Why I don’t like (Meatless) Mondays!

Cows on pasture at Polyface Farm

Hello dear readers! Happy New Year to all of you!

I am writing because it is Monday…a Monday suggested to be “Meatless” by Food, Inc. and others.  (Yep. All over FB today.) Heck, there’s a whole website and movement dedicated to it. It’s the start of a new year, and I’d just like to clear something up from the get-go.

I would LOVE “Meatless Mondays” if it was specified that the meat we are being asked to go without on Mondays was CAFO meat. That is, meat from animals raised in confinement–specifically, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, “CAFOs”. You see, a CAFO burger is not a burger…a CAFO steak is not a steak…one cannot compare meat from a CAFO operation with that from a pasture. CAFOs are also known as feedlots.  (There are a  lot of them out here in Colorado; I have the distinct displeasure of driving by them and the stench of them permeates the air some mornings, depending on how the wind blows. Ever put your head into a diaper pail filled with dirty diapers and taken a sniff? You get the idea. Repulsive. Hundreds and thousands of cows crowded on a dirt lot, standing in their own excrement, eating grain full of soy and corn and more–which is probably GMO. And that’s the meat we get to eat here in the USA.)

The vast majority of meat eaten in America comes from CAFOs. Yes, it does. That burger at your favorite burger joint, that filet mignon at that fancy French restaurant, the taco at your favorite Mexican restaurant…nearly all the beef in every supermarket in the country including Whole Foods Market (unless it is marked “grassfed” and “grass-finished”.) But let us not confuse meat from CAFOs with meat from animals raised on pasture as they are meant to be. Grassfed and -finished meat is good for the planet, good for the animals and good for you and your health. One just cannot compare CAFO meat with grass-fed and -finished meat. So let’s not lump them together, shall we? The health problems attributed to meat is not the meat that is raised on pasture, sustainably.

Grass-fed meat is good for the planet. Grass farming sequesters carbon! This knocks out the popular argument that eating meat contributes to global warming… “if you care about the planet, stop eating meat”. Oy.  If all cows were on pasture, we would not have the methane gas problem that we do today, nor many of the other problems that feedlots produce including runoff and water pollution. The High Priest of Pasture, one of my heroes, Joel Salatin, talks eloquently about carbon sequestration all the time.  Here’s a great talk Joel gave at TEDMED in DC April 2012.  Chris Kerston of Chaffin Family Orchards  also spoke on How Grassfed Beef will Save the World last November at the Weston A. Price Foundation annual conference.

Grass-fed meat is good for the animals because…well, duh. Animals are meant to express their “animal-ness”, to paraphrase Joel Salatin. Cows and bison are meant to eat grass. Chickens are meant to eat grass and bugs. It’s “humane” if that fits for animals, it’s ethical, and it’s natural. What’s good for the animals is good for us. Read on.

Grass-fed meat is good for us to eat because it is more nutritious, leaner, and chock full of Omega 3s (those Essential Fatty Acids your brain and your body needs) and CLAs (conjugated linoleic acid…with anti-cancer properties and many other good things!) Everyone knows that the nutrient profile of meat depends upon what the animal (or bird or fish) is fed. Meat from animals raised on pasture is simply more nutritious because it comes from animals that ate what they are supposed to eat. Grass.  Also, you know this food is more nutrient-dense because you are not hungry an hour or two after you eat! You are satisfied.

But again, this is America, and the vast majority of meat eaten in this country is from animals in CAFOs.  Not kidding. We can continue to patronize our crazy food system that perpetuates the confinement model, or we can make another choice; take a different path. Truth is, I would love it if EVERY day were declared a CAFO-meatless day! Can you imagine if everyone stopped eating meat from animals raised on feedlots or in cages? The entire fast-food industry would come crashing down…supermarket meat shelves would bulge with burger patties and steaks and hot dogs and sausages…and chicken tenders and breasts until they rotted past their expiration date. People would be healthier! Hospitals and doctors and prescription drug makers would have no takers! We would have more energy due to more nutrients in our bodies AND less toxins from our food. Heck, I daresay we would have a revolution on our hands!

Let’s do it.

Let’s make EVERY day a CAFO-meatless day! Or to say it differently, let’s make every day a pastured meat day! Vote with your pocket book, folks! Seek out meat from local sources (or not so local when necessary) that raise their animals on pasture. And make it a CAFO-meatless Monday! And Tuesday! And Wednesday! And…you get it. 😉 Eat Wild is a great site to find local grass-fed meat. And check with your local WAPF chapter for farmers, farmers markets, and CSAs near you.

(Don’t even get me started about all the milk Americans drink from confinement dairies. That will have to be for another time.)

new classes added for October…

Come on out for a class, folks! I am looking forward to being “back in the saddle” again. (ha ha–get it, I’m in Colorado now! 😉 )

Beans and Whole Grains for Autumn! Saturday, October 22…Cheyenne, WY

Liver! Love it and Eat it! Saturday, October 29…Fort Collins, CO

For details and to register, see the schedule of classes! http://simplybeingwell.com/2011-class-schedule/

out here on the road

We are traveling by car across the US yet again, and once a day we stop for lunch to stretch our legs and get some grub. The options are few out here on the highways of our great land for those of us who wish to eat sustainably-raised food, or care about where our food comes from as well as how it is raised and even slaughtered.

Oh yes, be sure, I always pack a cooler and a sack of REAL FOOD, snacks and stuff for breakfast and dinner when we stop to camp and I can cook. I even bring homemade soup we can sip cold. But the car ride gets old after a few hundred miles and we need to stop and stretch. So when we do, we always try to find a local diner or restaurant, a “mom and pop” stop among the plethora of McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Hardee’s. Sometimes we find one, sometimes we don’t.

Today we thought we found one, “The Friendly Grille” just inside the IL border. Too bad road construction blocked the road it was on and kept us from finding it.

So it was back onto the interstate, and  we traveled on down the road another 15-20 miles or so, as far as we could go before we needed to fill up the tank again. This time, a Country Kitchen. My honey was happy to see one; it had been a while. I have never seen one, so off we went. And then it was obvious: another chain restaurant. A small chain, but a chain again. Oy.

This prompted an interesting conversation about where food comes from. Another “aha” moment. I have not really seen the breadth of this prior to now. There seem to be three groups: 1. McDonald’s and Wendy’s and the big chains, 2. the small chains and 3. the Moms and Pops. To my knowledge, the big chains AND the small chains get their food from central suppliers, for the most part. I am guessing that MickeyD’s et al have their own main suppliers, and the small chain restaurants also get their food from suppliers such as Sysco, etc. These may vary by area, but there are still companies whose main business is to get groceries/staples to restaurants. So both the large chains and the small chains are purchasing the same brands, the same foods, full of salt and preservatives and lots of long ingredient labels. Yuck. Not sure about where the mom and pop restaurants get their food stuffs; probably depends upon their size and location. They, too, may use the same food distributors…so it’s all the same dead food, (enzymatically dead) the same processed food to varying degrees, the same pasteurized food, the same GMO-laden food, conventional food, pesticide-laden food…out here on the road. Ugh.

Another observation: once we were in this “small chain restaurant”, there were no good choices. Here’s what’s on the menu: a burger or steak from a cow raised on a feedlot, eating food it is not meant to eat while standing in its own fecal matter, and slaughtered assembly line fashion, pulled pork bbq from a pig raised in a cage, chicken from hens raised in cages with what Joel Salatin has pointed out “fecal particulate” in their lungs, salmon-no doubt farm-raised and fed GMO feed at the least. Hmmm. Hard to be a sustainably-eating carnivore out on the road.  Very difficult choices. What one does when faced with these bad options is, of course, a personal decision. It may come down to just how hungry you are. And as I always say, a blessing does a lot to make whatever you eat more palatable…as well as a request for forgiveness for what I call the Food Industrial Complex and some actions to help remedy the situation. Join the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund…join a CSA…volunteer on a farm…purchase your food at a farmer’s market, vote with your pocketbook…and when you are on the road, bring your own food with you. Try to research sustainable food options on your route beforehand! And if the only options you have are gas station convenience stores every 60 or 70 miles out here on the road, well, just do your best. 😉

I got to ride behind Joel Salatin…

…you’ll just have to believe me.

In the days before pictures, the written word was all we had to capture thoughts, impressions, moments. Well, that’s all I’ve got to use today to convey my visit to Polyface Farm Saturday…heartbroken, almost…as all 110 of my glorious photos went the way of a curious 4 year old playing with buttons on the digital camera. He found the “trash all” button, and they were lost forever.

How can I convey how happy I was, privileged, blessed, in fact, to be riding on the hay wagon directly behind the Lunatic Farmer HIMSELF, Joel Salatin, who was driving the red tractor pulling about a hundred of us? A man with so clear a vision, and so unwavering a focus upon it.  It was his mission today to explain to those of us that came to the benefactor event of the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund and Farm to Consumer Foundation what he is doing at Polyface Farm, and why he and other small farmers need the organization and the support…and he got choked up later in his speech after lunch as he expressed his gratitude for their assistance twice since its inception.

It was a beautiful day in Swoope, VA. Bright sun, a lot hotter than the forecast had promised. My son and I arrived about 15 minutes early, as I wanted to deliver 10 quarts of fermented Peach Chutney and fermented Lemon Thyme Garlic and Garlic Dill Pickles to the caterer upon arrival.  We were met by Mike, a white dog who stands taller on all fours than my very tall 4 year old. He welcomed both of us by jumping up and placing a paw on Bodhi’s chest, knocking him over. The day at the farm had begun! We will see ducks, pigs, chickens, (layers and broilers), cows and rabbits before the day was over.

So…instead of a chronology of the day…just a few “snapshots” (pardon the pun)…

I went over to say hello to Joel, who had just flown in the night before from somewhere, whom I hadn’t seen since I was honored to be on a panel with him and Sally Fallon Morell to discuss FRESH: the movie last November. Gosh, had it been that long? I introduced him to my son, Bodhi, who was so excited about meeting The Farmer, Joel. He said he liked Joel’s hat, (yes, that beat up, worn out, full of holes farm hat that is Joel’s trademark) and told him he had brought his cowboy hat, too. They decided together that Bodhi’s brand new white cowboy hat from Cheyenne, Wyoming was probably a lot like Joel’s “city hat”, which he would rotate in after his farm hat had truly lived its last days. Bodhi was thrilled to “talk hats” with Joel. Then he ran off to play with the cat.

The first animals we saw on the hayride were pigs…fifty or so pigs, some pink, some brown, some spotted brown on pink…the pigs see Joel’s red tractor approaching and RUN to greet him and us. Came right up; no fear. Each pig about 50 pounds, running and playing and chasing each other in a paddock, contained only by a single wire of electric fence. They seemed to laugh, giggle, romp and roll. They would move in a day or so to the next paddock we could see over the hill, where the grass was green and tall. They would grow to about 400 pounds on grass and acorns and starchy roots. (This is about 160 pounds more than confinement pigs…they grow that big foraging and rooting around…one thing confinement pigs do not have the pleasure of doing.) Joel explained that the job of the pigs was to create upheaval–in their routing around with their snouts, and running around with their hooves, they overturned much…creating the space for new growth to begin after them.  As Joel explained the ecology and economy of it all, he invited us to take a big sniff and notice their was no odor. A far cry from the conventional pig farms, where one can smell the stench of confinement miles away.

The fields…sooooooo beautiful. So lush, so green. A horticulturist’s dream. I looked around and identified a few species, some of my favorites…the steely blue-lavender color of chicory against its dark gray/black stalks, gorgeous, bright golden yarrow swaying in the breeze, thistles! Oh, the thistles! Rich lavendery-purpley-magenta thistles…dark green, tall, woody stems and prickly leaves. Red clover…grasses that looked like brush-tails and 40 or 50 more species growing, growing. When Joel stopped the tractor in the middle of a pasture to ask folks to note the variety of plants growing, and that this pasture had already been grazed 2 or 3 times this year and would be grazed again, I had a fantasy that he must have noticed me pointing out the beauty of it all to my son as he drove.  “Where did they all come from?” one of the guests asked. No seeds were ever planted, no species introduced. This is Nature creating as she does when all is in balance. When one stewards the Earth.

Next, the broilers. A thousand birds on one pasture…all in movable chicken houses, all on the grass with shelter and sun…a line of 10 or 15 of these movable houses I am guessing with about 15 birds each (could have been 20;  I didn’t count). Again, you could see where the houses had been yesterday–that grass had been “mowed” down to the dirt. The houses are moved daily to new, fresh grass… so there were stripes of already eaten pasture, covered with chicken poop and then stripes of lush pasture not yet travelled…all the way through. It was here that my boy found the most exotic and exquisite caterpillar that he played with while Joel spoke…yellow and orange and black, with black spikes sticking out all over and two black antennae. (You’ll have to trust me on this one, too. The close up of the insect was beautiful.)

The cows…oh, the cows. I will never forget the sound of the munching of the cows. Munch, munch, munch. Have you ever heard a cow munch grass? Just wonderful. So…chewing, chewing, chewing! I noted that we were driving over a pasture that had been grazed very far…down to the dirt…and how it was covered with cow pies! (Did you know that grass-fed cows drop 50 pounds of cow pies a day?! and that when you step on them, they are bright GREEN inside?!!!) On the far end, in the grassy pasture, were 50 or so cows, and opposite from them, in the “already been grazed, almost dirt, covered with cow pies pasture” was an “egg mobile” with lots of hens running around outside it, pecking the ground, pecking the cow pies for luscious, divine fly larve. (Did you know that cow pies contain all the enzymes that chickens need to digest their food?! Gosh, Nature really knows what she is doing!) Sooooooooo on one end, the cows grazing in the lush green grass (the “teenager grass” Joel calls it, the high growth grass that one WANTS cows to graze–timing is everything when you are a Grass Farmer!) and on the other end, the chickens, laying hens, doing what Joel calls “Sanitation” on the field. They go through and EAT AS CHICKENS ARE MEANT TO EAT, BUGS out of the cow pies. Not “vegetarian feed enhanced with omega 3s”! (I had pictures of those cow pies and those chickens pecking through them for treats!) The result? Nutrient-dense, ORANGE-YOLKED eggs. Pure nutritive gold.

Transparency. This is a word Joel uses all the time–transparency. The ability to see through, to see all. The willingness to be seen…to be looked at, and to be held accountable. Michael Pollan used this word in The Omnivore’s Dilemma when he wrote about his experience at Polyface. Transparency and the circle of life. And the naturalness of the circle… I will never forget the scene of my 4 year old child swinging on the swing in the tree right next to the open killing shed. He and a bunch of girls and boys ages 4-9ish…running, swinging, laughing. Yep, just a few feet from where the chickens are slaughtered and cleaned for sale. I had no worry about germs…this was Polyface farm and I knew that because of the way birds are processed on this farm all was well. The birds are “processed” right outside where all can see, in manageable batches once a week, instead of in a big factory operations that reek of the stench of killing thousands of birds at a time. Here, by hand, no odor, no stench…just transparency. Come and look and see where it is done, how it is done. And then choose to eat or not.

How happy I was, how grateful, yes, feeling blessed to be in the presence of one hundred or so like-minded folks who care enough about their rights to real, fresh from the farm food (really, not just proclaimed on a box from a supermarket) to offer up $250 or more each to help ensure small family farmers do the work of farming, and lawyers do the work of defending their right to do so. We shared a meal of local, sustainable meat, cheese, wine and vegetables with others who had come from as far away as Gainesville, Florida and Minnesota, Arizona…all to support each other, to support the farmers, to support and ensure their right to sell directly to consumers, and for the consumers right (that means you and me) to purchase directly from them. We heard from the head of the FTCLDF and from others who are spearheading the movement to protect what Joel calls “the rights of my several trillion members” i.e., the right to feed one’s own body with the foods one chooses…and the challenges to that right.  Sally Fallon Morell, another visionary, another of my favorite people…I met Sally 12 years ago when she taught me and a group of others how to make butter from real cream. Sally’s efforts inspire me daily to “teach, teach teach…”. She is one of the founders of the FTCLDF, FTCF, and of the Weston A. Price Foundation.   Thank you Sally for all you do for all of us. And for the children. Sally spoke about the three things are needed for a successful renaissance in farming: 1.  Creation of customers (WAPF does this), 2. Legal Defense (FTCLDF does this) and 3. Figuring out the best ways to farm. . . the farmers do that. And after a day at Polyface, it was clear to all who attended that Joel Salatin has done that.

Cathy Raymond of the FTCLDF raffled off  lots of donated items in thanksgiving for people having come…homemade, artisanal bread, local wine, hard copies of Nourishing Traditions, one of my own DVDs: The Ketchup Revolution and a Preparing Whole Grains and Legumes chart, gift certificates to the Polyface Farm store (you know they don’t ship!)…among others.  Our day ended with a visit to the farm store ourselves, for a couple dozen of those ungraded Polyface Eggs, the best hot dogs in the world (made from real meat and not meat parts you wouldn’t want to eat), and of course, chicken. As I packed a happy, exhausted child into his car seat and began to drive out, I caught Joel’s eye and waved my thanks. He stopped his conversation and walked over to me in the van, and grabbed my hand to thank me for coming down. He asked after my husband, whom he had met 8 years prior, and was happy to hear of the miracles that have happened in his health this year. The last thing I said to the self-proclaimed “Lunatic Farmer” was to thank him for being my inspiration. “Whenever I am foggy about why I am here or what I need to do”, I said, “I think of you and your focus and your clarity, and I say, Joel is my model.” May I be as clear about why I do what I do, and as focused in bringing it to fruition. Thank you Joel Salatin, for all you do for all of us. As I write, I am choked up and grateful. And maybe we’ll just have to take another trip down to Polyface Farm soon. With the camera. 🙂

Why I don’t eat out often…aka one secret to the obesity epidemic

Yes, folks, it is true. I do go out to a restaurant every once in a while.  Everyone needs a break from the kitchen, right? I, too, get lulled into the somewhat dreamy idea of someone else preparing the meal and being served instead of serving. I have noticed, though, that every time I eat out (or we order in–again very seldom),  I AM HUNGRY two hours later. HUNGRY HUNGRY HUNGRY. Gotta eat. I am foraging through my very own refrigerator for some nutrient-dense REAL food.  “Why?” one might ask. Because most restaurant food is not nutrient-dense*. Most is processed or otherwise “dead” food that is cooked and served up…and we pay them for it. It is supposed to be a treat: food filled with preservatives, SALT, (and not even good salt at that), MSG, and other things I would never have in my pantry.

I would submit to you, folks, that this is part of the obesity epidemic we have going on in our country. Eat out, eat out, eat out, eat out. Prepared foods. Frozen foods. Fast foods. Microwaved foods. And then WE ARE HUNGRY ALL THE TIME. So we eat. So we eat more. And what do we eat? What they (the USDA food pyramid) tell us to eat…low fat, no fat, high carb…chips and crackers and rice cakes and veggie puffs. And because all of these are nutrient-poor and do not satisfy our body’s need for nutrients, WE EAT MORE. Of the same. And we are still not satisfied. So empty calories pile up and we are getting fatter and we don’t understand why and worse, WE ARE STILL HUNGRY.  And the newest USDA food pyramid is more of the same…recommending more and more foods that will not satisfy. And our children are getting fatter. Obese. Diabetic. And no one sees the connection. This really is nuts folks.

So what to do?…eat more REAL food. Feed your children more REAL food. Eat more REAL food and you will eat less of it because your body will get what it needs. What is REAL food? Nutrient-dense food. Fresh from the farm or your garden food, live food, food that has no labels…non-GMO food, fermented and cultured food…food free from pesticides and herbicides and fertilizers…healthy fats, nutrient-rich eggs from pastured chickens…meat from grass-fed animals, if you eat meat.

I figure if we start teaching kids early about REAL food, they may have a fighting chance to have a healthy life. Rachel Cross and I will be “serving up tools for a lifetime of healthy eating” to kids 9-12 in our It’s All About REAL Food: Cooking, Art & Music in Celebration of Healthy Eating summer camp in Takoma Park, MD next week, August 2-6.

Here’s wishing you more REAL food in your life…more satisfaction…more nutrient-density…and less hunger!

(*Disclaimer: I am not talking about those restaurants that source fresh, local, sustainably raised food (like those that use Polyface Meat) and serve REAL butter.)

making STOCK, aka BONE BROTH tomorrow night in Alexandria!

One of my favorite classes to teach…The Secrets to Making Nutrient-Dense Stock…! I’ll be teaching tomorrow night, Thursday, January 28 in Alexandria, VA. Why do I love STOCK? It is nutritious, delicious, grounding, nourishing and nurturing. It is also a protein-sparer…which means one needs to eat less protein when you cook with STOCK. It is also chock full of easily absorbed MINERALS, which every body needs. And it is a wonderful way to make use of all the bones you have…an act in sustainability. STOCK made well is the foundation of good soups, sauces, and gravies. It is one of the first foods I suggest to moms when weaning their little ones.

Rich gelatin from beef stock made well.

You need good bones to make good STOCK…don’t try to make it from bones produced from cows on feedlots, or chickens in battery cages. First of all, it won’t work. Second of all, it won’t be nutrient-dense! Meat and bones from animals in CAFOs are nutritionally inferior. Perhaps most important, STOCK is healing food. One cannot get healing food from animals that were treated with antibiotics or hormones, or fed the wrong food, or, just plain not treated well.

Hope to see you in Alexandria. If you would like to register, go to the page that lists the Class Schedule for 2010.

Happy and Healthy eating!

beef tallow-a healthy fat to cook with!

FRESH: new thinking about what we’re eating…

Join me for the movie and a panel discussion with some of the greats in the REAL and LOCAL FOOD movements!

Hey folks

Join me in Oakton, Va on Sunday, November 8 for a community screening of FRESH: the movie. I will be on a panel discussion after the movie with Joel Salatin (the #1 grass farmer in the country!) of Polyface Farm, Sally Fallon Morell (founder, Weston A. Price Foundation and author, Nourishing Traditions)…and a host of others. Hope to see you there!