Top produce you should buy organic

Something I am trying to reconcile is the monetary cost of organics…but more and more I am understanding it all…because the extra money you spend is going towards better farm practices, preventative healthcare and a better wage for the workers who use sustainable practices. In my mind it is money well spent. But if you feel like you can’t justify the cost of buying chemically free food– at least consider the following foods. These foods when tested are found to soak the most pesticides in.

Peaches
Apples
Sweet bell peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Lettuce
Grapes (imported)
Pears
Spinach
Potatoes

The cows keep me alive

Wild about you- Foraging Dinner

A while back we ventured south to Ralph Lentz Farm near Lake Pepin in MN. I heard about the “Wild about you- Foraging dinner” through the organization Slow Foods MN. They strive to have a focus “on food and always have an educational component. They provide an opportunity for conversation with others who are interested in sustainably produced food. Our members are farmers, home cooks, vintners, chefs, wine lovers, moms and dads, grocers, brewers, writers, nutritionists, students, bakers, miscellaneous foodies . . . united in our concern about the quality of what we eat.” They are a branch of Slow Foods international which is a group that formed in opposition to McDonalds opening a restaurant in Rome.

It was a beautiful day. We got to go out among the grass fed cattle and hear from the farmer himself about the value of feeding grass to cows– for the health of the cows and for the health of the environment. They don’t have to use fertilizers because the manure naturally makes the grass (as you can see in the photo above) super lush. It’s the most beautiful grass I’ve ever seen. They rotate the cows through 4 different sections of land and rest each section for certain amounts of time.

What struck Darren and I as very interesting was the fact that the farmer is very old and most older farmers were trained in big Ag methods. He was not because he was an Ag teacher for most of his life and then became a farmer. The way he talked about everything was so simple and so natural, but at the same time so foreign. We are so used to big farm, monocrop production of food that is so quietly destructive. Another guy that lead a tour about the health of the streams on the farm made a good point saying we have focused so much on the how’s of food production (gps systems on tractors, etc.) and haven’t spent nearly enough time on the why’s of food production.

Last point…the food we ate at the end of the day was AMAZING. The picture doesn’t quite do it justice. It was braised elk, huge asparagus, ramps (some species of onion), nettle/dandelion/green mixture, wild rice mix and a whole host of homemade desserts.

Oh…and the cutest thing that the farmer said was that “the cows keep him alive”…he thinks he would die if he decided to “retire” and move into the city.

Great recipe! Gorgonzola Chicken pasta

1 pound rotini pasta
1 pound diced chicken
2 tablespoons canola oil
¼ pound spinach, sliced
½ red onion, diced
1 apple, sliced and halved
½ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
¼ pound gorgonzola cheese crumbled
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ tablespoon salt
¼ tablespoon black pepper
½ teaspoon garlic

Cook pasta al dente.
Cut apples and toss with lemon juice
Saute chicken in canola oil, add garlic, salt, and pepper.
Prepare dressing; combine olive oil and red wine vinegar. Toss pasta with apples, chicken, dressing, and remaining ingredients.

Food, Inc.

We saw Food, Inc. at the Mpls/St.Paul Film Fest a few weeks ago. Leah Engelhart told us about, so we all went together. It was a fascinating film full of things the commercial food industry doesn’t want us all to know. I frantically wrote a bunch of notes in the darkness of the theatre on the back of Leah’s digital converter box coupon! I thought I would share some of these random notes.

– Most of the meat we buy has imagery on the packaging that makes us think meat is from farms- and NOT factories. They use images of days gone by, so we think the meat is really pure, cultivated by farmers.

– The goal of Tyson, Cargill and Swift is uniformity, conformity and cheapness.

– America/the world has never had food companies this big

– Chickens are now re-designed to have bigger white breasts since Americans generally don’t like dark meat

– We buy into an illusion of diversity with our foods- but most of it is made out of clever re-arrangements of corn

– Ketchup, jelly, syrup, diapers, commercially harvested fish, salad dressing, sorbitol, xanthan gum are all made from corn…especially BEEF!

– Cheap corn has driven the price of meat down

– Our desire for cheaper calories has heavily subsidized wheat, corn and soy

– Obesity is highly linked with income level

– We complain about organic eggs but will easily pay .75 for a can of pop

– Thousands of different cattle make up the a single burger at most fast food places (because of how the beef is processed)

What I took from the film is that if you can afford organic food you should buy it and not feel like you are spending your money unwisely. It will drive down the prices for those who want it but can’t afford it. Supporting free-range, cage free, grass fed farmers like the one above in the photo, is saying that you care about the “why’s” and not just the “how’s” of how food gets to your table.

2009 CSA Fair

The photo above is of the farm where I will be eating my vegetables from this summer. Beautiful, eh? Billy, Marta, Darren and I checked out the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Fair at the Seward Co-op this weekend. We interviewed all the different farms/farmers about the cost of a share of their CSA, their location, drop off locations, etc. It was a fun process talking with these healthy, sun-kissed farmers. I wanted them to take me with them back to their farms and lifestyle.

The CSA we decided to go with is the Turnip Rock Farm out of New Auburn, WI. A young couple runs it and has a great philosophy/vision for the food they grow. We hope to make a few trips out there this summer for the purpose of seeing the beautiful farm, learning from them and helping with whatever needs they may have.

I am excited about this new endeavor and I suppose a little nervous. I don’t want to be wasteful with these vegetables, but hopefully with the recipes they supply I won’t have to be. I will make some updates on this later in the season once we have had a few boxes of the vegetables. They drop off the veggies once a week June- Sept.

http://www.turniprock.com

lovely quote

“Wake up now, look alive, for here is a day off work just to praise Creation: the turkey, the squash and the corn, these things that ate and drank the sunshine, grass, mud, and rain, and then in the shortening days laid down their lives for our welfare and onward resolve. There’s the miracle for you, the absolute sacrifice that still holds back seeds: a germ of promise to do the whole thing again, another time.” – Barbara Kingsolver

Some recent thoughts

So I haven’t posted on this blog in like a million years (in the blogosphere world). I guess I was focused on other things. But lately (well for the last few months) I have been thinking about all sorts of things related to food. I am currently reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It is a very interesting read, and I have learned a lot from it. She and her family decide to live off of local food for a year, much of that food being the food that they grow- including poultry. It has got me thinking a lot about how American marketing dollars that swirl through the American food system have a lot of us pretty deceived. I know I for one have been deceived. Why is it that we never hear about feedlots, food being trucked in all over the world so we can have fruit in the winter or the rampant use of pesticides on our crops? I think like in all things it boils down to money. So, I have decided to become more educated about all these things related to food.

It really is a bummer that organic food is expensive and that the whole world doesn’t have the funds to access it. It is definitely a dilemma. But it’s expensive because of the labor involved and because of the predominately small farms it comes from. Since it is so expensive, I have made the choice to just buy produce and meat at our natural foods co-op. The rest I will buy at the local grocery store.

Cancer and other common deadly diseases are so pervasive and I am no longer surprised by most of them. Sure there are probably a lot of environmental and genetic factors that play into it all…but I just think the biggest thing has to be what we actually put in and on our bodies. Our American food supply is so toxic, laden with pesticides, fertilizers, hormones and antibiotics. Our cosmetics and lotions are just as full of chemicals. I see so many “healthy” people that eat regular (non-organic) fruits and veggies like crazy and I can’t help but think to myself — those people aren’t really healthy.

I am currently on the search for a cream/lotion that is natural…one that doesn’t absorb too quickly and that will actually moisturize my dry skin. It’s been a thorn in my flesh lately…nothing seems to work right. Let me know if you know of any good ones!

peace out

Crossroads

Just had a interesting experience today at my lovely natural foods co-op. As I was getting out of my car, walking into the store their were these two amish guys unloading produce from their truck. I had this feeling like, wow, two worlds colliding. Seward natural foods co-op is right on Franklin Ave in Mpls, a very culturally diverse area. As I got my grocery cart and entered the store, one of the Amish guys was walking towards me with his vegetables. He had the classic amish/mushroom haircut and all. It was neat to see that the Seward Co-op supports farmers like that…made me want to jump in the back of their truck and go back to the farm with them.

recent logo

Here is a logo I made for my uncle. He decided to not go forward with it for legal reasons. bummer.

An issue of harm for animals and humans

Learning more about healthy meats led me to become interested in what California voters had on their ballot this month. Here is what they had to vote on in Proposition 2:

STANDARDS FOR CONFINING FARM ANIMALS. INITIATIVE STATUTE.

•    Requires that calves raised for veal, egg-laying hens and pregnant pigs be confined only in ways that allow these animals to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs and turn around freely.

What is sad but not all that surprising, is that thousands of animals on a daily basis cannot “fully extend their limbs and turn around freely.” Farms are under more pressure than ever with the dwindling economy and rising cost of farm operations to do whatever neccessary to make a profit. Farms that produce food for the general public are businesses when it comes to it and money is the bottom line. With that said and understood, I believe people (especially Christians) need to start looking at farm operations and whatever they profit in a different way- for two reasons. The first reason is that while in Genesis 1:28, God says: “Have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” He didn’t say do whatever you want with them, any treatment is okay treatment.  I think God created animals to show his amazing creativity and also as a source of food for humans. Obviously we have to kill animals to eat them. What I don’t think is okay and not in God’s plan is how most currently most farm animals are treated while they are living (definitely not all farms, I am speaking of the major American cattle and hen operations). As God calls us to have compassion on people in miserable circumstances, I think God calls us to have compassion on these animals that are:

cramped in pens where they can’t move, sitting in their own feces for their entire lifetime, weened off of their mothers too quickly, unnesecarily injected with growth hormones and antibiotics for the sake of faster growth, and have no fresh air.

All of these reasons lead to the second and main reason why I think these farm animals need to start being treated more humanely while living. HEALTH OF HUMANS! I just feel  like it is almost a “duh” statement! With cancer being something pervasive in my family– my brother and dad beat cancer last year, I can’t help but think these sickly animals we have been eating have to be a contributing factor to the disease we experience. Many non grass fed and non- cage free animals are so far from how God intended them to be when they go to the slaughter house…they are weak from not being able to run around in open spaces, have been fed foreign foods their stomachs cannot digest and are just plain sick. I think for most Americans who rely on a heavy diet of beef, veal and chicken, ignorance has been bliss. The reality isn’t so blissful though. The animals we consume are sick because farmers need to make a profit. We in turn eat those sick animals and become sick ourselves. Something has to change and it has as Proposition 2 has passed. Do I think it will make a dramatic difference for the health of our animals? No.  With how much beef and chicken Americans consume, it is not possible for that many animals to get the excercise they need and eat the food they were designed to digest. Another foot in the gestational crate for the pig and cow, and room enough for the hen to spread their its is obviously not adequate, but it is a step in the right direction. Their is not the funding nor the space for animals to live as God intended before their death and our ultimate consumption. Because of this, Darren and I have made a decision to invest in healthy animal products. I think eating meat is how we were designed, but our bodies weren’t designed to eat these sickly animals.
The other hotly contested proposition voters had to vote on was Proposition 8 which said:

Prop 8 ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME–SEX COUPLES TO MARRY. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

* Changes the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California.
* Provides that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.

This was the other proposition I was glad that passed. I do believe marriage is to be between one man and one woman, not one man and one man or one woman and one woman. Being married (still newly married) I understand why God designed it the way he did. I do think it is still important to love, be respectful and care for gays and lesbians and to wrestle with these issues that are increasingly a part of our culture. I recently came accross this quote which made me think about what it would be like to be someone voting against Prop 8, Samantha Ronson said,  “I guess people care more about farm animals than they do their fellow man, that’s really sad to me,” Ronson, 31, blogs on her MySpace page. “Yes, I am glad that the chickens will have more room and better conditions as they wait to die, but I just think it’s frightening that people show more compassion for tomorrow’s dinner than for the chef.”

By Proposition 8 not passing and Proposition 2 passing, I think less harm will be done to animals and humans. Animals need to have space and people need to come to grips with the fact that marriage needs to be between a man and a woman for our good. God isn’t against us, he is for us in all things….we just need to be alert and aware of these issues. As Christians, God calls us a step further to be concerned and active.