Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Post 2)

So many new rules in farming. You produce what can get you the most money. For most farmers that is tobacco. Many people don't care about tobacco farmers saying all they are causing are problems. When in face this tobacco is providing homes, education, clothes and paid bills. Barbara Kingsolver does say that most tobacco farmers wish they could grow something else! Unfortunately that haven't found an alternate high-value crop. Some alternatives have been given such as organic vegetables and sustainable lumber.

Did you know that small farms are actually better than big ones? Well they are! They bring in more money than the big farms!

At home on the farm you can't get everything you want. There are seasons! If you miss the perfect day to collect food, you miss it for the whole year! Mushroom hunters (Molly Mooch hunters) know the perfect times. A Molly Mooch is a morel, which means mushroom. Mushrooms have a huge variety but if you don't collect them at the right time they are gone! But what makes it even more difficult is that mushrooms are extremely hard to find, but this also makes it more fun!

Planting is the same story as collecting. You have to plant at the right time or they don't harvest as well. Most people can't stand to eat fruits and vegetables that don't look plump or juicy; but Kingsolver's family eats them whenever they can.


Small town, small postal service. Strange packages everyday (to city folk)! Those who live on farms are used to chicks being delivered by mail, like those of Lily's. Lily (Kingsolver's daughter) gets chicks to start an egg business. As time goes Lily wants a horse, and Kingsolver says if she pays for half. Now this little girl takes her motherly instinct and goes off calculating how much chicken meat would pay for. As she calculates and adjusts she decides that she will only kill the "mean" ones and keep the rest for eggs. Lily is definitely getting a horse soon.

Kingsolver's family knows that food is food. They make sure that their turkeys and chickens are raised on a farm where they can mate themselves. Also there is variety on these farms; not just the butterball turkeys. But while they get farm raised meat, they themselves raise the meat then let someone else do the killing. They are dedicated to not eating industrial food.


Most of us are raised to give flowers on Mother's Day and to say thank you for gifts. Not this town! They give tomato plants and don't say thank you. Saying thank you is a curse on the plant to wither up and die...odd.

So many varieties of tomatoes, but each is grown with a purpose. Each plant has its own timing of harvesting and planting, and all this work begins on....Mother's Day! The never ending labor of parenting...for plants!

Hard work is a necessity in farming, without it you won't eat. During all this hard work in May is Kingsolver's birthday. Instead of the traditional store bought food everything is home grown and home made! Yum! The caterer helps her out in getting the food together. Kingsolver has nothing for a theme so the caterer calls farmers from all around asking what they have. Soon enough all the food comes in and it turns out to be terrific! Friends and family come from near and far to celebrate her birthday and Kingsolver is extremely happy for all the help with food and planning and her gifts (plants for her garden). She said thank you for everything BUT the plants.


The dead zones of farming: midwinter and June. These times are when the garden is quiet; no plant in sight. Of course this doesn't mean there is no work to do. The family still tends to the farm keeping it healthy. The is rarely any chance of a farm family leaving for vacation though, but they do manage to do this between May and September harvest. Once everything is packed Kingsolver's family plan to leave for a week and a half,but the day before they leave cherries start falling from the tree. They collect the delicious red fruit the whole day.

Kentucky has a variety of things to grow and sell, like plants, shrimp, beef, poultry, racehorses, anything! Even with all this variety though farms still die. America is just more interested in lower prices than healthier foods. This keeps the farms from earning all they can. While industrial agriculture can promote its food in a super sized scale, farms can't promote unless its via word of mouth. But the farmers can communicate how much healthier and better their food is, and how it benefits them and their neighborhood. Eventually the farms will win.

While on their vacation Kingsolver does meet Amy a local farmer up north. She grows her food in a greenhouse and they plants are beautiful. Amy could sell the food for however much she wanted but consumers know her personally and she refuses to take advantage of them. She is part of the community. This is what locally grown means. It is a community who knows each on first name basis, who see each other every week, who are friendly and know where there food is coming from. "Local is farmers growing trust."


Reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle has really opened my eyes about locally grown food. It makes me want to move to a farm and grow my own food! But I know this would be extremely difficult; so far I will stick to my farmer's market!

Contents of Our Food

David Zinczenko wrote this article about some shocking ingredients in our daily food consumption.
Chicken McNugget:
This alone contains seven ingredients and and most of them having nothing to do with chicken or bread. The chicken contains water, wheat starch, dextrose, safflower oil, and sodium phosphates along with “autolyzed yeast extract.” Not a lot of chicken in that CHICKEN McNugget. The breading also contains another twenty ingredients. But surprisingly Zinczenko says that this is pretty natural compared to other fast foods.

Wendy's Frosty:
The simple milk and ice cream shake has been broken down into multiple ingredients such as guar gum, cellulose gum, and carrageenan. The new Coffee Toffee Twisted Frosty has even a bigger list of ingredients with the ingredient coffee towards the bottom. Something tells me we aren't actually eating what we think.

Filet-O-Fish:
Our traditional Filet-O-Fish is made from hoki, a gnarly, crazy-eyed fish. This fish then has coat of batter, a bath of oil, a squirt of tartar added to it. But recently the hoki has not been used because of the extreme amount used. McDonald's is now using a different fish such as whitefish like Alaskan pollock. But you probably won't even notice.

Salami Sandwich:
Genoa salami, like you’d get at Subway, contains both cow and pig. But the process to how salami is made is even more revolting. It is made from slaughterhouse leftovers that are gathered using “advanced meat recovery." This is a mechanical process that strips the last remaining bits of muscle off the bone so nothing is wasted. Then lactic acid is added, the waste product produced by bacteria in the meat. Then you add all the spices and you get fifteen ingredients in your salami! Yum...

All of our food has secret ingredients in it but you can follow David Zinczenko in his bookEat This, Not That! Here is another link associated with that. And it's not just men's health, if you scroll down towards the bottom on the right there is a box for women's health as well.

What Goes on Inside that Can?

Forewarning: Don't read this article if you are about to eat or are eating.

According to "What's In You Food?" article maggots, insects, mold, rodent filth, larvae, and parasites exist is processed foods. Apparently nowadays our government thinks it is "economically impractical" to grow food from the ground, in a natural environment, and to harvest in traditional fashions, without the pesticides or GMO's.

Canned tomatoes: an average of 10 or more fly eggs per 500 grams or 2 or more maggots per 500 grams.
Pizza sauce: an average of 30 or more fly eggs per 100 grams or 2 or more maggots per 100 grams.
Wheat: an average of 75 or more insect fragments per 50 grams or 1 or more rodent hairs per 50 grams.
Canned or frozen berries: a mold count up to 60% or an average of 4 or more larvae per 500 grams. 
Chocolate:  up to 60 or more insect fragments per 100 grams or 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams. 
Curry powder: an average of 100 or more insect fragments per 25 grams.
Macaroni and noodle products: a whopping average of 225 insect fragments or more per 225 grams.

Now I'm not saying to stop eating this food because I know I'll never stop eating chocolate. I'm simply just letting you know what is or could be in your food. There is also another link which tells you what's in your food. When I tried it though it didnt work; so it might not work but if it does let me know please!

Sorry for those with queasy stomachs.

Tips On CSA's

Community Supported Agriculture or CSA, is a lot more difficult than one would think. You have to be fully dedicated to your CSA. How to Choose a CSA gives helpful hints on what to do when finding a CSA. You have to be willing to go through all the hardships and successes the farmers go through; meaning some years might not produce as much produce as the next. Before you join a CSA you should cook your own meals, be able to handle the excess produce, be open to new vegetables, and accept the possible risks. When you have answered these questions and they point you in the direction of a CSA start researching. Find CSA's near you, ask questions about farmers, workers, techniques, and produce. Don't go into this blindfolded. More links are listed on the website given above. If you don't think you are willing to be committed in this CSA relationship, don't be upset. Buy food from your local farmer's market. There is always an alternative to eat healthy.

Delicious Hot Dogs or Deadly Chemicals?

You Decide!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dinnercraft/4289005200/

Deadly Ingredients

We all know that some foods can contain unhealthy ingredients, but according to this website there are specific ingredients that are extremely dangerous: Sodium nitrite, hydrogenated oils, and excitotoxins.

Sodium nitrite is used to make the red coloring in hot dogs, which if you feed to kids too much increases brain cancer by 300%. Hydrogenated oils are the fatty acids that can cause heat disease. Excitotoxins kill nerve cells through over excitement.

Other ingredients you probably didn't know:

Florida oranges are dipped in an orange dye to seem more appealing. This dye is banned from food use because of cancer risk.

Your favorite guacamole dip, it might not even have real avocado in it. Some are made with hydrogenated soybean oil and artificial colors.

These food companies trick us, their consumers, with these ingredients by using multiple words to confuse us.

Want to know more?

Information from: "Grocery Warning"