I came across this story on NPR today. Thought some of you urban urchins with a penchant for nature would find this interesting. My co-worker gets green eggs from his CSA and here's why.
I'm not gonna start eating eggs or anything, but man would I love to hug a chick. And I also wouldn't be opposed to raising chickens for eggs-for-profit, but I think my fire escape has enough going on right now without an added chicken coop.
When I was a little girl, we had a backyard chicken coop just like these newbies. Only my family did it to save money, and probably for the animals too. I had to clean the chicken coop every day as my chore, harvest the eggs and feed the birds. There's a fabulous photo of me, age 3, with a huge bird in my arms. (sigh). Nowadays, people are doing it more to avoid additives and ensure quality. I think it is awesome.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104304441&ft=1&f=1001
Showing posts with label organic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organic. Show all posts
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
The Organic Myth
Farming isn't something so alien to me. Even though I'm a city girl, currently working on my own container garden, I can still recall the days when I was forced out of bed at an early hour before school, to help my Dad in the small, but manageable garden that would feed our family of five for the better part of the year, squishing potato bugs for a penny each, and yanking threatening weeds before they overtook our precious harvest. Across the street was a larger plot of land used by a local farmer, where he usually planted corn, pumpkins or beans that were regularly visited by a giant winged John Deere contraption, set on eliminating those very things we despised in our own garden.
Of course we borrowed corn from this field until our own were ready, and the difference in taste is still remarkable. The loving care we put into our own vegetables was so good you could taste it. Literally.
Listening to my friend recently opine how she only eats organic meat and only organic all the time, made me realize how ignorant most of the world is regarding the organic food boom. Organics take time, commitment and loving care and attention, so how do super-stores like Wal-mart and even Whole Foods for that matter, stock their shelves? I'm not saying I don't shop at Whole Foods, of course I do, it's conveniently nearly next door to my home and that is another issue for another time, but when compared with local produce bought at farmer's markets, produce bought at any of these super-stores pales in comparison. Why? Because when companies like Chiquita or Green Giant start producing organic foods your mind has to ask questions about its origins. Surely no human hand is systematically squishing bugs between their fingers for quality control, right?
To maintain quality, these huge companies have successfully lobbied to the USDA to incorporate some type of pesticide control for their quote unquote organic crops.Food companies have standards, which explain why all tomatoes are nearly the exact same size, and anyone who has experience with their own farm knows that is simply not the case. What happens to all these 'ugly ducklings'? Independent farmers struggle with keeping up with industry standards set up by these mega-giant producers.
The USDA has made it virtually impossible for small locally-based farms to certify their product organic, yet these small farms produce a far more healthy version than the type of stuff that is available to the mass market. The reason the USDA allows these lax restrictions is that as a business, they are in trouble. More people are trying to control what they put in their bodies. The government provides stipends to the large companies, but not the small independents who deserve it and the cost of certifying one vegetable far exceeds the profits some small farms might make all year. Fed up yet?
Well the meat industry is far dirtier and sordid. Even though your chicken might be free-range or organic, the term carries very little value in the real world. Big Beef, Chicken and Pork have manipulated this market to meet their ideals. It literally angers me to hear people talking so ignorantly that they only eat free-range when they have no idea what it actually means. Free range does not automatically dictate an open pasture where chickens peck to their hearts content. It means the there is a door that leads to an area where they might be allowed to roam in a mud-soaked, vitamin deprived atmosphere. The more interest people have in eating guilt-free food, the more lobbies will be presented the the USDA to thwart your efforts. I applaud Whole Foods for bringing free-range to the public vocabulary, but unless you want Whole Foods to become as ubiquitous as Wal-mart, people better start challenging their food sources regularly. I remember when I was young, my family raised a cow at a neighboring farm, that we visited quite regularly. My parents should have known then that I was vegetarian, since I would look into our giant freezer and cry over my friend Bessie, lying in peices. That said, allowing a local farm to raise your beef is probably your best option, if you can eat it!
Your best bet is to talk to your locals. My favorite farmer last year was a very kind Amish man who talked to us for 20 minutes about his special lettuces, rare breeds and varieties. We walked away with enough to tide us over til the following week to see what else he came up with. We ended up visiting him all summer, always coming home with an heirloom vegetable or some other vegetable that literally inspired awe.
My partner and I can't wait until we start our weekend dates of biking to the nearest farmers market, sampling the produce and asking questions to the caretakers of the beautiful bounty, excited about our choices, plannning the weekly menu, all without a shred of guilt at supporting unethical foods from unethical sources.
Of course we borrowed corn from this field until our own were ready, and the difference in taste is still remarkable. The loving care we put into our own vegetables was so good you could taste it. Literally.
Listening to my friend recently opine how she only eats organic meat and only organic all the time, made me realize how ignorant most of the world is regarding the organic food boom. Organics take time, commitment and loving care and attention, so how do super-stores like Wal-mart and even Whole Foods for that matter, stock their shelves? I'm not saying I don't shop at Whole Foods, of course I do, it's conveniently nearly next door to my home and that is another issue for another time, but when compared with local produce bought at farmer's markets, produce bought at any of these super-stores pales in comparison. Why? Because when companies like Chiquita or Green Giant start producing organic foods your mind has to ask questions about its origins. Surely no human hand is systematically squishing bugs between their fingers for quality control, right?
To maintain quality, these huge companies have successfully lobbied to the USDA to incorporate some type of pesticide control for their quote unquote organic crops.Food companies have standards, which explain why all tomatoes are nearly the exact same size, and anyone who has experience with their own farm knows that is simply not the case. What happens to all these 'ugly ducklings'? Independent farmers struggle with keeping up with industry standards set up by these mega-giant producers.
The USDA has made it virtually impossible for small locally-based farms to certify their product organic, yet these small farms produce a far more healthy version than the type of stuff that is available to the mass market. The reason the USDA allows these lax restrictions is that as a business, they are in trouble. More people are trying to control what they put in their bodies. The government provides stipends to the large companies, but not the small independents who deserve it and the cost of certifying one vegetable far exceeds the profits some small farms might make all year. Fed up yet?
Well the meat industry is far dirtier and sordid. Even though your chicken might be free-range or organic, the term carries very little value in the real world. Big Beef, Chicken and Pork have manipulated this market to meet their ideals. It literally angers me to hear people talking so ignorantly that they only eat free-range when they have no idea what it actually means. Free range does not automatically dictate an open pasture where chickens peck to their hearts content. It means the there is a door that leads to an area where they might be allowed to roam in a mud-soaked, vitamin deprived atmosphere. The more interest people have in eating guilt-free food, the more lobbies will be presented the the USDA to thwart your efforts. I applaud Whole Foods for bringing free-range to the public vocabulary, but unless you want Whole Foods to become as ubiquitous as Wal-mart, people better start challenging their food sources regularly. I remember when I was young, my family raised a cow at a neighboring farm, that we visited quite regularly. My parents should have known then that I was vegetarian, since I would look into our giant freezer and cry over my friend Bessie, lying in peices. That said, allowing a local farm to raise your beef is probably your best option, if you can eat it!
Your best bet is to talk to your locals. My favorite farmer last year was a very kind Amish man who talked to us for 20 minutes about his special lettuces, rare breeds and varieties. We walked away with enough to tide us over til the following week to see what else he came up with. We ended up visiting him all summer, always coming home with an heirloom vegetable or some other vegetable that literally inspired awe.
My partner and I can't wait until we start our weekend dates of biking to the nearest farmers market, sampling the produce and asking questions to the caretakers of the beautiful bounty, excited about our choices, plannning the weekly menu, all without a shred of guilt at supporting unethical foods from unethical sources.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Going Raw
About two months ago, my boyfriend surprised me with the purchase of about 5 raw food cookbooks. I wasn't sold on the whole raw idea, since having eaten at a few strictly raw restaurants in the past, while my taste buds were impressed, my stomach, the following few days was a mess. Nevertheless, my interest was piqued. I know, I know, the raw food craze hit years ago, but I never said I was one to follow fads. Being a vegetarian for over 10 years, a vegan for almost 3, going raw seems like a natural progression.
I'd given up fried foods over two years ago, with the very very occasional indulgence. I make the effort to incorporate a salad with every meal, something I learned from my mother and have carried with me for life. I add fresh fruit to every breakfast. Keeping those ideals in minds, the transition to raw is easy!
At first, I curled up each night with a new book, reading the recipes, swallowing advice, trying out salads and other simple, basic recipes, all the while becoming really intimidated. Eating raw food seems expensive! You need a good food processor, a high-powered blender, a food dehydrator, sprouters, and a juicer. All in all expect to drop about $1000 to truly benefit from raw food and start living with ease. I found it extremely difficult to practice raw food living without any major kitchen appliances other than my dilapidated old blender, so the first big purchase I made was a decent food processor. I cannot tell you how much easier it all became. I also bought a sprouting jar, (or you could just put cheesecloth over an existing jar) and before you know it, you'll be munching on your very own fresh sprouts that you can add to salads and wraps! It's easy and fun to watch them grow.
I've been living pretty healthy for a while, so the transition for me was pretty easy. Every day or so, I'd wander into the grocery store and stock up on a few more items from the bulk section; almonds, cashews, dates, unsulphered dried fruits and raw nut butters and before you know it, I had a pretty well-stocked pantry. Going raw means I had to give up a lot of my favorite foods: rice, grains, peanut butter, noodles but I also discovered that I got to keep a lot of familiar foods around, like miso, steamed greens, raw nut butters, and off course nuts, fruits and vegetables.
Tofu, I learned, is highly processed and hasn't been fitting into my life style for a while, so giving that up was a snap. Besides being highly processed, soy is also one of the largest commercially grown crops around and if not organic, you are literally welcoming pesticides into your body. No thanks! Most raw foodies say that tempeh (organic) is okay, on occasion, because, it's fermented whole soy beans with some enzymes preserved. Steam it lightly for easy digestibility. Although I hardly ever go out to dinner anymore, I know that I can choose tempeh and feel pretty good about my choice.
I would say I'm at about 80% raw right now. I'm waiting for my dehydrator to be delivered as I write, and that should open up another door. It's nearly impossible to make breads without the dehydrator, so for sandwiches, everything is raw but the wrap.
So far I've made my all-time favorite Kale Salad (watch for recipe later this week, it's too delicious not to share), A sausage-like pate made with fennel and sunflower seeds, (I can't get enough, makes great sandwiches and tastes amazing), beanless hummus, a strawberry pie with raw almond crust and cashew lemon creme (helloooo!), Broccoli mashed 'potatoes' with miso gravy, the list goes on. Making raw food is trial and error too, expect to be disappointed until you get it down. I made a raw cous-cous out of cauliflower and couldn't even eat it, I added too much lemon and ruined it. Last night I added hemp oil to my favorite Kale Salad and had to fight off a gag-reflex (hemp oil is fishy to me and I never liked seafood). Raw garlic can be a shock to your system, so you might want to cut the amount to a quarter of the recommended serving.
I thought it would be expensive, keeping all these nuts and seeds on hand, but its really not, you just have to learn to anticipate what you'll be eating later in the week and learn to plan a little bit better. I haven't had too much difficulty throwing together a last-minute meal with a well-stocked pantry.
Watch for more stories as I delve further into my foray with raw foods.
I'd given up fried foods over two years ago, with the very very occasional indulgence. I make the effort to incorporate a salad with every meal, something I learned from my mother and have carried with me for life. I add fresh fruit to every breakfast. Keeping those ideals in minds, the transition to raw is easy!
At first, I curled up each night with a new book, reading the recipes, swallowing advice, trying out salads and other simple, basic recipes, all the while becoming really intimidated. Eating raw food seems expensive! You need a good food processor, a high-powered blender, a food dehydrator, sprouters, and a juicer. All in all expect to drop about $1000 to truly benefit from raw food and start living with ease. I found it extremely difficult to practice raw food living without any major kitchen appliances other than my dilapidated old blender, so the first big purchase I made was a decent food processor. I cannot tell you how much easier it all became. I also bought a sprouting jar, (or you could just put cheesecloth over an existing jar) and before you know it, you'll be munching on your very own fresh sprouts that you can add to salads and wraps! It's easy and fun to watch them grow.
I've been living pretty healthy for a while, so the transition for me was pretty easy. Every day or so, I'd wander into the grocery store and stock up on a few more items from the bulk section; almonds, cashews, dates, unsulphered dried fruits and raw nut butters and before you know it, I had a pretty well-stocked pantry. Going raw means I had to give up a lot of my favorite foods: rice, grains, peanut butter, noodles but I also discovered that I got to keep a lot of familiar foods around, like miso, steamed greens, raw nut butters, and off course nuts, fruits and vegetables.
Tofu, I learned, is highly processed and hasn't been fitting into my life style for a while, so giving that up was a snap. Besides being highly processed, soy is also one of the largest commercially grown crops around and if not organic, you are literally welcoming pesticides into your body. No thanks! Most raw foodies say that tempeh (organic) is okay, on occasion, because, it's fermented whole soy beans with some enzymes preserved. Steam it lightly for easy digestibility. Although I hardly ever go out to dinner anymore, I know that I can choose tempeh and feel pretty good about my choice.
I would say I'm at about 80% raw right now. I'm waiting for my dehydrator to be delivered as I write, and that should open up another door. It's nearly impossible to make breads without the dehydrator, so for sandwiches, everything is raw but the wrap.
So far I've made my all-time favorite Kale Salad (watch for recipe later this week, it's too delicious not to share), A sausage-like pate made with fennel and sunflower seeds, (I can't get enough, makes great sandwiches and tastes amazing), beanless hummus, a strawberry pie with raw almond crust and cashew lemon creme (helloooo!), Broccoli mashed 'potatoes' with miso gravy, the list goes on. Making raw food is trial and error too, expect to be disappointed until you get it down. I made a raw cous-cous out of cauliflower and couldn't even eat it, I added too much lemon and ruined it. Last night I added hemp oil to my favorite Kale Salad and had to fight off a gag-reflex (hemp oil is fishy to me and I never liked seafood). Raw garlic can be a shock to your system, so you might want to cut the amount to a quarter of the recommended serving.
I thought it would be expensive, keeping all these nuts and seeds on hand, but its really not, you just have to learn to anticipate what you'll be eating later in the week and learn to plan a little bit better. I haven't had too much difficulty throwing together a last-minute meal with a well-stocked pantry.
Watch for more stories as I delve further into my foray with raw foods.
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