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I've been thinking a lot about organic food recently, as several topics have crossed my path over the last week or two. On a mother's forum I read the views of moms who buy organic milk versus moms who do not. A farmer friend sent me a concerned email about the recently introduced bill to remake the functions of the USDA and FDA into one concentrated food safety agency. One of the main fears around this bill is how it will affect small scale producers and organics. And just today, Aaron sent me a report of different organic milk brands, painstakingly rated by the Cornucopia foundation on criteria such as involvement in dairy operations, pasture available to cows, herd cull rate and more. This led me to do some checking out of the Cornucopia site and other information available there.

There is no mistake that interest in organic and local food is increasing, and overall, this is a great development. However, certainly for most consumers buying organic doesn't mean they have any greater transparency about where their food is coming from, or that it is being produced with any of the notions often attributed to organic food, notions such as production resulting from a small family oriented farm, free roaming happy animals, and so on. This is not to disparage the organic industry, because there are many small scale farmers doing exactly what we as consumers associate with organic farming. But as this market sector has grown tremendously, big food companies haven't wanted to miss the boat. One of the ways they've protected their economic interests is by getting involved - buying or creating organic brands, and lobbying through industry associations to alter standards that ostensibly will favor their interests more. Over at the Cornucopia site, I found this graphic to be particularly compelling. Many major organic brands have been acquired by a top 25 food company (such as Coca Cola, Kraft, Heinz and Cargill), and many organic brands are private label brands of larger supermarkets and food distributors (such as WalMart, Safeway, and Whole Foods). With the interest in and consolidation among organic food producers, it is nearly impossible for a consumer to really know what kind of entity is behind the food in question. Amazingly, at least as of 2007, there were a handful of brands that have held out as independents.

My own revelation was that of the organic milk brands we prefer, only one rated 3 cows in the survey. That brand is owned by HP Hood, not by the company we thought it was (they licensed the name). I am not totally dismayed by this; both are New England companies that I think have reasonable business practices, but there is still some level of deception here. The others rated no or one cow due to lack of information on the actual production methods. I still believe in and prefer organic milk, but this certainly removes any idealistic impression of who we are supporting when we buy these brands.

This in turn brings me back to the localvore movement. I know where I am now getting most of our meat and produce from - real people we have talked to, real farms we have visited that are nearby, real relationships we will cultivate this year. Before we'd really started this effort, about this time last year actually, I didn't even think it'd be possible to get half of what we've found locally or done ourselves. It's been an incredible journey and one in which I keep looking for the next steps.

Got milk?

[I posted a bit before I meant, alas I've corrected my dangling thoughts at the end!]

I have finished reading "The End of Food" by Paul Roberts, an accomplishment since I rarely have the patience to read a book start to finish these days (or at least the time). I even finished before it's due back to the library this weekend. Roberts is also the author of "The End of Oil" in which he discusses the world's dependence on fossil fuels, and while I haven't read it yet, I think the tone of his newer book on food is probably quite similar.

Truth be told, the book is not unlike others we have read in terms of stating the damage to the world that current food practices are causing. However, he did weave the narratives together quite artfully, with some new perspectives thrown in. It is definitely worth reading, and while I'll touch on some of the topics, the book goes into great detail on all these topics.

What I will do is summarize some themes that may interest you; most of these are put into a context of a specific story or personal recollection. In addition, the examples are from recent years, so the book feels very current to the state of our food production.

Here is an excerpt of topics.

-Large scale monoculture crop farms versus diverse, small scale polyculture agriculture
-Till vs no-till practices
-The availability of high calorie, low quality foods in wealthy and developing areas/nations
-The unavailability of high quality, appropriate calorie foods in poor areas
-How much energy is redirected into transporting food and water, because it is cheaper to buy it and more expensive to sell it, on the world market versus locally.
-Engineering of animals and plants in hopes of faster, cheaper food (even if it is not as good for you)
-The rapid spread of disease through food supply (meats and veggies)
-Animal borne disease that can jump to humans and kill both
-and perhaps most directly, should the world attempt to support life for 6 to 9 billion humans (almost 7 today, expected if growth continues to be 9 by mid century).

What the book isn't long on are suggestions that make sense for a broad scale approach. While it's going to be a whole list of solutions, I am left wondering as an individual reader how I can better my food footprint on top of what we can afford and reasonably do as modern Americans, given this worldwide crisis. Even he acknowledges there isn't a lot of how to make it better from his research, and that a highly aware consumer who is willing to bear the extra cost or effort, sometimes both, for well sourced food may be stuck until it is just so dire we have a forced upheaval of the social and food system.

When I get discouraged this way, I remember what we have done, and I would love to hear from anyone else on what other priorities we need to set in our domestic and world agendas.

I know I've rambled about it but as a recap of what we personally do:

we have our grass beef from a farmer in town
our pasture raised chicken from another farm
our produce from the in town farmers market every summer weekend (and it is about time to dig into the fruit we saved over the summer).
organic milk and yogurt (recognizing organic is not a panacea label)
our own eggs from our hens
our own herbs and a few veggies from this summer
limited use of bottled water (we get it for our fish, and sometimes house guests)
we are increasingly vigilant on ingredients such as HFCS, sulfides (common dried fruits), and complex sounding ingredients.

Part II of this entry later this weekend will recap some of the interesting figures mentioned in the book.

Just a few notes from our visit to LA, in no particularly well thought out order. Our visit here has gone quickly, despite thinking a week would be a long time to be away from home. At the beginning of the week, we walked around Beverly Hills, went to the Tolerance museum (where there were many signs in the neighborhood to stop the museum's expansion, which I found a little ironic), went down to the Central market for some authentic Mexican food and horchata, and went for many walks. On Wednesday, I went to our niece and nephew's school for a morning visit, then we moved on to Irvine.

In Irvine, we visited with our other family here, and everyone got together for Thanksgiving. We spent another day there visiting the CA state park Crystal Cove. It looks like a really nice area, and the kids enjoyed running around the beach for a while. Today we went to the Getty Museum. Tomorrow, our last day here, we'll spend a little more time exploring, then it's time to get ready to go back home.

On the way out, I was thirsty for most of the flight - I had asked for water since almost all the drinks on board have HFCS. The irony in doing so is that if you ask for water, you get one small cup of it. No can, no refill. Why is it that the least expensive beverage on the flight is the one given out most sparingly? Is the deal the airlines have with beverage companies so ironclad that sodas or fake fruit juices are less costly than serving water? Anyway, I found it annoying that I was on water rations and I got milk for the second beverage service. Of course, the milk carton is much smaller than a can, but at least it was more than half a tiny cup.

This brings me to a future topic, the book "The End of Food." I've been talking about it out here, and I want to comment on some of the particularly intriguing points. I'm about two thirds the way through & will post when I've finished reading.

That's about all for tonight, since I'm co-opting my sister's computer to write this. I don't want to keep it much longer.

Well I have had my first diatomaceous earth serving. I learned about this from my alpaca and chicken forums. For those not familiar, it's essentially diatoms that have fossilized and it has the super awesome effect of being a great way to kill flies, keep stalls/bedding fresh, and generally be useful on a farm. It does this by being so abrasive that the larvae cannot survive in its midst, and it also dries up moisture.

So, I got it for the fly control, since we'll soon have animals which will attract them. But, the twist here is that it is "food grade" which importantly makes it safe for animals to eat. I figured that'd be good because you never know what the beasts will eat... And as I began to read about it, I read that lots of people give it to their animals on purpose, and some even take it themselves. Why? It has a cleansing effect, and helps with the digestive system. People have reported great results. I was intrigued. I ordered a big bag (in the future I'll try to find a local source to save shipping) which arrived yesterday. Tonight I transferred it to a storage bin in the barn in anticipation, and took a brand new air tight cannister for myself to bring into the kitchen. It looks and feels like flour.

What I have read on DE is that it does take some time to show its effects. It's also advised to work up to the dosage over a few days, which is for people 1 tablespoon/day, and for cats, 1 teaspoon/day. So tonight I had 1 teaspoon with water and the kitties had 1/2 teaspoon with their yummy can food. It does not taste like much at all, but does have a texture. I had it in a glass of water. I will try it in other things too but I was pleasantly surprised at how drinkable it was.

We are all fine and no momentous moments yet.

The pacs will either get free choice or 2% in their food (not sure if they'll want it free choice). The chickens will get it in moderation as they will get other dry stuff like grit or oyster shell too. I will dust them and their bedding with it...

Anyway, I'm curious to see what if anything I notice. It'll be a few weeks I suppose.

Well it has been a very, very long time since I've shared any thoughts on farming and food. Since it is finally starting to feel like winter may end (it did snow today, but the days are getting long now) Aaron and I have turned our thoughts to making some progress on our farm. Our objectives for this summer are fairly simple, yet also complex enough that we will be taking on a lot of new changes. We want to have a garden, establish a chicken flock (egg layers), and at least as of now, get the boys (alpacas) here. I think the girls will continue to board for a bit longer so we can acclimate to alpaca care without having baby arrivals enter into the mix.

There are many steps for each of these activities to occur, but this wasn't meant to be the focus of this entry. But I will say as a side note we'll be starting with our chickens first with a brooder set up, and chicks in April. It will be about four months, so let's say August, when we will get to egg production, but in the meanwhile we'll be enjoying seeing the chicks grow up.

Given all our conversations of farming and food, we share a desire to be producers of some portion of our food, and where we cannot be, to buy local well produced food. Well doesn't necessarily mean organic, but more importantly that food is not overly mass produced, and is raised/grown in a way that is considerate to the animals, plants, and environment. There are other advantages to local food as well - we contribute to the local economy, our neighbors and communities. We cut down a little bit on the environmental impact of moving food around. We also get food that is usually much fresher and flavorful than corresponding store shipped food. It's true we can't know the source of all our foods, even the local ones, but knowing for example that we are buying milk from VT farmers who're milking hormone free cows makes a difference to me.

Getting local isn't easy, especially from the months of November to May where fresh vegetable and fruit just doesn't really exist from local sources. Even so, we are trying to be more attentive to the food supply chain, and in some cases we have gotten foods directly from remote growers such as our annual order of Texas grapefruit and avocados. This, plus some stores of produce we dried in the fall help us make it through the winter. I think it would be extremely hard for me to do the 100 mile challenge year round, but I think we get reasonably close to this in the summer time, and I'll be curious to try and keep track of how we do this summer.

So, here are some of the foods we think we we will be able to get as locally produced over the next year. I am defining local as roughly an area 150 miles from our house. We will probably join a CSA but Aaron is still researching them. A (P) means we think we will produce this ourselves sometime during the year. I'm sure the list will change, but I'd like to get your feedback.

Fruits/veggies:
Raspberries (P)
Blackberries (P)
Strawberries
Blueberries
Apples(P* - we won't grow em but will dry them)
Cranberries
Tomatoes (P)
Corn
Peaches
Pumpkin(P)
Beans
Squash
Zucchini
Turnips/Radishes
Beans
Cucumber (P)
Broccoli (P)
Potatos

Dairy/Ovo:
Eggs (P)
Milk
Cheese
Ice Cream
Sour Cream

Meat:
Beef
Chicken
Turkey
Lobster
Clams
Fish
Bison
Lamb

Prepared foods:
Bread
Potato chips
Pita chips

Other:
Maple syrup
Honey (we'd like to produce but not this year)
Herbs (P)
Wine

I'm sure this is not an exhaustive list but I would like to think about this as the year goes on. Obviously we don't have a lot in the way of local whole grains but even looking at this list there are a great deal of staples here. There are also foods I love and I would be reluctant to give up if I really did a 150 mile challenge, but having a list like this at least ought to keep me thinking about getting local options first. In fact, because we have a good local meat supplier, we really ought to be able to avoid most western grown meat, with their attendant large scale moving, feedlot, and slaughter operations. If nothing else, I think our venture into being small scale food producers will bring us closer to the food supply chain on many levels.

What will you be buying locally this year? What will you be producing? How do you feel about where your food is coming from?