frankenfoods when you take a closer look. 

Where does your food comes from and how do you make an educated buying decision?

#1  Check your food’s mileage.  Many foods come from half way around the world to land on your kitchen table.  That means that many times they are harvested early, robbing you of valuable nutrients. To make them appear ripe they are sometimes sprayed with chemicals as well. To make that trip to your dinner plate they are filled with preservatives and pesticides to maximize productivity and enhance longevity. Always find out where a food comes from.  It the label will usually say, “Grown and raised in Iowa” or “California oranges”, or “Farm raised in Thailand” and so on.

Buying food that comes from just down the street, or at least within your home state, accomplishes two things.  It helps to ensure you’re not receiving nutrient-poor foods or foods heavily loaded with preservatives and pesticides. It also reduces the carbon footprint and helps the environment.

#2  Buy according to what is in season. Buying strawberries in December is definitely going to cost you more in terms of carbon footprint and money than buying them in July. Why not freeze those strawberries from July so that you have plenty to eat in December?

#3  Buy fruits and vegetables locally.  Buy your fruits and vegetables from local organic farmers who can charge much less for their produce because they don’t have to pay for distribution.  Additionally, you’re helping to sustain your local economy and you’re ensuring that thousands of gallons in fuel are not required to get the produce from the farm to your table. 

Joining a CSA (community sustained agriculture) program or shopping at your local farmer’s market is also a great way to buy foods which are both healthy for you and the environment; CSAs are generally organic farms and do not pour pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and fungicides into the earth.

#4  Try going a few fruits and veggies on your own.  Whether you live in a small space or you have acres of land, you can grow your own herbs, fruits and vegetables.  This not only provides immense satisfaction, it saves you money and is good for the sustainability of our planet.

#5  Finally, whenever possible, buy organic.  Organic farmers treat your food and the planet with respect.  Unlike industrialized farms, they do not use chemical pesticides, fungicides or fertilizers.  They use sustainable practices to keep you and our planet healthy. And if they aren;t certified organic so what? Get to know your farmers and see how the food is grown. Often times small farmers just don’t have the resources to get certified but their products may still be organic.

Knowing where your food comes from is important for the planet, but it’s also important for your own health and the health of your family.

It is super easy to make. Other than the 12 hours I soak the almonds first it only takes about 5-10 minutes to actually make. This morning I used my Vita-Mix 5200 of course and it gets it so smooth you won’t find a single nut chunk.

I strained the milk through a cheese cloth to get it smooth enough for drinking straight up… otherwise it kind of resembles a smoothie and I leave the brown seed casing on so that gets strained as well. After I squeeze all the milk out of the cheese cloth I spread the almond pulp on a dehydrator sheet and I use my Excalibur dehydrator to dry it out. After it is dry I will ground it into almond flour for pie crusts or raw cookies.

The book immediately resonates with me because it starts out in Tucson, Arizona as Kingsolver and her family leave their home of 25 years to live permanently in Virginia on their summer farm. I remember well the postcard perfect saguaro cacti and gorgeous desert sunsets. One person’s dream is another person’s normal. I remember well everything she describes. I lived for over 25 years in Phoenix and visited Tucson often. The desert is amazingly beautiful but it lacks something very important though….local food. Although remember my post about eating cactus… you can you know. ;)

Not only is it hard to grow food in an arid desert, Arizona is using borrowed water piped in from the Colorado River and Mexico. The whole set up is not sustainable at all. So Kingsolver decided to re-enter the food chain and move somewhere green where the land could sustain her family.

It was important that her family know the basic things that our ancestors knew that in today’s age we have lost touch with. When do various fruits and veggies come into season? When can the last frost be expected? Which grains are autumn planted? How many people don’t have the foggiest idea what the answers are to these questions. Do we even consider it important? We have lost our connection to our food and this book is about the Kingsolver family’s attempt to find the answers and reconnect with their food. They would do this by growing as much of their food as they could and sourcing the rest locally.

The Kingsolver family settles into a farm and they begin their adventure of eating only what they and their neighbors have grown or raised. Each family member had one luxury item that they could keep buying, like coffee and smaller things will small eco impact like spices were allowed. They planted a large vegetable garden, the youngest daughter raised chickens for eggs and meat, and they raised turkeys. Close relationships with farmers nearby formed so that they could purchase from them what they could not grow or raise themselves. Immediately they began to see just how spoiled people have become when they do not have to consider where their food came from and at what cost. Honestly how many of us actually think about where our meals came from and how? Green people are becoming acutelyy aware of this but by and large not many people are.

Most people might never know what wild asparagus looks like, how to make cheese, or how to find a moral mushroom. They don’t know this because it isn’t necessary for survival anymore. And here I am saying ”they” when in fact I do not know what wild asparagus looks like, how to make cheese, or how to find a moral mushroom. ;) But the Kingsolver family was determined to reconnect with their food in an intimate way and never again be so detached from the process. Their adventures are delightful to read from the first picking of asparagus in spring, to making cheese, to organizing a birthday party for over a hundred people using only produce from local farms.

Barbara Kingsolver writes much of the book but her partner Steve also contributes essays and her daughter Camille details some delicious recipes the family ate while on their journey. It is a wonderful book for those who want to see what it looks like to live on local food.

Available via Amazon.com

. Read part one

Chapter 19 discusses Avian Influenza and chapter 20 talks about bioterrorism. They are closely related because they both work to taint our food and the USDA without fail will always try to claim that small family farmers are the ones propagating diseased food and/or are the ones most likely to be the source of a bioterrorism outbreak with their unsecured facilities.

Several years ago there was big scare about local chickens having the bird flu and Salatin shares some stories and theories. He even shares a widely held theory that the chicken industry “planted” the bird flu and accidentally let it get out of control. I buy that theory 100%. In fact I have a similar theory about almond growers and a salmonella outbreak. It was conventional almonds and not raw ones that were the source but somehow…miraculously raw almonds were the ones that got banned. Funny how things just work out like that for big agricorp? They get to stick it to their competitors when they should have been grabbing their ankles. ;)

Even when it is the large, industrial chicken farmers that are spreading disease it is the small family farmer that takes the heat. The USDA certainly won’t tell you Tyson did this to you….they want you to think that birds raised outside that can come into contact with air and other birds are the ones getting infected, when that could not be farther from the truth. They simply will not allow the media to portray their benefactors in a bad light. The local food chain is the fall guy.  I guess some people really are dense enough to believe that 100 chickens crammed into a small cage that eat manure and never see the light of day are safer to eat than a bird that gets fresh air, sunlight, and grass to eat.

Salatin goes on to compare small, local farms with that of industrial ones as far as access for bioterrorists goes. The USDA wants us to believe that industrial farms are immaculate, stainless steel wonder worlds that are guarded ferociously to protect all the wonderful people of this country. Small local farmers are dirty, careless, and certain to let any old terrorist on their property to taint food. Does this sound logical to you?

Industrial farms are almost devoid of people. Machines feed and water them, computers monitor temperature, and there is hardly anyone around. They are prime for terrorist infiltration. The actual processing facilities however, where they slaughter and process all that raw product is crawling with people, many of whom have no legal status to be in this country and do not even speak English. How hard would it be for a foreigner (because terrorists are always foreign don’t ya know) to get a job there and taint up to 10 tons of food? I don’t think it would be to hard….at all.

A smaller, local farmer would be much less likely to be targeted. It is also unlikely that they ever would be considered a viable target because they do not do the same volume and a terrorist will want maximum impact. The USDA is trying to make us fear the local food system when it would likely be the safest thing for us in the event of a bird flu outbreak or a bioterrorism event.

Chapter 21 addresses the NAIS or National Animal Identification System that the government wants to impose on us by 2011. Basically it would require microchips be implanted in all cows, pigs, chickens, horses, sheep, and goats. I think the program sounds crazy but supposedly it would make our food much safer if we tag all the animals. The fines you can rack up for stupid things, like forgetting to declare and animal dead or for having an extra chicken are outrageous. Also, the smaller farmers will have to tag each and every animal but industrial farms can have one tag per 10,000 animals. How fair is that??

Chapter 22 is about Mad Cow disease and how it became a problem. Also discussed is the disgusting practice of industrial farms to grind up animal remnants and manure (even from sick and diseased animals), mix it up with some grain and molasses, and feed it back to the living animals. It is practices like this that make mad cow disease possible but the USDA is not about to change things. They don’t really care about food safety.

If you recall a couple years back a company in Missouri called Creekstone Farms was upset because the mad cow scare in the US was causing foreign buyers to ban US meat products. Creekstone managed to secure a deal with a Japanese buyer that they could still do business if the farm tested every piece of meat they sold. Well, the USDA sued them! Why? The USDA said that if this farm tested every product then that would make all other meat processors who choose NOT to test look suspect in the consumer’s mind. So here the USDA is suing a company because that company is testing for mad cow disease. Creekstone eventually won that case but the USDA plans to appeal. If they really cared about food safety why would they sue companies testing for diseased meat?

Chapter 23 was not a favorite of mine. It talked of animal welfare and how farmer’s get vilified for buying chicks via mail order or using farrowing crates for sows. Salatin explains that when he orders 2000 chicks in the mail and the post office accidentally suffocates them or leaves them out in cold temperatures and they freeze to death this is the post office’s fault. Hence the farmer should not be vilified for a practice that would have been harmless to the chicks if not for careless post office workers. But I don’t buy that. The post office shouldn’t need to baby-sit your mail. If you elect to ship a living thing in the mail then deal with the backlash when it dies and people get mad.

The final chapter just sums thing up for us and tells us where we need to go from here. I particularly like this quote:

The political rationale for food safety ultimately rests in the notion that we are wards of the state. Not a free people.

I for one do not want the government telling me what I can and cannot eat. This is a basic freedom that I don’t think anyone should give up. The crack down on food is just getting worse everyday. Anything raw, even vegetables are getting the evil eye these days. Are we ready to throw ourselves under the bus of government protection because we are too stupid to know what is good for us? Are we ready to start eating sterilized, irradiated, processed, antibiotic laden “clean” foods for the rest of our lives?

Make your voice heard that this won’t be tolerated, find back door methods to get illegal foods such as raw dairy through cow share programs or donation based markets. Withhold your compliance from the tyrant that seeks to take our food freedom away…

[tags]Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal, book, review, Joel Salatin[/tags]

. Read part one

Chapter 13 relates the story of how Salatin’s county tried to make it illegal to use a sawmill on agricultural property. For a farmer with over 400 acres of woodlands this represented a problem. Salatin was the only person to speak against this proposed ordinance and managed to get the county to change the language so that farmers could mill their own wood on their own property. However, Salatin becomes a criminal whenever he uses his sawmill to saw up some wood for his friends as he likes to do on occasion. I am amazed at how utterly ridiculous these ordinances can be.

Chapter 14 goes into zoning laws. Salatin would like to offer schools the opportunity to come and tour his farm…for a price. He cannot do this though because zoning laws prevent it. An educational institution has no place on agricultural property. He cannot invite the kids to recreate on his property either because that would make his operation an amusement park. He could have 10,000 non paying visitors come every day without a problem but as soon as one of them pays him…it is illegal. Talk about bass ackwards.

Salatin does hold annual seminars for industry professionals and it is illegal. But what choice does he have? The public needs to be educated about this type of farming and land management or it will be gone with the wind.

Zoning also prevents him from processing his farm foods on his own property. Never mind that it just makes good sense to do it that way. And he can’t sell the goods that his neighbors produce. If he were to do this it would make him a Wal-Mart in the eyes of the law. He would be a criminal for selling some leftover pumpkins for the gal next door. Writing this book was in fact illegal because he wrote it on his farm in an agriculturally zoned area without a special permit. I for one applaud him for breaking the law!

Much of this ridiculous policy got started because of the NIMBY attitude that so many have today. NIMBY stands for Not in My Back Yard. All it takes is few complaints about this or that that and then there are laws laid down to prevent “problems”. People are willing to give up freedoms that they don’t personally care about for a little temporary peace of mind…until the government comes knocking on their door that is. It will all come back to bite you on your arrogant tushie. ;) When we impose our will on others there will inevitably be someone allowed to impose theirs on us.

Chapter 15 discusses labor and how it is illegal to hire teens to work on the farm and run any kind of equipment. Apparently they get requests all the time from young men and women to join the team as apprentices and they can’t really allow this because the second they let a 16 year old licensed driver operate a cordless drill or drive a four wheeler to collect eggs they are in violation of labor laws. Salatin also feels that kids get involved with drugs and immoral lifestyle because we have made it illegal for them work with child labor laws. I see his point…somewhat…but DO feel as though we need at least some regulation in that arena. If a 16 year old wants to work 50 hours a week on a farm I think he or she should be able to. BUT having no regulation in that area would also allow employers and parents to force work on kids. I have a family member that was forced by his father to work full time from the time he was 12. Yes, maybe it kept him out of trouble and it taught him a trade but he lost his childhood and he still seethes about it 40 years later. Abolishing child labor laws is not the answer. In this chapter Salatin also discusses how the minimum wage laws can tie the hands of employee and employer.

In Chapter 16 the subject at hand is housing and this chapter really infuriated me. Salatin tells the story of how his son decided to build a house on their farm…a 700 square foot bungalow that would be a good starter home that his parents could move into down the road when they wanted to downsize. The county told them that nothing less than a 900 square foot home was acceptable. The county also told him that his expensive composting toilet was a no go as well. He had to have a septic tank and because the septic tank had to be near a waterway (I swear I am not making this up) the whole location of the house had to be changed. It took more than 2 years and a lot of money to get that house built to what the county considered livable and for it to be eligible for home owners insurance. It is outrageous that you cannot elect to raise a yurt or a teepee on your property and run electric to it if you so choose. What freaking business does the government have telling any of us we MUST live a certain way in a certain type of house.

Also discussed is the subject of conservation easements which farmers are applying for and getting to protect their lands only to find that they have forfeited all rights to build on it and grow it. They can’t even build a green house without violating the law. This is just another way we get suckered into opening the door for beurocrats to control us. The last few paragraphs of this chapter were my favorite…where he talks about how we elect to go to war and protect the liberties of other people while many of our own people are being terrorized daily.

“It is domestic tyranny and terrorism, fully licensed and sanctioned by theUS government.”

Amen!

Chapter 17 discusses a subject I detest…insurance companies. It also discusses how small farmers get targeted for possible infiltration by bioterrorists. A tractor trailer full of food can sit around for hours at a truck stop while the driver catches some sleep but a small farmer who pops some kettle corn at home and transports it to a local farmer’s market a few miles away can be put out of business. Why? The kettle corn producer’s mini van could have been accosted by bioterrorists enroute so we can’t chance it. This is a true story.

Chapter 19 braves the subject of taxes. Salatin is hit hard for making economical and practical choices. Instead of buying loads of fertilizer that can be written off as expenses he builds a pond so that the green sludge can be used to fertilize his soil and the water can fertilize the pastures in times of drought. His solution saves him money and it is more environmentally responsible but he is heavily taxed when he does this because his pond is considered a land improvement in the eyes of the government.

Also, a farm that was bought by his parents in the 60s for $50,000 is now worth a million and when his mother dies the government wants to their $250,000 piece of the pie before they will allow him to keep it. Outrageous! Of course there is a solution to that little problem that I hope Salatin is aware of.

. Read part one

When I started reading this book I knew it would make me angry. I was not prepared for how angry it would make me. You may want to take a few kickboxing classes after reading this one. If I get a bit more colorful in this segment you know why…

In chapter 8 Salatin discusses organic certification and how the word has become illegal for him to use. Salatin actually stood in opposition to organic certification because he felt government regulating organic food would be a bad thing and his opinion was not a popular one.

His logic is amazingly clear though and by allowing government to regulate organics we have shot ourselves in the foot. Now the small, ethical, organic farmer has to compete with industrial organic and run the risk of getting smooshed when we all know that industrial organic goes against everything that the word “organic” used to stand for. 

I can see it in my mind all the smallish organic farmers thinking they could get some assistance from the government and be able to stick it to large industrial operations that were trying to cash in on the organic fad or squash it so it wouldn’t be a problem for them. Farmers lobbied for organic certification and got it, all the while allowing government to come in and serve as nanny over their operation. “Ha, ha…look at us. We are organic and you aren’t. Now everyone will know our food is better.”

Of course the nanny turned on them and is now changing the rules to allow for industrialized organic and weakened standards. If the consumer had been trusted to make their own decision and choose organic without a fancy certification how much better could it have been? How could big agricorp have fought that battle? Not very easily… but silly little farmers decided to give them leverage. Now big agricorp is saying something like this to the organic farmers, “See that, I am organic now too and everyone will foolishly think my food is just as good as yours…how do you like that biotch?!” Salatin articulates it much better in the book though. ;)

This chapter also discusses why Salatin feels strictly organic is not always better for people or planet.

In chapter 9 we learn about best management practices and specifically how that relates to handling manure. Salatin also shares with us some of his political ideals…such as the fact that he thinks all drugs (yes even crack cocaine and heroine) should be legal. He doesn’t feel that the government should be able to tell us what we can and cannot do with our own bodies. Some of his views were a bit shocking to me but they make sense. It should be no surprise that the government nannies are setting their sights on something we personally care about…we allowed them to get a foot in the door.

Chapter 10 addresses some of the ways that environmentalists have actually harmed the movement towards more sustainable agriculture by not looking at the food system as a whole.

Chapter 11 discusses the fear that people have learned to have toward any food that is not inspected and certified and the government LOVES it. If you don’t see USDA inspected on your food you should rightly expect that it could kill you.

Interestingly Salatin has supplied food to many chefs over the years that completely trust that the food he turns out is better tasting, healthier, and safer than anything that can be bought with a USDA seal of approval. Most gourmet chefs will step outside the USDA safe zone as much as they can. They are willing to stake their livelihood and reputation on it by serving these foods to their customers. That says a lot to me and it should say a lot to everyone.

Salatin points out that the whole system, family farm or government processing facility, depends on personal integrity. And integrity cannot be “policed, legislated, or inspected.”

Any one worker at a food processing plant can taint the food or contaminate it in some way and they are protected by their money and their army of lawyers. A small local farmer does not have that protection or that safety net, so who really has more incentive to turn out a safe product? It makes you think.

At the end of the chapter Salatin talks about how he would like to see local foods get a fair shake for a just a year’s time and see how things turn around. The fact that they can still serve their communities with two hands cuffed behind their back bespeaks the power they already have….the government won’t chance letting that beast get away from them. That is why the consumers need to fight.

Chapter 13 may not be the favorite among environmentalists as it once again talks about how myopic their thinking can be at times. Salatin refers to himself as an environmentalist at times but he sees that there is a big problem today with rabid environmentalists who give no leeway for any viewpoint but their own and who fail to see the whole picture or even include humans in their dream of a perfect world.

Two areas he sees as problems are those of forestry and logging and disposing of predators. Salatin feels that a healthier eco system includes cutting down some trees and that strict no cut zones have actually done more harm than good. It was a rather interesting read. I had never thought about it before but I have to admit that I am not against cutting trees if done in a reasonable and responsible manner. It can be done ethically and with minimal impact so strict no cut policies do not make sense in my mind.

Salatin also points out that wild animals and predators will always be a part of farming and that strict no kill policies harm farmers and what they are trying to accomplish. Wild animals are considered to be the property of the state and therefore not to be harmed. Some species might also be protected. But what is a farmer to do when their livelihood is being attacked by wild predators? They will do what they have to do and I have no issue with that either…but many environmentalists do. I am not against controlled hunting either.

Salatin mentions how he has had to deal with foxes, hawks, bears, and a few other species. Protecting his property and livelihood make some of his actions illegal and that is a shame. In this chapter he recounts how he called the state once and asked them too kindly come out and control their property. It was a hilarious read.

It brought to mind some of my experiences living in Arizona and a little friend I had called The Western Diamondback. They are a protected species and to me that means I cannot go out and hunt them to make myself a snakeskin purse. In my mind it does not mean that when they decided to take up residence on my property (where my kids and dogs played) that I had to set up a little snake condo for them and get used to some sort of cohabitation arrangement and basically hide indoors for the rest of our lives. Nope…my response to them was something along the lines of what Al Pacino said in Scarface… “Say hello to my little friend…” Does that make me a pseudo environmentalist or a big meanie? Not in my mind. Protecting animal species is all well and good but you can’t narrowly take humans out of the picture. There needs to be some balance or the state really does need to be at our beck and call whenever their property gets a little unruly. ;)

Oh boy… is this a book that doesn’t end?! Stay tuned for part 4.

[tags]Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal, book, review, Joel Salatin[/tags]

. Read part one

Chapter one addresses the assault on raw milk and how legislation in regards to milk was a dream killer for him. Ironically milk became unsafe as it became an industrialized product. Now the very same process that made it unsafe in the first place is the requirement. Never mind the fact that people drank milk straight from the cow safely for centuries before the industrial revolution tainted it. Now we are all encouraged (or forced if raw milk is illegal in your state) to drink milk that is homogenized or “sterilized”. The government is all too happy to tell you that you MUST drink milk they have “cleaned” for you.

The second chapter also addresses the fact that the food sales business has been made an impossibility for many with the regulations for zoning, licenses, equipment, building codes, OSHA, etc. It is next to impossible to start a grass roots, foods sales business anymore. You can’t grow a business from infancy and watch it grow. Government regulations are killing the American dream.

I love how Salatin mentioned that he longs for a food NRA. The NRA or National Rifle Association is a force to be reckoned with. People join this organization because they own guns and they want to keep them and preserve their first amendment rights. But there is no food freedom organization and that is because people don’t fight for what they never had. It is only when people get a taste of REAL food that they decide that the government crap that has been forced on them just won’t do…and they fight. Here is a quote from Salatin about what he wants to accomplish: 

I want folks incensed that their government has sold our collective freedom birthright for a bowl of global corporate outsourced pottage.

Virtually all of the processed foods currently sold at supermarkets could be supplanted with community-based entrepreneurial fare. Does your heart ache for this? Mine does.

Mine too. Unfortunately we live in a climate of fear. We have been told that unregulated food is tainted and unhealthy and that it surely carries disease. I say consider the source. If we grow some brains and think for ourselves and feed ourselves then the government no longer has control. In order to maintain the control they want they must manufacture fear and ANYTHING they say is suspect in my mind. Those that throw themselves under the bus of government protection will find they can’t crawl out from underneath it when the dust settles. If this situation continues to go unchecked we will only be able to eat food that government certified as safe and of course they get to decide what is safe and what is not. Will we be surprised when the food considered safe is the very same food offered by companies that can afford to wine and dine the decision makers?? Another quote from Joel Salatin:

In the name of offering only credentialed safe food, we will only be able to eat irradiated, genetically adulterated, inhumane, taste-enhanced, nutrient-deficient, emulsified, reconstituted, pseudo-food from Archer Daniels Midland, “supermarket to the world”.

It is too scary to think about but yet I believe 100% that this is exactly where we are heading. :(

In chapter 3 Salatin shares the review process of the chicken police and how they have threatened and intimidated him on many occasions asking that he make changes to his operation that are in NO way supported by law. They interpret the law as they see fit. Salatin sticks to his guns and fights with a lawyer at his side but many other farmers are forced out of business. Salatin was able to prove that his chicken product was 2500% times cleaner (microbes and bacteria) than that found in a grocery store…this did not even faze the chicken police….proving that safety is NOT what concerns them…control and money is.

In chapter 4 Salatin relates how a beef inspector once came to him and said that their beef currently hanging in a chilling room at a processing plant was being held while they investigate an accusation that he is selling uninspected beef products. Never mind the fact that the beef is already 7 days old and needs to be sold. The inspector threatens to hold what is a third of Salatin’s annual income for up to 6 months until it is rotten…while they investigate a complaint that may or may not have ever been made. Theses food inspectors can bankrupt you on a whim. And guess what they wanted to speed up the investigation? The names and addresses of all Salatin’s customers. I guess they wanted to identify those renegade consumers who were so blatantly ignoring the advice of their government.

You need read this chapter to see the hilarious conclusion but it goes to show how ridiculous and foolish these regulations are and why they have little to do with food safety and much to do with pressure from Kroger and Wal-Mart to shut the “little guys” down.

In chapter 5 we learn why it is illegal for Salatin to cure some of his pork to make bacon and why he had to outsource this process forcing him to price his bacon at $6 a pound. The most interesting part of this chapter is where he reprints a report from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services discussing how they intended to crack down on farmers selling goat, sheep, and water buffalo cheese. In this report they discuss how they cannot allow consumers to make their own choices regarding what foods they can eat because most consumers do not have the required knowledge to make an informed decision. If it is for sale….people will eat it and assume it is safe. AKA we are too stupid to be able to decide for ourselves what we will and will not eat.

They also throw in a mention of how it is the children who will suffer as their duped parents feed them unsafe food from heinous local farms and farmer’s markets. As Salatin point out, it is ridiculous to think they give a rats behind about the children when they are totally amenable to allowing kids to eat processed junk food, drink soda, watch TV and play video games all day, and be pumped full of drugs like Ritalin. If they got a hold of some raw goat cheese…that would be catastrophic though.

Chapter 6 relates the story of how The Health Department (HD) determined that Salatin’s eggs were contaminated with Salmonella. Apparently one the chefs that he supplied fresh eggs too made some Eggs Benedict and Hollandaise sauce with Polyface eggs. The sauce was served from an open bowl that had sat in the kitchen for 5 hours and the restaurant itself was found to have some cleanliness issues.

But when a HD inspector saw Salatin’s unwashed eggs she determined that it was the eggs that caused the problem. She directly stated that unwashed eggs are inedible, despite the fact that there is NO regulation saying eggs must be washed. In fact, in France, it is just the opposite…washed eggs are illegal to sell whole as the coating provided by a hen on her eggs provides bacterial protection. This just shows how bass ackwards the US is in relation to food safety.

The HD did no testing to see if was the eggs that caused the salmonella outbreak…the opinion of an uneducated Health Department worker was all that was needed. Salatin did his own independent testing of his eggs and the chicken manure and no salmonella was found. The HD did not care.

Chapter 7 basically tells the story of how an attempt to sell chickens across states lines brought so much red tape that the chickens were required to travel over 500 miles from different processing facilities just to be sold 150 miles from the farm where they were raised. Creating a destructive and inefficient way to farm and sell product.

 Whew! Read part three.

[tags]Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal, book, review, Joel Salatin[/tags]

Next weekend it is back to the Apple Barn for the apple butter stir and horse raddish grind. I have some friends in Arizona that are awaiting their apple butter…

[tags]pumpkin festival, apple butter, local event, circleville, Ohio[/tags]

Strawberry growers in California and Florida want to use a very toxic chemical called methyl iodide to fumigate their crops. A company called Arysta manufactures this chemical and they REALLY want to sell it to these growers. But there is a problem….methyl iodide is a neurotoxin and a carcinogen, it causes mutation in DNA, and it is highly dangerous for pregnant women, fetuses, and the elderly. Oh and it causes a little environmental problem…it contributes to ozone layer depletion and was banned under an International treaty many years ago.

So it seems that this is a slam dunk case. Methyl iodide is dangerous and we shouldn’t spray it on our food or the soil that will grow our food. At least 54 scientists, including five Nobel laureates in chemistry agree. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not agree. They have decided to allow this chemical to be used on our food… strawberries, tomatoes, and peppers as well as ornamentals, turf, trees and vines.

Robert Bergman of the UC Berkeley’s chemistry department led the effort by scientists to persuade the EPA to reject methyl iodide.

“It is potentially really toxic, and it’s certainly very reactive. From what we know about its chemistry, we know this stuff reacts with DNA. It mutates it. So it’s prudent to be as careful as you can with it,” Bergman said in an interview. He and other scientists asked the EPA to allow an independent review by the National Research Council and this request was rejected. 

So what changed? Why is the EPA allowing this to happen? Arysta, has spent eight years and more than $11 million trying to persuade the EPA to register methyl iodide as a pesticide. AND Arysta’s former chief executive, Elin Miller, is now a top official at the EPA and was appointed administrator of its northwest region last year. Imagine that….the EPA hiring a chemical company mogul to protect the environment. I guess we can’t really expect that the Environmental “Protection” Agency actually plans on protecting us.

Check out the piece the LA Times did about this story here.

[tags]methyl iodide, strawberries, farmer, EPA, chemical, scientists, ozone layer[/tags]

The tone of some of the things I read bothered me a little. Why? Is it because I eat meat? No not really. I think my vegetarian friends are pretty great and since I used to be a vegetarian I can’t say that I don’t agree with some or most of the reasons why they have forsaken meat. I think it is because there is no balance within their arguments and it does not allow for the meat eaters in society to escape unscathed it they…like me…do their best to eat animal products ethically….organic, humanely raised, vegetarian fed, not antibiotic or chemical infused, etc. For example, a patron of the vegan restaurant I mentioned above said that she would enjoy eating in this new establishment because she would not have to dine with killers anymore. I can’t believe anyone would actually think that type of attitude would help their cause. If anything it made me rethink my decision to eat there next week.

This isn’t a black and white issue for me, for several reasons. If it revolved purely around environmental issues that “might” spur me to go vegan myself but there are also health issues involved and I just don’t think a diet without any animal products would be the healthiest thing for my family. Humans are omnivores…we are predisposed to eat animal products. I ate vegetarian for several years and my health suffered. I was weak, I had dark circles under my eyes, I was pasty colored, my fingernails were brittle, and my hair was like straw. I developed an immune disorder too. In fact, I found my appearance to be similar to one of the vegan celebrity spokes models I see touting the health benefits of vegan eating. She looks hot in a bikini I will give her that but overall she looks pasty and sick to me….no thanks.

I also had many doubts about the amount of soy that is typical of a vegan diet…soy milk, soy cheese, soy ice cream, tofu….that much soy is not good for you in my opinion and one Doctor that I greatly respect feels that it is just downright dangerous to be consuming so much soy. I read a book not long ago called Full Moon Feast which discusses the human diet and eating with the seasons and it had some interesting information about the fact that no healthy vegetarian groups have ever been found. Here is a little quote:

As far as I know, there is no evidence of a thriving, vegan culture that has been able to provide adequate nutrition to its people generation after generation. Every group Price studied not only valued animal products for their nutrient density, but also made special arrangements to ensure that all members of the community had at least periodic access to them that would not be interrupted by war or weather.

But that being said I do happen to agree with many of my meatless friends about how devastating consuming animal products can be to the environment and how cruel it can be as well. One of my college reports was on the impacts of meat packing companies and I made a lot of references to Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle. If you haven’t read this book you really should. It gives you a shocking look into the meat packing industry and it was this book that motivated me to eat vegetarian for several years. The cruelty and atrocity of this industry was horrifying. Many things have changed since this book was written…such as the fact that I am pretty sure we know longer have to worry that if a human being falls into the lard vat and dies…that batch will be thrown out and not used anyway…human byproducts and all.

But factory farming is still a very cruel and disgusting operation and it is very bad for the planet. As Mike Adams points out, animals in factory farms are treated as machines or a production unit. They are given absurd things to eat such as plastic pellets, manure, grains that their stomachs are not meant to digest, and animal products (meat, hair, hooves, internal organs, etc.) from their own species and other animal species. They are often unhealthy and even sick from this diet and the horrendous living conditions thrust upon them so they also get regular injections of antibiotics and hormones. We in turn might be eating the flesh or milk of this unhealthy, sickly animal. Pretty scary.

Factory farms are also VERY bad for the environment with their sewage ponds that seep into groundwater. This sewage can’t be used for fertilization of nearby crops because the chemicals in it (injected into the animals) make it toxic.

So when you consider these factors it is understandable why so many decide to avoid meat. But it doesn’t HAVE to be that way. I decided to strike a balance. I would eat animal products as ethically as I could and reduce my overall consumption without giving them up entirely. My family is dedicated to eating several meatless meals a week and when we do eat meat we try to make sure it is organic, vegetarian fed, free range, humanely raised, and antibiotic and hormone free. This is one large reason that we are not big on eating out because there are few places that have meat meals that meet this criterion. But times are changing in that respect. This week my family ate out twice….once at Chipotle and once at Panera Bread and we were quite pleased by both.

Both establishments serve up vegetarian fed, free range, humanely raised, and antibiotic and hormone free chicken (both Chipotle and Panera) and pork (Chipotle). And Panera Bread has many organic selections. For instance my kids all got organic PB & J sandwiches, organic milk, and organic yogurt. The organic milk and yogurt are from Horizon…which is not a choice I would make in my own home because it is a factory farm operation….but it is a BIG improvement in our fast and unhealthy food society. It is also a step in the right direction for the environment as well. AND the food at Chipotle rocks! My favorite is the chicken burrito with seasoned chickened, rice and cilantro, black beans, Pico de Gallo, and rBGH free sour cream wrapped in a tortilla.

I would encourage vegans and vegetarians…especially the militant ones…to read The Omnivore’s Dilemma and see how there are MANY conscious meat eaters who are making the most ethical and environmentally friendly choices they can and give them some props. Many people will not give up their meat eating ways and to keep touting vegetarianism as the solution for environmental crisis and ignore this fact is not helping. As a society we need to make the move to small scale, local, organic, and sustainable food production. After we make an impact in that arena then we can look at how we can further reduce the impact of our meat consumption…realizing though that omnivore’s will eat meat if they so choose. Just as we shouldn’t expect cows to eat grain that is not meant for them…neither should we expect that all omnivores will forgo their meat consumption. Some will…as we are creatures of choice….but many will not…nor should they have to. The message in The Omnivore’s Dilemma was not to stop eating meat but to change the way we eat meat.

Which brings me to the next thing that really irritates me….the article on News target about how PETA is bashing Al Gore for not going vegetarian. They are miffed about the fact that An Inconvenient Truth does not mention the contribution of meat consumption in global warming. I agree with them that this does warrant a mention. But then PETA goes way overboard and demands that Al Gore adopt a vegetarian diet to set a good example.

“The best and easiest way for Mr. Gore to show his critics that he’s truly committed to fighting global warming is to kick his meat habit immediately,” said PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk.

He has not decided to give up meat and so they are going to be holding demonstrations at his global warming lectures, holding signs that say “Too chicken to go vegetarian? Meat is the No. 1 cause of global warming.”

This is what really irritates me folks. What right do they have to demand that ANYONE stop eating meat?? I am all for fighting global warming but I choose to reduce meat consumption and eat meat in a more ethical manner…not to eliminate it altogether. This practice coupled with other reductions in my CO2 footprint does effectively show that I care about global warming but according to PETA this would just make me a chicken. Shame on PETA!

Apparently October is Vegetarian Awareness Month. I am all for awareness about making wise eating choices. I just hope that more veggie lovers will start to see that carnivores are part of the solution too and we need to take their needs into account and make the world sustainable for all and that means making meat options better not eliminating them.

Edited to add: I just ran across an new study done in New York that shows that if New Yorkers eat small amounts of meat and dairy they are better managing their land and are able to feed more people then if they only used land for vegetarian crops. This study shows that in this instance…a vegetarian diet is not better for the planet.

[tags]vegetarian, vegan, meat, omnivore, carnivore, healthy, diet, global warming, Al Gore, environment, factory farm[/tags]