Whew! I’m tired! We went to our first farmer’s market today! We brought only 1 out of 4 kids, since we weren’t sure what the market would be like. The others were watched by my friend & hung out with her kids. This is us with our son Noah at our booth. Noah was our…
Politics
5 Reasons I Don’t Buy Meat at the Grocery Store
I am picky about where I buy my meat. Honestly, I do buy some meat at the grocery store, but only grass fed stuff from the local stores that I can trust. I never buy meat from the large chain stores. My ideal is to buy it from farms only. Or, even more ideally, someday, we’ll produce it…
The Great Loss of American Agricultural Communities
photo credit: Adam Arthur I just finished reading Wendell Berry’s fiction novel Hannah Coulter. (Warning, there will be spoilers in this post). It was the first piece of fiction that I’ve read (other than books to my children) since I graduated with a degree in Literature more than 11 years ago. I cannot believe it has…
Happy Anniversary FTCLDF! (and what this means for farmers)
photo credit Let’s say you have been studying the art of making cheese for many years, and you’ve got it down. You know how to make some awesome cheese, so you build your life around that skill. You buy a shop with a big commercial kitchen. You buy a bunch of equipment. You hire some employees….
Lessons from the farm: we are so disconnected
I’m saying we as in me, you, all of us. Farm life has made us realize how disconnected we are. What are we disconnected from?? Our trash. Where does it go? Every week we set a can out at the curb and a truck takes it away and we never have to think about it…
Michigan: Hog Farmers to Lose their Property & Right to Raise Diverse Animals
As a hog farmer (who appreciates heritage breeds and pigs who forage), I am concerned about this Michigan ruling. Here are some of the pigs we raised last summer. They are part-hertitage breed. We plan to eventually raise all heritage breed pigs (for natural foraging abilities, better quality meat, better bacon, better lard, etc.), and…
Harvard Law School Raw Milk Debate
At one time, everyone drank raw milk. But with the invention of pasteurization and its alleged safety benefits, consumption of raw milk in this country almost completely disappeared. In fact, in some states it is illegal to sell raw milk. But a growing segment of the population is clamoring for increased access to raw milk,…
Support Farms, Not Factories
{photo credit} I’m not opposed to all factories, or even the overall concept of factories–they have their place. I believe that food, however, should not be a factory product. When industrialization and capitalism and food meet, the end result is not pretty. Because the problem is, industrialization and capitalism are also so closely connected to…