I attended a screening in Cambridge Thursday evening of the new documentary, “Fresh”, on the changing face of American agriculture.
As I watched, I kept thinking about, “the man”—the proverbial unseen hand of government and big corporations that makes sure the economics of an industry are slanted against ordinary people.
One scene I found riveting was an interview with a middle-aged couple that owns a conventional chicken farm in Indiana. They looked nearly lifeless as they sat in their comfortable living room, with their pet poodle, explaining how they tend to 110,400 chickens in each pre-fab chicken house. Except “farm” and “chicken house” are misnomers, since they were really discussing a “chicken factory.”
What stood out beyond their obvious discomfort with their livelihood was the financial insecurity of it as well, as the wife described how she felt forced to sign a seven-year contract with a processor that provided the baby chicks and then took the animals for processing at a certain time. There was no negotiation, she said, because there was only one processing company to deal with. She didn’t say it, but presumably that seven-year contract dictated prices that put a strict lid on this family’s earnings after the chickens were fed and cared for.
The documentary was meant to contrast this farm family’s discouraging existence, and discouraging product, with the much different approaches of the growing number of sustainable farmers—represented in the documentary primarily by Joel Salatin, the Virginia farmer-author-teacher (photo above), and Will Allen, a community organizer who has brought sustainable farming to the city of Milwaukee (photo above, right).
The film is beautifully photographed, and both Salatin and Allen are stars because they are so articulate and charismatic. At one point, Salatin says, while out in his field, “What we’re really farming here is grass.” Allen makes much of the worms that help compost his farm’s land, pointing out that the beneficial bacteria they encourage have never led to a disease problem.
It’s an excellent film that does a wonderful job of contrasting the worlds of factory and nutrient-dense foods, and I suggest you try to see it if you have the opportunity.
At the end of the screening, which was attended by about 400 people in a large Harvard lecture hall, Salatin, Allen, and the film’s director Ana Sofia Joanes, appeared on a panel (to a standing ovation) to answer audience questions. One of the questioners was a woman who said she lived on a dairy farm in northern Vermont, and wondered what the panelists had to say about the dire financial situation facing dairy farmers because of the plummeting prices being paid for raw milk. Only Salatin mentioned the option for these farmers of producing raw milk and selling it direct to consumers.
But dairy farmers in California, Vermont, and Maine all face the same problem as the chicken family I alluded to at the start: the “man” controls dairy prices and will destroy dairy farmers so as to benefit the processors and retailers.
A petition addressed to the secretary of agriculture, TomVilsack, was passed out at the end of the film screening from Farm Aid, arguing, “But for the immediate survival of our dairy farmers, the price of milk paid to farmers must be altered to reflect their cost of production.” Nice idea, but begging the “the man” for help on milk prices has never been all that productive. It’s farmers like Salatin and Allen and raw dairy farmers selling direct to consumers who will have the best chance of surviving and thriving.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/05/28/national/w132444D00.DTL
Scientists find baterial zoo thrives in our skin
by Lauren Neergaard AP Medical Writer
"There’s a zoo full of critters living on your skin a bacterial zoo that is"
"And that’s not a bad thing"
"Scientists don’t have a good grasp of which microbes live where, much less are helpful even INDISPENSABLE in maintaining health"
"We have to understand that we live in HARMONY with bacteria and they are a part of us as super-organisms" HMMM That doesn’t fit the party line.
One could therefore conclude that the animals and the soil that we derive our life sustaining foods are also super ecosystems as well and when we chemically alter these systems we do it at our own peril. CAFOs destroy these natural ecosystems not rocket science just plain common sense.
I think the small group of people who have been saying for years something along the lines of, "we live in HARMONY with bacteria and they are a part of us as super-organisms" " , this is a must for healthy living. This small group of people have been slowly becoming a large group and it continues to grow.
David, I’d like to see that documentary.
"Bacteriosapiens"
Need Raw Milk
Another says:
FDA calls it a "new drug"
We call it "raw milk".
Science is finally telling us the truth and the political correctness of the "Germ Theory" just does not work to explain things anymore.
Nice piece David!!
"The Man" is really a big lie that is being exposed by truth tellers. The lie protectors
( FDA ) will be done in just a few years and the truth will be the foundation of a new dawn of economic growth and sustained health through nutrition.
These are pioneering days.
Mark
Great relief/change of tone in this entry – focus on the good stuff! There ARE terrific things happening, momentum is building, gaining critical mass. We had a WAPF/RMAC information booth at the Boulder Farmer’s market last Saturday, and we were inundated with enthusiastic inquiries, mostly for raw milk. By market’s end, I was exhausted, sunburned, hoarse, but happy. This movement is much bigger than it was even a year ago.
Today’s NYT had an editorial chastising Michelle Obama for saying she was glad she didn’t have to cook; encouraging the now common attitude that home cooking is a hassle in America – then the sports section had a report on increasing hip injuries benching athletes — and they just couldn’t figure out why….
Maybe there’s a connection? If I were a coach – lol – I would mandate full consumption of a full CSA veggie share, grassfed beef. 3 cups of homemade bone broth per day, Cod Liver Oil, and raw milk.
Then I’d put da hands in da pockets and watch dose trophys pile up…
-Blair
-Blair
Cat-food irradiation banned as pet theory proved
The Aussies proved irradiated pet food killed their cats but dogs do not appear to be affected nor humans tho that was left unsaid. The human food receives a lower power nuke dose so no "linked" human deaths "yet"
Perhaps Pottenger was right feed the cats raw milk and raw chicken or maybe just let them hunt rodents the diet they were DESIGNED to consume again not rocket science. We of the 21 century may not be much different than the foolish alchemists of the past for just as they could not turn lead into gold so we can not defy the laws of nature and turn CAFOs factory phoods filled with chemicals into a product that sustains a healthy population. Suffering the unwanted results of the approved SAD is one thing we ALL have in common.
from: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/17-06/st_whatsinside
What’s Inside Palmolive Ultra*: Killer Bubbles
By Patrick Di Justo 05.22.09
Triclosan
Antibacterial soaps kill, well, bacteriaoften with this broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent, which inhibits fatty acid synthesis. In higher concentrations, it destabilizes bacterial cell walls.
Ammonium C12-15 Pareth Sulfate
In solution, this detergent creates negative ions, which cut grease. When mixed with bleach, it releases killer chlorine gas, a chemical weapon used in World War I. Good news: We’re still alive, so there’s no bleach in here.
Magnesium Isododecyl-Benzene-Sulfonate
Everything gets nice and foamy because of this surfactant cleaner.
Lauramido-Propylamine Oxide
This foaming aide keeps those tiny soap bubbles stable throughout the cleanup process. It also thickens the dishwashing liquid, so you’ll feel like you’re getting your money’s worth.
SD Alcohol 3-A
Alcohol is chemically similar to water, so it can work its way into bacterial cytoplasm, where it makes the proteins fall apart, killing the cell.
Sodium Xylene Sulfonate
Known to chemists as a hydrotrope, this compound makes it easier for the other molecules in the detergent to dissolve in water. (Hydrotropes also can help to create high-foaming cleansers.)
Sodium Bisulfite
This food additive is often used as an anti-fermentation agent to prevent bottled wine from turning into vinegar. In soap, it works as another antiseptic.
DMDM Hydantoin
A preservative that work1s by breaking down into, among other things, formaldehyde. Whatever was living on your dishes is now dead.
Pentasodium Pentetate
A chelating agent that softens hard tap water by binding with dissolved metal ions, preventing them from being deposited as a yucky residue on your nice clean dishes.
*Palmolive Ultra Concentrated Antibacterial Dish Liquid (With Orange Extracts)
what i could do maybe is set traps for the mice, effectively replacing the cats role with technology. traps don’t eat so i’ll actually save money not buying food for them.
cats probably spread germs too. a trap can be sterilized (so it’s safe to have around people.) i tried to sterilize a cat as a way to accomodiate this good scientific idea of killing all germs on earth but for some reason all her hair fell out and the skin turned a funny grey/blue color and big sores showed up that leaked a pussy yellow goopy stuff (i didn’t know cats had yellow goopy stuff in them!)… for some unknown reason the cat died. i guess cats aren’t as evolutionary advanced as us humans after-all, or maybe i simply chose a weakling cat…. perhaps i’ll try again with a better / stronger bread of cat.
maybe my failing was in pasturizing the cat. (145f for 45 seconds)… anyone have any ideas of how to go about chemically sterilizing one? perhaps irridadiation would work? it’s safe and effective according to the fda and usda.
http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm163900.htm
We shall see.
In the meantime, Hugh, I think I see another career for you as mad scientist/comedian.
from: http://thebovine.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/u-s-cattle-being-fed-chicken-manure/#more-8024
boy oh boy, i don’t know why my poor brain can’t come up with new and novel feeding programs like these industrial pharmers can. but i’m determined to keep trying!
so now my p[lan is to create a completely closed cow management system. first i’ve fashioned a cow bra that straps around the cows hind end and holds the udder tight to the body i have four slits positioned so the teats poke thru and each teat is inserted through a sorta mini old fashioned washing machine roller, which in-turn is attached by a string and spring assembly that is attached to her rear ankles. suspended below the udder is a bucket. this system allows for automatic milking with each step. when she moves her right leg forward tension is created on the left teats the rollers are pulled down a bit and a tiny stream of milk is squeezed out. since her udder is tightly compressed by the cow bra milk is available as it’s excreated by her mamory glands. under her tail i have a funnel shaped bag which i got the inspiration for from a cake decorating squeeze tube. this also has a washing machine roller assembly but it’s string and spring attachment hooks to her front legs. a tube at the bottom of the bag (where icing for a cake would come out when you squeezed) snakes over the cows back and is routed to a feed bag tied around her neck and head. with each step some cow manure is squeezed through the tube and into the feed bag. which i figure once she’s hungry enough she’ll likely eat. also, on top of the feed bag is a methane collector. this i use as a modivator for the cow. as methane collects it is routed back to her rear and burned via a pilot light assembly mounted behind her at about knee hight (so as not to burn thru the milking strings tied below to her ankles.
all i have to do is load her up with grass/hay once and get her walking. i figure that now, since she’s totally self contained in this closed cow management system i’m set! although as i watch her in this rig i see a problem… she doesn’t seem highly modivated to actually walk. with my thinking cap firmly in place it comes to me. i have an old heavy duty tread mill. i got her on it and started it in slow gear. so she has to walk now just to stand still. i can probably disconnect the pilot light modivator but for now it’s fun watching her try to avoid it singing her. another plus of the treadmill is no having to chase her down to empty the milk bucket. plus it’s less sloshing out.
i had some free time today so i wasted it reading davids most execlent blog, thanks for the wonderful and useful posts you all make here. while not sorry i appolige for adding some of my stupidity. it just seems to me that the system is so broken as to require rye / dry / dark humor to cope with it anymore.
i had missed divid citing my chocolate milk post from a few weeks ago. lol 🙂
ya’all are the greatest thx for being here to make my day!
got some hay equipment to fix or more accurately look at to plan to fix and then a nap.
i still am angry at america and many "americans" but still have hope we can right this great ship.
Thanks for the laugh kinda needed it I’ve had better days.
A few weeks ago I mentioned that I found a local source of organic pumpkin seeds that we put in our homemade bread but discovered it was from China. Today we drove 20 miles to a "health food grocery store" where many of the local WAPFers also pruchase organic grains raw milk sugar salt ect. from. Well after I forcefully pressed the issue they did informed me that their organic pumpkin seeds were also from China [not labeled of course] but they said they were were not happy about it. They also didnot know what country their organic sunflower seeds came from. I did insist thay call their supplier to find out where their organic sucanat came from it was Paraguay in south America. HMMM USDA CERTIFIED ORGANIC I am not so sure about that stamp anymore especially from China since many years ago I had read that they used human waste as a fertilizer. I guess it would be easy for the USDA guys to miss that if they ever even walked acrossed a garden patch in China! I have about 3lbs of Chinese pumpkin seeds left I wonder if the HAZMAT guys could despose of them for me.
Know your local farmer because we sure can’t trust anyone else can we?
=Blair