Honest Meat

Book Final Stretches

I still love you kind readers, but have to take a brief blogging hiatus while I finish up my book. I am working with the wonderful Chelsea Green Publishing out of Vermont to create what I hope will be a useful reference for beginning and experienced farmers alike. Books on agricultural production proliferate while those on business management for sustainability are scarce. My book "Farms with a Future" will add another arrow to your quiver with an approachable, colorful take on building a triple-bottom line farming business, complete with stories of over a dozen farms we admire. Until then, enjoy my previous posts and farmer interviews, buy some of the great books off my website library, and have a productive, abundant, safe and healthy season! See you in a couple months.....

Values-Based Butchery

Author's Note: This was a short blog post I wrote for the nascent organization of craft butchers called The Butcher's Guild. They have an Oath that they ask each of their members to commit to. I used that Oath as a framework for this short article about how they can bring more values and meat ethics into their craft and businesses as butchers and meat purveyors. Thanks for reading!

 

As a Butcher’s Guild member you take an oath to uphold certain values as you practice your craft and run your business. What does it look like to embody these values as it pertains to the sourcing of your meat and how you present it to your customers?

Heart: I maintain integrity in relationships with customers and vendors. Relationship integrity means several things- transparency, fair pricing negotiations, upholding quality, and being truthful about your challenges. In short, it is about honesty. Are you telling your customers the full story of your meat products? Are you using words that obfuscate the truth or ones that explain exactly how the animal was raised, where it was raised, and who the actual farmer is? When you say “local”, what does that mean exactly? When you say “natural”, what are the actual practices behind that word? Being clear about what your definitions are will help educate your customers and will demonstrate your integrity. Commit to that honesty.

Source: I aim to support local, sustainable farms and practice whole animal butchery. It can be challenging to call up several different farmers to order meat, but have you even tried? Are you willing to build and strengthen relationships with farmers who are upholding your values and need time to produce the volume that you need? Or do you flit around buying a little bit here and there but not making that commitment to see a farmer grow to scale? Do you buy meat from a local farmer for special events but then go back to your ‘regular’ meat middleman the rest of the time? What is preventing you from making that commitment to the local farmer? Make sure you define what local and sustainable means to you so you can be transparent, as mentioned above. Go visit the farms in person so you can improve your understanding of animal production practices. Ask questions, dig a little deeper. If an animal is raised in confinement in Canada and fed conventional, GMO feeds and then slaughtered in your state and processed into sausage, don’t call that local, don’t call that sustainable. Be truthful about what it is and work to find more values-based sources closer to home. 

Hand: I strive to improve my knife skills and knowledge of the trade. You know this one better than I do. But consider that being a skilled and knowledgeable butcher starts at the farm. Understand how animals are raised and killed and maybe even participate in that process so you can appreciate all the details, logistics, and energy that goes into meat production. Learn to have reverence for the animal whose life was given for the meat in your walk-in- this will encourage you to work even harder to utilize the whole animal to it’s maximum value and reduce waste wherever possible. These actions will not only make you a more conscientious butcher but also a better ambassador for the meat you are selling.

Voice: I am an active community member and encourage a healthy food system. Being an advocate for a healthy food system must start with how you eat yourself, how you work with your supply chain, how you communicate your values and educate your consumers. Every dollar you spend is a vote for the food system you want to see. If your dollars are going to investor-owned corporations, confinement animal production, farms that feed conventional, GMO grains, or those that exploit their workers or turn their contract farmers into serfs, than that is the farming system that will remain the status quo. If you want to see a more diversified, family-operated, grass and pasture-based, non-GMO and non-chemical food system, than put your time and money into it. If your regular suppliers are not upholding all the values that you strive for, communicate to them what you would like to see. Then commit to work with them through their transition to more sustainable practices. We will all be better off for it.

Have Goat, Will Travel: Vanguard Ranch, Virginia

As a military kid, Renard Turner moved around a lot. Not the kind of life conducive to witnessing the rhythms of farming nor having much of a chance to be involved in it. Nevertheless, in California where his family settled for a few years, Renard got a chance to join his high school’s Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter and he excelled in the agricultural science classes the school provided. He went on to work a couple decades in the medical field, but still held the dream of farming in the back of his head.

After a time living in Washington D.C., he and his wife Chinette decided to move out to the country, and found the verdant rolling hills of central Virginia calling them. Gordonsville is ideally located within a 2-hour drive of several large population centers, great for anybody trying to make a living direct market farming but far enough away not to just be an over-priced bedroom community full of unaffordable “ranchettes”. The Turner’s started out as homesteaders, trying to be as self-sufficient as possible and even building their own house from scratch.

They first dabbled in sheep and even ostriches, but settled on meat goats about 8 years ago. The forage base was not right for grass-loving sheep and the ostriches were mean and simply not enjoyable to raise. Their land was a mixture of pasture and forest with quite a bit of browse and weeds- perfect for goats.

Right from the beginning, Renard knew that he had to direct market his goat meat and get the highest and best value for it. He simply wasen’t going to survive selling goats at auction or to a wholesaler. He stumbled upon the idea of a mobile concession trailer after a long conversation he had at the Virginia State Fair with a lemonade concessionaire. Renard learned that this lemonade man and his family spent half the year traveling to fairs and festivals and the other half of the year fishing in Florida- not a bad life. Renard figured the concept might work for him too- spend part of the year traveling to fairs on the weekends and the other half of the year focusing on farm projects and production.

Even though goat meat is the most widely consumed meat on the planet, Americans seem a bit slow to pick up eating it as habit. Still, Renard has no trouble selling it- once people try a bite of one of his samples he often sets out, they inevitably end up buying a whole plate. Renard has perfected some delicious goat recipes that appeal to a broad swath of people, including goat burgers, goat kebabs, and curried goat. He travels to county and state fairs, food festivals, music festivals, and other events with his concession trailer. His wife often comes along and helps him cook, and a couple part-time employees that do most of the selling and money collection. Most meat producer’s jaws are going to drop when I tell you this next tidbit. I asked Renard what an average pound of his goat meat sells for after he transforms it into these value-added meals- “Around $36-38 a pound, on the conservative side”. Listen to more of our interesting conversation about goat breeding, pasture management, direct marketing, value-added processing, and more by clicking on the button below.

RenardTurner-VanguardRanch

Renard with his goats and herding dog.

The Turners new hoophouse is full to the brim with organic vegetables, ingredients they use in their ready-to-eat meals.

Some of the Vanguard Ranch goats- Kiko & Valero maternal lines crossed with a Myotonic buck.

Photos courtesy of the Vanguard Ranch website.

 

Planning for Success: Crown S Ranch, WA

Husband and wife duo Louis Sukovaty and Jennifer Argraves are farming on Louis's childhood homestead in the Methow Valley of north central Washington. These former engineers both had the pleasure of growing up on small, self-sufficient farms as children and wanted to provide the same rich experience for their kids. So they left the concrete and long-hours of the city (Seattle) and joined the soil and long-hours of the country. Their dedication to long-term planning, intensive research, and a willingness to experiment has created a successful, diverse farming business and a model of sustainability.

On 150 acres of pastures, crop fields, and forest they are raising several species of livestock and poultry, grains and hay crops, as well as organic vegetables, rotating them around in a 7 year cycle. In their farmstand cooler you might find grassfed beef, grassfed lamb, pastured pork, pastured turkey, and pastured chicken and eggs. You can also find organic vegetables and new ready-to-eat meals such as tamales, shepherds pie, or chicken soup all with their homegrown ingredients. You don't have to drive all the way out to the farm though because Crown S Ranch delivers around the Puget Sound region with an innovative meat CSA, as well as to a few small retailers and a couple farmers markets. They have no intention to "feed the world", just feed families in their region with really good, healthy food. In their minds, the 150 acre farm model that they are creating can create food security and food safety around the country, and help get more people into farming while creating sustainable livelihoods. They invite customers and wanna-be farmers out to their farm through internships and a small little cabin they renovated for their unique "Haycation" program. Unlike a traditional B&B experience, they encourage their "Haycationers" to get involved on the farm, help collect eggs, and learn a little about where their food comes from. Creating those connections with consumers helps them better understand the food system and want to become more invested in it.

Listen to my interview with Jennifer as we talk about their families's committment to soil health, humane animal care, teaching the next generation, and creating resilient systems of production that produce more food per acre while building fertility for the future. 

JenniferArgravesCrownSRanch

 

Photos above courtesy of Crown S Ranch- www.crown-s-ranch.com

Of Curds & Whey: Amaltheia Organic Dairy, Belgrade, Montana

Unconventional farmers tend to like to prove that the impossible is possible. The word "can't" is simply not a member of their vocabulary. In the high mountain pastures of Sue and Melvyn Brown's farm near Belgrade, Montana a beautiful interplay of passion, frolicking animals, and a closed nutrient cycle is being carried out with delectable cheeses and pork as the end results. They are proving the naysayers wrong.

First the Brown's started a commercial goat dairy in Montana, the first of it's kind. Then they built a cheese plant where they produce an array of soft cheeses when no one else in the state would. Then they got it all certified organic because that is their belief system of how animals should be raised and the land stewarded. However, they still did not have a productive way to utilize all of the whey that is a product of cheese-making. So they then added pastured pigs to turn the whey into meat which they sell in stores around Montana. They also have figured out how to turn their animal manure (that which isn't deposited directly onto the fields) into a high-quality organic compost that backyard gardeners and organic farmers both utilize. This is a great example of what is called "complimentary enterprises".

Amaltheia Organic Dairy grows almost all of their own hay and grains in addition to the pastures that the animals rotate around on. This helps to reduce their feed costs and also reduces their dependency on the transcontinental shipping of feed grains that many other livestock producers require. They have restored riparian habitat on their farm and are eagerly exploring renewable energy technologies that will increase their sustainability. They have won awards for their ecologically-friendly, low-waste practices and for their delicious cheeses. The Brown's are also committed educators, hosting over 1,500 people a year on their farm, many of them schoolchildren.

Listen to this 45 minute interview with Melvyn Brown to hear more about how they got started, navigating all of the layers of regulations, and more. Perhaps it will give you a few ideas to 'ferment on'!

MelvynBrown-AmaltheiaOrganicDairy

Photos above courtesy of Sue & Melvyn Brown from their website- www.amaltheiadairy.com

 

Treat Em' Right: Building for Healthy, Happy Animals

We have visited a lot of farms this year and peered at hundreds more as we drove past them in our RV. Sadly, so many of the beautiful, functional barns and outbuildings of our nation's farms are falling apart, caving in, and melting back into the earth. Farmers of today are trying to rebuild that infrastructure, often with limited financial and labor resources. Other than the famous Amish barn-raisings, our rural areas and farms often lack the people power to build anything grandiose and lasting. We have quite intently as a nation depopulated the country-side.

Likewise, the vast majority of farmers today are renters- they don't own the land they farm. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that they will build anything permanent and probably not in their best interest to do so unless the landlord offers to pay for the infrastructure. We faced this same situation when we farmed and had to build everything portable because of the annual flooding that was getting worse and worse each year as the creek filled up with sediment from excessive farmland erosion in the watershed. Additionally, building portable structures facilitates the practice of rotational grazing, something we feel is essential for good livestock husbandry. Build it right for good management. Permanent structures sometimes lead to poor management and manure build-up in one place.

Here are a few structures we have built over the years (I say "we" but it was mostly my husband. I provided design feedback and set some screws but that was about it).

Mobile Hen Houses (for nesting & roosting) out of old cotton trailers & recycled metal roofing.

Inside of cotton trailer coop after cleaning out the straw. The end of the trailer contains a water system connected to handing bell waterers accessible underneath the trailer. Keeping the water inside keeps it cool and prevents algal growth.

Mobile roosting house for laying hens. We believe hens should roost separate from where they lay, which helps keep the poop off the nesting boxes. This one resides at Soul Food Farm, CA and was made from a Farm Tek frame & tarps with homemade wooden skids & roosting bars. Roosting only needs to be 4-5 inches off the ground- which prevents hens from pooping on each other.

Mobile shelter for pigs. Made of mostly recycled materials stripped from other broken down structures exept for the 4x6 wooden skids.

Another version of mobile pig shelter, just tinkering with design to see which one holds up the best and the pigs utilize. Again, mostly recycled materials except the 4x6s.

Three different mobile pig farrowing house designs, using old grain tanks and recycled metal roofing. The high board at the entry helps keep the piglets inside for the first week so they will focus on feeding and getting stronger. The sow can come and go as she pleases. A wooden bar on the inside provides a sheltered corner for the piglets to prevent them from getting rolled on by their momma.

All of these structures above were built for less than $200 dollars each (in new materials) and should last anywhere between 5-10 years with only minor repairs. More importantly, they all will improve the lives of the animals that use them, providing shelter, safety, and the ability for us humans to move them around the land. What are you tinkering with?

From Monopoly to Many- How Do We Do It?

"They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization."  Declaration of the Occupy Wall Street General Assembly, Sept. 30th.

This is the declaration that the Occupy Wall Street activists have made regarding our food system. It is just one of the many gross inequities they see perpetuated by our corporate dominated so-called democracy. Of those that know about the occupations taking place all over the country, the majority  agree or sympathize with the cause, while a few think the protestors are just out-of-work complainers. (Funny how in Libya we call them "Freedom Fighters" and in our country we call them lazy whiners. Mmmm....). Anyways, how can you turn a complaint into a solution? Let's get busy talking....just keep the conversation civil. I don't want to hear any platitudes like "Life isn't fair", ok?

Here are my humble ideas, built upon a bit o' input from my blog readers. I start at the personal level (self) and then expand out from there into different spheres of influence. This is by no means rocket science, but rather a little food for thought-

The Personal

• Buy Organic and/or low input foods (avoid potential poisons)
• Buy High-Welfare animal products (avoid negligent, cramped, & unsafe animal production)
• Buy Local & Small (avoid monopolies, avoid food miles which produce air pollution & contribute to climate change)
• Buy Family-Farmed (avoid monopolies, huge corporations, anonymous shareholder farming)
• Buy from Independent Grocers & Restaurants, especially those that purchase local & organic ingredients (build local economies, avoid monopolies, avoid potential poisons)
• Don't use poisons in your own yards & gardens (avoid potential poisons)
• Invest your money in local, organic farms (build local economies, decrease opportunities for monopolization, keep the potential poisons out of your back yard)

The Neighborhood/Community

• Organize a farmers market, food buying club, CSA drop site, or food cooperative in your neighborhood or town (build local economies, avoid food monopolies)
• Get your local schools, parks, and towns to stop using pesticides in their landscaping, road maintenance, etc. (avoid potential poisons, avoid the monopolies that are producing the poisons)
• Share extra food from your garden with your neighbors, especially the poor (build resilient, local economies, avoid corporate food monopolies, spread health & wellness)
• Teach others in your community (local schools, churches, clubs, Scouts, etc.) how to produce food without poisions (avoid potential poisions, build local self-reliance)
• Build a diverse group of community stakeholders to form a Food Policy Council, a tool for implementing local-level change for a more sustainable, diverse food system that better meets local food security needs (build local food system, avoid monopolization of our food supply)

The Political

• Support the states and townships that have passed laws to disallow corporate ownership of farms and farmland (this does not preclude family corporations such as LLCs). Encourage your county, township, or state to do the same.
• Lend your voice to changing the rules how GIPSA (Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyard Administration of the USDA) regulates the meat packers which will help break up the huge meat packing monopolies that put a stranglehold on family-farmers across the country. Read here for more detail.
• Support the restrictions on pesticide use and the banning of the pesticide Bad Actors (which are those that are known or probable carcinogens & aquatic toxins, according to peer-reviewed science). Use the Precautionary Principle as a basis for pesticide science instead of "innocent until proven guilty", as is the current model.
• Support laws that limit the revolving-door between corporations and goverment agencies (like former Monsanto VP now heading the FDA!). This might limit corporate power in our so-called Democratic process.
• Support the Dept. of Justice investigations into meat packer and seed company monopolies. Encourage the DOJ to do their job and break up the monopolies. Don't buy from those monopolies (Monsanto, Syngenta, Dupont, Cargill, ADM, Bunge, Smithfield, Tyson, Dean Foods, Walmart, etc.) and instead support the myriad of local and regional businesses that supply our farm inputs and purchase farm commodities.
• Support a complete overhaul of the Farm Bill, reducing payments to large corporate agribusiness and instead building a system that supports the proliferation of more sustainable family farms!

 

Now what do YOU think? Anything to add or delete, in your opinion?

Goodness From The Grass Up: Misty Brook Farm, MA

What does it mean these days to start a farm from SCRATCH? Who are the bootstrappers?, those who pull up their businesses from their own resources, ingenuity, and small bit o' capital, combined with a heaping does of PASSION?

Brendan and Katia Holmes epitomize bootstrappers- they are first generation farmers working to produce quality, organic food in central Massachusetts- an area with expensive land and a dwindling number of commercial farmers.  Raw milk from their herd of 25 Jersey cows is the backbone of their business, not only generating the majority of their revenues but also dictating the management of most the land they rent- over 200 acres on 14 different properties!  It takes that much land to run a truly grass-based dairy and to grow, harvest, and put up all the forages the cows will need when a blanket of snow covers all their fields.

The sound of their dairy cows rushing into their new 12 hour pasture, tearing off a mouthful of tall, succulent grasses and clovers, barely pausing to chew a bit before they wrapped their lips around the next clump, was almost deafening.  If cows could squeel with excitement like pigs, we would have needed ear plugs.  You can see some of that beautiful grass in the picture above with a proud farmer showing off her Jersey genetics.  It takes Katia or Brendon only 15 minutes or so to set up a new fenced pasture, move over the water trough with a float valve for automatic filling, and open the gate for the anxious cows behind it.  As a result of their high-intensity, short-duration grazing they have turned once overgrazed and overhayed pastures into species rich, verdant, and most importantly- nutrious forage for their 100% grassfed cows.  You read that right- Misty Brook's cows are fed exclusively on green forage either when it's growing in their fields for 7 or so months of the year or with stored baylage, silage, or hay that they try to put up all on their own.  Their cows looked healthy, not 'ribby' like many grassfed cows I have seen on this trip, and their rich milk has a golden color from their plant rich diets. Jack Lazor, their former employer and mentor from Butterworks Farm in Vermont, would be proud.

In addition to milk and cheese, they produce beef, pork, eggs, broilers, grains, and vegetables, all certified organic.  They sell most of their goods through CSA, including a new All-You-Can-Eat whole diet CSA, and a self-serve farm store.  And they do this all on rented land.  Hopefuly one day that will change- this is one farm that Massachusetts is lucky to have around producing healthy organic (& biodynamically) grown foods.

Here is our inspiring interview below:

MistyBrookFarm8.11.11

 

Scaling Up While Keeping True: Butterworks Farm, Vermont

 
The farm is a constant buzz of activity.  Starting early in the morning, the cows get walked into the milking parlor.  Around 40 or so Jersey cows get milked, then led out to pasture for the rest of the day until the evening when they go back in for their second milking. While one group of employees handles the milking and making of dairy products like whole-milk yoghurt, kefir, cream, buttermilk, and raw milks cheeses, another group of employees are out running tractors, mowers, balers, combines and other equipment in order to plant and harvest all of the food needs of the cows during the winter months.  The growing season is short and intense and rain often thwarts the best laid plans for seeding field crops or making hay.  But with over 30 years of organic farming under their belts, Jack and Anne Lazor of Butterworks Farm have built the wisdom and experience to successfully coax a herd of doe-eyed Jersey cows to thrive and churn out nutrient-dense milk from a wind-swept mountain pasture.

What initially started out as a little homestead for a couple of young post-college graduates has scaled up to become one of the most respected certified organic creameries in New England.  While it is still true that many organic dairies don't put their milking cows out on pasture, Butterworks Farm does it every day that snow does not cover their pastures.  Of course it is more labor-intensive, but the resulting high-butterfat milk with a yellowish tinge has created a reputation of quality and dairy products with unparalleled flavor.  Butterworks Farm not only practices rotational grazing with their animals, they also focus intensely on improving soil fertility through crop rotation, rock dusts, and returning all of the composted manure from the dairy barn back onto the fields.  They reduce their dependency on fossil fuels with a monstrous wind turbine recycled from Tehachapi Pass in California and a new wood boiler that will provide steam heat and water heating from lower-grade forest trimming and whole chunk logs.  Jack and Anne are also good to their employees, providing living wages, medical care reimbursement, and involving them in the decision making of the farming operation.  Despite being located in a very remote, rural area, they have attracted highly skilled employees that tend to stay for awhile- turnover is low.  They are also working on slowly transferring over the management and eventual ownership of the farm to their daughter Christine and her husband Collin.

Since Jack was already growing corn and other feed grains for his animals, he thought he might as well produce human-grade grains as well.  He is part of a small group of dedicated NE farmers trying to reintroduce grain production in the region and is writing a book on the subject right now (check Chelsea Green website for updates).  He has grown wheat, barley, corn, oats, buckwheat, dry beans, and is even milling organic feed blends for livestock producers.

Listen to our conversation about how they got started, how regulations forced them to scale up, passing the farm onto the next generation, building soil carbon, and more.  This is an interview not to be missed...

ButterworksFarm7.22.11

Top picture is of Jack Lazor on his trusty FarmAll tractor placing a round bale on top of his bale wrapper, making "marshmallows" as he calls it, or wrapped baylage for wintertime feeding.

Bottom picture show the gorgeous patina of the unpainted siding on their unique dairy barn and feed mill with a stand of summer wheat in the foreground.

A New Kind of Small Town Grocer: Fair Food Farm, Vermont

The entrepreneurial itch must be scratched, even though it's slightly out of reach.  Although Matt Yetman and Emily Curtis-Murphy had paid positions working for other notable Vermont organic farmers, they wanted to do their own thing.  They wanted to provide local, organic food that was affordable to the masses.  Food that people on food stamps (themselves included) could afford.  So they opened a farm store and started a 10 acre farm all in the same year (and had a new baby just to make sure they really got no sleep!).

Their tiny farm store near Montpelier includes organic (not yet certified) produce, meat, and eggs they raise just minutes up the hill from the store along with other Vermont products like cheese, yoghurt, grains, beans, even Vermont roasted coffee beans.  Although I am a little mentally daunted about the long-term economic viability of their new business, the prices in their store are cheaper than the larger Montpelier grocers.  They also offer an exceptional 15% discount for all food stamp shoppers, something no other store provides.  Matt and Emily have incorporated their business as an L3C, a unique LLC-type structure with a non-profit type social mission.  Technically called a low-profit limited liability corporation, this business structure allows Fair Food Farm to recieve foundation grants and investments.  None have arrived just yet, but with time and a solid reputation, Fair Food Farm is poised to be the perfect kind of farm/retail hybrid that can address food insecurity and food deserts in rural areas.

Listen to my dynamic interview with Emily about how they are getting started with their new farming operation, some of their challenges, their committments to fairly priced food, and more.

FairFoodFarm7.19.11

P.S. That is Matt in the background harvesting scallions and loading them into their borrowed "farm truck". They are urgently seeking investors/lenders for a new, used farm truck, needed ASAP.

From Virtual to Reality: Relly Bub Farm, Wilmington, VT

What do you get when you cross two 30 year olds who have both biked across America for a cause?  You get the kind of physical and mental stamina needed to start a farm.  In 2009 Nathan Winters biked across the US to meet the people who grow our food and learn more about the American food system.  The following year Meaghan Minogue rode across the country to raise funds for the non-profit Trees for the Future.  They met because of their long-distance cycling and they now go forward with goals to nourish people and restore the planet, one field at a time.

Neither Nathan nor Meaghan have extensive farming backgrounds (although they are both killer home cooks), so they are starting their new farm with appropriate caution.  Beginning with an over-sized mixed vegetable garden, 30 broiler chickens, and a small layer flock, they are spending the first year in deep observation mode: watching what grows well in the short but hot Vermont summers, indentifying and managing weeds and pests, rebuilding soil fertility (see all that nice leaf mulch in the picture above?), perfecting their garden-fresh recipes, and scoping out potential market channels in Southern Vermont.  Nathan has a jump on the marketing with his 10+ years doing computer programming, web design, and social media consulting.  Heck, they are probably the first farm I have seen with an active website and blog a full year before they even begin selling a thing!

Listen on for how Meaghan and Nathan met and got inspired to farm, how they found land (Craigslist!), how they are easing into this new lifestyle and their plans for the future...

RellyBubFarm7.10.11

  

The Farm to Table Life at Claddagh Farm & Cookery School, Maine

Got an extra 30 pounds of flesh to burn off? Why not move your family and animals across the country and start a farm on a 150 year old homestead in Maine in the winter. That's precisly what Neal (aka "Podchef") Foley and family did last year when they left the San Juan Islands of Washington for Waldo County, Maine.  They were looking for a similar topography, where the forest meets the sea, a pro-farming mindset, and affordable land where they could homestead and start their dream of part farm/part cooking school.

Neal is a trained chef, experienced in running kitchens, a catering business, and teaching people how to butcher and cook meat properly.  Kathy Foley is an excellent baker, churning out daily supplies of scones, cookies, pies, and more. Their five daughters each have unique skills in the kitchen or the farm. Homesteading just made sense when they lived on an island where you had to take a ferry ride just to get a loaf of bread.  Soon they were raising most of their vegetables, meats, and eggs.  Neal began teaching duck and pig butchery classes that earned him quite a following and supplemented their income. Google the word "Duckfest" to see what I mean. People raised in cities and suburbs, a generation or three disconnected to where and how their food gets to their plate are yearning to reconnect to their sources of food as well as gain some good ol' fashioned DIY skills that will serve them through good times and bad. Neal tapped into that market of eager students in Washington and is hoping to find the same enthusiasm in New England.  It was fascinating for us as seasoned farmers to see this new farm and cooking school take shape.  The projects are endless with things like setting up perimeter fencing, a new garden, building a smokehouse, rehabilitating a 150+ tree apple orchard, caring for animals, milking two cows daily, and feeding his family of 7 with amazing home-cooked meals.  Take an hour to listen how this family is fashioning their dream from a patch of rocky Maine hillside, how farming and cooking go together, the value of homesteading, and more...

NealFoley7.2.2011

Saving Farmland One Row At A Time: Marilee's Farmstand, Sagaponack, NY

Summer in The Hamptons may bring to mind famous people vacationing in their palatial summer homes, gala parties, or even nightmarish traffic on the weekends, but it also means the opening of hundreds of colorful farm stands around the east end of Long Island.  With deep topsoil that the locals say reaches up to 16 feet deep, Long Island was once a farming oasis, supplying food not just for the largest city in the US, but exporting things like potatoes all over the world.  Much of this amazing soil has been paved over by mega mansions and vast expanses of chem-green lawn, but behind many of these arrogant summer homes remains some of the older farmers still growing their potatoes, and newer generation farmers growing a diversity of vegetables, berries, small livestock, and wine grapes.  We spent a week with one of these farmers who happened to be an old friend of my husband, weeding her asparagus, pruning and staking her tomatoes, and catching up on the local gossip.

Marilee Foster comes from a long line of farmers- by my count she must be at least the 5^th generation to farm the same land in the little hamlet of Sagaponack, Long Island, NY.  Although her family grows mainly potatoes and feed corn in rotation, she began dabbling in vegetables about 15 years ago.  Her market vegetable ‘project’ as she calls it is now a full-fledged business that consumes nearly her every waking hour.  One look at Marilee’s bulging arm muscles tells you this woman works hard.  Thankfully she still makes time for a little art and writing, penning a farming memoir several years ago called “Dirt Under My Nails” and writing a column for the local newspaper and Edible East End magazine.

Listen to our conversation we had about how she got started, how she sets herself apart from all the other farm stands on the East End, saving the family farm, and more. 

MarileeFoster6.29.11

P.S. I borrowed this picture above from Edible East End's Lindsay Morris because I forgot to take pictures of the beautiful farm while I was volunteering there. Marilee doesn't really drink much while she works, but I admire her nonetheless!

 

Activist or Changemaker?

In a job interview a couple weeks past I was asked about my 'activism' and whether or not that impacted the quality of my work.  I should have asked for further clarification of what the woman meant by the term 'activist'.  I've marched in a couple anti-war marches almost a decade ago, but since then I've largely stayed out of politics.  I guess I spent the better part of 2004 working on the Dennis Kucinish presidential campaign back when I was a little more optimistic that Americans wanted peace and prosperity for all (so naive!).  But activist?  I don't really feel I can call myself that.  I am merely a self-published muckracking blogger with a small audience of dedicated readers, mostly livestock producers and hobbyists.  If this counts as 'activism', then wouldn't everyone who blogs, twitters, or has some other on-line presence be considered an activist?  They want people to read their words and hopefully think about or inspire action in others.  Even publishing a recipe is calling for others to try and cook the same thing- inspiring an action.  Act-ivist: trying to inspire action in others.  If writing about some of the challenges we have in our food system or the lack of transparency or outright lies that are being told makes me an 'activist', then I guess I should be flattered.  Maybe I've inspired some thought, pondering, and best of all, ACTION.

Are you an activist working to inspire change? If so, what are you working on?  How do you stay inspired yourself?

 

A Not So Pretty Picture

Authors note: This article was initially written for a Slow Food group in California, that is why there is a particular focus on the struggles of California farmers.  I have found similar struggles throughout the country as we talk to farmers, but it is true the California has a particularly tough land market.

According to the latest USDA Census of Agriculture (2007), there are a little over 2 million farms and ranches in this country, at least those that fill out the mandatory census once every five years. This number has held fairly steady since the 1970s with a few dips and hills but always holding around the 2 million mark. The majority of these farms are family-farms, meaning that the principle decisions are made by the family (or at least the owner-operator) and financial resources accrue or disappear from that same family.  Average farm size in this country has decreased somewhat to 418 acres, down from 441 acres in the 2002 Census.  This makes sense since there are many more farms under 49 acres in this country- some would call that an expansion of “hobby farms”.  In many cases these are little ranchettes, oversized rural lots in which a few cows might be raised or a few acres of corn.  In fact, most farms in this country sell less than $25,000 worth of products- a whopping 71% of farms are in this category.  Along the same vein, 64.7% of farm operators have off-farm jobs and 40% actually work FULL-TIME off their farms in addition to working many long hours on the farm.  This may point out that their farms are just hobbies to keep them busy on the weekends, a tax shelter so they can own land in the country, or that farmers are not earning enough income in their farming endeavors to support their families so they have to work off the farm.  Working two jobs sounds like an 80 hour work week to me- a great way to wear someone out physically and mentally. Likewise, 53% of US farms had net LOSSES of an average of $15,596.  How many businesses do you know in which 53% of the players in that industry loose money each year?  It’s normal in agriculture, but should not be the norm.

Why do I point out all these gloomy figures?  Because despite the best efforts of the Slow Food movement, the rise of farmers markets and CSAs, and a near obsession with food right now in this country, farmers are NOT DOING WELL AT ALL.  In the 1950s, farmers earned an average of 41% of each food dollar. Now they are earning a paltry 16%.  When land prices, fuel, seed, feed, water, and labor costs continue to rise, their earnings continue to tumble.  Numbers tell you one side of the story, but personal stories will add some heart to it. Here are a few of those stores that we have heard while we travel the state talking to farmers.  In order to give respect to the honest and sometimes difficult stories that folks have shared with us, I have created fictional names for each farmer.

The Farmscale Homestead: Nature's Harmony Farm, GA

  
You may have heard of Tim and Liz Young before and their pastured livestock operation in Northeast Georgia called Nature’s Harmony Farm. No they aren’t the largest operation in the state, nor the oldest. In fact, they are probably the youngest and most diversified.  With only 4 short years under their belts, they have received a considerable amount of media attention, have a popular weekly Podcast, and even have a new book out called “The Accidental Farmers”.  What makes their story so powerful is that they started out as suburbanites who lived a life of convenience whereas now they are competent do-it-yourself homesteaders.  When my family arrived, the Nature’s Harmony crew (Tim, Liz, and two interns) were tanning deer and rabbit hides to make leather, boiling down beef tallow to make soap, building rabbit hutches to raise meat rabbits, planting a huge garden, baling hay, making cheese, and raising nearly every domesticated animal under the sun.  Not only are they producing most of their own food, but they also sell meat, cheese, and eggs to a monthly buying club around Atlanta and Athens, serving several hundred other families with those comestibles.

Neither Tim nor Liz grew up on a farm, but they developed a strong desire to live in the country and make due with less material wealth.  Rather than passively watch their retirement investments grow funding distant corporations, they choose to move those investments into land with the dividends being soil health and nutrient-dense foods. They have developed fervent goals about sticking to natural animal raising, from breeding through death, not using any antibiotics or conventional medicines to prop up their animal’s health.  They are working towards closed herds with nearly all their animals, breeding their own laying hens, heritage turkeys, and rare Murray Grey beef cattle while trying to get their other animal breeds used to self-foraging, good mothering, and other normal animal instincts that have nearly disappeared from many commercial breeds.  Jersey cows, for example, are difficult to find that have been raised on 100% grassfed diets for many generations, thus their milk production suffers because the Young’s don’t give them grain.  Hopefully in a few generations they will have calves that do better on full grassfed diets, but Tim & Liz understand that it will take patience and a long view to make that happen.  You can’t undo 75 years of breeding for industrial production in one or two generations.  Modern day turkey breeds can’t mate anymore, modern day sows don’t want to lie down and nurse their piglets anymore, modern day meat birds can’t stand on their own two feet past 4 weeks old- their breasts are just too large (sound like modern day humans yet?).

Thankfully, due to Tim’s computer prowess and their experience with their own Podcast show, I have a recorded interview of much higher quality than my previous ones.  Listen on for our hour-long discussion about how they got started, initial financing and capitalization, farm infrastructure, marketing, and much more.

Nature'sHarmony Interview

Photo above of the Nature's Harmony movable rabbit hutches set out in their "Rabbitat", a new area they planted with forage crops and fruit trees.

 

 

Breaking the Meat Processing Bottleneck: Part Two

After a farmer has put a lot of care and attention into raising a high quality animal (or at least one would hope), the butchering of that animal can either elevate or degrade the quality- it is the most critical step.  In order to sell retail cuts of meat a farmer must have it processed under USDA (United States Department of Agriculture, or as some folks call it- USDuh) inspection or in some states they can process under state inspection (which use USDA equivalent standards).  However, if a farmer plans to sell meat across state lines, they will need USDA-inspected meat cutting.  Having a USDA stamp on the meat’s label will give the farmer more flexibility in selling their meat- they can sell direct or wholesale to stores or restaurants with that stamp.  It doesn’t necessarily mean that meat is safer.  There are plenty of small, custom butcher shops that have impeccable food safety records.  But custom butcher shops don’t have the level of inspection that would allow a farmer to use them to process retail cuts of meat.  In fact, the custom shops often stamp the meat packages with “Not for Sale” on them.  I have seen farmers in a few states selling “Not for Sale” meat as so-called pet food.  But I doubt too many customers are buying $18/lb. pork tenderloin for their doggies, if ya know what I mean.  Of course, a farmer can always choose to do things illegally and process meat on their farms or in a custom facility, but it’s risky to run a business by breaking the law.  For personal consumption, friends and family, on-farm processing is the way to go (especially if they all come out to help!).

Nonetheless, finding a USDA-inspected butcher can be a frustrating endeavor. For illustration, we had only three USDA-inspected butchers to cut and wrap our pigs in the entire state of California (that we could find).  We tried all of them and were unhappy with the quality of all three.  After making a couple futile phone calls to the USDA to find another, we downloaded the latest list of USDA inspected meat plants for the state (see this link: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations_&_Policies/Meat_Poultry_Egg_Inspection_Directory/index.asp ).  Unfortunately this directory is organized alphabetically by name of processor, instead of by state or by animal species they process, so you will get to waste lots of time wading through it to find facilities in your state.  We read through hundreds of pages to find around 20 potential butchering facilities in California and then spent another day calling each one of them. Turns out they all do specialty items like beef jerky, sausage, or meatballs, but only 1 out of 20 was willing to process whole pigs for us. Their employees had NEVER broken down whole pigs before because they were accustomed to working with 50lb. boxes of pork shoulder to make only a single product- meatballs.  We spent a day working with their butchers, explaining how we wanted things, and left them with detailed cutting instructions, crossing our fingers as we left.  Long story short, they messed up every single cut and we lost money trying to sell those inferior cuts at market.  They simply did not have the skills to work with whole animals, nor cut & wrap retail cuts for a farmer.

If you are a meat producer, there are all sorts of pit falls to be aware of when getting your meat cut & wrapped.  If you are a butcher, maybe this section will inspire you to communicate better with the farmers you work with and participate in educating both the farmer and consumers.  If you are a consumer, while you may never have to think about these things, understanding the logistics and the challenges might make you a better partner in the food system.  Here are some of the key lessons we have learned about butchering, both from our own experience as farmers and talking to other farmers around the country:

It Takes a Family To Raise a Farm: Shady Grove Ranch, Texas

Hidden amongst the pine groves, lakes, and cypress bogs of East Texas sits the Cadman family and their dream called Shady Grove Ranch. Just a year ago Matt and Jerica Cadman, with the financial and emotional support of Matt's parents, purchased a hundred acres of rolling pasture and ponds to secure their future as grass farmers. Unfortunately, the long standing drought in Texas is not being kind to anyone making a living off rainfed agriculture, but the Cadman ranch at least has several large ponds that could be used for irrigation.

Matt and Jerica started farming largely in response to Matt's debilitating digestive disease- ulcerative colitis. After failing to find relief in conventional medicine, they looked to changing their diet and removing the things from Matt's diet that brought him discomfort.  They also discovered the teachings of Weston A. Price, which stressed a diet rich in animal fats, organ meats, bone broths, and fermented foods as the keys to good health.  They began by raising dairy and beef cattle and started a cow-share program in which customer-owners can receive raw, grassfed milk.  Now on their own land they have diversified to include pastured piggies, broiler chickens, turkey, and laying hens.  Ultimately they aspire to provide quality, wholesome, chemical-free food to 100 local families.  Their committment to farming goes beyond making a living or having a family business- they want to cure what ails people through nutrient dense food.

It was hard to pin down this hard-working family (with a toddler) for a long interview. Despite a few interuptions, I was able to record this three part interview of their story. Take the time to listen how they got started, how they managed to purchase land as beginning farmers, how personal health problems have shaped their dream of farming, and their advice for other beginning farmers.

Download ShadyOakRanch3.25.11part1
Download ShadyGroveRanch3.25.11part2
Download ShadyGroveRanch3.25.11part3

Breaking the Meat Processing Bottleneck: Part One

So you produce a lovely, fleshy animal for slaughter. How does it get from your farm to a diner’s plate?  What are the pieces of infrastructure needed in that journey, along with the costs?  In this three-part story you will learn all the complicated and mundane details (from my perspective & understanding as a former farmer), first beginning with getting the animal off the farm to be harvested.  The second part will cover the butchery of the meat with all it’s options (or lack of them) while the third part will cover some potential solutions in creating a meat processing infrastructure that works for direct market producers, the processors, and for consumers.  While this article is aimed chiefly at meat producers and processors, consumers will get a much better understanding of the complexities and costs of getting better meat on their plate if they read along. I hope you will to.

Farming On the Urban Frontlines: Green Gate Farms, Austin, Texas

With gracious Southern hospitality, the owners of Green Gate Farms let us show up, practically unannounced, and spend five days with them on their peri-urban farm just east of Austin, Texas.  Owners Skip Connett and Erin Flynn, both accomplished writers and incredibly handsome to boot, began their farm later in life, a move of incredible tenacity and passion.  They chose one of the hardest places to farm in the country, with drought, wind, and floods nipping at their crops all the time, but an area that desperately needs more vegetable production to feed a hungry, growing population of urbanites.  Texas grows a lot of cattle, goats, cotton, and rice, but not a lot of diversity of much else (yes, there is some nut production too).  Skip and Erin have built not just a successful organic farm, but they are building a community of informed eaters, skilled gardeners, and even new farmers through all of their educational offerings.  They are also politically active, helping to form a new coalition of growers in Central Texas called Gro-ACT.  Their biggest challenge right now might be finding time to do everything that they do and get a few hours of shut eye too.  Listen for more of the great interview with the two of them...

Download GreenGateFarmsinterview3.19.2011

Photo above one of their farm fields, antique tractor (that works!), and market stand, taken in March 2011 by Rebecca Thistlethwaite