The industrial food complex (IFC) is faced with another study showing the ills of atrazine on the human body, specifically the female anatomy. There seems to be more evidence showing reduced levels of estrogen and other abnormalities.
Women who drink water contaminated with low levels of the weed-killer atrazine may be more likely to have irregular menstrual cycles and low estrogen levels, scientists concluded in a new study. The most widely used herbicide in the United States, atrazine is frequently detected in surface and ground water, particularly in agricultural areas of the Midwest. The newest research, which compared women in Illinois farm towns to women in Vermont, adds to the growing scientific evidence linking atrazine to altered hormones.
In early 2010, another published study revealed atrazine was castrating and feminizing bullfrogs. Before that, it was the feminization of bass. Both the bullfrogs and the bass are known as predictor species. That means their organs and other internal workings are much like that of humans. What happens to them is an indication that it can happen to humans.
Ask yourself, how long and how many of us will have to suffer because the IFC continues to make profits off the demise of our environment and to the detriment of our bodies? Do not forget we have still yet to hear anything about Nano-Titanium-Dioxide. I cannot help but think it is here and in our food supply. Just as we found out about GMO corn, my bet is we will find out about NTD the same way.
Farmers just amaze me. Their ability, knowledge, skills, metal and perserverance is astounding. Then throw on a dose of private interests mixed with local governement and you really find out what a farmer is made of when faced with the situation.
I have asked before and I ask one more time. Please follow this link and help save an organic farm from government and special interests. You will see the results of everyone's efforts, including yours. You have responded in the past and we ask one more time, this Wednesday, 11/16 at 10:45 am EST. please call. We can make a difference each and every one of us. If you cannot make it locally please set a reminder to call at that time or whenever. Tell them to save nicks organic farm.
This is about all of us, about ecology, farm land preservation, its about special interests manipulating politicians and the almighty dollar. More importantly it is our time and opportunity to help right a wrong. This is our time to stand up for the little guy.
How can you talk about sustainable farming and buying local for young children during a press event creating a "County Food Council" and at the same time try extinguishing one of the oldest organic farms in your county. Follow this link. It is possible and that is what is happening to Nick Maravell and the land he has farmed organically for over thirty years. Thirty-years. Think about that, organic farming did not exist, formally, in the USDA until 1990
Yet here is Nick, a visionary and pracitionar of what is good about farming and sustainable agriculture in general. However, we have elected officials that can say one thing and behind closed doors do another. This is fact, not me spouting off because I am ranting about the ills of government and special interests. A private soccer entity, profited significantly last year from county taxpayers.Now they want to rent land from the taxpayers, and then charge the taxpayers to use the land. Not to mention take land that has been organic for thirty years and turn it into a chemical dump or what is known as the modern day soccer field. Did I mention the community does not want the fields and it would be a great resource to educate our young about sustainable farming and environmental sensativity?
That is what we are faced with, teaching the young about farming from a man that has dedicated his life in pursuit of the ideas and stewardship of the land or let another corporation push ahead of the common good for the profit of a few.Go figure.
Please help, read about the update, help fight for the small farm and the family that owns, works and lives the life.
Now is the time to make your voice heard on GMO's and labeling food. The FDA is seeking public comment on lableing food products containing GMO's. It is time to stand up and help fight against the industrial food complex.
Follow this link, to let the FDA know that you want to be able to chose whether or not you eat GMO tainted foods. This is our time, when we stand up and say "I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore." (from the movie Network). Tell the FDA we want to know when a product has GMO's. When you talk about food safety it does not hit closer to home than this. When you talk about selfless acts and giving, now is the time.
GMO has not been proven safe for human consumption. As a matter of fact evidence exists that shows it is harmful to human beings. You do not have to be a scientist to question why are there so many super-bugs that are straining the use of anti-biotics and the fact that anti-biotics are spliced into the DNA of GMO food.
Please, follow the link and make your voice heard, for you, your family, your children and the generations to come. It is time to protect our food supply, our environment and our health. Today, right here, right now, more then ever, it is our time.
There was a fundraiser, this past Sunday, to raise money to help an organic farmer defray costs to battle a local government's plan to turn the oldest running organic farm field, in the county, into a chemically laden soccer field.
Nick Maravell has been growing organic grains on twenty-five acres of land for the past thirty years in Montgomery County, Maryland. For those of you unfamiliar with Nick, he is one of my mentors (as he is for tons of others) and was appointed to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). Long before the words "global warming," were put together Nick was a stall worth for the organic movement and the preservation of the environment,
The land does belong to the Board of Ed. but they have leased the land to Nick since 1979. If the need arose to build a school, Nick's lease terminated. Two and a half days before the lease renewal, this year, Nick received news that his lease would no longer be extended.The County wants to turn the land that has been farmed organic for the last thirty contiguous years over to a private company to build soccer fields.Then they (the private company) will charge people to play on this field. Didn't the County already collect tax dollars to pay for recreation areas?
I digress, what is most appalling given that these politicians and educators have the public trust, they violated the open meetings act to circumvent the decision and deceive the very public they are to serve. Maryland was one of the first States to adopt the "No Child Left Inside Act" a push to get school children out into farm fields, educate them on sustainable farm practices, and show where their food actually comes from and why ecologically sustainable practices are the future for our health and that of the earth.
Despite laws that state their must be open meetings when discussing the use of public land, the Montgomery County Maryland government did not follow them.The local government and Board of Education, where found to be in violation of the open meeting law not once, but twice when discussing options for the use of this land. The whole thing seems underhanded until you find out that the company hired lobbyist.On the other hand, maybe, it has to do with campaign donations and lobbyist plying their trade. It is the world’s oldest profession; it has just gotten mainstream.
Okay, I am really off topic, I wanted to talk about how wonderful I cooked the first batch of our own chickens, and you thought I was humble. I am telling you, the first batch was picturesque, someone actually took pictures of the chicken and she was a vegetarian, I kid you not. They were golden brown and beautiful looking.I had stuffed the cavity with crushed lemon, our own certified organic garlic, basil and rosemary. The aroma, as they slow roasted on a rotisserie, was sumptuous. Most people did not know who I was and that we raised the chickens they were eating. Wanting to sell our chickens, I was quick to interject their origin and up bringing.The first batch went quick.
At the same time, I also cooked about twenty pounds of hamburgers and ten pounds of different types of beef sausage. All organic, all Nick's Angus beef. It rained, there were many people, I was talking (shocker) and I had started the second batch of chickens. With rotisserie chicken, I use the indirect method of cooking. However, I use the sear concept of meat with the chicken. Therefore, for the first five to ten minutes the grill is about 400-450. After that, I drop it down to about 250-275 and let it slow roast for a couple of hours. Once the breast meat hits 165 degrees, I pull them and let them rest.
I hope that by this time I have wowed you with my culinary prowess. Good, because this is where real life evens things out. I started the second batch as planned. I have a ton of excuses but the bottom line was I CHARRED the next three birds. I left the heat up too high for too long and they turned black. I am not talking shades of gray, I am talking lights out, cannot see your hand in front of your face, no turning back black. Besides being mortified, I was soaked from the rain and my feet were killing me.
True to form, farmers and growers are the salt of the earth, the backbone, the integrity, and the ones to step up when times are hard and colleagues need help kind of people. To the person they all said the chicken was good. I took them at their word but studied their non-verbal queues, body language and trips to the trash can. Okay I may be obsessive but what I look at is anthropological behavior. Then my wife arrived, tasted some of the last batch and confirmed what the others had said. “It is really good”. I know she is my wife, but she does not hesitate to knock me down a peg or two when it comes to my cooking. We might have a slight rivalry ever since I started baking cakes, which was her domain for years.On her part, she has moved into making my grandmothers tomato sauce.
As a society, we have become transient and insulated sometimes, isolating ourselves in our own little worlds. I did that myself, you get into a routine of work, your world gets smaller and you consolidate actions to fit in things. Small farmers on the other hand rely on larger groups of people, not just customers but also colleagues and other knowledge resources and events.
I have learned that the greatest gift is to give, as James Carvell said, “Next to love, the greatest gift someone can give is their labor.” So this weekend was about saving an organic farm because it is time to stop the degradation of our earth for the profit of a few.
Please help support Nick, to find out more, follow this link and become part of something greater, for the common good.Even if you do not live in Montgomery County, you can lend a voice and support to this important cause.
Folks, help save Nick's organic farm in Potomac Maryland. The local goverment is trying to take over land that Nick has farmed organically for over thirty years. Why you ask? Because a lobbyist was hired by a private corporation that wants to build soccer fields for a community that does not need or want them. Please visit Nick's link to find out more and how to help.
He needs donations, letters to local officals and most importantly support in any form. Sunday 8/21 we will be at the Brickyard Road site cooking our free range chickens and Nick's organic beef, in order to continue to promote community awarness of this gross abuse of scarce ecological resources. Thirty years of organic care to be turned over to private concerns that will use chemicals to maintain these same fields.
Farming for profit, has there ever been a greater oxymoron? Okay, maybe humane slaughter is bigger but let us not split hairs. At least from the small farmer's stand point, when more than seventy-five percent of all small farms in the nation, bring in fewer than ten-thousand dollars a year, of farm income, is there true economic sustainability in small farming. Of course, these are USDA 2008 census numbers. We could have improved since then but it would be, marginally if at all.
This year we changed our business model in that we are concentrating our selling on farm only. The first three years growing, we sold at the bottom of the driveway and we made a modest profit. We abandon the farm for, what we thought were lucrative spots at farmer's markets. We stopped selling at farmer’s markets because we only sell what we grow. Because of our size, we cannot grow, as much so consequently we do not have a large variety. I want to be a successful grower, not a successful vendor. Selling only what we grow is hard because we do not have a bevy of different fruits and vegetables.
This year we decided to break our luck and go back to the farm. We set up signs pointing people up the drive to the house. We got six signs printed up and placed them throughout the neighborhood only to have two signs stolen, the first time we used them. Volume was not as great as hoped for, so we decided to move the veggies down to the street. We are taking the tractor and the wagon loaded with what we have and set up shop at the end of the driveway. It takes extra salesmanship and education but it feels right, lonely at times but at least not ALL day.
Knowing I can tell you the exact history of the fruit, vegetable, egg or chicken should be a valued commodity. The problem is we as consumers, do not ask the questions we should. Next time you are at a market, ask what the name of the fruit or vegetable is. The grower should be able to tell you the common name (lets face it, who can pronounce the Latin names?). Which type of basil or tomato? The point is the grower should be able to give you the characteristic or history of the plant. Another question to ask yourself is the fruit or vegetable in season where you are, in Maryland tomatoes are just starting to come in. Around here people selling sweet corn, before July 4th, are not selling what they grew.
As consumers, we sometimes fall short when sourcing our food, which is why the Maryland Department of Agriculture just came out with language and policies for selling “Local” produce at farmers markets. It goes to show you how widespread hucksterism has become, and how fed up consumers and real growers are becoming. This regulation would not have come about if there were not a large outcry from educated consumers and people that really sell what they grow. That is why it is called a “Farmer’s Market” not a Flea market
Being a small enterprise has great disadvantages, especially, when we go up against the bigger growers and grower associations. We did not take on this farm with star struck eyes but with the realization that failure was more likely then success. We are going back to the model that first made us money and that is by going down front.
That brings its own challenges. We are trying to figure out what is the least costly way to staff the cart. My suggestion bent towards the most logical and cost effective conclusion. The person that makes the least amount, on an hourly basis, should be the person to sit down at the end of the road and read his bug book.
So far, there has been some opposition to that plan from a member of the management team. I do not want to alienate anyone on the management team so I will leave my wife out of this. Seems even though I am not a paid employee (which makes me the lowest earner); I was informed, I have the most responsibility when it comes to overseeing safety, productivity and workforce harmony. The idea is still in debate.
I tried to unionize the workforce a couple of weeks ago but the vote was overwhelmingly defeated. Somebody made the stupid comment that management was good therefore no reason to unionize. I knew then, I was not working them as hard as I should. I have to juggle my roles. We will come up with a mix that allows some of our longest employees the ability to sit down at the stand and talk to customers, while I work in the blazing sun. Let us face it we are not a conventional business using conventional business models. Even though they are young and can work in the heat, it is important to us, to expose them to as many aspects of the operation as we can. in our minds we are molding future growers.
This past weekend we brought in more money then the previous weekend and I think this trend will just continue upward the longer we are down there. In the mean time:
BUY LOCAL: Do your family justice, find a local farm, ask questions and then support it if it feels right. If you do not get straight answers, it is probably because they are hucksters not growers.
I read in the Chicago Tribune that there was a study on the existence of GMO's in the human body.It was about an article written in "Reproductive Toxicology" by Canadian researchers. The researches simply looked at blood from pregnant woman and then blood from the umbilical cord. What they were looking for was if there were any GMO's in the blood.
The Tribune article went on to say, "genetically modified crops differ in that the plants grow from seeds in which DNA splicing has been used to place genes from another source into a plant.In this way, the crop can be made to withstand a weed-killing pesticide"Think Atrizine- my words"for example, or incorporate a bacterial toxinthat can repel pests. Canadian researchers this year reported that the blood of 93 percent of pregnant women and 80 percent of their umbilical cord blood samples contained a pesticide implanted in GMO corn by the biotech company Monsanto, though digestion is supposed to remove it from the body".
It is the "removed from the body," that is unsettling. Here we go again with those annoying trace amounts. This is what the Industrial Food Complex (IFC) and their equally huge lobbyists want everyone to believe. The article points out that trace amounts are okay as defined by the FDA, EPA and USDA. I use Diacetyl, again, as one of those chemicals that left trace amounts, but were supposed to be, processed out of the body. Instead, it caused lung cancer when a man consistently ate microwave popcorn. OHSA required workers that made microwave popcorn to wear masks that filtered the Diacetyl while they breathed. Why? Diacetyl, a known carcinogen, caused lung cancer when breathed consistently. Research said it was safe in trace amounts but not in the concentrated amounts that workers faced.
If you have the money, you can buy scientific studies. DDT, Asbestos, Agent Orange, Atrizine, Nicotine throw a dart. The cigarette industry proved for decades that their products were not addictive. Only until consumer advocacy groups and the ethics of a scientist, proved otherwise, but at that same time millions of us suffered through the loss of a loved ones linked to one carcinogen or another from the 316 plus chemicals in cigarettes. The tobacco industry and lobbyist had thousands of studies to document the safety or their product. Have corporations turned a leaf and have they become more ethical both environmentally and with what they sell us to keep our bodies healthy. Not when the bottom line is the goal, they are not.
Not only is research purchased the statistics can be manipulated based on a few factors, like standard deviation or the amount of data collected. It is like the banking industry and the housing market. The banks created categories of loans, bundled each one separately then sold the bundles. Then they bet against the bundle holding its worth. The bankers get rich, homeowner, takes the loss.
I realize that I am using a scientific study to justify the ills of GMO's. I am not missing the paradox.However, when you learn what DNA splicing is and how it is accomplished, you do not have to be a scientist to know there will be problems. I would rather error on the side of caution, especially when you find out that in order to get the corn DNA to accept the foreign DNA gene, and anti-biotic strain needs to be spliced in to the new DNA helix. There are stories of super bugs that have bacteria resistant strains. This does makes me wonder if there is a correlation.
The article failed to mention how we, as consumers, discovered GMO's in our food supply in the first place.I think it was in 2004 that a woman ate a taco shell made with GMO corn and had a bad reaction to the food. It was eventually determined GMO corn made up the taco shell. In European countries, regulations make the food industry prove that the changed chemical or genetic make up of the additive or preservative is safe for human consumption and cause no ill affect. In the US, it is Caveat Emptor, think of nano-technology and titanium dioxide.
I would bet that it is already in our food supply, we just have not found out about it yet. It is not as if the IFC was fourth coming with the whole GMO thing.That is another strong argument for buying organic as the article points out. It is against organic regulations to use any GMO anything. However, if GMO corn that was planted in Colorado shows up in a Mexican corn field you really wonder what chance does any organic farm have against cross pollination. Could it drift into organic production fields?
You bet your sweet @$$, it can. In the US organic requirement, you need to have at least a twenty-five foot wide hedgerow or buffer zone. Most of our buffer zones are greater than one hundred feet. However, when you find the same strain of GMO corn planted in Colorado in Mexico does a buffer zone really matter?
We need better labeling on our food. That is the only way we as consumers can make the industrial food complex clean up their act. When they are hit in the pocket, they will take notice and they will take action. Right now, their action is to fight against new labeling requirements.
If you want to buy GMO food, have at it. If you do not want to buy foods made with GMO products, the only way you can do that is to buy organic or have the label indicate that GMO is in the food. The industrial food complex is fighting hard to stop regulators from requiring new labeling that identifies GMO in their products. I wonder why? It would not have anything to do with the profit motive, do you suppose? Get active write your federal officials in favor of labeling GMO products as such.
Buy Local:Keep the momentum up, tell a friend to tell a friend
I watched "GASLAND," on Showtime recently. It is a documentary made by Josh Fox that explores the process of Hydraulic Fracturing. Go to Waterunderattack.com. Once there you will see the effects that fracture drilling has on the water table. If you get to see "GASLAND" you will be affected and hopefully in a way that motivates you to contact your representative. .
It is unbelievable, I thought the Industrial Food Complex (IFC) was bad but natural gas drillers using the fracture method, developed by Halliburton, make them look like saints when it comes to health and social and environmental preservation. I do not have the vocabulary to describe the utter disdain for the environment and people with the use of this method. When you can light the water in your house on fire there is something drastically wrong with the way government is protecting our drinking water. When the secret chemicals that drillers use start showing up in the tap water, would not one naturally see a direct cause and affect relationship?
The following scenario happens hundreds of thousands of times: Water table is fine, community is not sick, air does not smell and water does not catch fire. Natural gas drillers come in; drill down to the gas using a process called hydraulic fracturing and put in a well. The elements that leach into the air and into the water table from this process are a toxic mix of carcinogenic chemicals. Chemicals by the way those natural gas drillers do not have to disclose.
Not only do they get away with not reporting what they use, but how much they use, and what gets collected back after use. It is known as the Halliburton loophole to the Clean Air and Water act. Why, you ask are they allowed to do this? It is because the Energy Bill of 2005 specifically exempts hydrofracking from the Clean Drinking Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Citizens Right-To-Know Act (Freedom of Information) and even EPA regulation. The EPA cannot regulate them. The Environmental Protection Agency is prohibited from regulating an industry that is ruining the very environment the Agency was setup to protect. Why do you think those provisions were specifically added to the bill?
You have to ask yourself, why do corporate citizens get this kind of treatment? Do not expect anything to change, with the Supreme Courts ruling on corporate campaign donations, the ability for the common citizen to protect themselves and their environment through their representative has been made moot because of that decision. We are all naïve if we believe that special interest groups will not move to the head of the line when it comes to getting favorable legislation passed.
It has been proven that the human body can go weeks without food. Water on the other hand is something that you cannot do without for less than half as long. Once again, the profit motive outweighs environmental impacts and personal health. It is alleged that because of the Halliburton loophole more people are lighting their water on fire, getting sick and dying from the type of cancers that coincide with the chemicals used in the drilling process. Because of independent water analysis, scientist and environmental advocates are starting to uncover just what secret chemicals are being used. Nevertheless, does the fact that you can set tap water on fire prove, in and of itself, that there is something drastically wrong? When people who have lived on their land for generations can point out the difference and still be ignored by the very government that is suppose to protect them is appalling.
People complain how our current President is ruining the Nation. What did Halliburton and the previous administration accomplish? Chaney formed the energy commission and met more than forty times with gas executives. To their credit, the commission met with environmental advocates one time. What came out of Chaney’s Energy Commission was the Energy Bill of 2005. I am not making a political statement. I am merely pointing out the impact the loophole has had on the environment and people’s health because it came to fruition from the previous administration. It lets natural gas driller’s have unfettered access to public land and the ability to use carcinogenic chemicals without having to clean them up, report what and how much they use and allows them to operate with no government or independent oversight. .
Stop fracture drilling before the chemicals they use get into water tables near you. Of course, unless you want to be able to light your drinking water on fire, fight against the drilling of the Marcellus Shale site.
Judge not, lest ye be judged, as the saying goes. Just as you cannot tell how good a book will be by its cover, you cannot judge a reasonable person from a one-chance encounter. I have always been aware of how people pronounce the word ricotta. The national mispronunciation of this cheese bothers me more than the incorrect pronunciation of our farm name. I think one out of a hundred people will pronounce the name of the farm correctly. I am okay with that, it is any body’s guess whether the vowels are long or short in our name, Miolea, which comes from the previous owners and represents the beginning name of the son – Mike, mother – Olive and daughter Lea.
The farm name is a confusing mix of potential enunciations and inflections. We pronounced the name wrong when we first visited and a couple more times after that. When we took stewardship of the land, we decided to change the name of the farm in pronunciation to invoke an Italian theme. We changed some vows to long while others were changed to short. Over the years, if a customer mispronounces the farm name we have given up on correcting the mistake.They can pronounce it anyway they like if it helps them remember us, all the better. For some odd reason I care more about how to say ricotta, this creamy-sweet, beautiful sheep’s milk cheese than I do our farm name. For the record, My-Oh-Lay-a, is how the farm name is the way we pronounce the name.
I grew up in a predominately-Italian household with my grandmother being the last generation to speak Italian. Her children and grandchildren did not learn Italian from her as much as we learned the Italian emphasis when pronouncing words. Much like the way we pronounce words from other cultures, with their own intonation and enunciation, we as an American culture do not pronounce Italian words with an Italian articulation. I can think of Chinese - General Tao and Mexican - Fajitas as two examples of how people will use the correct pronunciation when saying these words. In Italian "P" is pronounced like a "B", so pasta would sound like "basta" in our family and millions of other Italian households. This leads me to my pet peeve.
As a nation, we had no problem pronouncing words from other cultures. My best example is Fajita. Nationally the pronunciation of that word with the correct Spanish enunciation happens all the time. Take Chinese, French, Greek and Indian culinary delights, we order these cuisines and generally pronounce them with the correct intonation, cadence and inflection. I feel that Italian cuisine is getting a short shrift in the "foodie" world when it comes to pronouncing Italian words correctly.
To that end I present these facts, most people pronounce fajita correctly, and most people pronounce ricotta wrong. Italian, much like Spanish has its different inflections and dialects. I do not know where we missed the boat on pronouncing ricotta correctly but it is almost universal. Pasta, okay, I will concede pasta instead of basta or managot for manicotti. Nevertheless, a sheep’s cheese as noble and diverse as any of the best cheeses known to humans deserves the foodies reverence relegated to other delicacies such as Foie Gras, or the more mundane like Tortilla.
Fajita is the example I use to draw my conclusions, however misguided. I have never heard, okay I once heard, a person ask for a (FA-GEE-TA), in a Hispanic restaurant. It is most always pronounced (FA HEE TA), The "JI" has a "hee" enunciation instead of a "jee or ji". You do not order FaGEEtas or Fa-jI-tas; you order faHeetas, when asking for the delicate flour tortilla. I bet you pronounced the last word of that sentence like (tor tee a) not (tor till a). You are starting to see the pattern of neglect Italian pronunciations suffer.
In my family when talking of Italian things the letter "C" was pronounced as a G (ga), the letter "P" came out as "B" and there were other slight variances. I did not get all the Italian variations, which is why I can only be the least bit indignant.
However, ricotta, pronounced correctly with the proper inflection, tone and dialect would sound like Ri- Gaw-ta. The "i" is silent the "C" sounds like "Gaw". When we hold cooking classes, if we are using the cheese I make a point to pronounce ricotta as part of the class. It is just because it sounds so much better pronounced correctly.
Rigawta is used in main dishes as well as deserts. It is a bit nutty with a creamy texture suitable for Tiramisu or in delicately stuffed ravioli. I am not asking for much, just a simple “g” when saying the word rigawta. As far as the farm name, pronounce it however, you see fit.
Why did the goverment of Mexico outlaw ALL GM (genetically modified) foods, especially corn? Then only to discover that strains of GMO corn have made their way into the corn fields of Mexican farmers. They Mexican government had the foresight to see that what represents their national pride, their heritage should not be tinkered with. The Mexican government simply wanted to keep what is there mainstay as pure as possible. Corn is their way of life always has been. Maize was discovered in Mexico from the teosinte genus. Go to www.hulu.com and search for the "Future of Food", it is a documentary that discusses corn and its origin. You will also find that GMO is not as safe as the IFC pretends.
This documentary on how genetic engineering was accomplished, how seeds are patented and then used as a big stick to force farmers into the herbicide ready club was the fore bearer of Food Inc., We are at a cross roads in our concepts of food, where you see grass root efforts like the slow food, buy local food, and support local farms movements spawn because of this. We have groups like Ark of Taste which is a movement to bring back heritage breeds from pigs, cows and chickens to tomatoes and everything else that has been genetically modified to fit the needs of the profit motive not that of the taste of the consumer.
GMO is part of the larger picture of food safety. From my stand point trace amounts of nasty chemicals on the food, or pathogens that cause recall after recall year after year is a real concern. Why? because consumers are losing their lives. What got us growing organic food over twenty years ago was that we were eating more vegetables to get healthy but I kept hearing about trace amounts of chemicals being on what I was ingesting. Not only that but vegetables were being imported from country's that used herbicides and insecticides that were ban in the U.S.
So, if I was ingesting trace amounts then why isn't that a problem? According to scientific findings the trace amount of chemicals on the fruit or vegetable isn't concenrated enough to cause harm. Okay, didn't science tell us that thalimide was safe, PCB's, DIOXIN, Agent Orange, Declomicin or (fill in the blank).
I know there are people that spend their life's pursuit in the sciences and I have the greatest admiration for them. To often the means of a few outweigh the detriment of the masses (think my old friend Atrazine). Our history is littered with examples, current and past.
But my most base of all arguments is taste, the simple fact of taste. Remember taste, remember when tomatoes tasted like sweet, soft, watery spheres of nirvana. It has been said the reason organic fruits and vegetables taste better is that they have to struggle to get nutrients out of the ground. Unlike conventional veggies that have ready supplies sprayed on them. I've learned that which does not kill you serves to make you stronger. In an organic plant that is basically the same concept. When a plant is attacked by a predator the plant releases its own sent that attracks bugs that are predators of the bug eating its leaves. This is how the plant has evolved and survived. Evolution is why heritage and heirloom species taste so much better. We all have been told nothing good ever comes from something easy, so too with the plant world. The plant grows stronger and has a better taste then the plant that was sprayed with synthetic fertilizers and insecticides.
I trust my taste buds, I know what is on my plants, I know that the more we allow large corporations to genetically modify food the greater susceptibility we all face from unknown genetic mutation and greater risk of bacterial out breaks caused by an increase in antibiotic resistant pathogens.
We are in control of our own destiny, that of the earth's scarce resources and our future generations. If we all don't start talking more about the negative affects the IFC has on all of these then it is our own fault.
Buy Local - From a local farm; Their effort is well worth yours.
I was on a local NPR affiliate, on the "Farm to Fork" movement taking place. It is part of the whole buy local, support family farms and sustainable farm practices effort happening all across North and South America and European countries. We were in studio because I had written to the local paper in response to an article about local farm produce prices.
During a break in the show a question was asked about the general demographics of our customers. At the farm we’ve found consumers to be in two groups: those that want to buy local and those that look solely at the price. In other words you get people who buy food for its nutritional value, freshness and safety. Then there are those that buy based on what they perceive as a fair amount for the commodity. From what we have observed this attitude cuts a cross socio-economic and educational lines.
I’ve gotten price grumblings from people who I know make over $100K a year and from people that work in some of the lowest paying jobs. A couple of years ago, we were selling certified organic tomatoes, two for a dollar. Closing time came and we were packing up when this man stopped by our truck. He was in a brand new convertible Cadillac. He was a gray haired gentleman with gold chains around his neck, gold rings on his fingers and a diamond pinky ring. I had a bag of six tomatoes and he asked "how much?” I wanted to get rid of them so I said “two bucks”. He then said "how bout one-fifty". I took the bag back from him and said have a nice day. Okay, stop right now. Fight your urge to write me to say the ability to haggle goes back to early homosapiens, I understand that. From a market farmers view point in order to grow and produce fruits and vegetables there is no haggling.
Capitalism and sustainable farming are two beliefs that are not mutually exclusive. As a person that grows fruits and, vegetables and raises animals in such a way that it benefits the environment, there is no bargaining for us. I don't try to cut corners in order to benefit the cash-flow of the enterprise. When it comes to being a humane farm there is no wiggle room. Growing organic fruits, vegetables and eggs is not a negotiable process.
We set prices based on national databases, local supermarket prices and what costs we have incurred. The sad truth is, as farmers we all face this behavior at the market, which brings me to education. The more we can educate consumers about the benefits of sustainable farming practices to them, their children, and their children’s children the more they understand why long term support of local sustainable agriculture is needed.
The cost to fix the environment from documented damage being done, using industrial farm practices, never gets added into the price of the product the Industrial Food Complex (IFC) sells to us. But think about it? Who steps in to say, wait a minute male bass are starting to exhibit female tendencies? Who does pay for the cleanup of the coastal waterways and our tributaries? I’m not saying that the IFC are the only polluters but they are at least part of the problem (think Endocrine Disruptors and atrazine).
The cost of environmental sustainability is in the price of the food organic farmers sell. We are not poisoning the soil and water table but just the opposite. We are benefiting nature by adding to the poly-culture that Mother Nature intended. If I can get a person on the farm and give them a tour they get to see the benefits that sustainable practices bring. It is that simple, they see what you are talking about, they get to look at the poly-culture all around them and understand how green manure and resting, replenishes soils and nutrients. They will also complain about the amount of bugs flying around their heads. But, they’ll see the birds, the bees and other wildlife and we’ll explain these are good things. That this is Mother Nature’s way of telling us what we are doing is benefiting the ecology.
At the radio station, I knew what the person was getting at, with the question, that people of means and education would be the ones wanting the safest, healthiest and freshest food at their disposal. Being educated, they would know about CAFO’s and the Industrial Food Complex’s profit driven decision making that puts the food supply and our natural environment in danger. So the more affluent and well educated would be more inclined to purchase from a local farmer regardless of cost.
It's not quite like that entirely. More people are becoming aware of what is at risk (and its them they find out) when food borne illness breaks out. I think because of the frequency of events more people are questioning safety which drives them to make safer choices. Have we had a recall from a local butcher or local fruit and vegetable farms?
We encourage people to taste the difference. The best way is the blind taste tests. With all things being equal, people will gravitate towards what tastes best to them. What tastes better, a store bought tomato or one from your garden or a local farm? You can’t taste vitamin content or micro nutrients or the fact that there are trace residues of carcinogenic chemicals. The only thing you know is what your palate tells you. One food is going to taste better than the other and that food happens to be the safest for you to eat and for us to grow and the earth to produce.
Buy Local: From a farmer that you visited, know and can trust
Food science is going nano; believe it or not we as consumers are now facing another menacing aspect of the adulteration of whole foods. The FDA has a classification known as GRAS or Generally Recognized As Safe. They have a list of chemicals and ingredients that are known to be safe and are classified as such. What nanotechnology is doing is taking and combing elements from the "Periodic Table" to make new substances that can prolong the life of fruits and vegetables or make ketchup come out easier or cake mix pour without lumping.
Because they are using elements deemed safe then the theory is the bi-product would be safe. So something like nano-titanium dioxide under GRAS would be considered safe. Andrew Schneider writing for AOL Science reported that "One of the few ingestion studies recently completed was a two-year-long examination of nano-titanium dioxide at UCLA, which showed that the compound caused DNA and chromosome damage after lab animals drank large quantities of the particles in their water."
Yet the IFC is trying to get or might already have this in our food supply. Why? Because, it allows the food to have a longer shelf life. Longer shelf life means a longer time in which to sell the product. Are we going to have another tobacco fight on our hands? Where after hundreds of thousands of deaths someone will finally find the memo that states how dangerous this stuff is and how it should not be used.
Nanocoating is being developed in Asia and is sprayed on foods to help them last longer. The only problem is that it has not been tested at all for possible side affects or adverse reactions to humans. As complicated as the human body is, shouldn't someone test what these things can do to our organs or cells or what the heck how about the double-helix? The British House of Lords conducted a study and found the technology is already in salad dressings, diet drinks, sauces, boxed cakes and so on. So it is already in foods in United Kingdom. Do you believe its not here now? I urge you to follow the link above and read Andrew Schneider's three part article to really get the full picture.
In the mean time BUY LOCAL- Support a local farm to support your health
There was a study recently linking Atrazine to the castration and feminization of frogs in test labs. Atrazine is used primarially in weed control applications by industrial farms and other large operations. The San Fransico Chronicle wrote about the affects that Atrizine is having on the environment. The study was conducted at UC Berkley and is being published in the "Proceddings of the National Academy of Sciences".
As you would expect the maker of the weed suprresant is fighting the study and pointing to every flaw they can find. Interestingly, the author of the study worked for the maker years before but was dismissed when his findings showed Atrazine to be a possible endocrine disruptor. Remember our feminized bass, they are a prime example of what an endocrine disruptor can do.
The endocrine system regulates hormones like testostorone and estrogen. Any wonder the frogs are becoming feminized and worse castrated by levels of Atrazine? I can't make this stuff up, yet we sit blindly by while trace amounts of chemicals are allowed in our food supply. Relying on scientific data that at best is funded from special interests.
Am I missing something, is it that we'll die off and be replaced by other spenders and that is why killing us to make a profit is okay. I know the Supreme Court rules for the Corporations not for the individuals. Look at their decisions over years. The majority of decisions are against the common man. Why would we expect the FDA to crack down on the use of endocrine disruptors. Things have to get out of control like Thalidimide, DDT, Bisphenol A (plastsic containers) and Phthalates(cosmetics), before we are protected from those that seek profit no matter the outcome.
If this is happening to the frogs then what is happening to the humans that have to work around the stuff and ingest trace amounts. Besides that what is the shelf life of this stuff? My bet is you just can't wash it away. If you could then it wouldn't be affective in the rain and you can't have that. It has to be able to withstand water in order to be affective in the field right?.
Twenty years ago we started growing organic because I didn't like all the chemicals being used. Relatively speaking it was benign back then compared to what todays consumers are facing. God help us all, because no one in charge seems to care enough to stop the chemical jugrnuat.
Buy Local- Save a frog, a bass and your own environment by doing so
Michael Pollan said it best in his book "The Omnivore’s Dilemma". He said that each and every day we make a choice on what to eat and that choice has a greater environmental impact then we think. For some there is no thought of where the food comes from just who is preparing it for consumption. Pollan was pointing out that the "Where the food came from" question is not present in the day to day normal cognitive process of deciding what to eat.
As a nation of eaters most of us don't realize that the food choices we make affect our environment. We have been so far removed from the making of our food that we have no idea what goes in it. Not only has this been perpetrated by the IFC but it was done specially to avoid the kind of scrutiny that the local farm movement is generating.
If we don’t see that beef processing companies import beef from other countries to make our hamburgers how can we make a value judgment at purchase time. I’ll bet you think that when you buy a hamburger, that it comes from a cow that at least lived in North America. That is not necessarily the case as has been recently pointed out in a lawsuit against a big meat packer.
No thought is given that the beef patty sitting on the bun before us has a relationship to the raised hormone levels in the water table and estrogen levels in male bass. But at its base that is what our choice to eat comes down to. Every day we decide to further the cause of local sustainable agriculture or benefit the Industrial Food Complex.
On one hand you have the small independent farmer that is trying to squeeze out a living by carefully tending the land and their animals for social, environmental, economic and human sustainability. On the other side is the vast IFC with ever increasing ways of chemically altering food, milk and juices for the sole purpose of producing these products in the least expensive way to gain the most profit. That in it of itself isn't bad, but it is the consistent failures resulting in illnesses, death and environmental degradation that make their practices deplorable.
That is how in the past most robber-barons made their huge fortunes. They took advantage of the less fortunate, less intelligent and in some cases just destroyed everything a person owned for their own personal gain. The cost to and negative impact on people and the environment does not matter. I mean the moniker says it all “robber-barons”. Food is one of the last great resources to be raped and pillaged so a few of our elite can make their personal fortunes greater.
You have a choice; you can make a difference globally by being just one person acting locally. It is happening now and has been happening slowly for at least the last twenty years. Those that are on the front lines see the progress. A couple of years ago, California registered the first increase in agriculture land in their State; stopping a decline that lasted decades. It is growing to such a point that the USDA is starting to take interest in the numbers.
The USDA recently sent out a mandatory census that looked at detail level data on growing and production and they are starting to offer incentives to help promote the local farm movement. Seven years ago I never heard of financial assistance for organic growers and or vegetable growers in general. It was usually just aimed at grains, water conservation, and nutrient management. These past two years I've seen two programs to help local vegetable farms.
Things are changing but you the individual is needed to participate. Barbara Kingsolver, in her book “Animal, Vegetable Miracle” wrote about the year she and her family spent eating seasonal, local foods. In it, not only did she highlight the adjustment to seasonality of foods but also to the plight of the local farm.
So the choice is ours to make. Do you want an open food source where you know where your food came from and can go to the source or do you want what is going on now? Recent news stories recounted the poisoning of a female who ate bad beef. Now that the court case has gone public the manufacturer had to divulge that the meat that made up this ground beef came from animal parts from two different countries, neither being America. If this isn’t an example of the IFC buying junk to put into the food supply to make a profit then I’m at a loss.
But it is us, you, me, and everyone that has a stake in this fight for healthy food. Never before have so many people been part of the same group that has the opportunity to be part of a grass roots effort. We All Eat. We can really make a change to affect our future and truly make a difference in the history of man. I am talking about the safety of food and the preservation of our ecology. We might like different things but we all eat. If you just chose local once a day over the IFC imagine the change we could all affect. I’m not saying that everything consumed should be local but if a lot of our choices are for local foods then the IFC’s will take notice and act accordingly. Of course we could have an outcome like free range chickens (see. Beware of Free Range) but I hold out hope for a better result.
It is just one choice made multiple times each day. As an individual you can choose whether to promote the IFC and all the damage being done to the environment (think feminized bass) or you can choose to support your local community, local families, local businesses and your local food producers. The money you spend at the farm gets spent in the community by the farmer. The money stays in a local bank; and is used to hire local labor be it skilled or general and used to purchase supplies from local businesses.
It is your choice, start slowly make a resolution to eat at least one local meal a day. We are not asking for you to be like Barbara Kingsolver, but to give serious thought about your children’s, grand-children’s and great-grandchildren’s health and the environment we will leave them.
Choose to make sure the future generations grow up in the least toxic setting possible. Become aware of how the IFC is poisoning us and the environment for their short term profit. If that doesn’t get you motivated to support your local sustainable farm we will all fail our future generations.
Buy Local-From a farmer you know and trust, not a chain selling the concept
"Organic food is too expensive, there is no difference in the vitamins and minerals when compared to conventionally grown food and conventionally grown food looks better than its organic counter-part. Conventional food is unblemished, big, colorful and robust. You can't feed all the people in the world using organic and sustainable practices it is just not feasible. Huge monolithic conventional farms must continue to flourish if we as a civilization will be fed."
These are the arguments that the Industrial Food Complex (IFC) and their huge propaganda machine would have you believe. What scares me the most is that there is a large segment of our population that actually believes it. What is wrong here is that we are being bombarded with tainted studies and while I'm at it, tainted food. But who do we think we are, as consumers, to ask for a safe, fresh, chemical residue free, non-genetically modified food supply? Whatever were we thinking, who cares what resources are left for future generations as long as the IFC were able to profit from the environment's very demise today? What if we now have feminized striped bass in our water-ways? The fish is still good to eat, be it male or female, right?
We have what is called concentrated animal farm operations (CAFO's), where the living conditions of the animals are so deplorable they have to pump the animals full of hormones, antibiotics and other synthetic substances on a regular basis just to keep them eating. Then there is the waste from all these animals. Waste that contains the antibiotics and hormones that they've been fed. Where does the waste go from a CAFO? Let's say they are ninety-nine percent efficient at capturing all waste generated. It’s probably less, but I don't know for sure, so to be on the generous side let's say one percent gets out and pollutes the water table. One percent and our striped bass are being feminized.
I swear I have a vein popping out on my forehead as I read this stuff. Sometimes I see why Lewis Black's whole body is trembling as he talks to his audience about the illogical. There is a misconception that sustainable and organic practices aren't feasible and practical. It seems that perception is based on profit capability, not the benefit to the environment and our future generations. How much profit is enough and to what peril?
But I digress; I want to parse the first paragraph in order to give the other side of the argument. Organic food is too expensive. Studies suggest that when you look at the true cost of conventional production and shipping (the carbon footprint, labor, overhead, seed cost, transportation), unsustainable practices and the cost of fixing the environment from CAFO's and other huge conventional farm practices, organic food is cheaper. We ask customers where they live so we can tell them of local farms in their area so they don't have to drive as far.
It is important to note that local food grown conventionally is going to have far less chemicals and is healthier to eat. When was the last time you heard of a local vegetable recall or contamination compared to that of IFC's. Look at the decision making criteria of the two; a local farmer has his or her family to feed and bases their decision making with that in mind. For their food the local farmer eats what they produce. An executive in the IFC has his or her family to feed too. If they don't make a profit, they will not have a job in which to pay for the food their family needs (at least that’s how it used to be. It seems now you can lose billions and get paid millions.) An example of profit driven management decision making would be the peanut butter recall. The company had tests done years before that showed contamination. What did management do? I don't really know, what is known is that they didn't get rid of the problem and all of this was exposed because consumers got sick. Do you think those managers ate any of their own product knowing they had already identified contamination?
University of California Berkley research found that organic practices raised vitamin and mineral rates twenty-five percent over conventional counterparts (see the CNN health link on our blog page). Search the net and you will find articles supporting both sides of that argument. But it seems to me that most of the articles against organics are not coming from academia but private entities. But I'm jaded. I look at things from a logical, common sense stand point. For argument sake, let’s say every thing is equal between organic and conventional vegetables, except the chemical residue on the outside and inside of the vegetables. This much is fact; research shows that there are trace amounts of chemical residue on and in vegetables. Allowable trace amounts per regulations.
Trace residues of chemicals known to be carcinogenic are found on conventional vegetables. If there is a trace doesn't that mean the existence or presence of? Take microwave popcorn. As early as 1993 policy makers knew that Diacetyl causes lung cancer. Diacetyl was one of the chemicals in the butter flavoring of microwave popcorn. So in their opinion workers in the production of microwave popcorn had to wear protective breathing gear due to the hazard. But the general public, supposedly, were not at risk. Fast forward to 2008 and they find that a man who ate two bags a day for ten years has developed lung cancer caused by Diacetyl. To me that suggests that trace amounts add up. We are human which makes us prone to mistakes. Why don't we err on the side of caution and ban trace amounts totally?
People will mention studies done by scientist as an argument for trace amounts and point to the relative safety of these trace amounts. The monetary motivations of the few often contradict the safety of the masses. Case in point the medical journals in the 1900s supported smoking for years as a way to raise their revenue. To be fair these journals no longer support nor accept advertising dollars from big tobacco. My point is with enough money you can pay for a study that promotes your cause. You have to spend money in order to make money, isn't that how the adage goes?
Conventional food looks perfect, thanks to manmade chemicals that not only protect it from other Nature but from its own natural demise. The shelf lives are longer and they can be transported further distances. But then again there are those darn trace chemicals on the outside and inside of vegetables. Let's look at safety; we know for a fact striped bass are becoming feminized and tests are pointing towards hormones in the water table. God knows what other things are going on but you can bet feminized bass are not the only thing. Has anyone gotten sick and died from organic spinach? They did from conventional spinach from the IFC.
Organic vegetables don't have trace amounts of chemicals and are safer to eat. Next up is freshness and taste of conventionally grown food. Please, it has neither. Look internally, take taste for instance. Everything else being equal, when given a blind taste test more people will chose organic over conventional. Which is better, a store bought tomato or one purchased from a local farmer? Organic vegetables struggle to get nutrients out of the ground. Nietzsche said "that which does not kill us serves to make us stronger". I believe as others have written that a vegetable that struggles to get its nutrients out of the ground, versus those just sprayed with synthetic nutrients, will taste better. Plus no trace chemicals on organic veggies. Try it for yourself - get organic or local vegetables from a local farm and some from the supermarket. Cook them identically and take a blind taste test and see for yourself.
You can't feed all the people in the world using organic/sustainable agriculture. We did back in the early 1900's before chemicals were introduced. Research has advanced organic methods even further today. My comment to that argument- People are starving to death right now. The only thing the IFC guarantees is if you have the money you can eat.
I understand the use of propaganda, misinformation and down right misleading of information and facts. That is why one of the most important jobs local farmers have is the dissemination of information. It’s educating people about the dangers and more importantly the alternatives and what consumers can do about it. People say organic is bad because the business model is not designed around profit. It is designed around the health, welfare and sustainability of human beings and the ecology. Personally I do not have a problem with that.
Buy Local - From a farmer not a chain hard selling that fact.
Okay, maybe this is another rant against the industrial food complex, but I was brought up to stand up for what is right and not to sit back when someone was in trouble. My parents raised all of their kids to treat everyone equally regardless of skin color or religion. Besides, I like to think of it as educational more than just a rant.
We all know that our food supply has many flaws, often we get to read about the major events when they happen. What we don't get to read about unless you dig deep is the smaller stuff. Like how the IFC is able to sell chickens labeled as "free-range" even though the chicken has never been outside on grass, ever! I got to give them credit, it takes a certain kind of sleaze to take a regulation that is meant to be beneficial to the consumer and use it against them.
On their website the USDA defines free range or free roaming thusly: Producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside.
Now to you and I that means the chicken should be outside on grass. The USDA has found that there are broiler houses that hold tens of thousands of chickens that are being labeled and sold as free range even though they have never been outside. Why? Because the houses have a door at one end and they can open them to the outside. It doesn't matter that the door opens up to a cement pad or to dirt or the best case, grass. Never mind the area outside wasn't large enough to hold all 10,000 birds; the producers will tell you they meet the USDA definition.
I've only been raising layers for the last three years. I am not a knowledge expert by any means. What I do know is that we get chicks at a day old, raise them indoors until they can handle the weather outside, usually 8-10 weeks. We move them to a moveable house that has no bottom and is surrounded by an electrified fence. The fence is to keep predators out not the chickens in. They can fly the coop, if you will, pretty easy. As they get older they hardly ever do. They get in a routine and it doesn't seem to change.
Most broilers are processed between 12 and 15 weeks of age. The sooner a broiler is processed the more tender the meat. 10,000 birds raised in a closed environment will remain in a closed environment when a single door is open. It's not like the door is a garage door either, the USDA found that some of these houses had one door leading to, you guessed it, a cement pad.
The USDA is changing the rule because the IFC took advantage of the current regulation by calling housed chickens free range. What we've read and commented on from the USDA helps to clearly define FREE RANGE. Until the new regulations are put into affect the monoliths that feed the IFC will continue to label and sell housed chickens as free range.
You're asking "now what? How do I know which company really has free range chickens or chickens just labeled as free range? It is easier than you think. Just buy local. Find a farmer that raises free range chickens in your area. Go to the farm, talk to them and see for yourself what their free range practices are. LocalHarvest has a great search tool to find them.
Your buying habits will need to change somewhat in that you won't be able to just go there and buy a chicken, you might, and it depends on the farm. In some cases you'll need to order the bird before hand and you might need to buy in quantity in order to have chicken whenever you want. The trade off is you get fresh, tasty, real free range chickens and eggs. If you don't believe me, buy a store bought chicken and a local free range chicken. Cook them the same and give your family and friends a blind taste test. Not only is it a fun activity you'll get to see for yourself through others taste buds.
BUY LOCAL - from a farmer, not from a chain hard selling the fact.
We like more than 90 percent of small farmers across the nation have full time jobs. We've been working every weekend since March 21st, non-stop. We've had some good times, great successes and huge failures. We are physically and mentally tired and looking forward to the colder days and slower pace.
Yet there is melancholy to the coming days. Putting the green grass covers on the gardens, getting the chickens on next years production beds and covering the strawberries. We are exhausted yet we do these choirs with a heavy heart. We need and want the break but there is something sad to the fact that we won't be outside for long periods of time tending to growing vegetables, fruits, herbs and watching the chickens frolic.
We'll get into canning mode so we have vegetables over the winter. The irrigation will be pulled and plants mowed from this years production fields I'll do a shallow till and cover the fields with winter rye and hairy vetch. Once that is done the place has been put to bed for the winter.
We then turn our attention to making Italian and French breads, the Italian cooking classes and keeping the chickens comfortable if the weather gets to extreme. I do lament the passing of summer, as hard as the work is, the sun hot and atmosphere moist, I like eating fresh vegetables out of the garden. I eat more vegetables now knowing there the freshest, safest money can buy and they are from our hands and our efforts. I'll miss the weekly interactions with our customers and talking about how to prepare a vegetable or certain dish. Our customers have been supportive, rejuvenating, focused, motivating and most importantly there.
Keep eating fresh and local, David did beat Goliath and we will again this time. Eat local, find a farmer that is growing healthy food. Tell your friends, your family and your colleagues about him or her. The more we speak out the safer our food supply should become.
Don't be complacent, there are some people like my wife and I who do extraordinary things in order to bring safe fresh foods to our community and there are people in your community doing the same thing for you. We all know of parents that have a child or children that have food allergies? Let me ask, how many friends did you have growing up with food allergies? I didn't have any; except for me I hated Brussels sprouts. Proportionally more humans are suffering from food born illnesses now then ever before, despite taking into account the increase in surface population. Haven't enough people given their lives just because they wanted a simple meal with maybe spinach or a hamburger with lettuce, or peanut butter treat?
Please don't underestimate the fight that we are in. Food is our energy, our fuel and a life sustaining force. Don't let the big Agra-businesses jam GMO foods down our throats, they've been killing us for profit and will continue to do so unless we the consumer stand up and say "I'm mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more" (from the movie "Network"). Demand more with your dollars, choose with your wallet. Money and the lack there of will make them notice. Choose to live healthy. Choose to stop playing Russian roulette with your food choices. Pass the word on it is too important to leave to the media and our officials. Start with your family and work out from there.
Buy Local - from a farmer not a chain advertising "Local"
We were selling at a Farmers Market and an elderly farmer’s wife stopped by to look at our offerings. She looked at our "Organic" sign and said "Honey, we've been growing organic since before you were born," and if you know anything about the green revolution after World War 2 you can understand her statement. Before the invention of ammonium nitrate for bombs, farmers relied basically on organic means to grow their vegetables. We went from every community having a fresh food market to almost none. Before the establishment of the industrial food complex, grocery stores and refrigeration, communities relied on their local farmer to grow a market garden for their fruits and vegetables.
They ate what was in season in their region; consumers knew the farmers and their families and purchased what was available. They put fruits and vegetables "up" or "canned" so that they could eat them in the off season. Then technology started to advance growing and storage techniques and all other aspects of life. The marketing gurus during that time advanced the concept of convenience and free time. Prepared foods, can goods and frozen foods were the rage, Going to the local farm was phased out by stores that had everything in one place. What marketing was selling to everyone was convenience and free time. Slowly but surely Free Time and the profit motive was the death knell for the small family farmer.
As industrial farming took hold and these huge monolithic behemoths started turning out tons of one product the laws of mass production and economy of scales took over and the small farmer could not keep up. The farmers grew what was called a truck garden or market garden, because he or she would take the vegetables from the garden, put them in a truck and go to the market and sell what they had picked. What we lost with the growth of these monolithic farms was the individual family growing vegetables for their community and so too coincidently we lost taste and freshness of the fruits and vegetables. Tomatoes picked green and shipped miles away can't ripen on the vine while in travel, nor would they ever taste like one right off the vine.
What we gained from the loss of market gardens, freshness and taste is the game of Russian Roulette. Illnesses and sometimes death resulting from pathogens in our industrial food supply has become common place. Corporations have shown time and again, when faced with a decision to stop production and clean up after tests prove contamination, they have a laissez faire additude.
Yes, we have always had to take precautions with our food, but the sheer number of recalls makes one pause. Nothing beats local for freshness, taste and safety. The consumer has the ability to talk to the person or persons that grow the food, be it animal, vegetable or mineral. More and more people are supporting local farmers because they see value for their money. It is more expensive to grow organic; consequently, it is more expensive to purchase. There is value to going to a local farm or a farmers market and buying from them.
If you take out the carbon footprint, the freshness, the taste, the true cost of operation, if you take everything out of the equation but a base explanation you are left with human kind's last fuel source and the person that toils for it. It's a passion, a mission and a fundamental activity that sustains life. It’s not the profit motive but a social conscience that motivates us to provide food for others. Yes, we all need to make money to provide and small farms do need to make a profit. It's imperative in the sustainable model, but that doesn't mean that every decision we make is dictated by the profit motive or what effect it does to our stock price.
The profit motive, stock prices and yearly bonuses are the norm in big business. Tell me, do you really want to leave the growing of food to the faceless people behind the industrial food complex, knowing their main concern is if they can make a profit and raise the price of their stock? Isn't our health more important than money, and haven't our taste buds suffered enough with petroleum derivatives, synthetics and other man made food additives?
So make the right choice, find someone that is growing vegetables for your health, talk to them, visit the farm see how it is being run. Not everyone is growing for your health and we call them hucksters. Buy vegetables when they are in season and you're guaranteed local. Learn what vegetables are in season in your area. If someone is selling corn in Maryland in June, it wasn't grown here. So it is not local corn because it is not in season yet. Ours will be in July and we do not cater to the industrial food complex.
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