Many of you no doubt saw earlier diaries (example) quoting Rick Davis, John McCain's campaign manager, trying to immaturely insult Barack Obama as some la-di-da weirdo fancy pants elitist freak:

...Only a celebrity of Barack Obama's magnitude could attract 200,000 fans in Berlin who gathered for the mere opportunity to be in his presence. These are not supporters or even voters, but fans fawning over The One. Only celebrities like Barack Obama go to the gym three times a day, demand "MET-RX chocolate roasted-peanut protein bars and bottles of a hard-to-find organic brew -- Black Forest Berry Honest Tea" and worry about the price of arugula...

But look at that quote, and notice how the McCain Republicans are targeting the very entrepreneurs and successful businesses that you'd think they'd want to praise, and instead they mock them as elitist weirdos:

Cross posted on La Vida Locavore http://www.lavidalocavore.org

The following diary was written on June 12 for the Northern Agrarian Monthly (you should all check it out) after my farm had over 10 inches of rain in about 36 hours. I was rather bummed out as I wrote, because it was raining again and I had already had around $100,000 worth of damage. Farming is not all fun, don't ever let anyone tell you it is easy, yet we keep on keep'in on. As for now, reconstruction will all need to come out of my pocket. My $1,000,000 farm insurance policy does not cover it, FEMA, no way, USDA is supposed to have money for environmental protection reconstruction since we are in a federal disaster area, but no one knows how much, when, or who will get it. Most WI money for building manure storage areas goes to the biggest farms as they have the most manure. Since I only milk 45 cows I am hardly a blip on the screen.

I’d like to invite everyone to take a journey with me over the next year and a half.  It’s a farewell to our beloved farm, and the beginning of a new one.  In the course of it, I hope to give y’all a glimpse into the real life of a farm and the practices of sustainable ranching.  And I'll share a few pictures of our farm, including some adorable baby lambs, along the way.

My husband and I have a small, organic (not-certified) farm just outside of Austin, Texas. I bought this place after I graduated law school ten years ago.   I’ll post about my transition from environmental attorney to farmer another day.  For now, suffice to say that I am a student of holistic management and eco-agriculture.  

This diary is cross posted at
La Vida Locavore

The recent coverage of our latest round of Midwestern floods has put me in mind of the costs of our addiction to cheap, low-quality food produced with the use of enormous amounts of chemicals and petroleum.  The costs are bad enough during normal times, but, as  this article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune notes, they are exacerbated by flooding:

“The floodwaters that deluged much of Iowa have done more than knock out drinking water and destroy homes. They have also spread a noxious brew of sewage, farm chemicals and fuel that could sicken anyone who wades in.”

Farming is the heart of every country.  Corporate agriculture - INDUSTRIAL agriculture - is destroying it worldwide.  

Notice that after the vaunted "Green Revolution" and the much ballyhooed "biotech" solutions to food problems:

  the earth is swimming in 6-10 more pesticides than before GMOs,
  fishing stocks are failing because of run-off into oceans,
  prices on commodities are sky-rocketing,
  people are not seeing the great promised yields that were allegedly proposed to solve hunger,

but in fact:

A few days back I posted a diary asking what would be the best use of a 40 acre farm in west central Minnesota. The answers, quite frankly surprised me- Kossacks divulged a plephora of romantic suggestions, most of which would lead our little farm right into bankruptcy. But I shouldn't really have been surprised- currently less than 2% and falling of our population live on farms. And most folks don't even live near farms- even here in Minnesota, two thirds of our population lives in metro areas. Ag news has been pushed to early morning hours on rural AM stations, and much of that "news" is thinly veiled PR from big agribusiness. Is it any wonder that Kossacks, never mind the general public, are so easily swayed by rumors of shortages and anti-ethanol propaganda?

Calling all Kossacks in the Chicago area to come show some support for and learn about some amazing green businesses.

Green Scene on Northside Prep's grounds along the Chicago River next Saturday, April 19 from 12-5pm.

The CASE Project is holding its second annual GREEN SCENE.  Come out and support this great organization as well as some amazing businesses that are seeking to raise awareness of green products and practices in the Chicago community (and beyond).

Updated June 2008 Check out this video and visit our blog to see what's new.

Crazy?

Maybe, but we're doing it.

At the end of this post is a guide full of relevant links showing how you can do this yourself.  We've also told our story using pictures at this Flickr page.  Next to those pictures are similar instructions on how to do this .

Our experience has shown that this process has other benefits, namely that it builds connections in a fragmented social/political landscape.  If you're trying to organize people, it's got a lot of potential.  A big selling point is that it is something that can be done by individuals.  You don't need to appeal for funding, attend planning meetings, or hire a budget busting number of "professionals".

If nothing else, you'll get some great tomatoes out of it.

Think "Milk."  
Think Monsanto pushing rBGH in cows, with no labeling of the milk.  
Think farmers being sued for saying their milk is rBGH-free.
Think farmers in Pennsylvania facing prison for selling normal raw milk.

Think a 7 fold increased risk of breast cancer from the unlabeled rBGH milk.  http://www.sustdev.org/...

Think when it all began.
Think Clinton administration when Monsanto ran the FDA.
Think Monsanto altering the numbers in the studies.
Think FDA scientists fired telling congress about the fiddle of numbers.
Think Monsanto approving its own product - first GMO ever approved by FDA.
Think Monsanto hiring Burson-Marsteller to clean up the split milk. http://www.corporatewatch.org/...
Think pus in the milk and sick and dead cows and no labeling.

Throughout our extended weekend and stay with a gracious Obama volunteer in Pittsburgh, I must admit I wondered if someone had matched us, a white, Mennonite-by-choice, vegan couple with a 70 year-young, black, Reconciliation-by-choice, health-conscious grandmother.  We had so much in common, but our differences made for deep and purposeful conversations.  It was as if we had filled out a matchmaker form in great detail and were placed intentionally with Dolly.

.... .... .... .... ....

I'm posting this as the fluffy bunny tale end of the diary I posted several hours ago but didn't have room for to include all I wanted so cut short. Please consider this a complementary companion diary to my earlier one:

Uncage the Chocolate Easter Bunny: Modern Child Slavery
by CSI Bentonville
Sat Mar 22, 2008 at 02:27:04 PM EDT

Bonus is that it's a non-can-did-ate diary to occupy those with insomnia overnight. :)

It takes
10 full
cacao
pods
to make
6 bars
of chocolate.

Disclaimer:  In all these diaries, I speak as a mother.  I am horrified by what I am learning about Monsanto and about what it is doing to farmers and to food.  Harking back to women's role over millennia, I have a familial and a societal (society being the larger family) obligation to warn.  In that role, I am free to err in the direction of too much caution but I may NEVER err in the other direction - acceptance of things as safe if there is ANY signal at all that suggests there even MIGHT be a problem. Common sense trumps the nitpicking parsing of science in this obligation.  Illogical things, greedy things, cruel things, massively controlling things,  send up flares.  And for those, mothers warn.  

Monsanto is pushing the USDA to institute NAIS, the National Animal Identification System, which is a global tracking system for every farm animal in the country. http://goexcelglobal.he.net/...  

How should anyone who loves animals feel about this?

Looking closely at what Monsanto is doing to animals already may help add some clarity.

Happy Saint Patrick! I don't know about you but I'll be having a couple of pints of the black stuff later.

The "internets" is full of surprises, links and great news, good and bad.

Today I will post a series of links that I usually peruse, looking for the latest news on food produce, sustainability, farming methods and esoterica.

If you have any to add to this list, please do so, the more info we can get our hands on, the better.

If you could identify a father of America's organic standards, Harry MacCormack would be it. He's been farming organically since before the term existed. Of course, during his childhood in upstate New York, there was no need for the term. No one used chemicals yet, so there was no alternative to what we now refer to as "organic farming." Back then, they just called it "farming."

Like many consumers of organics, I am interested in how organic my organic food actually is. Can it contain chemical residues? Is it truly good for the environment? Or are the American organic standards merely a sellout to Big Business like so much else in our country is? Few people are better equipped to answer my questions than Harry.

This WFD? is a follow-up on Wednesday's diary about battery chickens versus free range. I have been buying free range chickens all along not just because I care about what ends up on our plates but how they are raised and what they are fed with is just as important. The low cost of a battery chicken is tempting, particularly in the light of this ever slowing economy. But if you knew the true cost of these birds you'd be amazed at how rapidly you'd switch to free range. Even though purchasing free range is somewhat prohibitive (as much as three times the price of an ordinary supermarket bird) it is well worth the buy when you consider that you are not only eating a superior fowl but you are also doing your bit for the planet.
The trick lies in recouping its cost by lengthening its uses, (assuming the fair-sized bird is bought for a family of four): first roast it for your Sunday lunch, then pick the flesh clean off the bones for chicken & sticky rice fajitas or a Shepherd's pie, then make a stock with the carcass, adding a few vegetables.    

orangeclouds has graciously allowed me to diary a VMD (aka Vegetables of Mass Destruction) issue. And, it's an "URGENT TAKE ACTION" variety. Why the urgency you may ask, well...

Though Monday, March 3, the USDA is taking comments on a proposal to change the usage of the term "naturally raised" on beef/livestock product labels in stores. (PDF of Proposal)

Consumer polls indicate the average person imagines meat labeled "Naturally Raised" comes from animals that spent their drug-free lives freely roaming the fields of a family farmer, eating wild flora and being humanely slaughtered. A 2007 Consumer Reports survey shows 83% of consumers assume such labeling means "it came from an animal raised in a natural environment." The USDA, however, has released a standard for "Naturally Raised" meats that is so weak it would apply to a cloned animal raised in the confines of a factory farm.

Would this new label mean the cattle were grassfed? No.
Have had access to outdoors? No.
Were humanely treated? No.

(what to do below the fold...)

Sick cattle destined for consumption in the school lunch program and fast food restaurants were forklifted in the slaughterhouse.

Federal officials suspended operations at Westland/Hallmark after an undercover video surfaced showing crippled and sick animals being shoved with forklifts.

It is illegal to use these "downer cows" in the food supply because they are more likely to cause disease in humans than healthy cattle. However, the USDA hasn't reported any associated disease outbreaks with the recalled beef.