consumptionunction

Go figure

2009-03-14T13:15:00.006-04:00

From a March 10, 2009 New York Times article:

"The former first lady, Laura Bush, insisted that fresh, organic foods be served in the White House, but did not broadcast that fact to the public, according to Walter Scheib, who served as executive chef under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. 'She just didn’t talk much about it outside the house,' Mr. Scheib said of Mrs. Bush."

Hmmm... so while Laura is insisting that only organic food be served in the White House, hubby's policies are almost what one could call anti-organic? Perhaps she didn't mention it outside the White House so as not to upset her friends such as Rush Limbaugh or Matt Drudge?

And why did the American tax payer have to pay for organic food for a White House that enabled or even forced the "common folk" (i.e. us) to eat contaminated unhealthy industrially-produced garbage at times?

I am definitely wining

2009-03-08T21:12:00.011-04:00

While I've liked wine for a long while now, I've recently been more "into" certain (and better) ones lately, and being the thrifty person I am, I've been hunting for inexpensive yet good wines. I live in Orange County, North Carolina, so some of my sources won't be applicable for anyone outside of this area.

Where do I get my wines?
1. Hillsborough Wine Company; my local wine merchant with a good selection of great-quality and many inexpensive wines, located in Hillsborough.
2. 3Cups; has some very cool artisinal, organic, and biodynamic wines, located in Chapel Hill.
3. Trader Joe's; has several inexpensive but good wines, located in Chapel Hill.
4. World Market; has a few inexpensive but good wines, located in Chapel Hill.

I'd always rather shop my local store, but sometimes just feel compelled to buy a quantity of inexpensive wine from, say, Trader Joe's, because I don't want to spent more than six or seven dollars for an "everyday wine" for myself.

However, often times my local wine shop can get wine for cheaper than discount places, particularly if I buy it by the case. For instance, my current favorite inexpensive wine is La Vieille Ferme Rouge Côtes du Ventoux, which is $6.99 a bottle at World Market; Hillsborough Wine Company sells it for $7.49 a bottle. However, World Market doesn't give a case discount, and HWC does; so I can get it for about $6.36 a bottle at HWC (a saving of 60 cents a bottle, or almost $8.00 a case -- which definitely adds up after while).

An interesting wine that I came across at Trader Joe's is a wine called La Ferme Julien Rouge Cotes du Ventoux. Its label resembles La Vieille Ferme Rouge Côtes du Ventoux (although it has a goat on it instead of two chickens and the color and font are different), and has the same composition: 50% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 15% Carignan, and 15% Cinsault. The bottle and cap look alike as well. It's supposed to be made by the same people (the Perrin family, who have a great reputation). Word on the street (well, the Internet) is that it's either a private labelling of the La Vieille Ferme, or a secondary bottling of it, or that it's from grapes from somewhere else on the same vineyard. It does get generally good ratings, with people either saying the two taste the same, or that the La Vieille Ferme is better, or that they're both bad. (I'll have to tray a few bottles and get back to you!) Robert Parker and the Wine Spectator both give the 2006 La Vieille Ferme an 87 rating, in case you're into that.

The only other inexpensive (meaning, under $7.00 or $8.00) wine I really like so far from Trader Joe's is the La Loggia Barbera D'Alba. I've always enjoyed Barbera D'Alba, and while this isn't the best one I've had by far, it is really tasty and is so inexpensive ($6.99 a bottle) that one can't complain. And for God's sake don't get the "Two Buck Chuck" (now at $2.99 a bottle) at Trader Joe's, unless you just don't give a darn what swill you drink...

Yup, I rarely ever post

2009-03-08T21:11:00.001-04:00

But I just can't keep up with it!

FDA and USDA drop the bomb AGAIN

2009-01-26T20:12:00.009-05:00

Scientists (this time at the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy) have once again found the FDA and USDA to be hiding health-relevant information from consumers. The latest? Many products containing high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contain mercury, due to the processing, uh... process. And what's the acceptable level of mercury in American consumers' food and drink, you ask? The answer?: Zero!

Again, hopefully with the new presidential administration in power, things like this will no longer happen, and the FDA and/or USDA will not sacrifice the American consumer so that a few crooked companies can force or keep their products on the shelves.

Read the report, Not So Sweet: Missing Mercury and High Fructose Corn Syrup, here.

A great weight (both standard and metric) has been lifted

2009-01-20T12:28:00.004-05:00

Hopefully a house cleaning will be undertaken in the U.S. government, getting rid of all (or at least most? Please?) of the ignorantly-idealistic, ill-suited, armchair commando, activist neo-cons who can't differentiate fact from fantasy. Well, hopefully the last eight years will show that their unsuited experiments of fantasy won't -- and didn't -- work. Their small ideas were once untested, but have now been tested - and their follies have been found to be greatly lacking and foolhardy. People so grossly unqualified should not be in charge of anything, much less a post that requires (demands!) intelligence and a comprehension of science.

I call on President Obama to change the course of America's future, and to do what's right for the people of this great country, and the world. Not for what's good for CEOs' annual bonuses, or for the middle-management of self-serving companies that would do harm to American (or world) citizens so that they can be lazy and save a few dollars and assure their stockholders of a profit the next quarter. But for all the others of us out there who will reap the harm caused by them currently and in the future. Because I really don't want three-eyed, one armed, flipper-footed, grossly overweight grandkids.

Biodynamicificationicizing

2009-01-12T20:48:00.013-05:00

I think I've finally decided to take the plunge and experiment on my smallest garden plot (about 25 by 25 feet) and prepare it to go biodynamic in 2010.

What is biodynamic you ask? Well, it's "beyond organic" in a sense, and it even kicks it up a few notches on the agricultural side of permaculture. Some aspects of it are a bit nutty in my opinion (it's really pretty much a homeopathic approach to soil), but biodynamically-produced products are friggin' amazing, and taste better than most organic products (and blow the doors off industrial organic). It brings out the terroir to its utmost.

For information on it all, peruse this Wikipedia article, this ATTRA publication, the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association website, the Pfeiffer Center's website, or the grandaddy of all biodynamic sources: Rudolph Steiner's Agriculture Course from 1924. (There are other reputable resources out there also, by the way). You can even get certified Biodynamic® by Demeter USA. Perhaps the most widely-known product that has taken the leap to being raised biodynamically is wine.

Anyway, since it basically takes a whole year to get the system started (I've already met the standards for organic), I won't be able to really "go" biodynamic until Spring 2010, but can prep my garden until I can do so.

I guess it's time to get some additional compost piles started...

A cool local event heads up

2009-01-10T22:07:00.006-05:00

This Real Food Real Medicine event sounds amazing. BUT, I won't be able to attend due to the cost of admission. $75 for a student? $100 for a farmer? $180+ for everyone else? C'mon! Oh well, even though it sounds cool, I guess all the well-to-do professors and yuppie foodies will be able to go. Perhaps I'll be able to read about it in some journal one day...

It's February 27 - March 1, by the way.

Chicken update

2009-01-04T17:24:00.006-05:00

I thought I'd just put a chicken update out there for all (ahem) to read. So, here goes:

1. My Sussex chickens have all been killed by raccoons. So, I'm going to have to start over, but only better this time. What to do about it? Well, I haven't yet fenced in my property entirely, so I'll either have to do that or keep my flock within a smaller area of electric fencing; also, some raccoons must (will) perish.

2. I've finally become a member of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, and they'll be able to help me with my Sussex breeding program.

3. I'm almost through with my annual chicken slaughtering; all my Buff Plymouth Rocks are in the freezer, and I'm starting on my Delawares. I've had some communication problems with my farmers' market, so I may have them all to myself instead of selling most of them like I intended. It's too bad, too: I raised the birds well, and they've been tasting GOOD.

4. I've made a tentative list of chicks to buy in the early spring: mostly Sussexes, but I also plan on getting a Dominique or two and a Dorking.

On New Years Day...

2009-01-04T17:12:00.005-05:00

...myself and two companions attended the Slow Food (Triangle) Terra Madre Recap event in Durham, North Carolina.

The event took place in one of the nicely-renovated Golden Belt Tobacco Company buildings. The event went well in my opinion, and the food was amazing (thanks to the people working the event and to the sponsors, such as Anson Mills of South Carolina).

The crowd there were mostly non-Southerners (a quick poll was taken by a show of hands; I think it was maybe 5%!), and everyone seemed to be quite friendly -- although a few people were hogging the "family-style" dishes of food and not passing them around. I was also a bit put off by the group of children that had turned the area behind my table into a racetrack of sorts, as I couldn't hear the announcer when he or she spoke due to the noise from the kids feet stompng.

Ok, negatives out of the way, the people running the event did a spectacular job, and the food was friggin' amazing. They ran out of collards quite quickly, but there was enough other food to fill the void. The cornbread, rice, and beans were all heirloom products from Anson Mills, and everything had pork in it (there were a few vegetarian options, but I'm thankful the food wasn't focused on that). Drinks were provided (water, tea, coffee), but it was BYOB (and many people did, including the Wine Authority guys who made me envy their line of bottles of wine they were sharing with friends and family).

I went expecting a more "Terra Madre experience" (I for some reason thought it would be local vendors, farmers, and etc., all at tables talking to visitors about their products), so it wasn't a "typical" Slow Food event experience I guess... but it was damn good and I wasn't disappointed. Post-meal, several Slow Food people talked about their experiences at Terra Madre in Italy, but I wasn't able to hear well due to the kids stomping around.

Thanks again to those who sponsored, hosted, and worked the event.

Oh! bama

2008-12-18T13:02:00.012-05:00

On Wednesday, President-elect Barrack Obama appointed former Iowa governor Thomas Vilsack as his USDA chief. And previously, Obama appointed former Monsanto vice-president Michael R. Taylor to his transition team.

There's just not many positives to having either of those two creeps in this administration... I guess Change™ doesn't apply to our food chain. Perhaps next, Richard L. Bond will be made head of the FDA.

(Update: and then there's this article, written by Obama's chief adviser on agricultural issues, Marshall Matz. It's all "blah, blah, industrial agricultural is so great, blah blah..." yikes.)

Disappointing to say the least. I expected better this time around, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see what comes of it (and hopefully it won't kill us or give us cancer).

Yes,

2008-12-18T13:02:00.001-05:00

... it's been awhile

You stupid donkey... yes?!?

2008-06-26T22:58:00.010-04:00

I've become totally obsessed with several of Gordon Ramsay's television shows lately: Hell's Kitchen, The F Word, and Kitchen Nightmares.

I've been watching Hell's Kitchen on T.V. mainly, but catch-up on any missed shows on Hulu. The F Word I've been watching in cut-up episodes on YouTube (since it's only on BBC television and I can't seem to find it in any of my local video stores), and Kitchen Nightmares also on Hulu. Hulu's a great website that has high-quality, full-length T.V. shows and movies (even though it has commercials), and although it can sometimes take awhile to find someone who has posted quality videos on YouTube, it's well worth hunting around.

Man, Gordon Ramsay definitely has balls. He definitely appears to have earned every bit of his success, and likely has an amazing team of people surrounding him that assist him in fulfilling his vision(s) of providing great food in an amazing environment. I have learned so very much about cooking, about food, by just watching him in action in his shows. One of his cookbooks will likely be my next food-related book purchase.

Another cool thing about watching the F Word is that I was introduced to the work of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, of River Cottage fame, and purchased his Meat book.

Meat madness

2008-06-10T09:12:00.016-04:00

Wow... South Korea's government has been almost wiped out by a mass "resignation" of ministry officials from the public outcry and protests over a deal to allow U.S. industrial beef imports to resume. I was feeling rather chagrined when I found out that the U.S. had pushed industrial beef on to the unsuspecting Korean people as part of a trade agreement. But... apparently, they weren't as unsuspecting as I thought, as the Korean government has found out, much to its chagrin. Too bad the average U.S., consumer won't stand up to its own government and protest the lousy meats that are forced upon him or her; you'd think with all the current health problems and the massive meat recalls that people would finally realize what's going on and say no to industrial meat. But oh well...

In other news, perhaps caused by industrial meat contamination: tomatoes recall. But, at least it's apparently prompting the FDA to finally want to do its job, and the government to financially support the FDA so that it can do so.

Perhaps the FDA will be able to head off what appears to be the next major food disaster before it wipes out too many people. Stay tuned for MRSA.

Follow the organic food trail

2008-05-22T13:21:00.004-04:00

Philip H. Howard, Assistant Professor of the Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies at Michigan State University, has a really informative website that charts out the relationship(s) of various organic food-producing companies (brought to my attention by Anna Lappe's blog).

Check it out here.

Humane Foie Gras?

2008-05-21T11:19:00.008-04:00

I just watched a video excerpt of British chef Gordon Ramsay's TV show The F Word on You Tube.

A woman, noticing that Chef Ramsay served foie gras at all of his restaurants on every menu, attempted to get Ramsay to change his ways and serve an ethically-produced foie gras that she had heard about from Spain.

After visiting a foie gras farm in France (the traditional one), and the one in Spain (the ethical one), she tasted both and declared that the Spanish farm's product has "all the taste and none of the cruelty" of the traditional French method.

However, in a blind taste test, Ramsay noted that the ethically-produced one had a different (and less-desirable) taste and texture than the one he normally serves. He did state that the geese that supply his livers for the foie gras were "half-forced" fed and treated humanely. I'd like to see a video of his supplier's farm, though, to compare!

The video of the French farm certainly didn't seem to treat the geese humanely, as they were kept indoors in a small pen, and the force-feeding definitely appeared to be cruel. The livers that came out of the geese were huge!

At the Spanish farm, the geese were clearly raised humanely, living outdoors in an orchard (definitely free range); I believe they may have even been semi-wild geese, as they appeared to be free to fly/migrate away if they were to so choose. The livers that came out of those geese, however, were much smaller (by at least half to two-thirds) than the French geese. But, this shows to me that the farmer was more concerned with the ethical treatment of his animals than a larger potential profit on his product.

I'm not sure if I've ever even eaten foie gras, but it does sound tasty. I'd like to see if it is available locally in its humane form. It does have that ethical dilemma, however, hanging over the product, much like veal (which can be raised humanely, just not by CAFOs).

The TV show is excellent, by the way, in that it shows the process of [humanely] raising livestock (tukreys, pigs, and sheep) all the way through to the slaughter of them; even PETA supported the showing of the entire process on the show. It will definitely make you a vegetarian if you can't stand it. One can only imagine the horror of a industrial slaughterhouse...

Recipe of the Month (May)

2008-05-20T11:12:00.004-04:00

Almost forgot to post one this month! D'oh!

Anyway, I've decided to post one for Blackberry jam. The blackberry bushes on my property have for the most part dropped their blooms and the berries are starting to form, so it got me thinking about jam like my family traditionally makes...

Here's a basic recipe, mostly taken from Ball's Blue Book but also with some tips from various websites.

What you'll need:

- blackberries (fresh picked is best, but if unavailable, frozen will work)
- pectin
- organic sugar
- canning equipment (jars, lids, rings, etc.)

Jam can only be made in small batches (about six cups) at one time so the jam will "set" properly. It takes about eight cups of berries per batch.

Steps:

1. Wash jars, lids, rings, etc. so they'll be ready when you need them
2. Wash the berries
3. Crush the berries (and/or mill them if you want less seeds and less chunks in the jam) and put them in a large/suitable pot
4. Add the pectin (mix about 1/4 cup of sugar with it for easier mixing) into the berries
5. Cook on medium-to-high heat, stirring often enough so it doesn't burn (It should take about five to 10 minutes to get to a full boil)
6. Add the sugar; the recipe calls for four cups (!), but I use between two and three usually. (And don't forget you added 1/4 cup already with the pectin!)
7. Continue boiling for about one minute
8. Sterilize the canning jar lids and rings (again, so they'll be ready when you need them)
9. Skim the foam off the top of the pot (it's harmless, btw, but skim it off anyway)
10. Remove from heat
11. Test for jelling; use a cool spoon (one kept in a glass of ice water works), and scoop some of the jam out and see how long it takes to jell. If it isn't as thick as you like, add some more pectin and boil it again for about one minute
12. Let stand for five minutes, and stir (this step is optional)
13. Add to canning jars, put on lids and rings, and process (water bath) for five-to-ten minutes. Some people add a small squirt of lemon juice per jar at this point to raise acidity
14. Let cool. Listen for the lid pops!

Mmmm... can't wait for the blackberries to be pickable (mid-June or so in my area).

Soylent Green, the sequel?

2008-05-20T10:20:00.006-04:00

Yikes... instead of eliminating or bypassing CAFOs and the associated animal suffering, environmentally-hazardous waste disposal, overuse and misuse of antibiotics, and etc., by raising humanely-raised livestock on small family farms, some people seem to want to go the other way: to growing meat in a laboratory. I can't think of anything more repungnant, except maybe eating Soylent Green (which actually, and scarily, isn't all that different according to what happens in the movie, minus the human element as raw material, of course).

Read these articles and decide for yourself:

Will Lab-Grown Meat Save the Planet?

Tastes Like Chicken: Growing meat without growing animals

Farmers, consumers, and organic food

2008-05-18T22:07:00.008-04:00

I also came across two articles online regarding farmers, consumers, and organic food.

The first article, Natural Response: As prices of organic foods rise, plain old fruits and vegetables suddenly look better, shows not only the fickleness and apathy of the average consumer, but also that when it comes down to it, many (if not most) farmers want to make money over doing what is right for the consumer and the environment.

However, as I feel organic foodstuffs are overrated in many ways anyway, I'm glad to see that locally-produced foodstuffs are being preferred by consumers as they tend to be cheaper (mainly due to almost zero transportation costs) and fresher (and may be organic anyway, or perhaps even "beyond organic"). The second article, Shoppers Choosing Local Over Organics in Produce, addresses this issue/these issues.

One interesting statement from the second article is that "33 percent [of consumers] are concerned about the safety of organic produce." Is it because USDA organic standards have been lowered in many categories and also been manipulated by producers, or is it due to anti-organic propaganda like when organic spinach was blamed for the E. coli outbreak in late 2006, when in fact it was conventional bagged spinach?

Natural selection

2008-05-18T21:39:00.005-04:00

I came across this article in a local newspaper: Drought takes toll on Leyland cypress trees. I had to smile while reading it, as I despise the tree, and feel that it symbolizes all that is wrong with mediocre (design-wise) and unsympathetic (to their environment/s) housing and landscaping.

The tree is apparently drought-sensitive, and Robert Jackson, a professor of global environmental change and biology at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment, speculated that "a fungal disease may have contributed to the death of the trees," and that "extreme temperatures and drought can weaken trees, making them more susceptible to pathogens."

A landscape architect and urban forester at the Chapel Hill Public Works Department "recommended that landowners instead plant the Eastern red cedar, a native tree that looks like the Leyland cyprus but is hardier." So, it turns out that a native tree is replacing a tree that is unsuitable for the local climate... imagine that.

Chillin' at the mill

2008-05-14T20:28:00.015-04:00

Just got back from a two-day [semi-marathon] road trip through South Carolina, and one of the things I finally did (after putting it off for three years) was visit Anson Mills off Gervais Street in downtown Columbia.

They have a very cool set up, with several types of mills (several are from Meadows Mills in North Wilkesboro, N.C.) and a whole lotta chest freezers (in which they freeze their pre-ground corn and their finished products) throughout their warehouse.

I was able to obtain some buckwheat flour, oat flour, blue grits (made from Cherokee Blue corn), and rice grits.

Can't wait to cook with them! First, I think I'm going to make Anson Mills' recipe "Carolina Gold Rice Grits with Shallots and Celery" as a side to a "Poulet Rouge" chicken from Ashley Farms/Joyce Foods. Mmmm...

(The other foodie highlight in S.C. was Cooper's Country Store in/near Salters, where I bought two BBQ turkey sandwiches, a bag of boiled peanuts, and some salt and vinegar pork rinds for my dinner; they are "famous" for their country hams, which I assumed are produced on premise, but may not be -- they are also somewhat mysteriously "famous" for their rice cookers/steamers. Their meat counter made me seriously drool.)

The agro-industrial complex

2008-04-30T19:34:00.007-04:00

An important independent report, Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America, by the Pew Charitable Trusts and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has been released, concluding that "Industrial animal farming in the United States needs to make many major reforms in order to protect public health and the environment."

+ The report criticized "the agro-industrial complex" in regards to:

+ their over-and mis-use of antibiotics

+ the pollution created by overcrowded factory farms

+ the spread of disease in overcrowded feedlots

+ the inhumane treatment of confined animals

+ the industry's influence on agricultural research and governmental regulation

... amongst other things

Read the report in its entirety here: http://www.ncifap.org/_images/PCIFAP%20FINAL%20REPORT.pdf

The more you know...

2008-04-29T21:56:00.006-04:00

Did you know that the word "organic" is not federally regulated for personal-care products? I was just reading one of my favorite websites (Grist) and saw this article: Word of Bronner: Dr. Bronner's says competitors aren't really organic.

It appears as if several personal-care companies are "not sure why we would have to follow a standard set" by, in this instance, Dr. Bronner; perhaps the government should set some standards, then?

"Raise hell, not corn"

2008-04-28T12:13:00.005-04:00

(From Grist)

A great article about how one should definitely contact one's politicians (especially since it's time to vote again!) and take action on the sorry state of the industrial food system.

"When nearly 75 percent of the U.S. market spinach crop is grown in one valley in California and repeated bacterial contaminations ensue, we need to question our reliance on the corporate food system.

When millions of pounds of beef are recalled due to bacterial contamination and when, by the count of the Centers for Disease Control, 76 million Americans get food poisoning and 73,000 cases of e coli infection and 63 deaths occur in the U.S. each year, we need to question our reliance on the corporate food system.

When the World Health Organization tells us that some 60 percent of the adults and nearly 13 percent of the children in America are obese, we need to question our reliance on the corporate food system.

When scientists from around the world tell us the vitamin and mineral content of our food has fallen significantly over the past 60 years, we need to question our reliance on the corporate food system.

When groundwater nitrate levels climb year after year because industrial size farms raise too many animals producing too much manure on too little land, we must question the industrial concentration of our food system. "

'nuff said...

Important things happening

2008-04-17T13:17:00.003-04:00

A few major U.S. policy news articles:

"Losership, not Leadership"

"Very little progress"

2008: The International Year of the Potato

2008-04-15T14:17:00.005-04:00

Just read a (rather wittily-named) Reuters article As Other Staples Soar, Potatoes Break New Ground, and it just happens to coincide with my planting of potatoes for the year (well, I'm going to this weekend).

The article basically talks about how since other commodities like wheat and corn are becoming too expensive for many consumers to buy, the potato can be the cheap (and more healthy and productive) alternative.

here's some more information:

The International Potato Center

A Swiss stamp commemorating the potato (PDF)

Recipe of the month

2008-04-03T19:43:00.011-04:00

No-knead Bread

I came across this recipe in a New York Times article: The Secret of Great Bread: Let Time Do the Work.

Ingredients:
- 3 cups bread flour (but all-purpose flour is ok to use), plus extra for dusting
- ¼ teaspoon (instant) yeast
- 1 & ¼ teaspoons salt
- Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed

- In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 & 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest about 18 hours at a warm (about 70 degrees) room temperature.

- Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface [I like wood, but granite or marble work well] and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.

- Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth; a flour sack-type dish towel is perfect) with flour, wheat bran, or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran, or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about two hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

- At least a half-hour before the dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enameled, glassware, or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, remove pot from oven (don't forget it's hot!). Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake an additional 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is browned. Cool on a rack.

Yields one 1½-pound loaf.

The latest on farm subsidies

2008-04-02T11:25:00.006-04:00

Personally, I'm outraged that my tax money goes towards farm subsidies. Now, don't get me wrong, I want to see the [legendary] "family farm" succeed, but farm subsidies tend to go to the larger, super-profitable, monoculture farms whose products don't benefit many Americans (unless you own stock in Monsanto, Cargill, et al.), and can in fact hurt consumers through their land-use policies and GM/GMO and E. coli-ridden products.

Here's some articles that should interest you:

Farm subsidies: Beyond Simplistic Outrage

Farm Lobby Beats Back Assault On Subsidies

Betting the Farm

If you, too, are pi**ed off, contact your agricultural committee state representatives.

Organic trust

2008-03-27T12:51:00.010-04:00

It's coming to the point that the consumer can't trust the "organic" label, as defined by the USDA, anymore. Organizations like Oregon Tilth or the UK's Soil Association can and probably should be considered more reliable with regards to policing organic standards.

But it all boils down to trusting the producer of one's food. There are several (if not many) farms in my area that are no longer bothering with certification, but I'd trust their products more than I'd trust anything I can buy at some place like Whole Foods.

The best thing to do is do your own research, and/or ask questions about what you're buying. And if those questions can't or won't be answered, take you money elsewhere... to a conscientious farmer or farmers more deserving.

Surrounded by chicks

2008-03-19T10:49:00.020-04:00

Got my first order of day-old chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery the other day. I ordered 25 (they sent 27) of their "all heavies" (heavy breed) special. The reason that these type of chicks are so inexpensive is that they are the males of typically-egg-laying type of chickens, and therefore aren't very desirable. So, hatcheries basically give them away (I think the shipping cost as much or more than the chicks themselves!).

The chicks arrived in good shape, but over the next few hours, four died... and another died the next day. It's sad to see them die like that, but they go through a lot in shipping and, well, it's nature taking its course, really. The other chicks are doing very well and of course are as cute as all heck. (Murray McMurray, by the way, took care of my "problem" immediately and I received a credit -- as I requested -- for the next time I order birds from them. They definitely get an A+ customer service rating from me.)

Reality check: I'll raise them to about three months, and then butcher them and freeze most of them and I'll give a few away to friends.

Next time I order chicks, however, I'll likely order the White Rocks from Murray McMurray, or, alternately, I may try the "Ranger" (similar to the "Label Rouge," see my last post) type chicken. I intend to keep a few for myself, but will probably sell the rest at my local farmers' market. I'm definitely going to stay away from the "Cornish X" type of birds (a.k.a. "frankenbirds"), for several reasons. I'll probably not be raising the "heavy breeds" special again, as they're a bit too un-uniform for sale to customers. The White Rocks and the "Ranger" type of chickens are pretty standardized/uniform, and the White Rocks are more easily cleaned (i.e. de-feathered or plucked, due to their white feathers) by hand, since I do not currently have an automatic picker.

Better than organic?

2008-03-19T10:31:00.023-04:00

I am still a big fan of "beyond organic," where you do better than the organic standards, but disregard getting organic certified (since the organic standards are getting watered down yearly so that more big business can profit from what are becoming pretty much misleading and confusing -- to the consumer -- labels).

I've somewhat recently become a fan of France's "Label Rouge" (Red Label) program. France's standards for everything from Label Rouge to organic are much more stringent than our rather watered-down FDA/USDA standards. France labels food for the customer's benefit, not for business's benefit (i.e. profit). And often times, American farmers get stuck in the middle when trying to convert to organic, where in France farmers are the ones who benefit from the stricter labelling; BUT, they can't be lazy and have to stick to the prescribed standards, not just let their chickens see the light through a window ten feet up and magically be switched from conventional to free range.

Apparently, in France, Label Rouge chickens cost about twice as much as conventional chickens, whereas organic chickens cost about five times as much. So Label Rouge seems to be a "happy medium" for both the consumer and the farmer.

It would be nice to see more similar (if not the same) standards applied to food in the U.S. And if the government won't do it, farmers and consumers will need to take matters into their own hands perhaps.

Here's an excellent informational bulletin (PDF version) by the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service (ATTRA) and the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) on Label Rouge:

ATTRA Techs Study "Label Rouge"

Here's a few local (to me) farms that adhere to the Label Rouge standards:

Coon Rock Farm

Ashley Farms

Recipe of the month

2008-03-05T19:32:00.005-05:00

I've decided to start a "recipe of the month" for this blog; basically, I discover a recipe that interests me very much and I post it here after trying it out.

This month's recipe is for Finadene Sauce. Finadene sauce, according to Wikipedia, is "a salty, spicy, sour all-purpose condiment used in Chamorro cuisine." Chamorro refers to the culture of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam, by the way.

Here it is:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup white vinegar (you can also use lemon juice, but I used vinegar and added a "dash" of lemon juice)
1/2 cup soy sauce 2 green onions , thinly sliced (1 small white onion, finely chopped, can be substituted)
3-5 small minced hot peppers (apparently, boonie peppers are the best to use; I used a serrano; tabasco peppers are more similar to a boonie, however)

Preparation:
Mix vinegar and soy sauce together
Add onions and peppers
Shake well
(Keep refrigerated)

For good recipes to use it on, try searching around the Internet for recipes from Guam (chicken and grilled fish seem appropriate).

So, try it out!

WTFFDA?

2008-01-16T20:09:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, the United States was totally hosed by one of its own taxpayer-funded bureaucracies. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved cloned animals (and their products, such as milk) to be allowed into America's food chain... and of course, without adequate testing (unless you consider testing partially funded by the same biotech firms that produce cloned animals as adequate or impartial). Plus, the FDA went against the wishes of the U.S. Senate (i.e. Congress), who passed a bill requiring a rigorous and careful review of the human health and economic impacts of allowing cloned food into America's food supply by a vote of 79 to 14. And, they of course went against the will of the American people; according to the Center for Food Safety:

Recent opinion polls show the majority of Americans do not want milk or meat from cloned animals in their food. A December 2006 poll by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology found that nearly two-thirds of U.S. consumers were uncomfortable with animal cloning. A national survey conducted this year by Consumers Union found that 89 percent of Americans want to see cloned foods labeled, while 69 percent said that they have concerns about cloned meat and dairy products in the food supply. A recent Gallup Poll reported that more than 60 percent of Americans believe that it is immoral to clone animals, while the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology found that a similar percentage say that, despite FDA approval, they won't buy milk from cloned animals.

For further information, read Not Ready for Prime Time: FDA's Flawed Approach to Assessing the Safety of Food from Cloned Animals.

Da seedz

2008-01-13T16:58:00.001-05:00

Okay, just got my spring 2008 seed list together. I'm trying to consolidate to only three (quality) suppliers, to save money on shipping. Plus, I have local suppliers of Wyatt & Quarles seeds for anything else. This year, I'm ordering from Baker's Creek, Seed Savers, and Seeds of Change.

As of right now, my list is:
Snow's Fancy Pickling cucumber, Riesentraube tomato, Mary Washington asparagus (seed), Thai Red pepper, Munchener Bier radish, Bowling Red okra, Merveille des Quatre Saisons lettuce, Bloomsdale Long Standing spinach, Blue Lake bean (bush), Jalapeno pepper, Cocozelle zucchini, Yellow crookneck squash, Buttercup winter squash, Roquette Arugula,
Mayflower bean (pole), Amish Deer Tongue lettuce, Speckled lettuce, Christmas lima bean, Wenk's Yellow Hots pepper, and maybe Potimarron winter squash.

I still have to figure out what kind of broccoli seed to get, and what type of Latin-American pepper.

I saved seed from my okra (Clemson Spineless) and corn (Stowell's) last year, so I'll just replant those. Plus, I have other various seeds I didn't use last year I'll plant again this year (mainly carrots and radish). And, I'll purchase tomato (a paste type, a striped type, and Cherokee Purple) transplants locally.

C'mon spring!

This oughta...

2008-01-11T15:55:00.002-05:00

...throw a wrench into things for the pro-pasteurizers:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22561188

Too bad it happened to a local, hormone-free dairy, though...

Current thangs

2008-01-11T15:07:00.001-05:00

Still am narrowing down my seed wantings from the seed catalogs... I've gotten rid of some from my list I had wanted, but added others I hadn't previously know about. I have already pre-ordered some German Butterball seed potatoes from SSE, however, as last spring I was too late and they were sold out.

I may just plant my saved Stowell's corn seed. Nothing really excites me that is "dual purpose" (one of the purposes being "sweet"), although I still may try and find some Tuscarora/Iroquois White seed to plant. I thought about Gourdseed (again), but since I won't be making meal for awhile, I don't see the point. Decisions, decisions...

AND, it's about time to order chickens for this year.

My main garden is still doing ok, even though the weather has been fluctuating between 15 and 80 degrees lately! My broccoli is hanging in there, as well as a speckled lettuce and my carrots. My garlic is still going strong (but it has awhile to go), and my onions are doing well, but some deer infiltrated my [very low] fence and munched many of the tops. Who knew?! I thought deer wouldn't like onion greens, but obviously they do.

Although a bit late (or early, depending on how you look at it), I've been thinking about what kind of fruit and nut trees I want to plant (a few different kinds of apples, a pecan or two, a few black walnut, and a pear or two). I have an area in mind to plant them in, but need to do some land clearing first anyway (so, I guess it will happen next fall). A man named Creighton Lee Calhoun lives about an hour south of me, and he is considered by many to be the apple guru for the South. Too bad (for me) that he doesn't sell heritage apple trees anymore, but he still works his magic at Horne Creek Living Historical Farm and the trees can still be purchased locally through Century Farm Orchards.

The seed catalogs...

2007-12-19T18:29:00.001-05:00

...are now out! Well, many of them are. I'm already looking forward to spring (which is only about three+ months away). I've already been drooling over my Baker Creek and Seed Savers Exchange catalogs.

I've been working mostly in the mountains of NC lately (southwest of Asheville), and so have been vveeerrrrryy cold. Getting seed catalogs already makes me think warmer...

The fall-winter garden is doing ok still; perhaps because we had a few days in the 80s last week! A few nights ago it was down to about 20, though, so that kinda hurt some things. I've been harvesting broccoli and carrots and lettuce, mainly. The onions popped up awhile ago, but are awhile away from being harvested.

ok, that is all

If a Prius hits a Volvo in a Whole Foods parking lot, does anybody hear it?

2007-11-16T13:45:00.002-05:00

Perhaps they'd hear it, but they most likely wouldn't stop to help and they'd probably just walk around it.

Why is it that Whole Foods customers seem to be some of the rudest anywhere?

Perhaps it's that usually a Whole Foods has a ridiculously small parking lot for the number of people that shop there, or perhaps it's that the aisles in the stores are usually pretty tight, so it's hard to get around people. Perhaps that all sets the initial mood. (Or perhaps it's just the kind of customer that tends to shop there?)

I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I have to remember to only go to Whole Foods during off hours; I just can't deal with the generally rude and inconsiderate customers. I don't have the two hours out of my life to wait behind you in an aisle to get around while you stand there talking on your cell phone while you figure out which applesauce your four kids will like, or while you stand in the middle of the aisle with your mouth hanging open while you attempt to figure out which type of soy granola you bought last time. I also don't have the extra time to stand in a check out line while you debate that the lettuce was only $4.98 a pound and that the cashier has charged you $4.99 a pound.

All I ask is to be able to park within a half an hour, to be able to walk down any given aisle unobstructed, and get through a check out line in a timely manner.

Really, people, I don't think it's too much to ask.

Resources, energy security, and national security

2007-11-06T11:47:00.001-05:00

There's a lot of "semi-weird" energy and resources-related stuff going on lately (or somewhat lately) with the government and the military, but at least some of our tax money might perhaps be going to potentially worthwhile projects or at least potentially useful research.

Read on:

Securing America’s Future Energy

Climate Change Worries Military Advisers

The greening of the Pentagon (PDF)

Nuts II

2007-10-31T15:31:00.001-04:00

Just thought I'd share my excitement at harvesting walnuts again this year. I was working on a project along a creek and came across a walnut tree, and soon found several more trees along the creek in a bend. A few days later I came back with a backpack and filled it with the nuts. I was there on a very windy day, however, and I felt as if the trees were trying to protect their nuts on the ground by bombarding me with them from the air. I ended up collecting just over seven gallons worth of nuts (and I sure didn't have the interesting nut-collecting stories this guy did).

I have yet to husk them, though. I hope they aren't all plagued by the walnut husk maggot, as a few I noticed were. And, I gotta get some gloves so my hands don't stain brown!

I've been keeping an eye on my main Hickory tree, but it doesn't seem to have shed its nuts yet this year. I missed collecting them last year, but may have given up before they dropped. And I'm too lazy to gather acorns.

Ok, that's all I got for now...

Nuts

2007-10-16T21:26:00.002-04:00

(This article '"Raw" almonds aren't, really' is excerpted from "What's really in your food?" from the Independent Weekly.)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently required that all almonds produced in the United States be pasteurized, including nuts labeled "raw." The rule went into effect September 1, despite protests from health-conscious consumers who prefer unprocessed nuts and small-scale growers who can't afford the equipment, which costs between $500,000 and $2.5 million.

The move follows two Salmonella outbreaks attributed to raw almonds in 2001 and 2004. Critics of the rule point out that both incidents were the result of faulty practices at large-scale commercial farms. Small-scale and sustainable practices—including mowing and mulching to control weeds, instead of using chemical herbicides—naturally prevent the spread of harmful bacteria more effectively than post-harvest treatment, they say.

The Almond Board of California, a governing body representing all almond growers in the state, pushed for the change. Small growers complain that the board disproportionally represents the needs of the large producers.

A spokesman for the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service says that the agency simply responded to the almond board's request. "We basically move at the behest of industry," spokesman Jimmie Turner says. "If the industry calls and says they want a standard or a marketing order, we take that request, and normally we do what's called a notice in the Federal Register. We seek public comment, and based on that comment, there can be a marketing order established."

The same process is followed for all food stuffs, Turner says.

The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based farm policy research group leading a campaign to convince the USDA to overturn the pasteurization rule, contends that labeling treated almonds as "raw" is deceptive. More than that, the group argues that it epitomizes the industrialization of our food supply.

"This is just the opening salvo of corporate agribusiness wanting to sanitize all of our food," says Mark Kastel, co-founder of the Cornucopia Institute. The impetus, Kastel says, is the economics of large-scale production. In many cases, such operations utilize growing and cultivation methods that provide much greater opportunity for contamination.

"After the fact, they want to use these technologies ... so they can sanitize our food supply, but it will do great damage to our food and, because of the infrastructure costs, will put out of business small and high-quality growers and independent processors," Kastel added.

To comply with the regulation, almond producers can either steam the nuts or fumigate them with propylene oxide (PPO), the almond board's preferred process. PPO is recognized as a possible human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. It is banned in the European Union, Canada, Mexico—and much of the rest of the world.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not require labeling of foods treated with the fumigant, and while packages of almonds may contain the disclaimer "pasteurized," there isn't likely to be any indication by which process the nuts were treated.

The only way consumers will be able to distinguish how their "raw" almonds were pasteurized is by the organic label. Regulations mandate that foods bearing the "organic" seal cannot be treated with PPO.

Whose bright idea is this anyway?

2007-10-09T15:57:00.001-04:00

[*sigh*] About all I can say about this article is that it's all fine and dandy if the government (and Wal Mart ... again, sigh) wants to ban incandescent light bulbs, but I will never convert to CFLs, so I'm going to have to spend even more money on LCD light bulbs (which I was actually planning on doing one day somewhat soon anyway).

I'm just tired of all the uber-positive hype about CFLs; because, no, they're not as bright as advocates say they are; and yes, they do cast a different color (unnatural) light than incandescents; and yes, they flicker and buzz/hum and can affect one's eyesight (like they do mine); and yes, they are more expensive, break more easily, and contain toxic mercury (and I'm sure everyone who buys one will take it to the proper recycling center when it dies). They also don't last as long as manufacturers declare (five-year bulbs last about one year in actuality because of the abuse thy take when switched on and off), and you can't use a dimmer switch with them unless you pay a lot more for special CFLs.

Ok, sure they do save a rather significant amount of power over time, which of course is a good thing (but so is walking or bicycling instead of driving vehicles!).

Anyway, the result may be like that 1996 "Shower Head" episode of Seinfeld, where Newman, Kramer, and Jerry buy black market Yugoslavian shower heads for their apartments after their superintendent installed low-flow shower heads. [Or perhaps it's time to start hoarding incandescent bulbs?]

Acting corny

2007-10-08T23:32:00.002-04:00

For the 2007 season, I grew Stowell's (a.k.a Stowell's Evergreen), which is/was a fine corn and all, but perhaps as a friend of mine said, it is one of those heirloom corns that you'd better already have the water boiling before you even pick it. I only grew about 200 stalks of it, so it wasn't too much of a waste of space or time.

So, I of course would pick it a few hours before I cooked and ate it, and wasn't very impressed by its taste. I did save some of the seed (about a quart canning jar's worth), however, just in case I feel compelled to plant it again next year. I also saved a sack of it for chicken feed, as I'm getting a few Dominiques for 2008. Much of the corn was eaten up by worms at the last minute, just before I picked it (it's my own fault really, as I didn't take the necessary precautions).

I may bring it into the twentieth century with corn, however, and plant either Hasting's Prolific or something similar (as a sweet corn) ... but I also may go the other way and plant either Tuscarora (a.k.a Iroquios) White or Gourdseed, both at least eighteenth-century corns (and probably earlier).

By the way, if anyone knows where to obtain some Hasting's Prolific seed, please let me know; I may need to write Don Hastings (no, not the actor; the guy whose grandfather originated the corn type, and who is the writer of several modern gardening books) and ask him about it.

A new weapon for the 'War on Terror' arsenal?

2007-10-04T12:53:00.001-04:00

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=485506&in_page_id=1770

Finally (and just in time, really) ...

2007-10-03T23:01:00.002-04:00

Just got some (Inchellium) garlic and (Ed's Red) shallots ordered for planting this fall. Thought I had ordered them (plus a few other things) from the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange a month or so ago, but for some reason my order didn't go through and I just finally realized it. So, needless to say, I couldn't remember who I attempted to order them through originally, and ordered them through Seeds of Change this time.

So, my fall garden is now complete; I have greens, lettuce, carrots, turnips, broccoli, beets, radishes (which aren't planted yet), and now I'll have garlic and shallots. Plus, I still have okra and tomatoes going (but barely).

I guess it's time to start thinking about what I want to plant next spring! Oh boy, here we go again ...

Moo-ving right along ...

2007-10-02T09:36:00.001-04:00

I just read an interesting article on why cattle in the United Kingdom come down with so many diseases. This excerpt particularly caught my eye:

But the country does have the distinction of being Europe's primary landing spot for global travel, and that could put livestock at risk. Travelers from every continent pass through London Heathrow Airport (the busiest airport in the world for international traffic), and with them comes food waste from airplanes. Pathology researchers consider airline food waste, which is sometimes processed into food for livestock, the greatest danger to animal health in the world. Airline garbage that's contaminated with foreign diseases can end up in livestock troughs ...

Wow ... that doesn't sound very good, and that as a problem never crossed my mind. Cattle eating animal byproducts is not a very good thing (cows are herbivores, after all, and shouldn't even be forced to eat corn for instance), but feeding them with people food that may be contaminated from an uncontrolled international source sounds very baaad too.

As a side note, Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, wrote an interesting Op-Ed article in 2004 about the USDA and Mad Cow Disease.

I seem to recall a court case against McDonald's in the late 1970s, where they were forced to quit feeding their cattle rendered byproducts from euthanised animals (mainly cats and dogs) collected from animal shelters in the U.S. And, you may never again eat any beef-filled items from Taco Bell after reading these postings.

Ok, that's all for now.

Corn causing problems again

2007-09-30T21:11:00.003-04:00

When will outdated monoculture corn farmers come to their senses and give up on growing thousands of acres of corn each season? And when will the government quit giving our tax money away (via subsidies) that really only benefit the big processing companies (like Cargill, Archer Daniels Midlands, Monsanto, et al)?

Well, hopefully the bubble will burst soon. A recent article in the New York Times seems to point to another wrench in their gears. (Unfortunately farmers are going to take the biggest hit when the bubble bursts; but again, time to adapt and move on.)

Here's an update.

[On the flip side, here's an article on cellulosic ethanol that sounds promising.]

Beyond [USDA] Organic

2007-09-28T14:10:00.002-04:00

This is something I’ve been VERY interested in (I can thank Gene Logsdon for infecting me with the “bug,” and Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma for introducing me to the term), but I just didn’t know its proper name. I’ve always felt that farming like our families did in the 1800s (and even the early 1900s, or at least pre-WWII) is the way to go. Sound, tried-and-true (scientific) farming that produced quality crops in a sustainable manner was the norm until chemical use and monoculture supplanted it.

The man who has really pushed the idea of “beyond organic” is Joel Salatin, of Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia. Regarding a pick-up day at Polyface Farm, Lynsie Watkins at perfectflavor.com had these select things to say: "… not an organic farm, but rather a better-than-organic farm” and "These older individuals probably never had to stand in line at a farm delivery. They most likely got most of what they needed from the farm they lived on. … This eat local movement is more like an ‘Ah-ha!’ moment for us, as for the older generation it's a, well, ‘Duh!’ sort of response instead ... " [That statement points out rather well how we're really just going back to an older way of farming; I'm always interested in how "old timers" think about seemingly new-fangled things like "organic" foods.]

Anyway, Mr. Salatin is anti-“USDA Organic” and anti-industrial organic (i.e. places like Whole Foods), largely because of their politically-based, watered-down standards.

He is also proof that if farmers would only go back to the very old ways of farming, they can be profitable. "I am absolutely bullish on the future of this kind of farming," says Salatin. "The weak link is the farmers who don't have the savvy to meet the challenge" (from: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/113/open_48-polyfacefarm.html). I feel that is farmers don't adapt to an evolving market (i.e. towards "natural" or even "organic" products), then it's their fault if/when they go out of business. You can't live in the 1950s forever! (But don't tell any of my rockabilly friends I said that.)

[Oh the irony ...]

The State of the Garden Address (SotGA) #1

2007-09-05T15:18:00.002-04:00

Well, my garden's pretty much done with its spring/summer crops, and I just recently planted some fall/winter ones. So far, I've planted (from seed): mustard, cabbage, collards, turnips, kale, lettuce (Grandpa Admire and Black Seeded Simpson), carrots (Oxheart and Touchon), and broccoli. I even planted nine Packman broccoli plants, in case the seed-started ones don't do well. I still have yet to plant some winter squash and some garlic and perhaps even some shallots.

My Cherokee Purple tomatoes are still producing (although not as well as they were; I think the drought's affected them), as are my (late-planted) San Marzano tomatoes. My Marglobes are still producing a few small tomatoes as well. The Cherokee Purples were a big hit amongst everyone I shared them with, and they are likely the best tomato I've ever eaten (I/we have Craig LeHoullier to thank for that).

I still have two squash plants left, but they don't seem to be producing right now (perhaps anymore). My Fin de Bagnol beans are through, and my Ichiban eggplants are long gone (they both apparently fell victim to the drought, and to a problem with my irrigation system). My jalapeno and tabasco pepper plants are still going strong, as are my okra plants. I'm going to pickle my okra, and turn most of the jalapenos into chipotle peppers (by drying and smoking them); I may try pickling some of them as well.

My corn did fine, but it (Stowell's Evergreen) wasn't the best sweet corn I've ever had. Plus, without using pesticides, the ears got eaten up by worms, and I wasn't able to harvest as many as I'd wished. I may try Country Gentleman or a similar open-pollinated corn next year (I'm not quite desperate enough to go back to a hybrid like Silver Queen quite yet).

The only crop that was destroyed by wildlife (deer) was my sweet potatoes. But, it was my fault as I didn't make the fence high enough. And anyway, perhaps the deer meat will taste sweeter this year!

Two more reasons to raise your own food

2007-08-24T15:07:00.001-04:00

"the family's bag of Fast Fixin Frozen Chicken Strips contained mercury and glass shards. The parents learned of the problem after their children complained about the taste of the chicken"

read it here: http://www.wgal.com/news/13957356/detail.html

and

"'We've urbanized a world. We have moved people and food around that world at ever increasing speed,' World Health Organization (WHO) epidemics expert Dr. Mike Ryan said. WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said one of the changes affecting human health was increasingly intensive poultry farming, which may account for the global spread of bird flu.
'It should not come as a surprise that we are seeing more and more disease outbreaks coming from the animal sector,' including Ebola, SARS, or bird flu."

read it here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20416085

[Boy am I hungry!]

Get the [friggin'] lead out

2007-08-22T15:58:00.001-04:00

The recent discovery that several of Mattel's toy lines that were made in China were painted with lead now appears to be taking the usual turn that many problems we're dealing with these days are, where politically-appointed bureaucrats' incompetence is (thankfully) being exposed.

Darshak Sanghavi, in Slate Magazine, wrote an interesting article where he stated that "Just before the CDC [Center for Disease Control] considered lowering lead limits once again in 2003, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson removed a qualified scientist, Michael Weitzman, from the CDC's lead advisory committee and then rejected the appointments of Bruce Lanphear and Susan Klitzman, the researchers who found toxic effects of lead at low levels. Instead, Thompson moved to appoint Joyce Tsuji, who worked for two companies that represented lead firms, and William Banner, who has stated publicly that 70 mcg/dl of lead is safe for children's brains—a view not shared by any respectable scientists. [The Union of Concerned Scientists and Rep. Henry Waxman publicized Thompson's abuses in a recent New Republic article.] But the political message had already been sent, and no lowered limit resulted. Today, all those parents whose children will be tested in the wake of the Mattel scandal continue to be falsely reassured that all is well, even if the kids have lead levels of 5 to 10 mcg/dl, which may cost them 7 IQ points." And "A few years ago, I talked with Bruce Lanphear at a conference in San Francisco, just after he'd been rejected from the CDC's lead advisory committee. Resistance to lead control is a historical problem, he said. He was clearly frustrated by the politics but said he'd continue working in the field with the hope that somebody will listen. Perhaps the Mattel fiasco will finally bring attention to the hidden toll of lead paint."

Here' some other related articles:

How publicizing the truth about lead poisoning can get you attention by certain offending companies:
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/90/6/977

On the ["secret"] history of lead use:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20000320/kitman/20

On a Chinese toymaker committing suicide after the lead-tainted toy recall:
http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/13/news/international/bc.news.china.safety.mattel.dc.reut/index.htm?postversion=2007081305

Heat over meat

2007-08-08T21:55:00.002-04:00

I was just in California, visiting my mom, and read an interesting article in a local newspaper, the Point Reyes Light.

The article was about a slaughterhouse in nearby Petaluma that is closing its doors after almost a century in business serving mostly local cattle ranchers and dairy farmers.

(By the way, the property owner will do very well from the sale of the property, as it’s in a high-priced land area, and its development is already well-planned out, so at least he and his family won’t be hurt by the business’s closing.)

Anyway, hopefully the closing of the slaughterhouse will cause local ranchers/farmers to do away with obsolete mid-twentieth-century practices and become more efficient and profitable.

An organization called North Coast Meats has formed since the slaughterhouse's closure was announced. The group "aims not only to preserve existing infrastructure but also to foster the possibilities for livestock growers and meat providers in the local sustainable agriculture movement."

“The task is to create a regional agricultural infrastructure, but not necessarily to recreate what was here before,” stated North Coast Meats' Sam Goldberger. “Right now, food travels on the order of thousands of miles before it reaches you and consumers are demanding for that to change.”

According to the article, "The group is currently doing a feasibility study examining the costs of building and operating an organic, USDA-approved 'Integrated Animal Processing Center' that would serve a wider variety of functions than traditional slaughterhouses do – such as including a cut-and-wrap facility for the meat and direct distribution of the meats to retailers. They also plan to house a commercial kitchen, provide profit sharing, and make their own energy by processing biological waste."

“Local ranchers are increasingly caught between the rising cost of grain and price competition with large-scale producers. As feedlots, slaughterhouses, distributors and retailers each claim a piece of the profits and the price of conventionally grown meat stays the same, ranchers wind up paying the price.”

By combining several of the steps of slaughtering and packaging meat into one location, North Coast Meats plans to remove the profit-consuming middlemen of the meat business. North Coast Meats hopes “to steer the direction of agriculture in an unconventional direction designed to benefit the rancher and the consumer above any middlemen. ‘If the rancher is going to be able to survive they are going to need higher margin products,’ said Goldberger. ‘I see slaughterhouses as just one link in that chain.’”

Cattle ranchers that are raising local meat to serve the local community will be hurt the most by the closure of the slaughterhouse. David Evans of Marin Sun Farms in Point Reyes said that “it is very important to his locally-grown, grass-fed business that to have a processing facility nearby.”

“This will be most devastating to anyone who is trying to get out of the commodity beef market and do more grass-fed, direct marketing, or community supported agriculture,” said Ellie Rilla, the Marin County Farm Advisor for UCCE.

The article stated that “though only a few local ranches are currently exploring those specialty markets, consumer demand for them is making them more profitable. Last year, The UCCE went to every ranch in Marin County and surveyed them about their interest in pursuing those specialty markets. Over half of them said that they are.”

According to an earlier 2003 University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) survey, out of 186 agricultural producers in Marin County, two percent (or about four) of them were considering leaving the business, even though 63 percent (or about 117 of them) were unprofitable or marginally profitable.

It is absolutely time for a change in farming, ranching, etc.; the government needs to quit subsidizing the largest food producers so as to give the more efficient, more sustainable, and more profitable small-time food producers a chance. The government is always preaching how a market should control itself (basic supply and demand-type stuff), but it still feels compelled to subsidize inefficient business. It’s also time for food producers to quit paying for chemical and poison pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, hormones, and etc., which costs them many thousands of dollars a year, and only profits the companies that produce those chemical and poisons. Post-World War Two, the government and the big chemical companies pushed all that junk onto farmers, and now, several generations later, it’s the only way the large-scale farmers know how to farm.

But, there’s no reason for the smaller farmers to continue to farm the way their fathers or grandfathers did, when they can more profitably and sustainably farm the way their great-grandfathers did.

Sustainability is one major key to keeping family farms going and to obtain profits. The public does want inexpensive food, but it also wants food that tastes like it’s supposed to, and that won’t harm their health in the short AND long term. Produce like genetically-modified tomatoes only help the producer of the tomato; buying a tomato that has a month-long shelf life or a perfect, blemish-free red skin but that internally is unripe and is tasteless is like marrying an attractive person that is ugly on the inside: perhaps gratifying in the short term, but one grows weary of it after awhile.

Need I say more?

Nano nano

2007-08-07T21:55:00.001-04:00

I just saw a show (“Modern Marvels”) on the History Channel on engines, and I must say I am very intrigued by some of the “alternate” engines they profiled, particularly “nano engines.” They also profiled hybrid engines (as found in the Toyota Prius and the Honda Camry Hybrid) and hydrogen engines.

Nano-technology engines are so small, they’re mind boggling. I’d really like to research them more. They get an official “hmmm” from me …

Another engine they profiled (that was easier to comprehend, for me at least) was the Stirling Engine. It uses no fuel except heat or cold!

Perhaps one of these “alternate” engines will be one of the future answers to our energy “dilemma.”

I'd rather have a bottle [of purified water] in front of me, than have to have a frontal lobotomy [from cancerous tap water] ...

2007-08-07T21:12:00.001-04:00

PepsiCo just got "busted" for bottling treated/purified tap water and selling it for more money than you would pay for it directly out of your own faucet.

Well, normally I am all for the consumer's right for truth in labelling of food and food-type products, but this one is a bit ridiculous. I mean, they (Aquafina and Dasani, for example) already pretty much said that they were obtaining their water from the tap, only they used an acronym ("P.W.S." or public water source). Now, if they had said they got their water from some special spring somewhere, THAT would be misleading.

Groups such as "Think Outside the Bottle" obviously do not understand the problems with tap water, however. Public tap water can be very good and contaminant free at its source, but once it goes through all those miles of leaky public water pipes (that can be contaminated from adjacent sewer pipes or by contaminated ground water that seeps into the pipes), then into your house through some corroded (and likely lead, if it's an old house or building) pipes, it isn't as clean as when it's tested directly at the public water source. Every time I drink tap water, I tend to drink it as fast as I can and drink as little as possible, and while grimacing. A restaurant serving tap water to me is the same as if that restaurant served food that has pesticides, herbicides, and hormones in it. I generally only drink tap water at a restaurant when I'm feeling too cheap to pay $3+ for a bottle of water.

I understand that many, many thousands of used plastic water bottles litter cities, highways, and etc. across the globe, but the two things about that are: that it's better to have guaranteed clean water than potentially contaminated tap water, and the general consumer wants convenience, even at the cost of the environment and/or how much they have to pay for it, money wise.

If nothing else comes out of this "truth in labelling" occurrence, perhaps we will one day have our food labelled with country of origin, poisons used during production, whether it's a GM product, etc. Or, maybe what we should take away from Aquafina example is that PepsiCo doesn't have as many special-interest congressional lobbyists as Monsanto does!

On the amusing side, here's an extreme of 'truth in labelling': http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/enterprise/article640266.ece

..........

Here's some updates (8-20-2007) regarding bottled water issues:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/how-do-you-take-your-water

http://www.slate.com/id/2172541/nav/tap3

and on the plastic bottles themselves:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/tech/news/5024076.html

http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/108/plastic

Land, Corn, and Ethanol

2007-07-19T23:33:00.001-04:00

There was an article in USA Today today (July 18) about how due to ethanol, corn prices have risen dramatically which has caused land prices to skyrocket in the Midwestern U.S.

The article, Land prices leave farmers in a lurch, by Sue Kirchhoff, can be found in its entirety at: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-07-18-farmland-prices_N.htm.

But here is a few verbatim excerpts from the article that I found to be particularly interesting:

"Looking ahead, it's hard to overstate the potential impacts of the ethanol industry. Acting in response to government subsidies and mandates to combat global warming and reduce U.S. demand for imported oil, about 20% of U.S. corn production is now dedicated to ethanol. Corn prices more than doubled to nearly $4 a bushel on futures markets, before falling recently. Corn closed on the Chicago Board of Trade Wednesday [July 18, 2007] up 4½ cents at $3.27 — still historically high. The price rise has increased the number of farmers buying land to expand."

"'It's all driven by corn prices, but is this sustainable?' says University of Nebraska economist Bruce Johnson, speaking of a 14% rise in land values across the state in the 12 months ended in February. 'We have to be really cautious here so that we don't fall into chasing appreciation.' "

"Rising prices for corn and other crops are pushing up land prices and having other indirect effects. Getting to Paulman's farm means driving through miles of lush corn fields watered by huge wheel-mounted sprinklers. The thirsty corn crop is straining water supplies. If corn prices stay high, farmers could take more fragile land out of the federal Conservation Reserve Program."

"There is a sense of uncertainty beneath the buoyant prices and rush of ethanol plant start-ups here. Federal ethanol economics include a 51-cent-per-gallon tax credit for petroleum firms that blend ethanol, a 54-cent-per-gallon tariff on imported ethanol and tax incentives for smaller firms. States have their own programs."

"'The goal was for ethanol … to create a local market for corn over which farmers had better control than they had historically' with much of their product exported out of state, say Todd Sneller, administrator of the of the Nebraska Ethanol Board, a state agency. 'I don't think any of these communities would have been willing to host (ethanol) plants if they thought this was short term.'"

What are the morals of this story as see it?
1. Too many farmers overly rely on subsidies.
2. 20% of U.S. corn production is now dedicated to ethanol ... that's a heck of a lot of corn taken away from feeding livestock.
3. Farmers complain when corn prices are down, and they complain when they're up as well.
4. Greedy farmers taking more land out of the federal Conservation Reserve Program, which is not a good thing, as it will greatly increase erosion and other related problems.
5. Government taxes are too high on alternative fuels.

There's a lot more to it, so read the article (and the related Water constraints rain on ethanol zeal article).

What, us worry?

2007-07-11T11:21:00.001-04:00

I have always respected other countries for opposing the importation from (mainly) the U.S. and Canada of genetically modified (GM or GMO) foodstuffs, but the strength of their resolve is getting a bit worrisome lately. Of course, it's mainly the politicians, as they're probably getting big donations to their political campaigns and/or personal accounts to push GM/GMO products onto their fellow countrymen and constituents (exactly like it was done in the U.S. and Canada).

I have a strong suspicion that lately it's due to the whole corn prices dilemma, but perhaps I'm wrong.

Here's an interesting article about a consumer choice experiment undertaken in New Zealand recently:

http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/news/stories/282.international_study_consumers_would_buy_gm_products.html

The only "problem" with the experiment is that GM/GMO products will never be cheaper than conventional products, due to the prices charged by the biotech companies to the farmers for such things as the rights to grow their seed, the seed costs, the higher pesticide and herbicide costs, etc.

I also question the accuracy of the experiment, since the GM/GMO products were labelled “spray-free genetically modified.” What does that mean exactly? Not sprayed with diesel fuel? Not with rat poison? Not with human feces? With how GM/GMO crops are produced, a large amount (when compared to conventional and especially organic crops) of herbicides, for instance, has to be applied in order to kill off resistant weeds a.k.a. volunteer "frankenweeds," so it can't mean herbicides. And it can't mean pesticides or insecticides, as farmers have increased their use of pesticides once GM or GMO crops have become established. So these fruits were free from the spray of what? I'd like to know! The term "spray-free" might have influenced customers' decisions, as it mkes it sound harmless compared to the conventional fruit, for instance.

"Every once in a while, you can spot a couple of cattle fighting over a whole potato"

2007-07-10T15:11:00.001-04:00

This story is both amusing and amazing:

http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB117971270570109153-zOC0IHWiWPWox_jaHb4rBiWVpIo_20070528.html%3f

The article basically discusses several of the problems with using corn for ethanol production instead of for livestock feed. The main problem I have with it is one of the last paragraphs: "In ethanol-producing states, some farmers have been able to mitigate high corn costs by feeding their animals dried distillers' grains, a corn mash left over from ethanol production. But in states without ethanol plants, distillers' grains aren't always readily available. Also, many farmers say the product lacks sufficient nutrients. Others say their animals don't like the taste."

For one, "dried distillers' grains" (especially when reconstituted) have a higher nutrional value than the pre-distilled grains, due to the fermentation process; second, have you ever seen a pig fed fermented grain of any type? They go NUTS over it!

Another amusing/disturbing statement within the article is regarding the price of corn: "[it] has prompted livestock groups like the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the National Chicken Council to call for an end to federal ethanol subsidies ..." Now that's a bit of a hypocritical statement, ain't it? I guess it's ok when the federal government subsidizes corn (giving away many billions of dollars of U.S. tax payers' money) for animal feed though!

Perhaps they should quit selling their now high-priced corn they produce that was originally intended to feed their livestock, or they can protect their corn subsidy money another way?

[Chinese] Food fight!

2007-07-10T08:43:00.001-04:00

China apparently retaliates for our rejection of "some" of their imports:

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSPEK1175920070710

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070822064416.l7or1zaz&show_article=1

and ...

"I'm sorry Mr. Chinese Export Company President, but we detected large amounts of arsenic, diesel fuel, battery acid, and Agent Orange in your lastest seafood shipment to the United States. Hmmm ... I know! Let's label it organic!"

and ...

Good thing for our FDA that such things don't happen in the U.S. of A.:

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSPEK2206820070710

(Al Gore's cousin-in-law, Michael Taylor, would have been six feet under by now!)

An Onion Infographic

2007-07-09T14:46:00.001-04:00

Origins of Our Food

2007-07-09T12:22:00.001-04:00

(Verbatim from a July 4, 2007 New York Times editorial)

With imports of agricultural products rising sharply and sporadic scares about their safety, Americans surely have a right to know what country their food has come from. Unfortunately, they have little chance of finding out, due to the intransigence of meat importers and grocery retailers.

Lobbyists for both groups have blocked implementation of a 2002 law that requires country-of-origin labels on fresh fruits and vegetables, red meats, seafood and peanuts. Only the seafood part of the law has been put into effect, largely because Alaskan fishermen liked some of its provisions and had a powerful champion in the Senate.

With the recent questions about Chinese seafood, those labels mean that consumers can make informed choices at the seafood counter — something they should be able to do with all of their food purchases.

As Andrew Martin reported in The Times on Monday, the Bush administration’s Agriculture Department [USDA] was hostile to the labeling from the start. That comes as no surprise given that many of its top officials had worked for a trade association representing meatpackers and ranchers that opposes labeling. The Republican-controlled Congress, with key members beholden to campaign contributions from agribusiness, twice delayed the starting date for mandatory labeling, ultimately pushing it back to September 2008.

Industry lobbyists raise a flurry of unpersuasive objections. They claim it would be too costly for American meatpackers to segregate and track imported meat, and especially difficult to label ground meat which often comes from different cows. They also claim that labeling is a disguised form of protectionism, which implies that all foreign food is suspect. But these rationales are trumped by the simple argument that consumers have a right to know the origins of what they are buying. The required record-keeping should also help in tracking any dangerous products back through the supply chain to the source of contamination.

With the Democrats now in control of Congress, it is time to put an end to the excuses and delays, and finally implement the labeling requirement — preferably without waiting until late 2008. This could be done through the mammoth farm policy bill that will be up for a vote in coming months or through an agriculture appropriations bill. If there are elements of the original law that are unnecessarily onerous and costly, these can be modified during the legislative process or during administrative rule-making to implement the law. But there should be no compromise of the basic principle that consumers have a right to know where their food comes from before popping it into their mouths.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

Does Whole Foods have an organic produce section?

2007-06-29T11:24:00.001-04:00

Whole Foods does have many items that are “organic” (according to the official USDA/FDA standards), and their 365 brand is pretty amazing (quality and price-wise) but their produce section leaves much to be desired. Nowadays when you walk into Whole Foods (some call it Wal Foods) produce section, you’ll notice that much of their produce is conventionally grown, mostly either in California or in another country.

Living in North Carolina, I’m offended when I see such items as collards (grown widely in N.C.) or sweet potatoes (N.C.’s state vegetable!) from California being sold at Whole Foods, especially when they’re conventionally grown and in season right here. Basically, this means that a truck had to drive all the way from California, perhaps stopping at Whole Foods’s HQ in Texas, with its load of produce for my local Whole Foods stores. And not only are they conventionally grown, but they’re much more expensive than if you were to buy them at a local supermarket (which sells the exact same conventional product) or farmers’ market (which sells the organic version). I guess somebody’s gotta pay for all that diesel for the trucks!

Awhile ago, Wal-Mart entered into the organic fray and began an organic items section, which includes produce. Years ago (perhaps now, but I haven’t checked), Wal-Mart carried more locally-grown produce than Whole Foods did. I’ve heard that my local Food Lion grocery stores rely on a farm or farms that are located in eastern N.C. (it still has to be trucked in to the stores, but not nearly as far as Whole Foods’ trucks have to drive). I have to laugh when I see pictures of local farmers and such adorning the walls of my local Whole Foods, with a write up about their product; well, many times their products have been discontinued because a cheaper source has been located overseas or in California … but their picture and bio remain well-visible! Whole Foods tries to explain away the various reasons for selling local produce on their website, but it sounds more like something a political operative wrote.

The solution for me? Well, besides growing my own naturally-grown/organic (non-certified, of course) vegetables, I shop for my veggies at a co-op grocery that is a much less-corporate version of Whole Foods: Weaver Street Market (located in Carrboro). Also, I shop at the local farmers’ markets: Hillsborough’s, Carrboro’s, Durham’s, and even the state farmers’ market in Raleigh or a local flea market (Buckhorn) on occasion. Raleigh’s doesn’t have an actual organic section per se, but some of the farmers who sell there actually grow their vegetables old school-style, and don’t use pesticides and herbicides (or only sparsely when necessary). I do shop at the conventional grocery stores on occasion, as they have produce that is similar to Whole Foods (i.e. conventional, but at least it’s often times local). Plus, it’s cheaper there (average probably about 1/3 the price). One must be careful, however, as since the FDA’s been micromanaged by the current presidential administration bureaucrats, and therefore less food safety testing has been conducted in the past several years; your fruit and veggies could be irrigated in diesel fuel in beds of asbestos for all you (and the FDA inspectors) know. They’re leaving it up to the companies to police and report themselves … yeah, I’m sure THAT will work out in the consumer’s best interests…

Again, though, I have to hand it to Whole Foods for products like their 365 brand; while not even close to being local, at least its a safer alternative than buying GMO-laced garbage at the conventional supermarket.

Alternative fuels

2007-06-28T10:25:00.001-04:00

Of course, for many reasons, we need to find an alternative to petroleum-based motor fuels, and as soon as possible (if not 30 years ago). And, it appears as if the United States is looking towards ethanol to be the official answer to the gasoline replacement question. My main concerns with using ethanol are that it will continue the BILLIONS of dollars in corn subsidies paid by the government (especially to the VERY large commercial farmers), and that protected and/or at-risk lands might be planted in corn in order to cash in even further on the production of corn (including more forests – and especially our national parks -- will be stripped to use the wood for ethanol production). Of course, both resources (corn and trees) are renewable resources, but you know that the large corporate farmers and the lumber companies (et al.) will eventually get greedy with our natural resources (much like the oil companies do now) and the American public will suffer for it. Plus, larger amounts of genetically-modified (GM) corn and etc. will be grown, and bioengineered yeast strains, which is bad for everyone and everything but the biotech companies. Right now, my only ‘pro’ regarding corn-based ethanol production is that the byproduct (the mash) can be used as a very efficient protein feed for livestock production or even human consumption (although ex- Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan feels that animals will go hungry once ethanol production increases!).

It is interesting to see President Bush visiting Brazil to talk about ethanol production; I’d like to see what comes of it. I understand Brazil is focusing on sugar cane-based ethanol (as is Cuba and a few other countries), but I also understand that virgin rainforests may suffer (much like our national parks may suffer) once land for sugar cane production becomes too valuable to let just “lie around” and be unproductive commercially. Anyway, President Bush seems to be focusing on corn stalks, wood chips from fast-growing trees, and switchgrass for the biomass needed for ethanol production; perhaps he feels that using the ears of corn or other edible biomass will result in people drinking the finished product?

Marty Bender, a scientist at the Land Institute in Kansas, conducted studies in the 1990s that documented that an alternative fuel source such as ethanol (as a large-scale and/or total replacement for gasoline) would be ecologically inefficient and agriculturally destructive in the long run because it may cause the cultivation of every possible acre of ground (including erosive lands that have the potential to stabilize our watersheds, for instance) in order to produce the biomass needed for the tremendous supply that would be required. Plus, it would most likely decrease the food supply (perhaps greatly) nationwide and worldwide if land is considered more valuable to use for the production of fuel biomass than for edible grains.

Of course, I don’t know the answer to what the most effective (in every way) “alternative” fuel is. Perhaps using methane or another form of composting gas (i.e. as a byproduct of composting) will work; maybe algae; perhaps hydrogen would be the most efficient; perhaps biodiesel is the key; maybe fuel cells; heck, possibly solar or thermal heat will work. I’m just not sure. It’d be nice to be able to use something that’s already serving or served its main purpose (in a byproduct or recycling-kinda way), such as landfill gas or sludge, or livestock manure, or urban sewage (perhaps biosolids, even with their heavy metals), or normally unrecyclable plastics or waxed cardboard. Again, I’m just not sure what the answer is. I do think that with so many vehicles on the road that utilize gasoline, something that those vehicles can use directly or be adapted to use would be most practical, at least in the short term (with the “short term” being perhaps 20 years or so). For instance, on my salary, I’m not going to buy a brand-new 2010 year-model truck that runs on hydrogen fuel cells, I’m going to find a way to adapt or convert my 1978 Ford F-150 to use something other than gasoline (I know, I know…perhaps I should have bought a diesel). Perhaps a combination of “alternative” fuels would be best overall, as then no singular resource will be wiped out, exploited by private business interests or governments, or overly affect the environment in a negative way, and people can tailor their fuel needs to their locality and to vehicular or home heating (again, or whatever) requirements. As Rachel Burton of Piedmont Biofuels (in Chatham County, N.C.), who seems to have coined the rather brilliant term ‘Slow Fuel’ (a modification of the term ‘Slow Food’), says, “we are believers in a micro-nodal model of energy production that insists that energy be harnessed where it is used … we have decided to include fuel in our 100 mile diet.”

Heirloom seed

2007-06-28T10:24:00.002-04:00

I have become obsessed with heirloom seeds. I’m actually even starting (this year) to save specific seed (corn and peppers for now) so as to make my seed what is termed “land race,” where a specific animal or vegetable over time becomes totally adapted to a specific place’s climate and land or soil. I’m beginning to land race my Stowell’s (sweet) corn, and within the next few years (I’ll have to clear some land I guess) will do it with a Southern dent-style of corn – probably Gourdseed but perhaps Hickory King or Boone County White. I’m also thinking of saving some of the seeds from my Cherokee Purple tomato plants for next year’s garden, but since I have other types of tomatoes growing near them and they might cross-pollinate, I may not.

Many seeds are heirloom anyway: even major companies like Burpee and Wal Mart sell some heirloom seeds (like yellow crookneck squash or Brandywine tomatoes). As long as it’s not a hybrid, or genetically modified (which yellow crookneck squash can be these days), it’s probably an heirloom variety. Heck, even some hybrids are nearly considered to be heirlooms nowadays (especially certain corn or tomato types), as they’ve been grown by some families for generations.