Saturday, February 27, 2010

We are the family farm. Stand with us.

We don't want government subsidies, but we do want an even playing field on which to compete, so please don't allow them to be given to corporate giants.

On average, if you added up our working hours, we make less than minimum wage, so please don't haggle us on price.

We are walking wikipedias on the topics of our trade, so please don't think us intellectually inferior.

If we cease to exist then you would be dependent on companies that are "too big to fail" for your food supply, and we all know that nothing is ever to big to fail so please oppose legislation that makes it harder for us to do what we do.

Who are we?
We are the family farm, and as such we ask you to stand with us.

Stand with us as we fight to keep our land out of the hands of those who attempt to swindle us into less diversification in the name of efficiency, by purchasing products from farms produced in a bio-dynamic way.

Stand with us so we can have the freedom to plant non GMO crops and save our seeds without fear of retaliation from companies like Monsanto, by choosing organic and opposing laws that allow companies to patent life and then sue us in the name of copyright infringement.

Stand with us against those that would have us raise animals in concentration camps for the sake of a dollar, by refusing to buy meat from feedlots or confinement buildings.

You are our customers, our neighbors, our countrymen, and above all else you are our fellow humans. All of us, together, can create a foundation that the next generation is proud to stand on. Together we can be keep our food system pure, and together we can leave this land better than we found it.

Cheers and Happy Eats!
Lucinda

Organics - a matter of ebb, flow, & logistics.

In our world, as we know it, everything works in tandem. For every action there is a reaction, for every cause there is an effect, and every ebb has a flow.

The choosing of organics keeps these natural processes in harmony and balance. This is because organic agriculture at its core, seeks to work with the natural occurring elements of nature. It is not reliant on synthetics, created by man in a lab, which although they may increase per acre production of crops, they also have hazardous effects on microbiology of the soil, our water supply, our health, and wildlife.

As humans at the top of the food chain we have a responsibility to keep from damaging or depleting the bottom of the food chain. Otherwise, our cockiness with be our downfall.

By choosing organics we can stop running around fixing problems we, ourselves, created.

We can stop creating chemicals to kill things whose purpose we don't completely grasp only to turn around, after we have removed them from existence, and realize their use, to create a new chemical to take their place.

By choosing organics we can support an agriculture system that seeks to work in tandem with nature to keep our resources free from mutilation and our families fed.

In my opinion, our food supply issues in the world are not a matter of per acre production but rather a logistics issue. So instead of wasting such great intellectual talent on creating chemicals in a lab, let’s better utilize that talent by putting people to work on logistical issues such as:

1. Putting unused acres into production

2. Shortening the farm to table miles so we don't have food wasted in transport

3. Creating markets for farmers who choose to produce food consumable in its natural state rather than government subsidized markets created for field corn which must be altered before we consume it

4. Teaching farmers to farm organically

5. Getting the surplus that, if we put all of our unused acres into production, we most definitely will have to those in need.

That's my two cents on why organic is superior.

Cheers and Happy Eats!

Lucinda


Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Peach trees don't grow on the beach.

It's a long dramatic story as to why, but today I took a purposeful trip down memory lane.

To aid in this en devour I imported my email from the past 8 years, and have been viewing picture books of my life over the years. While doing such, I stumbled on pictures of when I used to live on the beach in Florida.. out my door, around the corner and bam- on the beach! I also found emails I sent to my friends describing my apartment in D.C. In my basement was a bookstore, coffee shop, grocery store, and the metro - meaning I was not required to get out in the weather except by my own choosing.

I thought about all of this when I had to hike from the end of the driveway to the house because the snow makes it impossible to get in or out, and when I was putting wood in the fire that needs constant attention to keep from going out.

Of course the randomness of this post is not to wallow in the "used to be" or go on and on about how much this cold weather and snow is annoying me (as tempting as it may be). On the contrary, I just wanted to say thank you. .

Thank you to my brothers and the hired hand that allow me to "play" farmer and take all the credit while they do all the grunt work in this undesirable weather.

Thank you to all the farmers that don't have brothers or hired hands.

Thank you to the person that shoveled my gran's steps so I have a clear path to walk on when I visit her.

Thank you John Goode for having a green house full of beautiful herbs so I can have warm tea next to the fire.

And last but not least... thank you blogspot for allowing me to document this so in the summer when I am sitting under a shade tree eating a fresh peach I can remember to take the good with the bad and that peach trees don't grow on the beach or in the basement of a high rise!