Food, Mommy!

Spoiled and Lazy?

2012-01-13T10:49:00.000-05:00

You may think I will be posting about my children, but even though they are spoiled and lazy at times, today I’m thinking about the state of our food industry and our role in creating what it has become. I do believe our food system is a result of us wanting more convenience, and the industry responds. But is it all bad?

It has been one of those extra special weeks at my household. I’m working more hours getting ready for a number of upcoming meetings and events, so the meals available to my family have suffered due to a lack of time. Sunday we had Tuna Helper with added broccoli (dinner in less than 15 minutes). Monday was Taco Bell between trips to office supply stores and the copy shop, Tuesday was soup from a can or whatever else you can find that night which was a medley of cereal, apples, peanut butter and milk, and Wednesday I visited the local Chinese takeout. I better stop now before it gets worse.

But I have come to the realization that even though I have wonderful intentions of providing my family good food, I am exactly the mom our food industry is catering to: one with never enough time on her hands. I am grateful to have these options, but try to be careful not to be sucked into the deep chasm of ready-made meals every evening.

Why, you may ask? There are fewer ingredients, and I want my kids to learn to appreciate raw, unadulterated food. What I don’t want to do, however, is look a gift horse in the mouth. Fast food and pop-in-the-microwave meals may not be best, but I am so glad to have them when I need them on occasion. It’s when these options are abused, the “cheap food is making us fat” complainers definitely get fuel added to their fire.

I recently watched a couple episodes of “Half-Ton Teen.” It was quite apparent that those children were victims of their mamas letting them eat whatever they wanted, most of which came pre-packaged or from a drive-thru. Who is to blame, here: the mamas, the kids, or the industry?

The most compelling argument blaming the industry is that unhealthy food is cheaper. While the price of whole food ingredients may seem formidable to someone trying to feed their family on a budget, I have to disagree that the frozen pizza for $5 or less is “cheaper” than the meals I can cook with a meat and a few vegetables. You have to get creative and opt for the least processed foods (because you pay for that) but it can be done. I would also encourage everyone to look beyond the cost per food volume or cost per calories; figure your cost per nutrients.

The real reason fast food is compelling to most of us moms is because it’s EASY.

I’m afraid I’m digging a big “do what I say, not what I do” hole here, because this week I needed “easy.” My daughter is loving it right now and is quick to suggest, “Let’s just go get a pizza,” when I start wondering how I’m going to get dinner made before 8 p.m. I may cave 10% of the time, but try to balance it out by allowing only one piece paired with some raw fruits and veggies, which are also easy.

The absolute best food marketing campaign of 2011 was for Cutie mandarin oranges. They didn’t try to sell the fact that their product was a better option than a cookie, but they said their product was easy for a kid to peel and eat. I was sold… I’ve bought about 3 bags of them this winter, and they don’t stay in the refrigerator long at all.

In the end, I guess I’m trying to say it’s okay to be spoiled and lazy some of the time and it’s okay to rejoice the food industry that has allowed it to become easy to do so. I also want to stress that you will never hear me complain about having access to cheap, easy food. BUT, just remember to treat it as a special gift when the going gets tough, or your kids won’t let you get back to the meals that you know are best.

FOOD: Holidays, Milestones and Blessings

2011-12-22T11:12:00.000-05:00

The winter holidays are definitely the time of the year we celebrate with food, and I am amazed at the crucial role food has played in my life during the past month:

I crafted my first successful Thanksgiving dinner. I had attempted it once before, but this time it all seemed to turn out perfectly, and my family and in-laws gave me rave reviews.

Yummy turkey.

Table setting 1.

Table setting 2. So thankful my in-laws gifted us their large dining room table. I had enough "good" seats for 12.

I killed and processed my first chickens. A local farmer was nice enough to give me a couple of meat-type chickens, but my laying girls did not take too kindly to their new friends. With my husband’s help, I said a nice prayer and thanked God for each chicken, and I made sure it was quick. I felt such a sense of empowerment. This was also a perfect opportunity to have a great conversation with my daughter who did not like the idea of eating her new “pets.” But she was quick to realize that the other chickens were out for blood. I did not want her to watch this first attempt in case something went awry, but she was eager to get a look at what made those chickens tick. We will be having one of those chickens for dinner tonight.

I cheated... we just skinned them instead of plucking. Too much work!

My nearly three-year-old son has decided that he likes bell peppers, so I get to add one more veggie to his list of food likes. That is such a blessing! I need someone else in my household to help me eat them.

And did I mention that my daughter has slimmed down? It’s amazing what will happen when you don’t allow your child to continue eating double lunches and cookies every day at school. I think she had a “eureka” moment. The pants I had to buy her in November are now too big.

My younger sister and I were passed the Reed Christmas Cookie torch. For years and years, my grandparents made holiday cookies and presented each of their kids and grandkids with a box of delight prior to Christmas: chocolate chip with walnuts, oatmeal, date nut balls (similar to wedding cookies), and Pop’s special chocolate caramel cookie bars. After my Granny passed away a few years ago, my “Pop” continued the cookie making with my sister’s help, but finally decided to give it up due to being uncomfortable with a full day on his feet. I gladly took on the role as the new cookie guru even though I had some worry that my cookies may not be as good. But they were. And I know why Kristen does not want to make the cookies at her house… they won’t be there for her to eat until they are gifted away. I may have to make a few more.

We added a new cookie this year: peppermint sugar cookie. Thank you, Pillsbury! They are fabulous!

Finally, I have eggs running out of my ears. The hungry hawk has migrated, and my remaining hens miraculously starting laying the day after I “processed” the meat chickens. I laugh to think that my girls might have thought they would be next if they didn’t start earning their keep, but I honestly think they just got happier; they aren’t looking over their backs every second of the day worried about being a local critter’s dinner. Don’t laugh, but I also now feel a Godly connection with my chickens. I don’t want to call myself a chicken whisperer, but I can honestly say that I understand what is going on with them. Instead of running away when I walk by like they used to, they squat down still as can be, and allow me to pick them up with nary a fuss. They also seek me out when they need something. They even came running out to my car one day when the door on their coop closed shut. I got out, walked up to the coop with a line of anxious chickens running behind me, and they hopped in as soon as I opened the door. They were ready for some real food. And to my husband’s displeasure, they have also decided to venture to the house and get on the front porch. I don’t mind it a bit; we have formed a symbiotic partnership, and maybe they’ll keep all the bugs off the porch next summer.

My peeps.

The first publicized photo of our chicken mansion. My husband is an engineer and it had to be perfect.

I love my food-centered life! And my Christmas prayer to my readers is that we all learn to celebrate food as the wonderful blessing that it is. Thank you, God. Thank you, farmers. And thank you, chickens.

Fury, Frustration, Failure and School Lunches

2011-11-16T10:26:00.002-05:00

While it may not have been the most horrifying thing for a parent to experience, yesterday’s family food drama was this food mommy’s worst nightmare.

I get a note from my child’s school that her meal account balance is negative, and I wonder “what the heck? I just put $50 in about a month ago.” The good thing about the new internet-based system is that I can check what my child has been purchasing. The bad thing is that I discovered where all the money went: cookies and extra entrées. I was livid. I had really been perplexed as to why the healthier choices I had been giving my child, along with regular doses of exercise, had not produced any results. Guess I can’t blame Nana on this one.

The fury came first, and it was directed at the school: Why didn’t the cashier think it was inappropriate for an 8-year-old little girl to be buying so much food. I know they want to sell the cookies, but extra pieces of pizza, corn dogs, and hamburgers? (I know, you may be wondering, “what happened to taking lunch to school every day?” I’ll get to that later.) I can’t believe they even offer that. I don’t remember being able to buy extras when I was in school, even in high school. We were given a dollar every day, and what they provided for that dollar was all we got. I never thought that there was not enough food.

So, now I have a problem with the meal account system. Our society as a whole definitely has a problem with self-control – with food and spending – and this system obviously doesn’t do us a bit of good to control either. Fortunately, I was able to have a conversation with the cafeteria manager and they put a note in the system that my daughter is not allowed to purchase anything other than the $2 meal. However, they won’t be getting more money from me for a long time.

Next came the frustration: Why can’t I make my child understand how much food is necessary to sustain us, and that too much food is a bad thing? We have this conversation over and over, and I hate that I have to talk about food and health so much to my child. I just want her to make good choices so she does not have to worry about her health her entire life. It is not fun! I regularly allow my kids treats, but under the assumption that they are making good choices most of the time. This has obviously not been the case.

Finally comes the feeling of failure: I have failed my child because I let a busy life get in the way of better habits. For the first couple months of school, I was making her lunch every day (except one – check out “The Great Chocolate Milk Compromise”). Then she was accepted into the school choir which meant getting to school earlier a couple days of the week. So one day, became two, and then three. And finally she was lucky to get one lunch from home a week. I didn’t feel bad at the time because they changed the menu, and it looked pretty decent. I just had no idea that they let the kids buy as much as they want. I also stopped asking her what she was eating at school, and just assumed everything was peachy. I had a few hours of self-loathing, but finally came to realization that we just need to start anew.

Miss E now has no choice but to take her lunch to school every day. She also has to do extra chores to work off all the extra money spent on her school food extras, and no spending any nights away from home for a while. I might also be doing some hardcore research on the number of calories a young person should be getting, and show her what that looks like in terms of volume. The sheriff just got a little bit meaner.

Cooking with Cabbage - Part 2

2011-11-15T13:21:00.000-05:00

Pop's Cabbage Burger Soup

It's finally here! This is absolutely my most favorite soup in the world. The recipe belongs to my grandfather, who is my family's head culinary creator. He was an Army mess sargent during the Korean War, and learned a wealth of knowledge he has lovingly shared with us. I am sure much of my love for this soup is emotionally-based, but I really do think it tastes great and is super simple. I made it this past weekend, and am still enjoying the left overs.

Brown 1 lb. ground beef

Add 1 cup chopped onions during the browning

If you are using high-fat burger, be sure to drain most of it off.

Chop cabbage finely. I use half of a large head of cabbage.

Add a 15 oz can of tomoto sauce, a 15 oz can of dark red kidney beans, and the cabbage to the ground beef. Also add two cans of water. Season with celery salt, ground black pepper and garlic powder.

Enjoy with your favorite corn bread and large glass of milk!

If you try this, please let me know how you like it. You are also welcome to share your mofications.

Cooking with Cabbage - Part 1

2011-11-12T10:36:00.001-05:00

There are so many vegetables that I did not learn to enjoy until I was near adulthood, so I am trying to encourage my children to start early. Cabbage is one of those vegetables. Cole slaw I could handle, but the only other way it was usually presented to me was sauerkraut, and I can say that I am still not a fan.

My mom showed me the following recipe many, many years ago, and then I finally became a fan of cooked cabbage. This is a favorite with my kiddos too! AND, cabbage is still in season in my part of the nation, so try to find a fresh one. You won't be disappointed.

One Pot Wonders: Cabbage, Potatoes and Sausage

Slice red potatoes thinly into a large, deep skillet or soup pot. I use 4 to 5 potatoes.

Add half a large onion, cut into large pieces.

Add cut cabbage - about half a large head (I'll share what to do with the other half later).

Add cut Polish sausage. While the beef/pork versions taste the best, I have become a fan of the turkey sausage to save fat and calories.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Add a cup of water and cover. Cook on medium heat until cabbage and potatoes are tender. Stir occassionally.

Eating Healthy has Paid Off

2011-11-02T16:48:00.000-04:00

Apparently, today is “Start Eating Healthy Day.” I am not certain, but I think the initiative was started by the American Health Association since they are referenced in several news articles. On their web site, they have a link to a “Healthy Holiday Eating Guide” serving as a reminder to not overdo it the next few months. I am proud to say that this day will serve as my reminder to continue eating healthy (it’s also my mama’s birthday.)

Last summer I finally quit making excuses for having too much post pregnancy/too much stress weight and started to do something about it. I began exercising daily and made sure to make healthier food choices. To me, this means eating more vegetables, whole foods, and less sugar. I’ve always been pretty good about eating fruits, nuts and whole grains in my diet, but I also amplified those efforts as well. My meat intake has probably decreased a bit, but only because I have increased egg consumption. Dairy remains the same; I consume a lot of milk, cheese and yogurt. And since I do all of the cooking at my house, my family has benefited from my new habits as well.

The word “diet” is currently not in my vocabulary. I know that if I dramatically cut calories or refrain from having my favorite foods, I won’t be able to sustain my weight loss. So, I still eat my favorites on occasion. I also make sure that if I want to splurge on a treat, it has to be the good stuff – none of that low fat, low sugar stuff.

So what are the results? In about 14 months I have dropped 35 pounds and am back to what I consider my average adult weight (the weight I was back in high school, most of college, and pre and post 1st baby.) Yes, I’ll tell you… I now weigh 170 pounds and am 5’7”. My waist is currently 31 inches, down from a high of 37. I would still like to lose at least 10-15 more pounds to put myself within the healthy BMI range and other average recommendations for someone my height and build. But I refuse to set a time goal to reach this weight. I am just going to see where my new habits take me.

I am also proud to report the numbers from my last physical:

Blood pressure – 112/65

Triglycerides – 82 (should be below 150)

Cholesterol – 190 (healthy range is 125-200)

HDL-Cholesterol – 49 (should be greater than 46)

LDL-Cholesterol – 125 (should be less than 130)

Cholesterol to HDL ratio – 3.9 (should be less than 5.0)

Glucose – 85 (should be between 65 and 99)

I had these same tests done this time last year. While I don’t have the exact numbers, I do know that they are better this time. Therefore, I am concluding that the dietary changes I have made are healthier. The only thing I may change is to eat a little less… or exercise more (which may be the harder thing to do with my schedule).

Today, I did not have to “start” eating healthy. I am and will continue to do so.
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Sugar in the Landfills

2011-10-31T16:00:00.000-04:00

Since it is Halloween, I am going to refrain from preaching about giving kids too much candy today. I do allow my kids to go trick or treating, and they are allowed to eat a few pieces of their treasured loot (after I go through it to find the good stuff, that is). But in about a month I am sure I will be tossing about three quarters of their candy in the trash. Not because I am that mean mommy all the time, but thankfully because they forget about it.

At our house, Halloween is all about the costumes and making a show for all to see. Since we do not live in a great “trick or treating” neighborhood, we travel to Nana’s each year where there are more people to impress. And when Eden dresses up, she plays the part. Since she is a peacock this year, I am sure she will be making that awful peacock cry and fanning her tail. Little Lane will be happy just walking around and seeing everyone.

When the candy comes home, there are rules attached. Eden has been my daughter long enough that she knows to ask before getting into her bucket. I let her have a piece or two of candy a day, usually after she has had something good to eat. After the fourth day, she quits asking, and it just sits on top of the refrigerator. Daddy will go through and find the things he likes – anything made out of chocolate. I am bit pickier; it has to have both chocolate and caramel (I’m so glad that candy costs more and people are less likely to buy it to give out).

So now I am wondering if my family is atypical, or if most families end up tossing a lot of the candy in the trash. I’m also wondering if we should be doing something different these days if our candy money is wasted. Should we be giving quarters to every great costume that comes knocking on our door? I think Unicef used to give kids boxes in order to collect donations during Halloween, but I have not seen that lately. Could we be collecting for local children in need to good food? It would take a great deal of effort to change the tradition, but I am all for it. Now who’s with me? Mars and Hersey’s, please don’t send me any hate mail!

Food Day & Learning to Say “NO”

2011-10-24T07:00:00.003-04:00

While I appreciate the efforts of FOOD DAY organizers, I have a few issues and will attempt to address them in time. (Initially I wanted to tackle one each day this week, but I am a busy mom.)

Food Day Principle #5 - Promote health by curbing junk-food marketing aimed at kids

Food, Mommy Principle #1 - Promote health by providing your kids better food choices and teach them to say "No" to poor food choices

I think it is very ironic that everyone is pointing their fingers at “junk-food” producers and marketers for making our kids fat, when they don’t have any real buying power. Who buys it for them? WE DO!

“No” may be the most important word you ever teach your child. My kids hear it at least 50 times a day, and at least half of those “no’s” are aimed at their food choices.

“Mommy, can I pick a cereal that I want?” And I say, “No, we are not going to get a cereal with that much sugar.”

“Mommy, can I have some ice cream?” Me, “What did you eat today at Nana’s house?” Kid, “Well, we had pancakes for breakfast, macaroni and cheese and a popsicle at lunch.” Me, “No, not today. If we make better food choices tomorrow, then I will consider letting you have some ice cream.”

“Mommy, I’m starving. Can we go by McDonald’s or Taco Bell.” Me, “No, I have something to cook for dinner. Eat an apple when we get home.”

As marketing tactics become increasingly aggressive, we the adults need to put on our fighting gear and quit asking the government to step in or stop filing silly lawsuits against the best food marketers. Slick advertising does not make our kids fat. They may ask for it, but adults are giving in. I will even be so bold to say that parents are worse than the marketers. We get lazy or blame the fact that we just don’t have time to do better.

On more occasions than I can count in the last few months, I have seen adults making very poor food choices for our children. Pizza, hot dogs and sodas were the main fare at a juvenile diabetes research fund raising walk this weekend. Every time my child is sent home with a fundraising form, it is for selling doughnuts or treats or cookie dough. Upcomoing Halloween and fall festivals will be filled with bags of candy and food our kids just do not need. How often do our kids have an extra-curricular activity and pizza, cookies, cupcakes, sodas and sugar-filled drinks aren’t on the menu? The kids aren’t shelling out the cash for these things, and I bet they aren’t even asking for it. We just assume that is what they want to eat and we provide it for them.

I am not opposed to pizza and treats on occassion, but let’s get off our duffs and show our kids that we care about their health. Just say, “NO,” and give them a good meal for a change.

In Search of the Best Broccoli Soup

2011-10-21T10:42:00.000-04:00

I love soup. Beyond chili and my grandfather's cabbage soup (a recipe I may share soon), broccoli soup is one my top food pleasures. My children love it as well, and it is usually ordered at most any restaurant that has it on their menu. But I would love to find that perfect recipe so we can enjoy broccoli soup at home.

I have tried a couple recipes over the last year without much luck. I came close last night with this recipe I found on Food.com - http://www.food.com/recipe/panera-broccoli-cheese-soup-150384 - which claims to be what Panera Bread serves. Since we are huge fans of Panera Bread, we thought we would give it a try.

I call this our "hurry up and take the picture so I can eat" broccoli soup!

It was pretty delicious, but I think improving some of my stovetop handiwork may make it better. Since the broccoli was still pretty crisp, I may consider cooking it a little longer. I think I will also omit the nutmeg in the future. Leaving out the floor dirt may also be a good idea. I let my daughter chop up the broccoli and carrots, and she then called her little brother over to help. After he took a few cranks on the rotary chopper, he thought it would be a good idea to dump the broccoli all over the floor. It had to be saved! All in all, we were pretty happy with the result, and every bowl was licked clean. But still I would give it an only an 8.

If you have a favorite broccoli soup recipe for my family to try, please send it my way. The search is still on. I may also be in need of a few soup cooking tips.

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Big may not be all BAD, but Small is not OUT OF TOUCH

2011-10-17T21:43:00.001-04:00

In my post "Incedible Cause for Concern" last week, I shared my frustrations with the public's lack of understanding about today's farmers. Whether you praise their efforts or curse the current direction of our food system, the average U.S. farmer is feeding 155 people, compared to 27 people in 1950. The point of my post was to encourage people to remember the faces behind all the farms that are providing us 82% of our food, as they are not all huge food company conglomerates hundreds of miles away. What I may have failed to do, however, is praise the small farmers (whatever your definition of "small" may be) in which so many hold dear to their hearts. Each farmer has a unique story, and we all need to learn to listen to every voice at the "table," myself included.

Therefore I wanted to share this post by a fellow Kentucky blogger, Friends Drift Inn. She wants to make sure we know that she is also a famer - a very tired farmer - trying to produce food for reasons she believes the current food system has failed her.

"I am a farmer. I am not the enemy" - http://www.friendsdriftinn.com/real-life/world-food-day-2011.html

Happy reading.

Something Old, Something New, Something Wild

2011-10-12T12:00:00.003-04:00

I was pretty proud of the dinner I made on this past Sunday night. I had a bunch of my chicken's eggs in the fridge, so I decided to make a quiche. Loaded with bacon, cheese, onion and butter, there is nothing that says "comfort food" more than this dish I learned to cook from my mama. We usually reserve it for holiday mornings, but I wanted to splurge a bit (I skipped the crust to reduce a few calories).

Bacon, cheese and onion quiche, acorn squash, and sorrel garnish. Quiche recipe below.

What made this dinner even better was that I cooked up something I never had before, acorn squash. My mother-in-law and good old Betty Crocker instructed me to cut the squash in half, sprinkle with a little sugar (I used Truvia) and salt, add a pat of butter and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. When they halves were done, I scooped the flesh out and served. Can we say, favorite new food!

Now here comes the "wild." I was outside playing with the kids earlier and saw little plants with yellow flowers growing all over the walkway to the house. I was convinced these little greens were edible, so I looked them up. Turns out they were wood sorrel and very tasty. They have a strong lemony flavor. So they were added to the plate as well. I did learn that you can't eat too much because of the high oxalic acid content (which gives them their flavor). Since, I have put some on my sandwiches as well. Love the "free" food.

I'm so glad I am getting more creative in the kitchen. It is such a joy to try new things and try to improve on old favorites. And don't forget to involve the kids. Happy cooking to everyone.

My favorite quiche:

Saute' a cup of onions in one stick of butter and pour into a pie crust (you can just pour into a 8 x 8 baking dish to save some calories)
Add crumbled bacon (about 6 pieces, more if desired)
Add a 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

Mix 4 large eggs, 1 cup of heavy whipping cream and a 1/2 cup of milk, salt and pepper
Pour over the onions, bacon and cheese.

Cook for 15 minutes at 425 degrees, then reduce temperature to 300 and cook for 30 minutes longer.

Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

I don't even want to think about how many calories are in one serving!

Incredible Cause for Concern

2011-10-11T12:00:00.002-04:00

What is your definition of “farmer?” Apparently to many of the visitors to the Incredible Food Show in Lexington, Ky. this past weekend it is someone who is growing their own food in their backyard or selling at a “Farmer’s” market.

Farm women volunteers, who are part of the CommonGround initiative, went to the Incredible Food Show to engage with the public and answer any questions they may have about how food is produced on their farms. I was able to assist by moderating a panel discussion about food marketing and production concerns, as well as, encourage conversations at the CommonGround booth.

While it seemed everyone was glad we were there, it really shocked me that every time I mentioned to someone that we were there on behalf of farmers to encourage conversation about how food is produced, the instant response was, “Oh, I love that. I visit the Farmer’s Market all the time.” Or, “My sister has a garden. That’s great.”

The Voltaggio brothers - of Top Chef fame - showed the audience at the Incredible Food Show in Lexington how to use every part of local veggies for some very creative and "artful" eating.

Another thing that really got to me was the fact that one of the guest celebrity chefs, Michael Voltaggio (his brother Bryan was also there) made the comment during their show that “produce from local farmers was great, but everything at the grocery store was test tube food grown in a factory.”

Really? Why does everything think that?

I admit 100% that the fruits and vegetables grown right under our noses taste better to the 100th degree. Farmers that have local markets are able to pick the produce at the peak of freshness and can get it to the consumer very quickly. Unfortunately, this makes up a very small portion of the food supply, at least in Kentucky. There is a big push right now to get more local food to our local customers, but it will take some time.

In the meantime, however, the produce farmer in Ohio, or even California, who is large enough to service several grocery stores in our state now has a big “X” on his/her face. Some folks are just convinced that since the farm is not “local” and is producing food on several hundred acres instead of two, that the product is bad, industrial food.

At what point does a farmer or farm become “industrial?” And when did “success” become a bad word in agriculture?

Having visited several Kentucky farms recently, I wish all the best for them. If Mary and Shane Courtney’s vegetable business is thriving, and they are able to add more acres, more labor, and service more customers, I hope that is what they do. And what if they are able to grow enough produce that they can move beyond the local CSAs, wholesale and restaurant markets? Is there a point where they will no longer be considered farmers? Maybe that is when they are able to hire enough help that they can actually take a vacation during the growing/harvest season? Heaven forbid.

We have farmers and farms of all types and sizes, using various production techniques and located in all geographic areas. Some areas are great at growing produce, and other land is best suited for grains or livestock production. I know that it will take all farmers and farms to satisfy the needs of our growing population. Just today I saw the following statistic:

“Up until 1920 more people lived on farms than in cities and it took almost 20 million farms to feed the U.S. population which at the time was about 100 million people. Advances in and modernization of agriculture since then now allows for 6.5 million farms to feed 300 million people in the U.S. and export food to people around the world.”

While some may not like the idea of fewer farmers producing more food, this is our current food reality, and I don’t think it is all bad. Jerome Monroe Smucker of Ohio made apple cider from a few apple trees planted by Johnny “Appleseed” in the late 1800s. As popularity grew beyond the locals, he needed more supplies of fruit and he eventually had to move some of the processing to Washington, where fruit was more plentiful. Now his family’s products are sold all over the world.

Back to Kentucky, many of our grain farmers are selling corn and wheat to the local distilleries for bourbon and other spirits. Those products are also sold worldwide. Our local family grain farmers are selling to the food industry as well. Our wheat ends up in crackers and cookies sold throughout the U.S. at Wal-Mart stores via Siemer Milling in Hopkinsville. Our corn ends up in corn chips sold all over the country via Mesa Foods in Louisville. Weisenberger Mills in Midway has used corn and wheat from local farmers since 1865 to make its baking products.

My hope is that no matter the origin of the food products, the consumer remembers there is a face behind the production of the food ingredients, and that face is local to someone. To me, the term “farmer” goes beyond a person or family growing enough fruits and vegetables for themselves and few folks at a farmer’s market. It goes beyond the person like me with a few chickens in a coop. Farmers are producing food for the masses.

Just a side note before I close – I was also perplexed at literature I saw from Whole Foods at the Incredible Food Show. On the back of a local magazine, they placed an ad that said “Eat Seasonal. Eat Local.” On the front page of their newsletter/coupon book, however, they were advertising a pasta product produced in Italy. To me this is very hypocritical. The whole premise of eating local is to reduce the environmental impact of shipping food all over the place. Why aren’t they selling pasta made from Durum wheat in the good ole USA? Seems like the Pacific Northwest, where Durum is grown by our farmers, is a little more local than Italy. I’m just saying.

Singing the Busy Mom Blues - Dishes in the Sink

2011-10-07T12:56:00.001-04:00

It’s been one of those weeks. I’ve been away from my home/office nearly every day this week for work, and as soon as I am home, my family and animals have warranted my full attention. This busy schedule has left little time for blogging, and as usual, the household chores. Toys are everywhere, beds are rarely made, dust dragons lurking in dark corners, and there are a new pile of dishes in the sink every night.

While this may put most OCD moms in a state of panic, I at least can be proud of one aspect of my out-of-order home; more dishes in the sink means less meals out. In fact, every dinner this week has been cooked from ingredients I had at home… no boxes and definitely no fast food cartons and wrappers.

It would be so easy to make the 15 minute trek into town to purchase a ready-made meal for my kids and husband, but I took the high road. This is in no disrespect to moms that choose that route, because I have been there, and still visit that option on occasion. But it has been so rewarding for my soul to cook for my family… and did I mention the fact that I have the “mother lode” of fruits and veggies in the fridge that I don’t want to throw out. It has become harder and harder these days for me to toss food (and money) into the trash.

And while home cooking takes quite a bit more time and gives me a pile of dishes that won’t fit in the dishwasher, this is one chore I have stopped groaning about. I am providing my family nutritious food made from my heart.

Letters to My Food: Dear Chickens

2011-10-01T08:00:00.001-04:00

Dear Chickens,

I know you want to get out and enjoy the sun, cool breeze, bugs and lush plant life, but you will stay inside. I am not trying to punish you, but want to keep you safe from the hawk that decided to eat your sister yesterday. In fact, that hawk has eaten several of you the past month, including your most beloved rooster.

Until I can get a nice fence around and over your yard, you will have to remain confined, but I will try to bring you treats for your patience.

Most sincerely,

JE

Broadening My Local Food Horizons

2011-09-30T13:30:00.000-04:00

Yesterday my eyes were opened wide to a brand new food world. It was almost like I had been living in an M. Night Shyamalan’s version of a food “Village,” and I had no idea what was on the other side. The best, and most shocking part of this story, is the new world was not too far from my backyard.

My day job took me to Courtney Farms, where we were shooting an educational video series about Kentucky farms, farmers and food. This farm, which recently decided to grow vegetables to replace several tobacco acres, was our first stop for the series. They are growing about 100 different vegetable varieties they sell through CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares and to wholesale markets.

Can you believe it? 100 different types! I think I may eat less than 30 different vegetables on a regular basis. My daughter Eden was able to visit the farm with me, and she also was amazed at the variety. We saw patty pan squash, acorn squash, winter squash, Brussels sprouts, starburst squash, zephyr squash, eggplant, purple peppers, apricot peppers (which were absolutely fabulous, by the way) and more. That was just what had been harvested that morning. In the field we saw Swiss chard, green beans, spinach, radishes and many, many more. I wondered what kind of tizzy the teenage grocery clerk would have been in if I wandered through his/her lane with such fare.

I had the chance to meet and talk with Mary Courtney a couple times before, but this is the first time I was really able to see what she produced. I remembered that she had told me that she and her family will eat the raw vegetables straight out of the field, and my daughter and I were able to do that, too. In fact, Eden almost ate an entire cucumber and was easily coerced into trying one of those sweet apricot peppers. The best part is we were sent home with an assortment of the goodies, and I can’t wait to find recipes so we can enjoy them.

Having been a nearly 100% buy-from-the-grocery-store-chain kind of lady due to convenience and my location, I can now tell you I will definitely be eating more of this fabulous food in the future. If I can’t figure out how to grow my own in the garden I have planned for next year, I will definitely be giving Mary a call. The taste and freshness of her veggies was beyond compare.

But don’t despair, farmers across the U.S. and outside our borders. I will still need you come the first killing Kentucky frost. I have not yet learned the fine art of canning, and I still want my weekly supply of bananas and grapefruits.

You may also be interested in the interview I had with Mary about their production practices – “Why I don’t buy organic, most of the time.”

Eating by Example

2011-09-27T22:07:00.001-04:00

When you are a parent, even the smallest milestones make you jump for joy. My most recent jubilation came this past Sunday night; my 2-year-old son ate an entire piece of raw broccoli. What was even more amazing was that I did not even offer it to him. He just took it off of my salad plate and in his mouth it went. I told him that I was so very proud of him and gave him a big hug.

My daughter sat their staring at me wondering why I didn’t give her the same hug, but she has always been a great vegetable connoisseur. I do try to tell her on a regular basis however that I am so happy that she enjoys nutritious food.

My son, on the other hand, has been a bit pickier about his food choices. I was beginning to think that I had done something differently in raising this child since anything green usually hit the floor. I had resorted to “hiding” vegetables in his food. And since I discovered that he is very fond of “salads,” which I am sure is mostly due to the fact there is some kind of dressing masking the taste, I started sharing my salads with him on a regular basis, and he was none the wiser of me including bell peppers and onions in his bites. I also make a chopped broccoli salad quite often that includes many of his other favorites like Craisins, cheese and nuts. And the last few times we have had asparagus, I asked him if he wanted to eat a little tree, and he replied, “Roarrrrr. I eat like a dinosaur.” He did take a couple bites. And carrots and sweet potatoes have also become a few of his more recent favorites.

While these new eating habits did not occur overnight, I am now a true believer that we must show our kids how to eat properly by example. A dose of patience also goes a long way. Now that I feel that I have a true success story, here are a few of my tips to help you steer your kids to eating a larger variety of nutritious foods:

1 – Do not get into the habit of cooking your kids separate meals, especially at dinner time. It’s hard on you and sets your kids up to think they can always eat exactly what they want. And make sure to put a little of everything on their plates.

2 – Do not force your kids to try something new, but bribery works pretty well. Tell your kids they can eat something you know they like if they try what is on their plate. I always try to hold back the bread until after they have eaten an ample supply of veggies.

3 – Dramatize! It may sound silly, but if you make a big deal about how good the vegetables are, they might eventually want try it on their own to satisfy their curiosity.

4 – Get your kids involved in selecting things at the grocery or market. My daughter loves getting her own grocery cart and filling it with all of the fruits and vegetables, especially if she knows she will be eating it later. She is also pretty good at selecting the produce on her own. Nothing makes her more proud then to hear another customer compliment her on her choices. To get my toddler son involved, I make sure to have a conversation with him about all of the different things we buy.

One of the biggest failures I have seen with parents/caregivers is that they think kids won’t like certain foods because they are kids. I have also seen parents/caregivers give up too easily and resort to not-so-healthy choices so the kids have something to eat. But be persistent. If they see you eating and enjoying healthy food choices and also providing good choices, maybe they will learn to love good food as well.

Know Your Story. Write it Down. Share, Share, Share!

2011-09-21T12:35:00.000-04:00

I was so incredibly frustrated last night. I had a perfect platform and opportunity to share my “story,” and in my mind, I flopped.

I was invited to be on a panel of women agriculture leaders at a farm women event yesterday. The coordinator wanted us to share how we got to the positions we have today. I was thinking that would not be a problem since I know my life pretty much better than anyone.

I thought it would be good to talk about how I came from a small semi-subsistence farm, my horses led me to an education in agriculture, and the fact that I never thought in a million years I would work for farmers. I also wanted to point out how after so many years, we are finally realizing the importance of empowering women to help share the message of farming and food.

Fortunately I made it through all that, but then my nerves started messing with my head and I completely forgot to share the good stuff, where I and my experience were heading.

Because of this new tool called social media, I am no longer just talking to the local fourth-grade class about grain, creating web pages and trade show displays, or writing content about and for my farmers; I am connecting with people across the country and beyond. While I am not a farmer, my work in the “field” has given me a unique viewpoint, and I now have a way to easily share that with who will listen. Social media also provides a richer learning opportunity. I am more aware of the feelings and struggles of other farmers, whether big or small, modern or traditional. That has helped me lift my blinders to my specific niche and learn to embrace others.

My day job might be “woman in ag,” or as some folks like to call me “corn girl” (which I hate by the way), my most important job is MOM: buyer and preparer of the food. My biggest motivation for involving myself in food and farm conversations is my desire to have the food choices I have today in the future.

Now that I can actually look at what I want to say on the screen, hopefully I will be a little more prepared to share this story when the opportunity presents itself. (FYI: I am one of those visual learners). Or better yet, maybe I, as well as others involved in farming, need to create those opportunities.

Follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/foodmommy or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/foodmommy.

Backyard Eggs - Tastier?

2011-09-19T15:22:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday we ate the first eggs from our chickens. It felt really good to eat food that we helped produce. But did they taste better? Many people have told me that they do.

Our first eggs were on the small size. I expect they will get bigger as the chickens mature and lay more.

The yolks were definitely more orange than a store-bought egg. Some say this is because chickens allowed to forage will eat grasses and other plants which contain beta carotene.

We decided to scramble the eggs. I always add a little bit of milk and a pinch of salt. I will admit that the darker color weirded me out a bit, and I expected that they would taste different than the store eggs.

Eden was in charge of stirring them around the skillet.

We let Eden take the first bite, and she said, "Yum!"

Breakfast is served. We made sure to say a prayer thanking the Lord for providing this wonderful meal.

Somewhat-picky-eater Lane also approved of the eggs and ate every bit.

I eat a lot of eggs, and I did not think they tasted any different than what I usually buy (the cheapest eggs at the store), but the experience is what made them better. I can't wait until we have some more!

Hogs on the Highway

2011-09-16T16:16:00.001-04:00

I was traveling up the interstate today and saw a semi-trailer load of hogs making its way north. (Okay, I smelled it first and pretty much knew there were hogs on board before I saw their pink little hides.) My reaction when I passed was, “Hello, little piggies. Thank you for feeding me.”

Then I began to wonder about the truck driver. Does he get dirty looks from vegetarians? I wonder how he handles looks of disgust or vulgar gestures. But then I began to wonder about the localvores. Do they also grimace at the sight of food traveling up the highway? Obviously this line of thought intrigued me, and I wanted to think more about why our food, specifically pigs, must travel long distances to get to our dinner plates.

After some research, I calculated the following numbers:

• The average American consumes about 48 pounds of pork each year.

• Market weight of a hog is between 240 and 260 pounds, which yields about 184 pounds of meat.

• Therefore, 1 hog feeds about 4 people per year.

Then I began to think about the town in which I live, population 9,344. In order to feed the people of my town the pork they desire, it would require a local farmer to raise 2,336 hogs per year. That sounds like a lot. So I called one of my favorite Kentucky farmers in the county just south of me and asked about his operation.

The Mackey family feeds 5,000 -6,000 hogs per year. They receive a new batch of weaned pigs every 5 weeks and those pigs are fed for 5 ½ months until they reach 260 pounds. Each batch of pigs received and fed is considered a group, and those groups are sold throughout the year..

The Mackey’s also produce the pigs' feed—corn and soybeans—on 250 acres of adjoining crop ground. All of the manure produced from the hogs is used to fertilizer the feed crops. They have to purchase very little extra nitrogen for the field corn. So all in all, this operation is pretty self-sustaining.

My thought is that it would be fairly easy for a hog farmer to produce enough pork to sustain my town, so long as someone was willing to do it, had the land and resources, and could get a permit for such an operation. The operation would only have to be half as large as the Mackey’s.

But what if we wanted to feed my entire county, population 74,319? That would require 18.5 thousand hogs, so at least 3 to 4 hog operations the size of the Mackey’s would be needed. Since Bullitt County is 300 square miles in size, one hog farm would need to be located every 100 square miles. Most likely, every resident would live within 10 miles of a hog farm. Would they want to do that if they knew they were getting local pork? Of course that is depending upon enough farm acreage available to support the operations, which I am unsure of, and if a local processing facility could be constructed and operated.

But then let’s think about my nearest metropolitan area, just 20 miles north of me (which is likely where the hogs on the highway were heading in the first place). The population is 740,000 people, which would require 185,000 hogs. Land is not available for hog operations, so the pork must come from elsewhere in the state.

The total population of Kentucky is 4,340,000. Today, the commonwealth produces less than 300,000 hogs each year, which is only 1/3 of what we consume. The last year that we produced enough pork to feed the current population was 1980. So to be completely local do we consume two-thirds less pork, or does two-thirds of the population do without? Or, does the price of the pork go so high for increased demand that we can no longer afford to eat it?

I asked the director of my local pork producers association what barriers there were to farmers not producing more hogs. She said profitability was number one. Other factors were that it was harder for new operations to start due to environmental regulations and the fact that the growing suburban population does not want to live near a hog farm.

This scenario is not unique to hog farmers. Whether it is beef, poultry, eggs, or even apples, there are many factors at work that prohibit the required local food production. Demand for food beyond what our land and resources can produce is first and foremost.

Could we do more for ourselves? Those of us who have some land and money are in a better place to be more self-sustaining, but I can’t even get a cabbage to grow or keep my chickens safe from the local carnivores. I could raise that one hog to feed my family of four for a year, but did I mention that hogs are not allowed in my neighborhood? Thank goodness for hogs on the highway!

Wordless Wednesday - Eggstatic!

2011-09-14T13:33:00.001-04:00

Our first eggs and the girls who made it happen!

Food Marketing Mayhem

2011-09-13T17:08:00.001-04:00

Produced the way God intended.

That was the first thing that popped into my head when Eden was trying to come up with a slogan to put on a carton to sell her eggs. For the chickens are free to go wherever and can eat anything they want.

Or maybe we can say, “all natural” when we sell our eggs; they are of this earth, at least to my knowledge. Free-range, raised with integrity, from a small family-farm, home-grown, gluten-free, sugar free, no high-fructose corn syrup, raised with no added hormones, no steroids, no antibiotics, local, and proceeds from all sales will go to a college fund. Who wouldn’t want to buy Eden’s eggs?

But this is exactly the kind of marketing mayhem that is making my head spin. Food companies are playing on our emotions and lack of knowledge to sell their products.

The tactic I like the least is saying a food is free of some ingredient or additive, when it never had it to begin with. In the late ‘80s and ‘90s, when the newest diet crazes required eating less fat, everything became “fat free.” Remember seeing sugar candies labeled “fat free?” Oh, yea. I can eat all I want!

Fast forward 25 years, fat is no longer the enemy; it’s sugar. Even worse in some minds is high-fructose corn syrup, which is silly. But I admit that I have hopped aboard the “sugar is bad” train. I caught myself looking at several yogurts at the store wanting to find the one that had the least sugar, but without aspartame… because that’s really bad? Oh, trans-fats are still bad. Yes? I haven’t seen a label that says no trans-fats in a while, so do we care anymore? It seems that you now need to know the difference between Omega-3s and Omega-6s. Both are naturally-occurring. Which one am I looking for, again?

The chicken companies have started to add “no added hormones” and “no steroids” to their labels. But just in case you didn’t know, chicken producers have not been allowed to use hormones and steroids since 1954. But would you buy the chicken labeled as such above a brand that is not labeled that way? I also think it is funny that they place “cage free” on packages of chicken cuts. Most all chickens produced for meat are raised cage free. Chickens from cages that have exceeded their maximum egg producing years may end up in a can of chicken noodle soup, but who would eat that anyway? Have you seen the sodium content? Wait, the soup now has “a 1/3 less sodium which is ‘heart healthy’?”

While I have not seen it as much lately, “hormone free” really gets me going. If it has ever been alive, plant or animal, there are hormones. Unless you are eating synthetic food, get used to consuming them.

My next least favorite tactic is food companies trying to make less than healthy foods seem more healthful. Jars of spaghetti sauce and canned pastas contain “two full servings of vegetables.” Wait a minute. I thought tomatoes were technically fruits. We may next be seeing that veggie slogan on a bag of potato chips. If you eat the whole bag, you may be getting several day’s worth of veggies. Yes! And while I do appreciate the breakfast cereal companies using more “whole grains” which many of them have done for years, that does not change the fact that they are still full of sugar. Hmm? Some say that cows fed corn are less healthy than cows only fed grass and hay. Will corn--which is a whole grain--make me unhealthy and fat, too? Suzanne Somers says so. What’s next? “Contains no corn” or “no grains?” Actually, I have seen that on bags of dog and cat food. Those bags also read, “Real meat.”

Since Paleolithic man did not eat grains, they must not be an ideal food choice. However, I just saw a magazine cover that says Dr. Oz swears by eating for your blood type. Since my blood is A-, I am supposedly a perfect candidate to go vegetarian, and I digest grains very well. I expect that very soon we will see frozen meals that will list blood types: “Type A approved!”

Lastly, I have been seeing foods marked, “farm-grown.” Are there so many synthetic food ingredients out there that people honestly think their food was created in a laboratory?

Or better yet, I recently saw bins full of vegetables marked “Home Grown.” I stood there with my mouth open for a few seconds. I really had a hard time believing that this mound of produce came from a local person’s back yard. The logistics alone did not make since for a large grocery chain to buy from small, very local producers.

Then I saw another store chain advertise the same in their weekly flyer and an explanation followed. The produce came from X Farms: they are family-owned, grow produce on 2,500 acres and are located in Ohio. Nothing against Ohio, but that is not close to my home, 2,500 acres is a very large operation requiring lots of labor, and most all the farms I know of are family-owned. Why isn’t the corn bread mix in the next aisle labeled “home grown” then, or the steaks in the meat aisle. I know for a fact that those came from family farmers in Kentucky, even though they are sold at a regional store chain. Maybe I need to put a bug in their marketers’ ears.

The list of food marketing tactics goes on and on. While some can claim it is a better understanding of food and nutrition that makes food companies want to cater to our desires and aim to eat better, I also believe it plays into a lot of people’s lack of understanding and fear. I am also inclined to think that these marketing buzz words give food companies justifiable reason to up the price on our food. Are you willing to pay more for the same food that is perceived as being better? I am not.

We have more information about the food we eat than ever. But while I cannot make claims on the overall health of our population, I know for a fact that we are definitely a heftier nation than we were before we knew the simplest calorie, fat and sugar content of our food. So, what is really making us fat: the food or our tendencies to embrace fancy words and slick packaging? I am still a believer that food with the least amount of frill, plastic, cardboard and ink is still best. Wash the dirt off and enjoy.

You may also enjoy - Hormones, Steroids, and Antibiotics. Oh, My! or Silly Chefs, High Fructose Corn Syrup is not the Enemy.

What about the potato?

2011-09-07T15:15:00.001-04:00

My good friend Sharon Burton, publisher of The Farmer’s Pride newspaper, gave me permission to post her latest editorial from the September 7 edition. I can totally relate to her struggles in trying to determine what eating healthy really is when you get so many conflicting reports. And these conflicting reports undeniably affect our perspectives of the food industry and agriculture.

I’ve been trying hard to educate myself about healthy eating. I’ve been counting carbs and sugars and have lost some weight since I began.

I’ve read a couple of books, visited health food stores and gotten on a number of email lists to receive encouragement and information.

I thought I was doing well. I thought I had learned something. I was starting to look at most breads as the enemy and green leafy foods as my friend. I had weaned myself from a lot of useless food—items that provide no nutrient benefit—and improved my menu dramatically.

Then I heard something on the radio that astounded me this morning. A study has shown that a group of obese people lowered their blood pressure by eating potatoes twice a day.

Really?

The reason I began my research was because I wanted to check for diabetes. I knew I tested just fine when blood was drawn but believed there might be something going on.

I learned that the medical industry usually just lets you know when you become a diabetic. There are warning signs along the way before your body stops converting glucose to energy if you know what to look for.

One of the ways to test your blood glucose level is to eat a fast acting carbohydrate. One website I found recommended a number of foods, including a large boiled potato.

Now, if potatoes will jump up your blood sugar level, how can they be good for you?

I went back to one of the books I read to see what I could find. The book, “The Belly Fat Cure,” recommends no more than 15 grams of sugar and 6 servings (around 120 grams) of carbs a day, spaced out in meals and snacks, thus the number 15/6.

A red medium potato uses up three of those 15 sugars and 2 of those 6 carb servings.

A large baked potato uses four of each—two-thirds of the recommended carbs.

A researcher told USA Today that the potato skin is the key. Potatoes contain a substance similar to ACE inhibitors, a widely used family of blood pressure drugs, according to the statement released about the research project.

So, is the potato my friend or enemy?

Is there any wonder people are beginning to question the motives of the food industry? Do you understand why agriculture is under attack? If we don’t know whether or not we can trust a potato, what can we trust? Who do we trust?

There are so many similar stories. Remember the attack on the egg? Everything I read now says to start my day with a couple of eggs, real butter and some bacon.

Each one of these items has been the target of attacks in the past.

Honestly, trying to learn the truth about food is one of the most frustrating experiences I have gone through in a while. It’s no wonder people give up and go back to eating Twinkies.

But I’m determined not to eat Twinkies. I want to do better for myself. I just have a simple question. What about the potato?

The Farmer’s Pride, is a statewide newspaper that provides hometown news for Kentucky’s farm community. Sharon has been in the newspaper business all her adult life and has enjoyed traveling the commonwealth visiting farms, rural communities and covering all aspects of Kentucky agriculture since 1989. Under Sharon’s leadership, The Farmer’s Pride has been recognized by commodity and other farm organizations across Kentucky with various communications awards for its role in covering issues vital to Kentucky farmers.

Proud to Wear Dirt

2011-09-06T07:52:00.002-04:00

I am writing this post for two reasons: 1) it makes sense to honor a hard worker at Labor Day, and 2) there is no better time to celebrate my mother than on my birthday.

A couple of weeks ago a Facebook friend who rides at my parents’ horse stable commented that she could not believe how dirty she was after spending a few hours at the barn. I replied, “Now you know why my mother looks such a mess most of the time.”

My mom did not think this was amusing, but after I thought about it, I think it can be paid as a compliment, because I know she wears her dirt with great honor. She loves her job. She gets to work with horses every day. She gets to teach people how to work better with their horses so they form a wonderful relationship. While she is a teacher, she is also always in student mode, soaking up every bit of information she can find, whether from a book, video or another instructor.

Because of her success and great love for her job, she always gave me the same advice when it came to my career. “I will be proud of you no matter what you do; I just want you to be happy doing it.” She did not push me to go to college (even though I did) or have a job that would make lots of money (though sometimes I wish I had chosen that route). She just let me find my own happiness, and I can truly say that I also love my job.

When I speak to school children, and even now to my peers, I proudly say, “When I was thinking about what I wanted to be when I grew up, I never in a million years thought that I would work for farmers. But I am so glad that I do, because I cannot think of a job more important than providing food to people who can’t provide it for themselves.”

While working with the land or livestock may not be the fashionable career choice, it is most definitely an honorable career choice. I hope, like my mom, anyone who gets their hands dirty to make a living, will stand strong and be proud to wear their dirt. I appreciate you!

My parents gave me a wonderful birthday present on this Labor Day - they took me and my daughter horseback riding at one of their favorite riding spots. Thank you so much!

More for Your Food Dollar – Resources Worth Sharing

2011-09-02T12:47:00.001-04:00

My last few trips to the grocery store again had me shaking my head at higher prices on many of the regular items I buy. (FYI – corn and ethanol are not THE reasons for higher food prices, as some would have you believe. Higher energy prices and local/global weather events have much higher impacts on our food supply and the prices we pay at the grocery.)

Unfortunately I have not learned the art of creative coupon clipping; those “extreme clippers” crack me up. What the heck are you going to do with 100 bottles of mustard? Are you sure need all those candy bars? I have made sure to clip a few coupons on things that I know I buy and use regularly, but I don’t want to eat and breathe coupons. I am all about buying in bulk and stocking up when things are on sale, some suggestions that the following folks share. Check them out.

Arizona Farm Bureau - @Cottonaggie does a fabulous job posting weekly menus and tips that help save consumers money. Check out these pages:

• 10+ Tips for Stretching Your Food Dollar: http://fillyourplate.org/news/10plus-easy-tips-to-help-stretch-your-food-dollar.html

• Latest Food Price Trends: http://fillyourplate.org/latest-food-price-trends.html

• Menus and Shopping Lists to Stretch Your Food Dollar: http://fillyourplate.org/stretch-your-dollar-menus.html

Food and Farm Hour with Ray Bowman (@jrfarms) on America’s Web Radio – Jenna Hogan, a nutrition and wellness educator with the University of Illinois, shares ways to save while not skimping on quality or nutrition: www.feedstuffsfoodlink.com/Media/PodcastItems/Jenna%20Hogan%20food%20prices-072911-3_0.mp3

I also like to buy food that are processed as little as possible. That way more money goes back to the farmer and not the processor. If you have tips you would like to share for saving money at the grocery, please post in the comments below.

Scientific American Busts Myths on Organic Farming; I tackle daddy-long-legs

2011-08-31T08:00:00.001-04:00

Having posted my own reasons why I do not usually purchase more costly organically-produced foods, I thought this post was an excellent companion piece. Actually, I am thrilled that a professional writer from Scientific American magazine is tackling this tough issue. She may hold a bit more clout than this rural mommy from Kentucky.

Here are the myths she takes head on:

1 – Organic farms don’t use pesticides

2 – Organic food is healthier

3 – Organic farming is better for the environment

4 – It’s all or none

One of my favorite points she makes is that the factory farm definition is not exclusive to conventional methods. There are many very large organic farms in this country. Organic does not mean small or local. It reminds me of my disdain this summer when I visited a little home-based, roadside market between swimming practice and home. I asked the proprietor if he grew all the food there and he said the only thing that was locally grown (100 miles away) was a small pile of squash. The rest was purchased at a wholesale produce market and he was charging much more than the local grocery store. He did not claim any of it was “organic,” but I can guarantee that many people had that perception.

I want to reiterate that I am not against organic production, and I believe there are several benefits to having varied production methods. I just don’t think one is necessarily superior to the other. I am a bigger fan, however, of food produced by farmers that I “know.” I appreciate being able to talk to them about what they are doing, regardless of the label they are given. Then it becomes personal, and in the end we may meet on common ground to figure out what methods are good for everyone and everything.

Before I provide the link of the said blog post I want to do some of my own mythbusting: Daddy-long-leg spiders are NOT the most poisonous spiders on the planet. In fact, they are not poisonous at all, nor are they spiders. I have no idea who started this myth, but hear it just about on a weekly basis. These creatures are called Harvestmen, and they eat decaying plants or animals. Pass it on. Source: http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefile/relatives/daddy/daddy.htm

Mythbusting 101: Organic Farms vs Conventional Farms - http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/2011/07/18/mythbusting-101-organic-farming-conventional-agriculture/

You may also enjoy - Why I don't buy organic most of the time.

Eating Meat Can Be The Green Thing To Do

2011-08-30T12:00:00.002-04:00

I have read several blog posts and comments recently regarding the livestock industry's negative impact on the environment, and I have made sure to provide a different view point to each. My guess is that since most of us aren't willing to give up meat based on health or welfare/right claims, some are trying to pull at our "I care about Mother Earth" heartstrings. Below are some myths/facts about the environmental sustainability of livestock production that I helped compile for my 9 to 5 job last fall.

Meat is In For Our Environment!

The agriculture industry is constantly evolving. Today’s farmers are producing more food using less land and resources—an important fact considering that global food demand will double within the next 50 years. Farmers are showing their commitment to land conservation and sustainability time and time again.

Myth: By eating less meat, Americans will improve the environment and free land and resources for the production of more plant crops to feed the world’s hungry.

Fact: Americans who eat both animals and plants are managing the nation’s natural resources in the best way possible to feed its people. For example, about half the land area of the U.S. can’t be used for growing crops—it can only be used for grazing. That land would be of no use as a food resource if it were not for grazing livestock like cattle, goats and sheep. Grazing animals in the United States more than doubles the area that can be used to produce food while limiting soil erosion, preserving wildlife habitat and reducing the risk of wildfires.

Myth: Meat production is not an efficient use of grain.

Fact: Environmentalists have devised some pretty creative ways to blow the feed needed to produce meat out of proportion. There are many factors of meat and grain production that are not being considered. As for beef cattle, most are grazed for the majority of their lives, and they are eating low quality forages in which humans cannot utilize. If and when beef cattle are placed on grain rations (corn and soybeans), it is fed with additional forage material. Many livestock producers are utilizing grain byproducts from biofuel and milling industries. This feed is higher in protein, fat and digestible fiber and results in similar if not better weight gain.

Myth: Meat production is a large contributor of greenhouse gases.

Fact: Animal agriculture has minimal impact on greenhouse gas production in the United States. All animals naturally produce the greenhouse gas methane by way of food digestion, but according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the entire U.S. agricultural sector contributed only 6.4 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2006.

Consumers may also hear that animals raised in a feedlot or in modern production systems create more methane than animals raised alternative ways. According to a report on beef released by the Hudson Institute’s Center For Global Food Issues, pound-for-pound, beef produced in a conventional feeding system generates 40 percent less greenhouse gas emissions and uses two-thirds less land than beef produced using organic and grass-fed production systems.

Myth: Meat production creates large amounts of water-polluting manure.

Fact: The efficiency of manure use to support crop production is the critical metric. Because of the nutrient and organic matter content, manure is an alternative to commercial fertilizers with the added benefit of substantial energy savings. For example, in the case of corn production, energy savings from the substitution of swine manure for commercial fertilizer result in net energy savings on the order of 31 to 34 percent. And all farmers ensure proper conservation is practiced to protect our water supply. They drink it too.

Other stories & resources on food/meat production and environment:

Vegan Visits a Feedlot
Ryan Andrews is a registered nutritionist, exercise physiologist and a strict vegetarian. So when he visits a 20,000-head Colorado feedyard and writes about the experience, you might expect the usual rants about factory farming, abusive conditions and animals “pumped full of hormones and antibiotics.” But no, his article actually offers an objective summary based on his personal observations and research, touching on environmental management, nutrition, and animal health. http://www.precisionnutrition.com/cattle-feedlot-visit

Ex-Hippie/Ecologist says vegans have it wrong and eating animals in moderation is good for the planet and only logical: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1316382/Carnivores-rejoice-Eating-meat-good-planet.html#ixzz1107TrgmY

More links to information can be found at www.kylivestock.org/steakoutthefacts/.

You may also be interested in my June 2010 post - Why I Choose to Eat Meat: http://foodmommy.blogspot.com/2010/06/why-i-choose-to-eat-meat.html

My Love/Hate Relationship with the Grocery Store

2011-08-29T15:58:00.000-04:00

Why I love the grocery store:

1) It's a convenient place to buy most of my food, and I am there at least 3 times a week. (Glad it's on my usual route ).

2) My chain offers gas rewards. For every $100 I spend in groceries, I get 10 cents off per gallon at the pump. It wasn't that long ago that I got 60 cents off! Woo Hoo! Then, "Aaaaccck, I spent $600 on food between fill-ups?" Surely I had a few out-of-town fill ups in between, I hope.

Why I hate the grocery store:

1) Long lines and never enough checkers.

2) Terrible baggers - do they teach people how to bag groceries any more? I worked at a large chain when I was in high school and we always had a manager telling us how to do it better. I now set my groceries on the the belt in categories in hopes that they are bagged that way... never happens. I remember the little old, grumpy ladies who would insist on bagging their own groceries at my store. I have become one of those grumpy ladies.

3) There must be a list of all the things I like to eat that is used to decide which products are to be discontinued. The latest is Yoplait Greek Yogurt which I am convinced is the best, and I will pay whatever it costs to get it. There is no local grocery that carries this now. Grrrr.

4) It's nasty dirty - the only other place that gives me worse germ anxiety is a hospital. When I was getting apples the other day, one fell and rolled across the floor. I announced loudly, "And that is the reason why you should always wash your fruits and vegetables!" And no matter how hard I tried to stop him, my son would find a way to lick the grocery cart. Luckily he has outgrown that.

5) Carts are always all over the parking lot waiting to dent an automobile. They have the nice, convenient cart corrals these days. I cannot think of a good enough excuse for someone not to put their cart up. Laziness? Come rain, snow, or a screaming child, my cart will end up in the proper place. I also make sure to take a cart from the parking lot into the grocery store to help their efforts.

6) They set all the things kids want but parents don't at cart level. I have ended up with all sorts of things in my cart that I did not select. The worst spot is the checkout counter. Do you kow how hard it is to keep a toddler's hands off the M&Ms while you are trying to load your groceries? They count on that, I am certain. If anyone has any tips to avoid this, please send them my way.

I'm done hating now and off to the grocery store, again.

Photo Friday: A New Respect for Organic

2011-08-26T08:00:00.004-04:00

My oldest child was given a Bonnie cabbage plant at school last spring to grow and take a photo in hopes of winning a $1,000 scholarship. We have been caring for the cabbage diligently using what I consider organic methods – no pesticides and a “natural” fertilizer mix. I will admit that I consider myself less knowledgeable than a novice gardener, but thought we could manage this. The cabbage plant is not doing so well. I left for a couple days and found this.

If a certified organic farmer can achieve a great looking and great tasting cabbage (obviously this one tasted great to the bug) without using pesticides, I have no choice but to respect the craft and work put in to achieve that. I understand why organic produce carries a higher price tag, but also understand why many farmers do not want to take on that kind of risk. I’m so glad we have all food production systems working together to ensure we have an ample supply of safe food.

As for the photo contest, do you think we will get votes for “most interesting?” They never said it had to be the biggest, prettiest cabbage. Wish us luck.

You may also be interested in my April 14 post, “Why I don’t buy organic, most of the time.”

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Chocolate Milk Continued

2011-08-26T00:03:00.000-04:00

The day following my blog post, "The Great Chocolate Milk Compromise," I saw a story in the Baltimore Sun that calories and sugar content are being reduced in flavored milk products. This is great news, and I'm glad the milk processors are thinking more about our children's health.

I also this week ran into my good friend Denise who is a dairy farmer and works for the Kentucky Dairy Development Council. She confirmed that my child was probably not exagerating about the white milk tasting funny at school. She said milk packaged in paperboard cartons can pick up odors from other foods quite easily. Denise also told me that one milk company is trying to get schools to purchase milk in recyclable plastic bottles and will then pick up the bottles to recycle them. One more "mooovelous" idea.

How Not to Herd Chickens

2011-08-24T07:00:00.001-04:00

Have you ever had one of those experiences where you cried so hard it actually made you laugh? That was my evening last night.

I came home from a business trip this afternoon on an emotional high though quite exhausted, and my husband announced that he wanted to go ahead and move the chickens to their nearly finished coop. The chickens have been living in our horse barn, but they are making a big mess—scratching up the limestone floors, feathers and poop everywhere—so he wanted them in their new home a.s.a.p. The coop is located in our front yard, about 150 yards from the barn. We knew that getting them to their new home and convincing them to stay close while roaming would probably be a challenge, but a plan was in place.

Unfortunately I did not have a video camera, as I am sure the events that followed would have earned us an Emmy on “The Lifestyles of the Naïve and Stupid.” But please picture this:

The chickens were in “roosting” mode since it was starting to get dark, so they had already perched themselves in their dedicated horse stall. This made it very easy to catch them as chickens become very lethargic at bed time. I picked each one up and placed them in a large cage. We then loaded the cage into the truck and drove it up the driveway. Carried the cage to the coop and decided that the only way to get them inside was to place them in one by one. We placed our oldest child at the temporary door to make sure the chickens we placed inside did not come back out. Six chickens in and so far, so good. (BTW, the easiest way to catch a chicken is to grab its legs and then flip it upside down if it starts to flap their wings. This really calms them down. If they don’t struggle, just hold them upright in the crook of your arm.)

Unfortunately our youngest child was running around trying to entertain himself. He decided it would be fun to smack the smaller chicken door (for them to come in and out on their own) as hard as he could. The chickens inside freaked, and out most of them flew… into the woods behind their coop. Keep in mind that our woods are horribly thick with very narrow trees, briars, fallen limbs etc. They are not very easy to maneuver through. And did I mention that runny chicken poop flew out with them… all over my husband’s face and on my new white T-shirt.

We just stood there with the “oh, %@!*” looks on our faces and immediately started to try to herd them back toward the coop. While they are pretty easy to round up at dinner time at the barn, they are now in a new place and have no idea where they want to go. They are also Leghorns, which tend to be very flighty and skittish. If one goes in a different direction, they all go. We were back and forth between the woods, the yard, the road, the driveway, and back again, and again, and again. The children were not much help. Miss E does not know the fine art of cutting chickens and scattered them more. Mr. L had had enough and cried and cried for me to take him to the house. I just tried to keep taking deep breaths, regroup and continue to have positive, happy thoughts.

I have to give my husband “kudos” at this time because I expected him to throw up his hands and say "to heck" with the chickens. He was very good at listening to my suggestions, even though they did not work the way we would like. Finally, we decided to put up a ramp to the chicken door, encourage them with some grain and pray that they would eventually go in. If so, we would just close the door later in the evening. They decided to run into the woods, however, and this time they decided to fly up into the trees because it was past their bedtime.

Ah, ha, I thought. I can just grab them out of the trees.

I gave them a few minutes to get settled by playing with Mr. L. (Miss E had thrown in the towel and went to the house. My husband had to finish his horse chores.) Then the two of us set out on a hunting trip to find chickens in the deep dark woods. Mr. L thought it was fun. The first four were fairly easy to catch as they were either low enough for me to reach. The last four were a bit out of reach. I was able to untangle the branches to bend the tree down they were roosting in. I had to call for reinforcements to get them since I had visions of the tree slipping out of my hands and the chickens being launched into the next county. Luckily that did not happen and four more made it the coop. The last chicken was about twelve feet up, and we had to knock her out with a long stick. But don’t worry. She is perfectly okay.

The final step was to climb into the coop and place the chickens on their roost pole (since it was dark, they could not see that it was available to them). I really love my chickens. I also really love my husband for putting up with my animal projects and working so hard to see that the animals and I am happy. I gave him a really big hug and a kiss after we closed up the coop door, knowing the chickens were safe and sound. He said, “If you ever get any more animals….”

This scenario made me very mindful of the fact that our farmers also have to deal with animals getting out of their fences or barns. I have a feeling that they too feel the extreme adrenaline rush required to strategize and get those animals back to safety. If you are a farmer and have such a story, I would love for you to share it with me and my readers. I think we need to be reminded that raising livestock, no matter the species, is not an easy job and takes a lot of passion, compassion, and a dash of comic relief to make it through the mishaps.

If you want to read our other stories about our chickens, check out Eden's Chicken Chronicles or 7 Families Went Hungry.

The Great Chocolate Milk Compromise

2011-08-23T07:00:00.003-04:00

Thank goodness school is back in session, and my family is settling back into a regular schedule. But one thing is different this year. I am packing my child’s lunch every day.

I had not done that the last three years. I generally felt that what her school provided her was fine, and I am still convinced it is an economical, as well as time-saving way to go. However, since I have dedicated myself to be a bit more conscious of what my children are putting into their mouths, “fine” was not good enough.

Here are my biggest issues with the school lunches:

1) A few too many convenience foods – frozen pizza, chicken nuggets, corn dogs, etc.

2) Too few fresh fruit and veggie options.

3) The fact that I have no idea of the ingredients, calorie and nutrient content of those foods.

4) Chocolate milk.

Yes, I said it. I am sure my dairy farmer friends are not happy with me, but I don’t like the added sugar. What I don’t like even more is the fact that I could not convince my child to not drink the chocolate milk at school when she has been/is perfectly happy drinking regular skim milk at home. She says the school’s white milk tastes funny. I have a hard time believing this, and she is making the least favorable choice because it is available to her. On this issue, I have to agree with what Jamie Oliver (http://www.jamieoliver.com/) is trying to do with his “Food Revolution” at our schools.

Therefore, I am taking more control of my child’s diet by sending my food choices to school with her. They are usually full of fresh fruits and veggies, varying proteins, a light serving of grains, and water to drink. To date, she has been very happy with what I have been sending, and she has created her own menu list so she can request the different combinations. (Look for these lunches on this blog and on my Facebook page.)

HOWEVER, I am not a stalwart food mom all of the time, and I am open to compromise. So I told her she could pick one day a week to eat the school’s lunch. Since the school system has changed to a consistent weekly menu throughout the semester, she has decided that Thursday is her day. She will be eating chicken nuggets, a whole-grain roll, applesauce and (pain) chocolate milk. They do offer mashed potatoes and asparagus (canned), but she is not a fan of either. I can’t say that I blame her on the asparagus. Since she eats green veggies such as spinach, broccoli and fresh asparagus on a regular basis, I feel she can go without a veggie this one meal. We’ll make up for it at dinner.

After I started writing this blog, originally titled “Improving the School Lunch,” I decided to think about chocolate milk a little more. The average calorie content of an 8 oz. chocolate milk carton served at school is about 160. The average 12 oz. non-diet soda has about 155 calories. If those are my choices, I’ll gladly suggest the chocolate milk, for it actually has some good nutritional qualities: protein, vitamin A, vitamin D, calcium, energy-inducing fat and carbs, and a number of other vitamins and minerals. The difference in calories between the chocolate milk and the plain milk we drink at home is about one Dove dark chocolate, which I would have let her eat after dinner anyway.

Jamie Oliver makes a very compelling argument against chocolate milk – filling the school bus with the sugar a child consumes in a school year if drinking only flavored milk – but I fear many kids are getting much more sugar from candy, cookies, toaster breakfast foods, cereals, and sodas. While chocolate milk may not be the best choice, there are much worse things for our kids to consume in my mind, and I am glad I decided to take a more critical look. (Have you thought about how much sugar your child consumes in an average week and the foods that sugar comes from?) Thinking about parents who may not be able to send lunch to school with their kids, I am fine with schools continuing to serve flavored milk as it may be one of the more nutritious things they have all day. But could they maybe work with the stevia folks to reduce the sugar? Just a suggestion.

Miss E won’t be drinking chocolate milk every school day, but I won’t feel guilty about our compromise for 36 days out of the year. I think this agreement has actually made her more excited about making her own good food choices.

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Eating Out with Your Kids – Kentucky State Fair

2011-08-19T08:07:00.001-04:00

While I believe that wholesome meals at home should be the foundation of a family’s nutrition and together time, times do arise where you will be eating out. The first installment of this column will help a parent navigate the Kentucky State Fair. Fairs are usually a time to find fun and horribly sinful foods, but there are choices that are better than others.

The best venue to eat, hands down, is the Great Kentucky Cookout Tent located in front of Broadbent Arena (west of the West Hall Pavilion and north of the midway). There are many booths to choose from, and every vendor provides food from Kentucky farmers. You will find fare from the Kentucky Pork Producers, Kentucky Cattlemen’s, Kentucky Aquaculture, Kentucky Poultry, Country Ham, Sheep, Dairy and the Kentucky Corn Growers. The tent also is one of the few venues to provide families a “meal” instead a snack you will likely carry around with you.

If you have young children or are trying to conserve your calories, I suggest the Kentucky Corn Growers Association booth. They serve roasted sweet corn-on-the-cob and will gladly serve it without the butter substitute. The corn is grown in Shelbyville at Gallrein Farms. They also serve hand-dipped corn dogs using an old-fashioned corn meal batter from Weisenberger Mills in Midway. Depending on the thickness of the batter, the corn dog is between 250 and 300 calories.

If corn dogs are not your kid’s thing, the Cattlemen’s association serves an all-beef hot dog on a bun, which is also a lower-calorie choice. The Poultry Federation provides a kid’s meal of chicken nuggets, tater tots and applesauce. The Cattlemen’s and Pork Producers serve a small hamburger. The "Dairy Bar" serves grilled cheese sandwiches and milk.

Another pretty healthy option is a grilled chicken breast or chicken quarter from the Poultry Federation, paired with the roasted corn and a side of baked beans from the Pork Producers. Other vegetable options in the tent include an endless supply of fried potato products, and cole slaw.

Now for you food-loving parents, a few of my favorite things in the tent are the boneless pork chop and barbeque from the Pork Producers, the fried catfish from Aquaculture, and the beef brisket from Cattlemen’s. All of these options come in combo meals and can easily be shared.

You can top it all off with some ice cream or a milk shake from the Dairy Bar, but what I really recommend are the ice cream from Chaney’s Dairy Barn (Bowling Green) or one of the delectable caramel apples from The Sweet Shoppe (Hodgenville) – my absolute favorite is the Turtle apple with pecans, caramel, dark chocolate and white chocolate. Both of these booths are located in the lobby of the West Hall among the Kentucky Department of Agriculture exhibits.

Happy fair eating!

Wordless Wednesday - School Lunch

2011-08-17T14:50:00.000-04:00

What I sent with my 3rd Grader today for lunch - she ate every bit. That is broccoli soup in the bowl and the apple is halved with peanut butter inside (helps keep it from getting brown).

More for Your Food Dollar: Low-Calorie Juices

2011-08-16T20:30:00.001-04:00

Tonight’s trip to the grocery store inspired this latest segment, which I will try to provide regularly.

Our favorite style of orange juice was missing due, so I decided to try the 50% less sugar version since it was on sale. Not only did the certain brand claim less sugar and calories, but no added artificial sweeteners. It sounded great, but the taste was not.

I started to think about it a bit, read the back, and wondered why I was so stupid to buy juice that was just watered down. Eureka, it does not take a genius a figure out they are getting more money out of us by providing us less and playing to our health-consciousness. I also wondered why I thought this juice was different since I knew exactly that is what another company did to make a “tots” version of apple juice.

I have been cutting fruit juices with water for years for my kids, especially for my toddler, to do just what they are offering – reducing the sugar and calories.

So the moral of the story is, never pay for low calorie juices. Add water to the good stuff and get twice as much for the same money.

7 Families Went Hungry…

2011-08-10T12:48:00.002-04:00

At least they would have gone hungry if they were depending on me and my small “farm” to feed them. A raccoon killed seven of my chickens last week.

You can guess that I was extremely mad. I have put a lot of time, money and emotion into those chickens, and I was looking forward to collecting their eggs to feed to my family. I was also having the debate with my oldest child whether we should be eating the extra roosters. She had finally decided that eating them would be okay, but the raccoons beat us to it. And it wasn’t pretty. The most frustrating part was that out of the seven killed, very little of those chickens were actually eaten.

We still have nine chickens left: two roosters and seven hens. This will be enough to provide us eggs, and we will be able to share with our family and neighbors. You can imagine that we have upped our chicken security. They now are put into a large dog crate covered with chicken wire each night (tree limbs are provided for them to roost on), and we have set a trap outside their home for the past several nights. And yes, we have captured several culprits, but nothing in the last two nights. We will continue to do this until their new critter-proof coop is ready, which should be by this weekend.

But why is this story important? I recently attended a conference of farm women, and a featured speaker asked us if large-scale/commercial/factory farming is “right.” That seems to be the million dollar question these days regarding food production. Many people want to see farming like it was in the good-old days where more than half the population had a small farm in which they raised most of their food and enough to feed a few non-farming neighbors. But things have definitely changed.

Fewer and fewer people have dedicated themselves to producing our food. Most of us just don’t want to do it… it requires land, capital, long hours, and a lot of faith. It’s not as easy as the internet games Farmville and Farmtown on Facebook make it out to be. I think someone needs to program in unpredictable natural disasters, disease, pests, low prices and high inputs. Then let’s see how many people want to dedicate hours to producing their virtual crops.

Having worked for farmers in the modern age – and unbeknownst to most of the world, 95% of these farmers are not food company owned – I have a real appreciation for their growing success. It was comical to see the article in Time magazine about how farmers are becoming rich these days. But the difference between a wealthy banker or stock broker and a farmer is that any profit made by the farmer is immediately invested back into his or her operation – they buy more land, they buy better equipment, they hire more people, and they invest in methods to improve the sustainability of their practices. They are not off buying yachts and summer homes in France. They are creating jobs and investing in their communities and the future of our food.

Now, I will admit 100% that I am not immune to the “factory farm” expose videos showing our food animals being mistreated or in poor living conditions. I made myself watch the Mercy for Animals video of the corporate hog facility in Iowa. I immediately left the house, turned my chickens out to run around the farm and proclaimed to my husband that I would no longer be purchasing pork from my grocery store (which was named in the video). I also suggested that we buy a pig or two to raise ourselves, just like my grandparents did, but that didn’t fly.

And since I have undertaken the task of advocating for our US farmers and their practices, I had to ask myself, “How do I defend this if I don’t like it?”

That has been a tough question, but something I felt I needed to address. After several weeks of contemplation, my answer about the morality of farming comes down to this:

In most cases, I believe the individual farmer feels a strong sense of duty to feed his or her fellow man. That sense of duty may be tied to faith and/or a real desire to contribute a basic necessity for life. Most farmers do not intentionally set out to abuse animals or pollute the environment, but try to produce food the best way they know how at the time with the resources they have available to them.

Improvements are constantly being made – not for making loads of money, but to maximize future productivity. Making a profit is still important, however, and we cannot lose sight that farmers must provide for the basic needs of their families as well. I believe a lot of farmers are complacent at just getting by, but operating at a loss for several years is difficult to endure for anyone, which has led to many farmers leaving the business.

I also believe most farmers are willing to listen to the needs of consumers and will “fix” certain aspects if it makes logical sense. Some farmers are turning to niche markets to meet those needs and help themselves stay afloat financially. What I don’t want to see happen though is our food supply drastically reduced because going back to the “good-old days” makes people feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Our farmers will need to feed 9 billion people by the year 2050, and there are still cases of famine across the globe. We still need efficient, larger-scale operations to feed the majority of the under-privileged people across the world and even in our nation.

Now back to my chickens… I love the fact that I am producing some food for my family in the best way that I know how. The chickens I have left are happy and get to eat as much horse poop, bugs and green stuff as they want. Raising chickens is expensive (I could have already purchased 1700 dozen eggs with what I have spent in food and housing) but it makes me feel good. But I would be hungry if I had to depend on these chickens to feed me and my family. Okay, seven families may not be hungry, but I have lost several years’ worth of eggs and a few meals worth of meat in one night. The notion circulating that we could all sustain ourselves on 4.5 acres of land is laughable to me. God doesn’t make things so easy. That perfect world only exists on Facebook.

It is my true opinion that we have the ability to feed our people on the land available to us, without deforesting millions of acres and without causing further destruction to our natural resources. I am seeing some amazing technology coming down the pike to help us achieve that. Some may think that it is more “right” to not use pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, genetically-modified crops, or confine animals, but I can guarantee that if we all turned back the clock on food production, many more people would be starving. Where is the morality in that?

Update: After having a great conversation with a reader I wanted to clarify that I will never try to defend bad behavior of farmers or food companies. But I feel I need to defend agriculture in general - big or small - for putting food on our tables. I have said it before; farmers have a really hard time recuperating from the misdeeds of a few. It is our right as consumers to demand better, but we must also realize what it will take to feed more people with less resources.

Silly Chefs, High Fructose Corn Syrup is Not the Enemy

2011-07-07T12:32:00.001-04:00

My husband came home from work yesterday with an article from The Wall Street Journal that a co-worker had given him about chefs replacing high fructose corn syrup with other forms of sugar in their food (Sweet Revenge, Chefs Pour on the Sugar). The co-worker knew I worked for a corn and grain association and wanted my opinion.

I provided him with the following:

Even though I work for corn farmers, I don’t tell people it’s okay to eat a bunch of HFCS. However, if you want to eat it, it’s as safe as other forms of sugar. If you look at the chemical make-up of HFCS, it is almost identical to table sugar.

Sucrose (table sugar from sugar cane) is a disaccharide of a glucose and fructose molecule. So 50:50 glucose fructose. Fructose and glucose molecules are free floating in HFCS. The most popular form of HFCS is 55% fructose/41% glucose (few extra sugars floating around) because it has a similar sweetness as sucrose. There is another form that actually has less fructose – 42% fructose and 53%, and this is used for baked goods in most applications. 90% fructose syrup is made, but is usually only used to increase the fructose levels of HFCS-42.

Once the sucrose hits your mouth, the weak bond between the glucose and fructose is broken down, so again, almost identical to HFCS.

Many of the studies that say that HFCS is metabolized differently, or grows pancreatic cancer cells, etc. is actually research done comparing fructose to glucose. Fructose does affect us differently than glucose… BUT there is also fructose in sugar from sugar cane and sugar beets and even fruit. So, should we not eat fruit?

(Side Note: I know for a fact that fructose does a number on my system... I get absolutely ravenous after I eat an apple and some other fruits - according to Dr. Oz, the fructose is affecting my appetite hormone ghrelin and making my belly growl - but I still eat the apples. I just add a little peanut butter to help fuel my leptin - the "I'm full" hormone.)

Here is where the long chemical name gets HFCS in trouble. When you have a name that sounds like a “chemical,” people will look at it as a “chemical.” Even though all of our food is a conglomerate of many molecules, “chemical” usually conjures images of unnatural liquids in a laboratory. I appreciate the Corn Refiners Association trying to change the name to corn sugar, but it may be too late for that. Even "corn syrup" sounds better, but the corn sryup you buy at the grocery is primarily glucose and not as sweet.

Most all processed sugars are created the same way. The starch or sugars in their raw form have to be converted by enzymes to more simple sugars. In sugar cane and sweet sorghum, they add enzymes to the juice from the plants and then cook it down, evaporating the water. To make HFCS, they add enzymes to the corn syrup, to yield more fructose. Even bees add enzymes from their saliva to convert the nectar into honey. And guess what? Honey contains more fructose than glucose.

HFCS is also in a bad spot because it is used in a lot of processed foods: 1) it is easier to transport and blend, 2) has better preserving benefits, 3) provides a better texture for some products, and 4) may enhance fruit flavors. Since it is in a lot of stuff that may not be good for us to begin with, it usually gets a finger pointed in its direction for causing obesity. But processed foods have a whole host of ingredients that are not on the nutritionally-beneficial list. Replace HFCS with sugar, as many are doing, your problem is not solved.

As a mom concerned about nutrition for myself and my family, I try to reduce all forms of processed sugar from our diets. BUT come treat time, I don’t prohibit things made with HFCS. It’s no better or worse in my mind as any other sugar.

If you are interested in further reading, I will obviously direct you to http://www.sweetsurprise.com/ which is a site of the Corn Refiner’s Association, but also check out the Fructose entry on Wikipedia. This is the best “scientific” explanation of fructose I have seen. I read through the HFCS entry on Wikipedia, and I think there is a lot of biased information. Good luck in your endeavors to discover the truth.

I'm the Smoothie Queen

2011-06-26T21:07:00.000-04:00

If you are looking for a fun way to get more fruits and veggies into your family's diet, try this base recipe for any tasty smoothie:

1 cup of yogurt (any flavor)
3/4 cup orange juice
1 to 3 servings of fruit or veggies (the orange juice cuts the taste of most anything green)
Blend on high for 30 to 60 seconds

Okay, I really don't measure the orange juice. I just pour it in to get the consistency I want. I use the above when I am making smoothies for just myself, but will double it for me and my two kiddos.

I have really become a fan of Greek yogurt recently because of its high protein content. I have even cut the sugar by using the plain yogurt when making my smoothies. The sugar in the fruit and and orange juice are more than enough for me. If you need a little more sweetness, I would suggest using stevia or splenda.
HOWEVER, if you are using Greek yogurt, do not add milk. Greek yogurt tends to be much firmer than regular yogurt. I don't know what the ingredient is that sets up the yogurt, but it will do the same to the milk you add. I did this to thin out the ingredients, and within minutes it was a big glob of curdled, fruity goo.

My favorite smoothie contains half of a banana, 2 to 3 big strawberries, and a handful of blueberries. I rarely remove the green leafy tops from the strawberries - a little more green stuff never hurts. I have also used mangos with the skin on (just cut it up small since the skin is pretty tough), apples (leave skin on) and blackberries. As far as veggies, I have added carrots, yellow squash and zuccini, though never at the same time. If I get brave enough to add broccoli or cauliflower, I'll let you know how it tastes.

We most often make smoothies for breakfast (paired with eggs or toast with peanut butter) or for an afternoon snack. Not too long ago, we made them for dinner following a really big lunch.

If you have a really good smoothe recipe, please share.

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A new look at Roundup – activism group says it leads to birth defects

2011-06-26T20:38:00.000-04:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/24/roundup-scientists-birth-defects_n_883578.html

This Huffington Post story about the Monsanto weed killer Roundup has generated a lot of buzz over the weekend; nearly 6,000 have provided comments from different points of view.

A group called Earth Open Source compiled several studies that found adverse effects of the primary Roundup ingredient glyphosate in lab animals and is calling for a closer look by regulatory agencies.

Did the article change my mind on whether or not I believe our food supply is safe? Not yet.

The reporter says the group is pulling results from a few studies out of a huge pool of research studies to make these claims. One research study they noted was based in Argentina following a high occurrence of malformations and birth defects in humans following increased usage of the product in their agricultural sector. While I can’t say whether or not the study was flawed in any way, I know hundreds of American farm families using the product, and I am not aware of any instance of increased birth defects within our agricultural community. This could be due to our high level of regulation and our farmers attention to following guidelines. I would expect farm families would stop the use of the product immediately if they thought their health or the health of their children would be compromised.

The most intriguing part of the article was about the research conducted by Purdue University plant pathologist Don Huber. His research suggests that genetically modified crops produced with the application of Roundup contain a bacteria that may cause animal miscarriages. Huber did say that his research was inconclusive and further study is needed.

Question: is the presence of this bacterium exclusively found in the genetically-modified/Roundup production system? Having worked in the ag industry, I am very aware that plant pathogens are a real concern for farmers, causing severe financial loss. Food processors will not purchase contaminated grain. I would expect that if the use of glyphosate causes plants to be more prone to disease, farmers would no longer use the product. But I guess I also need to ask if feed mills and food processors are testing for the presence of this bacterium. I think I will keep my eye on this one.

The conversation circles back to my views on organic versus conventional food. As the population is surging, fewer people are willing to produce the food, and less land is available to grow that food, the use of genetically-modified crops and pesticides are inevitable. Do I wish that they were not needed? Of course. But I don’t see the folks reviewing the products deemed “safe” secretly eating other food. If you are out there, please let me know. I will then turn to a life of growing all of my own food, but will most likely hope to have a bottle of Roundup close by as the weeds in my neck of the woods are totally obnoxious.

The ups and downs of having a farmer father

2011-06-23T15:00:00.000-04:00

This past Father’s Day I invited my dad to dinner to show him how much I appreciate him. When I made the “Father’s Day” call, he told me that he would try to be there, but it depended on if he was able to empty the manure spreader and/or if he was not going to cut hay that day.

What? He may not come so he can do chores? It surprised me more that I was a little disappointed, since the conversation has been a pretty familiar one over the years.

I know full well what it means to have a business tied to animals. My suburban, horse-crazy mother made sure to find a husband that shared her equine interests. The year they were married, they purchased 9 acres with a run-down house and an area that looked like a riding arena, and that was the start of it all. Nearly 30 years later, their farm has evolved into a home for more than 30 horses, and a wonderful recreational/sporting retreat for hundreds of horse fans. But even in the beginning, with a few chickens, rabbits, goats and our first few horses, the rules were presented to us as if from the Mount: the animals eat before you do, and they get taken care of before you rest or play.

The upside to this is that we were taught responsibility at an early age. I had farm chores ever since I can remember, and I got in trouble quite a bit because they were not attended to with the upmost satisfaction. As we and the operation grew, so did the responsibility. We mucked horse stalls daily, packed water and brought in the hay. The fact that we were girls made no difference. As soon as little sister was old enough to guide the tractor and wagon, my older sister and I took our turn throwing hay. As hard as it was, I was pretty proud of my muscles.

Hay harvest usually occurred in May and June and again in the fall. Occasionally we would harvest three times during a year if we had great growing weather. I knew that my dad would always be “on call” at these times of the year, and I remember several school functions where he could not attend – awards ceremonies, games and concerts. Graduations were even tough for him to attend, but I knew he was working to take care of the operation and his family. Did I mention that he also had an off-the-farm full time job up until about 15 years ago?

Back to Father’s Day - I cooked all day, and at about 6 p.m., my mom called and said the manure spreader had broken. Knowing this is a vital piece of equipment, I figured my dinner plans were over; Dad is also the “fix it” man.

But all was not lost. I began thinking about how my life was shaped because of my father’s dedication to his family. He works endless hours every day to make sure my Mom is happy and the business is successful. He taught me that you pave your own way, you don’t stand with your hand out, “smart” doesn’t come from a book, and a man with soft, manicured hands is just about useless. Dad still deserved that dinner, so I packed up the food and the family, and we took it to him.

Even though life on the farm did not allow my father to stand beside us a lot of the time, he was, and still is always behind us. Thanks, Dad! I appreciate you so much!

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Eden's Chicken Chronicles - Part 1

2011-06-11T23:11:00.003-04:00

My 8-year-old daughter wanted to start a scrapbook to chronicle her experiences with her new chickens, but I suggested that she write about it and share it with others. Our journey has been quite comical, and one sure to remember!

Hi, my name is Eden! I am going to start blogging about my chickens, and so I can remember, I am also going to make a scrapbook about them. I am going to tell you about my experiences with my chickens.

When I got my chickens, I saw a box with the word “egg” on it, so I was expecting one baby chick. I was surprised when I saw about 100 baby chicks. Mommy said there were 74; I loved them all. One of the baby chicks almost didn’t survive because it was cold. My mommy and I went to get to get a heat light and food at Tractor Supply and Feeder’s Supply. Amazingly, the chick did survive.

The chicks lived in the tack room of the barn in two rabbit cages. One day me and mommy noticed one of the chicks had something stuck to his bottom. It was part of an egg shell. Mommy tried to pull it off, but she pulled its feathers off with it. Then we took it up to the house and gave it a warm bath so we could get off the egg shell. A wet chick looks very funny. It was the smallest chick, so I named it Teeny. This one was my favorite.

As the chicks grew, we had to move them into more cages. We had two dog crates that we used, but had to have daddy put wire around the cages because they were small enough to fit through the bars.

When the chicks grew some more, we moved them to a horse stall. We soon realized we had too many when they started eating each other. (NOTE: Mommy says she realized we had too many the moment she counted them all.) We tried to give them fruits and vegetables to peck on. They really like watermelon and corn on the cob. But don’t give them onion or potato skins because those can be toxic. We put tree branches in the stall, too. They like to climb on the branches.

Even though we tried to make them happy, we found a dead chicken yesterday. I think it died from cannibalism. We decided we had to give most of them away. We also found a chicken with a big puffy neck and he acted like he was having trouble swallowing. My mommy and daddy thought it was a big tumor. They thought it would be best to get rid of him, so we took him and another hurt chicken out to the woods. I cried, but I figured they would die anyway.

Earlier today, my daddy said the two chickens we put in the woods were still there, so mommy told him to take them some food and water. Mommy went to check on them later and the tumor was gone. We figured out that the chicken’s crop was probably full of food. We decided to keep these chickens. Their names are now Lucky and Lucy.
We have another chicken that really likes mommy and me. We named him Fred which sounds like friend, because he is friendly. We are keeping him, too. We are keeping 15 chickens in all – 2 roosters and 13 hens. A man came and picked up about 40 of the chickens this afternoon. Someone else will get the ones we aren’t keeping tomorrow.

I really enjoy having chickens. If you think it sounds really fun, because it is, you should go and buy some. But it’s really expensive. That’s the main reason why we had to get rid of most of ours.

Agriculture’s Worst Enemies May Be Farmers

2011-06-08T15:18:00.002-04:00

Even with all of the challenges farmers face such as weather, market prices, disease, and pests, I am convinced the agriculture industry’s worst enemies are farmers themselves. This thought occurred to me because of a conversation I had this weekend.

I recently received some chickens to produce my own eggs. I didn’t do this to save money, which so far is quite the contrary, or because I don’t feel the eggs at the grocery are bad. I did it to show my children that we can be more self-sufficient. While I have read many online posts and books on raising chickens, I still have many questions. So, I found myself another “backyard” chicken farmer to ask questions about coops and how to tell the difference between the pullets and the cockerels at a young age. Other people were around, and the conversation turned into processing the chickens for meat and the quality of eggs.

This particular farmer said she thought the eggs from backyard chickens tasted better than commercially-produced eggs. Another chicken enthusiast chimed in that she thought they tasted exactly the same, but there was an obvious difference in the color of the yolks. The farmer then said that the chickens and eggs from small operations were better because they are free of steroids and hormones.

I had a “now, wait a minute” moment. I said, “I am 100% positive that steroid and hormone use is prohibited in poultry production, and it has been since 1954.” She responded that big chicken farmers still use them anyway.

You can see how consumers can be thoroughly confused and misled. Does this woman think she is really stating a fact, or is this just a case of opportunistic marketing? Knowing first hand that small chicken and egg production takes some time and money, are some small-operation farmers trying to justify to their customers that they should pay a premium by saying the commercially-produced food is somehow tainted?

This was not my first conversation of this kind. I was witness to a similar comment with regards to the beef industry. A niche-market beef producer insisted that just because law states animals must be antibiotic free before entering the food supply, many farmers don’t follow those rules. Again, I thought that this was a marketing tactic, and unfortunately it is ruining consumer confidence.

I can go on. We all know the damage done to the industry by terrible cases of livestock abuse or chemical abuse. If just one farm is a bad actor, the entire industry gets a black eye and is sentenced with increased regulations and rules that significantly impact everyone involved.

I try to look at it this way: Do we automatically think all parents are bad parents when one abuses their children? Of course not! So why is it that farmers have to spend so much time defending themselves these days to convince consumers that this is not the way the majority of them do business?

Fortunately, I have had the opportunity to work with a number of farmers from all size operations and see daily business first hand, which helps me filter a lot of the rotten information I hear about food production.

But who are consumers supposed to believe? This is one issue in which I would love to get feedback from our good farmers!

I Give the New USDA Dietary Guidelines a C Minus

2011-06-02T23:54:00.005-04:00

While I applaud the USDA for trying to make their new dietary guidelines, which can be found at http://www.choosemyplate.gov/, much simpler for a “growing” population, I think this new approach is just too dumbed-down for my taste. In fact, it made me ask more questions:

1 – What size is the plate? 9 inches or 12 inches? Does it depend on the size, age and activity level of the person?

2 – Where do foods like nuts and dry beans fall? Should a starchy potato be considered a vegetable? And what about sweet corn? Technically it’s a grain, but most people treat it as a vegetable. Does a salad covered in cheese, bacon bits and Ranch dressing count as my “vegetable?”

3 – How much fat should you consume, and what types of foods should it come from?

4 – Are all of these foods really necessary three times a day?

My feeling is that this simple rendition of a “meal” could be misinterpreted by many people to “fit” what they like. It would be very easy to have a large plate filled with fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, apple pie and a big scoop of ice cream. Based on the guidelines, this meal meets the criteria.

Therefore, as I am not the kind of person to just criticize without offering solutions, I am developing my own guidelines for myself and my family:

ALL of our calories should be guilt free! I will always feel confident in the food I provide my family. Treats are okay some of the time, and they should be enjoyed. We designate 1 day a week as “dessert day” and have something really yummy.

MOST of our calories should come from “whole foods,” that is foods that come as they are straight from nature. This leaves some room for breads, pastas, cereals (which I also try to make sure most are whole grain) and processed dairy like cheese and yogurt.

SOME of our calories should come from a variety of plant-based foods, and SOME of our calories should come from animal-based foods. I try to get a lot of variety in our diet. As far as plant foods, we eat foods every color of the rainbow and all kinds: grains, nuts, legumes, leafy, cruciferous, fruits, roots, etc. I also try to vary our meat choices. I will rarely cook chicken two days in a row. I’m an equal opportunity animal consumer.

FEW of our meals should come from restaurants. I want most of our food to be cooked and eaten at home, 1) because I know I can do better than most restaurants (at least the ones I can easily afford), 2) it allows us to better appreciate our food, and 3) I know the ingredients used.

Yes, this is also a simple approach and does not address age, activity level and dietary needs, but that is something people need to go over with a dietician or health care provider. I am convinced there is not a one-size fits all plan. Aside from talking with our doctor, it may come down to good old trial and error.

Again, I am thankful that our government is trying to watch out for our health, but I wonder if the MyPlate approach is really going to change the eating habits of those that need it the most. Good luck, Mrs. Obama.

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Eating only the animals that you kill

2011-05-27T14:44:00.002-04:00

My take on Facebook creator's newest personal challenge

A friend sent me a link to a story about how Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg challenged himself to only eat animals that he has personally killed. Read the story at http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2011/05/26/mark-zuckerbergs-new-challenge-eating-only-what-he-kills/.

I have to be honest here. As much as I am thankful for our modern agriculture systems and accessibility to food, I think this is a great way to learn respect for where our food comes from. Animals are living beings, and they are giving their lives to sustain their consumers. Many people who do not raise their own livestock take that fact for granted.

My parents were far from being wealthy, so when I was growing up we raised rabbits, chickens and goats to help whittle down the grocery bill. Thankfully, we had a few acres to accomplish this on. My father was also an avid hunter; I’ve eaten deer, squirrel, groundhog, turtle, frog, and probably a few more species that were not divulged to me. Therefore most of the meat, eggs and milk came directly from our labors on our farm or from local wild animals.

While I can’t say that I WANT to watch the slaughter and cleaning of animals at this time in my life, I was a very watchful fan when I was younger. My daddy made sure that death came swiftly to reduce their suffering. I was also amazed at his skill in preparing the animals just before dinner time.

This experience allowed me to respect my food a great deal, and I am to the point where I want my children to have this experience as well. Therefore, we are now chicken farmers.

I will be sure to blog about this little endeavor we have undertaken in more detail soon, but I want my children to learn what it takes to care for and raise our food (Sure, I could have started a garden, but the only thing my land seems to grow well are rocks, weeds, trees and wild blackberries.)

Collecting the eggs will be the easy part, but I am still trying to convince my daughter that we should also eat most of the roosters, and eventually the older hens. She does not like that idea at all. I ask her how is it any different than eating a chicken that we bought at the store. She replies that we did not love those chickens. That is my point exactly!

I have eaten many “pets” in my life. While farmers generally do not like to name their livestock, I do not have a problem with it. It makes me feel that I have a relationship with the animal, encourages me to give it the best care, and then I say a prayer for it and to God before it becomes my next meal.

I recently asked my dad to show me how to slaughter and prepare a chicken. My grandmothers and great-grandmothers did it on a regular basis, so I should be able to as well. I am certain this will take my respect for our food animals to the highest level.

Killing your own meat may not be the right personal challenge for a lot of people, so my challenge to everyone is this: KNOW YOUR FOOD. Even if you don’t raise it or kill it, please think about its life and give thanks. Please also get to know the farmers in your area. You would be amazed at the level of care and respect that most farmers take in raising our food, which is also their food.

How Can We Best Tackle Childhood Obesity?

2011-05-09T15:18:00.002-04:00

I saw story on NBC’s Today last Friday morning about Georgia’s Children’s Health Alliance Child Obesity Campaign, and some believe the ads are alienating overweight children further. I am not completely convinced that they crossed that line. I see more kids than ever who are overweight or obese, and I don’t like it. But how do we effectively tell our kids (and their parents) that they are not healthy without making them feel bad?

Unfortunately, this is something I struggle with in my own family. I was never a thin child; I was always a little heavier (and taller) than most of the kids in school, but never to the point that I was teased about it. And yes, I admit, I am still about 30 pounds heavier than what my doctor would like me to be (but I’m successfully working on it). My husband struggled more with his weight as a child and a young adult – his mother said it’s because he is a member of the “keg” family. In both of our cases, bad genetics aside, our ability to hold on to extra pounds was nearly 100% due to the facts that we ate too much and we didn’t get enough physical activity. I hate to blame our parents and grandparents, but 1) kids don’t eat what they can’t get a hold of, and 2) they learn eating and exercise/activity habits from the people in their lives.

My husband was finally able to drop 50 pounds about 12 years ago when he adamantly asked his late grandmother, whom he visited daily, to stop providing him chips and chocolate to snack on. (Don’t you hate that it is just that easy for men to drop weight).

So, two “easy keepers” produced some offspring. In this current world of health-consciousness, image-consciousness and our easy access to food (thank you, God, farmers and our great country) you can imagine that I am concerned that my children may also one day worry about their weights and appearance like I did and still do. And unfortunately, this issue is already creeping into my relationship with my eight-year-old daughter. Like me at the same age, she carries some extra weight for a kid her height. It does not seem to bother her in the least right now, but I worry it may in the future. I don’t want that for her. Unfortunately, people judge others on their appearance. Being heavy is an automatic sign that you are not in control of your health or life.

No one can accuse me of not being aware of what healthy eating is, or not caring, or continually shoving high-sugar, high-fat treats into my kids mouths to make them happy. She has always been a wonderful eater – lots of green and yellow veggies, fresh fruits, fish, lean meats, nuts, etc. My food philosophy is “good stuff most of the time, treats some of the time.” I think it is mentally healthy to allow yourself some happy eating, just not every day. I also encourage more activity: we ride our horses (but not nearly enough), we play active games on the Wii, we go for walks, and she will occasionally work out with me if it isn’t too hard. This is all a good start, but I think we could do more.

I really, really want to blame grandparents right now – Sorry, Granny and Nana. I spent a lot of time with a doting, spoiling grandmother who let me eat as much of whatever I wanted. My daughter also has a grandmother that does just the same, even though she won’t admit it. My husband and I try to have regular conversations with Nana about what appropriate meals and snacks should be, but it just isn’t being understood to the extent we would like. My child gives me reports on what she eats on a visit, and I am usually very disappointed.

Spoiling grandparents aside, the bigger reason we are more overweight as a society than ever is because of technology. I am a true believer in making things more efficient, but many of us don’t have to exert any real physical energy to do our jobs. Same goes for kids. Instead of running the neighborhood they are glued to the TV, computers and video games. I will take some blame for that aspect of my child’s health. I don’t limit “sitting” time at my house like I should. I guess I feel it is “okay” since most of her activities are mentally enriching.

So, again, how do I and the many other caring parents out there attempt to make our children healthier without making them—or their caregivers—feel as if they are less than perfect or accepted and loved?

First, I think we need to apologize to our kids. After watching the ads of the aforementioned campaign, I believe parents and caregivers will and should feel some shame for contributing to their kids’ weight problems. (Just so someone doesn’t jump down my throat for that comment, I do realize that some weight gain is a symptom of other more serious health problems, and is not anyone’s fault. That is not the case for most people.) We should be honest about why there is a problem.

Second, we need to be committed as parents and caregivers to do what is best for our children, even if it makes them unhappy. Learn all you can about nutrition and healthy activity from the right sources: registered dieticians and certified health professionals … not self-proclaimed, celebrity experts trying to sell you something. Yes, I know it is overwhelming these days, but I always look to good-old common sense. I hate always telling my child that she can’t have a desert after every meal, or she can’t have a snack because she just ate an hour ago, but I have to.

Third, walk the talk. If we aren’t doing what we want our kids to do, why would they adopt that behavior? Make your child your accountability partner. It is fun for them to catch you doing something you shouldn’t, and it makes them more conscious of their actions.

Better health is a work in progress for my family. Writing this helped me reevaluate my tactics about healthy eating and exercising. I try to never, ever approach the subject as if I have a problem with my daughter’s appearance, but I just hope that she does not equate “healthy” with thin. I have been losing weight, but I try to say things like, “I just love being stronger,” or “I am so proud of the fact that I was able to run a mile without stopping,” instead of, “look how much skinnier I am.” We have also signed up for a competitive swim team for the summer. That may just be what the doctor ordered.

A quick note before I close – I feel very blessed to have more than enough food to get fat on in the first place. So many people across the world are not that fortunate. I can understand why some say that we need to have less cheap, processed foods available to us, but I don’t think only buying local, banning high-fructose corn syrup and suing McDonald’s is the answer. We just need to better educate those that need help and learn to treat food as a wonderful gift of fuel and nourishment rather than something that makes us feel good.

Make Mine Corn-Fed

2011-04-29T17:34:00.004-04:00

I ran across an article from The Courier-Journal about how a new local restaurant "Bluegrass Burgers" will use local beef.

Read the article at - http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110429/SCENE02/304290072/Louisville-Restaurant-News-Local-beef-menu-new-Bluegrass-Burgers

I was excited until I read the comments from the owner.

“People need to be eating the really top-quality meat, from cows that eat grass, not corn. Cows aren't meant to eat corn,” Seckman says. “There's more flavor for sure in the grass-fed.”

Seckman buys strictly Kentucky grass-fed and hormone-/antibiotic-free beef. “I can go pick the cows out at Misty Meadows Farm,” he says.

I definitely had to provide my point of view on this one:

While I think it is great that a local restaurant is using local beef, I won't be going out and paying for "grass-fed" beef. I might as well be eating the venison in my freezer.

All beef cattle are grazed most of their life, but "corn-fed" are only finished on grain. Finishing beef cattle on a balanced diet of grain and forages allows farmers to more adequately control their nutrient intake.

And I can't believe anyone thinks grass finished beef is tastier.

Next - a little a botany lesson - corn is a member of the grass family. All grasses eventually produce a grain. Therefore, saying cows aren't supposed to be fed corn is down-right illogical.

People need to quit listening to Pollan and Martha Stewart and ask a real farmer about the benefits of feeding cattle grain.

Regarding hormone use in beef - I found this post from fellow blogger Megan Kontz - http://sdfarmwife.blogspot.com/2011/04/beefin-up-beef-with-growth-hormones.html. She does an excellent job explaining why hormones are used, and how hormone content in beef compares to other foods.

Finally, if you have read my posts before, you know my take on antibiotic use. If the cow is sick, give it some medicine.

I don't think I will be visiting this local establishment any time soon.

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Why I don’t buy Organic, Most of the Time

2011-04-14T15:10:00.003-04:00

Whether it is due to my reluctance to follow the herd or a science-supported notion that old farming methods can’t feed our growing population, I don’t buy organic food. In fact, I tend to avoid it. I do admit, however, that I will buy it if it’s on sale, but it has to be cheaper than the non-organic food items. So what is my body of evidence, you may ask, for my food purchasing decisions?

Food Safety – Several federal agencies are working to make sure our food supply is safe from toxins, chemical residues and disease causing organisms. I took a look at one of the most recent FDA Total Diet Study analyses which are conducted each year on foods we commonly eat. Most every food had trace amounts of a number of chemicals. This data may shock many people. However, the EPA sets standards on what is considered an allowable level of a contaminant. All were well under those levels. And having learned how the EPA sets its standards, they are 10,000 to 100,000 times less than what causes any effect (ill or otherwise). Many studies have shown that organic foods have less pesticide residues than non-organic food, which is to be expected. Some organic food, however, has also been shown to have residues from pesticides that were not approved for use.

We also need to look at fertilizer methods. Plants need nutrients to grow, and they need a lot of them to grow well. Manure is used in many food production systems due to high nutrient content and availability. It is widely used in organic production since synthetic fertilizers are not allowed. If the manure is not managed properly, bacteria in the manure can contaminate the food. I have seen studies and cases where organic is as likely, and even more likely, to contain bacterial pathogens than conventionally-produced foods.

Same goes for livestock. If the animals are not being treated with antibiotics, they are more prone to have an infection. And all livestock are required to be antibiotic-free before they enter the food chain. So when it comes to fruits and vegetables, I believe I have the most control over the safety of the food. I wash it all. My family even teases me for washing things like apples, cucumbers, squash and similar foods with anti-bacterial hand soap, but I know it’s clean! If your rinse it well, you don’t taste soap. You can use a vinegar-water solution on produce that requires gentler handling.

As for meat, cook it to the recommended internal temperature!

Nutrition – Many studies show that fruits and vegetables grown with organic methods have higher levels of antioxidants and polyphenols. But, there is still a debate about the health benefits of these higher levels. It was interesting to learn what causes the increased levels of antioxidants: slower growth and stress from pests. One food toxicologist said that organic foods may be more likely to contain harmful, naturally-occurring toxins due to the same reason.

Regarding meat and dairy produced organically or conventionally, corn-fed or grass-fed, free-range or confined, I have seen study results go in all directions regarding nutrition, but most say there is no real difference. I tend to believe that the best meat, dairy and eggs come from animals fed a nutritionally-balanced diet from a variety of sources and are free from disease and environmental stress. Most all farmers, organic or not, strive to raise animals in this manner.

Environmental Impact – While using less synthetic pesticides and fertilizers are a noble endeavor when producing our food, it may not always be the best for our environment. Depending on the food type, organic production may require more tillage, which impacts soil loss and fuel use. Agriculture is constantly making strides in being able to produce more food with fewer inputs and less environmental impact. We are seeing substantial reduction in soil loss, fertilizer use and pesticide use in modern food production methods.

Economics – Organic is very labor intensive, so in general it costs more. Many families have trouble feeding their families and buying organic is just not an option. I don’t think a family living on a tight budget should feel bad for buying what is more affordable. If it is good enough for the majority of the population - as determined by the USDA and FDA – it is good enough for me.

I recently met Mary Courtney, mom and a grain and produce farmer from Shelbyville, Kentucky. She and her husband Shane grow produce on 30 acres, which according to her, would be unmanageable using organic methods. She also said she wants to be able to mitigate the risk of the environment, insects and weeds since her family’s income is dependent on the quantity and quality of the food they produce. She said some of her products could be considered organic, but she doesn’t use that label in order to be flexible. If products are needed to fertilize or control pests, she said only the absolute minimum is used. Those products are a large expense to her operation. By the way, she feeds her children the food produced on her farm.

I know another farmer who produced organic sweet corn for the grocery stores in his area. I asked why he quit, and he said it just didn’t make sense to grow a more expensive food that he did not feel was any better than the other sweet corn produced on his farm. Even when having an easy option to eat organic, his family was eating the non-organic sweet corn.

Before I close, I need to add that I ate an organic apple today. It was on sale for 88 cents per pound at my grocery store. Since there were a lot of them, my guess is that they were last year’s apples. It was mealy. I hate a mealy apple, organic or not.

I am a true believer in providing my family of four safe, healthy foods. I also believe that the food I provide should be produced in an environmentally sustainable method, which by my definition means using less resources and leaving less impact on the environment. In my mind, our farmers who use modern farming practices are providing me with the food that meets my criteria. I refuse to pay higher prices for food that may or may not be more healthful, humane, or environmentally friendly.

Learn more:

BestFoodFacts.org – Is organic food better for your health than non-organic food?

Food Safety News - http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/02/organic-meat-dairy-safer/

Where Your Food Comes From - http://www.wherefoodcomesfrom.com/Blog/

I am one of those MEAN Mommies!

2011-03-08T11:31:00.005-05:00

My oldest had her second GS Brownie meeting yesterday evening. We didn't have much time for dinner, so I strongly encouraged her to eat a microwave dinner (at my house they always have something green in them). She protested wanting pizza, but conceded since there was not another option. All in all, I felt it was a pretty good dinner aside from part of it coming from a box: roasted chicken breast, green beans, a small yogurt and one piece of dark chocolate. I even told her when she got home she could have a tangerine for a before-bed snack. Unfortunately my own nutrition suffered in my effort. I had no time to make my own microwave creation and ended up eating the mashed potatoes she left behind.

Since we are new to Girl Scouts, I was not aware that "snack" time is provided at the beginning of every meeting. They brought out sugar cookies covered in a half-inch of icing. Luckily there was nothing else to drink but "nature's Kool-aid," aka water. One of the leaders told the girls they could each have two. My daughter instantly turns to me, knowing I would be less than thrilled with this snack choice. I mouthed that she could have one cookie. Of course I got a pouty lip. She better be glad I said she could have any at all. They then passed the cookies around a second time, and I again, said the first was plenty.

After the other moms and kids saw this little conversation occur, it reminded them of our first meeting which happened to be on Valentine's Day. They brought in pizza, soda and cupcakes. At this meeting, too, I limited the pizza to one slice and vehemently denied the sodas. In both instances I immediately got the, "Oh we usually don't serve this type of stuff" response from the other parents. Yeah, right.

So, I guess I need to take this matter into my own hands. Our children learn by good example. I am going to offer to bring "snacks" for the next couple of meetings, and I will plan to share some good nutrition advice and a message about where are food comes from in the process.

Fun treats are fine once in a while, but we had a plan that evening for healthier choices. I did not want to budge in hopes of earning respect from the other moms. I'll let you know how it goes.

My Take on Genetically-Modified Crops

2011-02-28T17:34:00.003-05:00

I saw a link to a survey about Genetically-Modified foods today, asking whether they should be labeled or not. The vast majority of folks who voted believed that GM foods should be labled so consumers can make a choice to purchase them or not.

I belong to the camp that believes genetically modified foods are safe. They have been tested time and time again. I also believe in the benefits of these crops: reduced pesticide use, drought resistance, enhanced nutrition. All of these will become increasingly important as the population grows and fewer farmers are producing food.

I had a few laughs reading the comments regarding the cons of GMOs. I don't claim to know all of the facts, but I do know that many people have been misled or are making incorrect assumptions.

One comment in particular struck me as interesting, "Why mess with nature." Ha! I think it is safe to say that there is very little food today that is exactly the way "nature" intended it. Gardens and grocery stores are filled with plants that are nothing like their relatives before them.

Since farming began, we "selected" the foods that looked and tasted the best, and only planted those seeds. Once Mendel discovered how genetics worked, we began "breeding" certain traits in plants and animals to meet our needs. To me, that is far from natural, or the way God intended them to be.

Genetically modified organisms do have genes from another species introduced into their DNA, but this also occurs in regularly in nature. Viruses alter DNA on a regular basis.

Playing the "not natural" card does not do it for me. But, if I run across cases of people developing extra limbs or strange diseases from solely eating GMOs, I'll let you know.

Something else to think about: Stewart Brand, scientist, author and the father of Earth Day, has gone on record recently saying that he was wrong about genetically modified crops and believes they are a good solution to feeding the world's growing population. View the video.

The Bright Side of Farm Subsidies

2011-02-26T09:07:00.003-05:00

“Agriculture is one of the last successful manufacturing industries that the United States has, and our agricultural products are something the whole world wants,” said Preston. “For an economy to do well, you must produce or build something. Agriculture does just that and it creates lasting value. Most all farm profits go straight back into the local community. We continue to invest in our futures and the futures of our children and grandchildren by building infrastructure. It seems very silly to attack the one economical segment that lets us compete in the global economy.”

With everyone wanting to reduce the budget deficit and come out of the recession, much attention has lately been focused on subsidies, especially farm subsidies. The arguments I have heard against supplementing farm income is that farmers are getting too rich and keeping commodity prices low contribute to obesity.

Working for the agricultural industry for several years, my canned answer on subsidies has always been, “we need to make sure farmers stay in business.” If a farmer cannot survive natural disasters from weather or pests, or prices that do not pay their bills, they will go out of business. That farm land and food production will likely be gone forever. Our growing population cannot afford to have fewer farmers producing our food.

I will be honest, while that answer seemed simple enough I admit I don’t know a whole lot about farm subsidy programs. I do know, however, that sending my hard earned tax dollars to farmer is something I can feel really good about, compared to the many other federal budget items.

My curiosity led me to some pretty interesting facts which made me even more confused about why some politicians in Washington think eliminating farm subsidies will help the budget deficit.

Did you know that the total United States Department of Agriculture budget for 2010 was 1.48% of the total federal budget? Only a fifth of that currently goes to farm support payments. Our farmers receive less than a third of a percent of the total budget. How will eliminating those programs make a dent in our spending?

I also talked with agricultural economists and one of my favorite farmers on this subject to perfect my new answer on why farm subsidies are important. Here are some things that Richard Preston, a first-generation grain farmer from Glendale, Ky., says about farm assistance. By the way, he left a career in science to pursue a love of farming. He has a PhD in theoretical chemistry, attended Berkley and Yale, and worked as a laser physicist at Los Alamos. So you could say he is a pretty smart guy.

“Direct payments have a positive effect on the value of land,” said Preston. “If they are eliminated, not only will it lower enterprise assets, but will affect the local government which relies on value-based property taxes to operate. Lowering asset values does not sound like a good thing if you want to come out of a recession.”

More important to farmers is crop insurance programs.

“If those risk management programs were reduced or eliminated, I believe it would send our food production system into chaos,” said Preston. “Lending organizations would not be willing to provide capital to farmers without crop insurance, and modern farming requires incredible input costs.

“I have a mid-sized farm, about 2,000 acres, and it costs me about $1 million to operate each year. Last year, I had a bad crop, but my neighbor 5 miles away had a good crop. Without insurance, I would not have been able to continue doing business.”

“There is a huge amount of volatility and risk in farming. Making sure that the costs of food production are more stable leads to more stable food prices.

“Agriculture is one of the last successful manufacturing industries that the United States has, and our agricultural products are something the whole world wants,” said Preston. “For an economy to do well, you must produce or build something. Agriculture does just that and it creates lasting value. Most all farm profits go straight back into the local community. We continue to invest in our futures and the futures of our children and grandchildren by building infrastructure. It seems very silly to attack the one economical segment that lets us compete in the global economy.”

Thank you, Richard!

I know there are many opposing viewpoints to subsidies (not just farm subsidies) and if you are interested in getting another viewpoint, feel free to go find it. Again, this is probably one of the few places where I can feel good about sending my hard-earned tax dollars go.

So, the new, more educated, answer to why we subsidize our farmers is this:

“Farm support programs not only keep farmers in business, but also help maintain land values, stabilize food prices, and improve local, rural economies. Removing these programs will not only affect our food supply, but society as a whole.”

“Support payments to farmers represent less than one half of a percent of the total federal budget, yet agriculture is responsible for one-sixth of our nation’s economy While wanting to get rid of ‘subsidies’ may be the popular thing to do in Washington right now, I don’t see how reducing farm programs will have a big impact on the overall budget.”

Meatless Mondays - What experts and consumers really think

2011-02-09T15:16:00.003-05:00

I ran across this interesting blog from the Center of Food Integrity regarding Meatless Mondays. It refers to a survey where consumers and dietary experts were asked about the newest food trend.

Out of the 274 responses received, nearly 20 percent of the respondents fully support the concept while nearly half said they support a balance of all types of food, including meat. One-third of the respondents indicated meat should be a regular feature in their diet. View the blog for a list of comments.

I usually hear promoters say that reducing meat consumption reduces carbon footprint, but my feeling is that it starts with groups like PETA and HSUS trying to find a better way to reduce animal consumption all together. I can think of a number of reasons why it is more eco-friendly to include meat in your diet every day, but I will leave it up to the experts.

Here is a great resource regarding the environmental benefits of meat consumption: http://www.kylivestock.org/steakoutthefacts

Homomes, Steriods and Antiobiotics. OH MY!

2011-02-08T13:51:00.003-05:00

I just saw a commercial from Perdue saying their chickens are not given homones and steroids. I am sure this "new," more healthy alternative will cost you a bit more at the grocery, if food prices weren't high enough already.

Well, guess what? All the chicken at the grocery store is produced without hormones and steroids. My good friend who works for the Kentucky Poultry Federation told me that hormone use in chickens has been illegal since 1952. So, leave it to good old-fashioned marketing to make you believe you are getting a better product.

Now, if someone tells you that your food is full of homones, they are correct. Any living thing produces hormones naturally. Even plants.

Let's talk about a hotter topic, antibiotics. I am not one to pay more for animal products produced without antibiotics. One, there are strict guidelines that require the animal to be free of antiobiotics before harvest, and the products are tested, especially milk. If antibiotics are found in a truck load of milk, it is destroyed and the dairy farmer is not paid. I have heard that milk is more heavily tested than your drinking water.

My second line of reasoning is for the well-being of the animal. If an animal has an infection, I want it to be given medicine to be healthy. We do the same for ourselves and our children. The simple logic for me is, "why would I want to eat an animal that has been sick?"

That said, I am a regular consumer of all natural venison... free range and grass/bark/dirt fed. But I am very careful to make sure the meat is cooked properly... who knows what kind of diseases the local deer might have. I am much much more confident about the safety of meat I get from farms.

I heard an interesting story not too long ago. A chicken company that I won't name told me that they also started a "more natural" brand of product touting no antibiotics, which was obviously done to meet a marketing niche. He said that the chickens became infected with e coli within a week of being placed in the facility, yet they had never had a health issue with the conventionally-raised chickens.

Hmmm.

A Short Course on Food & Farming

2010-06-21T16:14:00.002-04:00

It amazes me how little Americans know about where their food comes from or what role farming plays in today’s society. It’s mostly like due to the fact that less than 2% of the population is involved with producing food. Due to the rise in population and decrease in farm numbers, one farmer is feeding 155 people annually, and that number is only likely to increase as fewer people find farming a “less than glamorous” career.

Thanks to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s “Food & Farm Facts” and a little of my own conventional wisdom, I hope to shed some light on our most important industry.

The First Farms

Have you ever wondered where we would be without agriculture? Some 10,000 years ago, some of our ancestors thought cultivating their own food sounded like a pretty good idea. For the pre-history folks who were not lucky enough to live in the earth’s more tropical zones, the act of following the food supply was a tough life. So by the way of luck and some ingenuity, people found they could grow food from seeds and contain animals for year-round meals. This new ability allowed humans to become more settled in one area, thus civilizations were born. Religion aside, the world’s first disputes were most likely over land rights. Those with the land had the food. And good, bad or indifferent, our agriculture system evolved to contribute to the populations we have today.

Imagine if we continued to hunt and gather our food. No computers, no vehicles, no high-heel shoes… I have a feeling that population would also most likely be under control; there would be a constant struggle for hunting rights.

I also don’t want to imagine having an all-local food supply. Weather, pests, and disease have wreaked havoc on farming across the globe throughout the ages (List_of_famines). Millions upon millions of people have perished due to their food being wiped out.

Food and Farms Today

Here are a few facts about the world’s food and farms:
American’s spend the least of their disposable income on food, only 10%. The Chinese spend 32% and people in Pakistan spend 50%. An article in my local paper referenced a food shortage in many nations, and people in some under-developed countries spend up to 70% on food.

Contrary to what some want you to believe, 82% of U.S. agricultural products (food, feed, fiber, and fuel) are produced on farms owned by individuals, family partnerships and family corporations. 98% of the farms are owned by those groups. Only 2% are owned by non-family corporations. Many family farms get labeled as “corporate” or factory farms just because they were able to evolve and survive the changing economy.

The average farmer continues to age. In 2007, the average farmer was 57 years old. Fewer people are choosing a career in farming. But there are many jobs in the agricultural industry. Producing, processing, selling and trading the nation’s food and fiber employs more than 21 million Americans—15% of the total U.S. workforce. Think it’s not a high-tech career? Today’s farmers are using GPS units, biotechnology, infrared spectronomy to monitor chlorophyll levels, and the computer programs that help them make sense of it all.

Of total farm receipts, 56% come from crops (grains, hay & silage, oilseeds, vegetables and fruits), and livestock accounts for 44%.

Farmers are conservationists every day; they protect our air, soil, water and animal habitats. For instance, modern farming practices such as conservation tillage have reduced soil erosion by more than 40 percent since 1982. Modern advances also allow us to produce more food on less land. New land (forests and grasslands) does not have to be cleared thus preventing the escape of greenhouse gases.

The biggest argument I have heard over the food system is that the government gives the agriculture sector too much assistance, thus our easy-to-come-by food supply is making us fat. Of the USDA’s total 2008 budget, only 13% went to farm programs. The balance was for food assistance and nutrition programs (such as WIC), food safety, marketing and inspection, research and education, forest service, foreign ag service, rural development, etc. Of total federal spending, agriculture receives about 3%. Nearly 20% is spent on national defense, and more than 33% is spent on Social Security and Medicare.

As an American, I feel good about my tax dollars going to agriculture and farmers. I like having the ability to easily feed my family. Think about the alternative.

It scares me that a lot of Americans take our valuable food system for granted. It’s easy for those of us who can afford food to pop into the grocery store and fill our bellies with our hearts’ desires. Trade, farm programs and modern conveniences have helped shape that. I remember the stories I heard from my grandfather about life in the not-so-distant past. You slaughtered your own animals, you milked your own cows, you canned your own vegetables (lots of things were pickled to control bacteria) and you dug out sausages from a barrel full of lard. I am so thankful to live today in this country with our farmers feeding me. I hope you are, too!

One more thing – I found this wonderful video from BASF. It helped me understand how farmers are feeding "One Hungry Planet." Enjoy.

Why I Choose to Eat Meat

2010-06-04T12:18:00.000-04:00

Back when I was a kid (we'll say 20 to 30 years ago), vegetarians were few and far between and were often thought of as a little strange. Now, it seems, being a vegetarian or vegan is the "stylish" thing to do. More and more people of all ages are making the choice not to eat meat for reasons that make sense to them.

The majority of the population continues to eat meat because that's what they have always done, as their parents did before them. As our ancestors figured out, eating meat is an easy way to get protein, and most of it just tastes good.

I put myself in a different meat-eating category. I have a made a very conscious decision, and I "choose" to eat meat. I know it comes from animals, and I realize those animals' lives were cut short for my sustenance. This is something I think about each time I sit down to a meal, and I am grateful.

As a true lover of animals, I will admit that going meatless crossed my mind a couple times. I am the kind of person who never kills a spider, carefully removes creepy-crawlies from my home, and stops traffic to see a turtle or family of ducks safely cross the road. My taste buds and feeling of hunger satisfaction, however, quickly transformed me back into the omnivore that I am.

Now, one could ask how I can eat meat when animals are being mistreated (recent Conklin Dairy video would be a good example) or are forced to live in confined conditions. In my good opinion, acts of such mistreatment are few and far between, and I believe that anyone who abuses animals in this way should be punished as if they had assaulted a fellow human. Confinement, or as I like to think of it has a more controlled habitat, has become a necessary practice to meet demand. There are more people, less farmers and less land to produce these animals.

Do the animals like their confined conditions? Would they rather be running free? While I don't have cows or chickens at the moment, I do have horses. It has been 90 degrees or higher the last several days. They have free run of the barn and a five acre pasture with lots of shade trees. I CANNOT MAKE them leave the confinement of their stalls. Why? The barn has a large fan and is generally free of all the blood-sucking bugs. They also know that I come to feed them twice a day.

I also have to think about the many times I have watched the animal shows on TV. Prey animals are free game for the not-so-nice hunting practices of their predators. I have seen animals being eaten while they are still alive. If I were the prey, I'd say "sign me up for farm life any day!" And on the flip side, I wonder if animal activists want to tell lions, tigers, eagles, crocodiles, sharks, etc. that they should not eat other animals because it's not the "nice" thing to do.

And when I hear, "I don't want to eat anything with a face," or even most recently, "I don't like to eat things with eyelashes" (you've got to be kidding me), it saddens me. WARNING, I'M GOING INTO PHILOSOPHER MODE - Who is to say the cow with long eyelashes and a calf by her side is any more important than the clam that quietly crawls across the ocean floor, or the tomato plant. I don't think of even myself as more worthy of a life on earth than any other living creature, be it plant, animal or fungus. We all WANT to survive.

The fact is, if one organism eats, another organism is sacrificed for its survival. What we can do as humans is to provide the animals we consume with the utmost respect that we can. I truly believe that most all livestock farmers are doing this today. They have to... it is their livelihood.

While I think the ideal situation - the most natural situation for which we were born to do - would be for us to produce, raise or hunt for our own food, those days are long gone. A lot of us are more worried about getting to our air-conditioned home to view the latest episode of "Glee" while tweeting our tweeps and planning our island vacations. Therefore, I place the care of my food, be animal or vegetable, in the hands of our farmers. The farmers that produce with compassion and heart are my heroes. The animals that give their lives so that I can be a part of this world are my saviors.

My omnivore diet provides me and my family the nutrients we need without having to load up on supplements or come up with creative diet plans. As long as I recognize the fact that hamburgers don’t magically appear in the meat case, and our farmers are taking good, responsible care of their animals, I will continue to “choose” to eat meat.

So why am I doing this?

2010-06-02T17:46:00.000-04:00

I have been thinking about blogging for some time. I have lots of very good random thoughts (in my opinion) about life, spirituality, our purpose,and so forth, but I'm not convinced the rest of the world would want to get inside my head.

HOWEVER, I know I have a lot of good and factual things to say about where our food comes from. I have been working in the agricultural industry for more than 12 years and have a real appreciation for the farmers who provide the food on my dinner table. I am also a consumer and mother of two. I care about what goes into their little bellies. I make educated choices about the food we eat, and unlike what many attention-mongers want you to believe, I know that American farmers are providing us the safest food in the world. And those farmers are also achieving this while they are improving the environment in which we live.

If you are interested, I can share with you my thoughts on agriculture, farmers and food. Just call me "The Food Mommy."