Your Meat Choices Matter

There is a recent trend in meat producers that we in the sustainable movement have often praised – pasture raising of cattle, pigs, sheep, and chickens – with no antibiotics and no hormones.  Some even ensure whatever supplemental feed they use is 100% organic.

But I think for many (most?) people, this is just another tree-hugging fad, and besides that, it just costs too damn much.

Maybe not.  Here in a very mainstream source (Popular Science) is an article that should seriously alarm you:

How Pigs on Antibiotics Are Making Superbugs Stronger

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, (MRSA) a nasty strain of bacteria that resists most antibiotics, probably developed its defenses while spending time down on the farm, a new study says. It has been thought that humans’ antibiotic abuse is the catalyst in superbug genesis, but this new research suggests it’s the animals, and the drugs we feed them, that we should worry about.

A new paper in the journal mBio, published by the American Society for Microbiology, describes how a human strain of MRSA started out as a drug-defeatable bug and then transferred into the pig population, where it developed resistance to two common forms of antibiotics. Then the newly potent antibiotic-resistant staph jumped back into humans. Researchers traced its evolutionary history by examining 89 genomes from humans, turkeys, chickens and pigs from 19 countries.

It goes on to say [my emphasis added]:

The CC398 strain of MRSA first appeared in 2003, and is found in pigs, cattle and poultry in the United States, researchers said. It’s in nearly half of all meat in the U.S. food supply, according to the American Society for Microbiology.

Read the whole article here.  Once again, it would appear that the industrialization of our food that started about mid-20th-century may have resulted in temporarily higher yields and lower consumer prices, but also in steadily eroding quality and nutritional value, and ever mounting environmental and health consequences. Whatever purported savings there may have been (much of which is neatly banked by the agro-industrial complex) is more than offset by the cost of the mess left behind.   Sustainable food production, which includes the natural raising of meat animals, will ultimately prove to be the only system we can live with.

So, your choices do matter.  Two great examples of where to find meat from animals that have never been given antibiotics, and are humanely and sustainably raised are el salchichero in Santa Cruz and Prather Ranch Meat Company, in San Francisco, and both at several farmers markets.  Our friends at Gather Restaurant in Berkeley also ensure that they will only use meat that is humanly and sustainably raised.

–posted by Steven

 

…what you eat

picture from gemplers.com

We receive catalogs for farming supplies that feature products like this. Now, I have nothing bad to say about gemplers, the company whose safety products are pictured here – they seem to be a fine company.  My point is simply that needing to wear safety equipment like this is standard practice when dealing with the kinds of chemicals routinely used in conventional farming.  Chemicals that are applied to the foods people eat.  Many will tell you that the food is perfectly safe to eat.  But for me, if you need to protect yourself like this just to apply the stuff, why would you want to eat it?

Which leads me to this little news gem:

Breaking: Monsanto Found Guilty of Chemical Poisoning in France

by: Anthony Gucciardi, Natural Society

February 13, 2012

In a major victory for public health and what will hopefully lead to other nations taking action, a French court decided today that GMO crops monster Monsanto is guilty of chemically poisoning a French farmer. The grain grower, Paul Francois, says he developed neurological problems such as memory loss and headaches after being exposed to Monsanto’s Lasso weedkiller back in 2004. The monumental case paves the way for legal action against Monsanto’s Roundup and other harmful herbicides and pesticides made by other manufacturers.

In a ruling given by a court in Lyon (southeast France), Francois says that Monsanto failed to provide proper warnings on the product label. The court ordered an expert opinion to determine the sum of the damages, and to verify the link between Lasso and the reported illnesses. The case is extremely important, as previous legal action taken against Monsanto by farmers has failed due to the challenge of properly linking pesticide exposure with the experienced side effects.

When contacted by Reuters, Monsanto’s lawyers declined to comment.

Monsanto’s Deadly Concoctions

Farmer Paul Francois was not alone in his quest to hold Monsanto accountable for their actions. He and other farmers affected by Monsanto’s deadly concoctions actually founded an association last year to make the case that their health problems were a result of Monsanto’s Lasso and other ‘crop protection’ products. Their claims were also met by many other farmers. Since 1996, the agricultural branch of the French social security system has gathered about 200 alerts per year regarding sickness related to pesticides. However only 47 cases were even recognized in the past 10 years.

Francois, whose life was damaged by Monsanto’s products, has now set the powerful precedent in the defense of farmers.

“I am alive today, but part of the farming population is going to be sacrificed and is going to die because of this,” Francois, 47, told Reuters.

It is also important to note that Monsanto’s Lasso pesticide was actually banned in France back in 2007 following a European Union directive that came after the ban of the product in other nations.

–posted by Steven

Ravenello Candela di Fuoco (Candle Radish)

picture credit: L. Butler

These were harvested just about an hour ago, soon to be delivered to Gather Restaurant in Berkeley.  To help with perspective, here they are in Hailey’s hands:

picture credit: L. Butler

Monday Farm Cat Blogging

In this week’s newsletter, I posted a picture of Lynx rufus.  Well, here’s the other rufus we have on the farm.  He goes by the regal name of Titus Rufus Felines (pronounced fa-line-us):

picture credit: Terri Basile

He is, by the way, every bit of crazy as he looks.  He is also the most loyal friend for our old timer, Hopse Apu:

picture credit: Terri Basile

This week’s box in picture

This week’s box has salad reds and greens, rapini, rutabagas, collards, green garlic, mixed chard (Bietola and rainbow), Tenderstem broccoli, Napoli carrots.  Not shown (will be harvested tomorrow): radishes and Italian flat leaf parsley.

–posted by Steven

Newsletter for Feb 21-24, 2012

News from the Farm

Not much to report on for this week.  We’ve got several project posts in the hopper, but nothing is ready to publish yet.

There have been numerous sightings, sadly none by your blogger, of a new family of bobcats (Lynx rufus) living on the property.  Adult bobcats are a pretty regular sight at Lindencroft, but kittens are another matter.  The family is a mother with her two very playful kittens (the fathers don’t stick around).  The kittens seem oblivious to the presence or peril of cars on our road, so they have let people get a good long look.  Unfortunately, no one has yet snapped a picture, but Linda said this one is a very good likeness of the kittens:

If you are driving up the farm road, stay alert for these guys, and you might just spot them on the first ridge just past the compost piles, where, not coincidentally, many cottontails (brush rabbits – Syvilagus bachmani)  live.

–Steven (and Linda)

What’s in the Box? (picture here)

X

• salad reds and greens
• rutabagas with tops
• rapini
• carrots
• parsley
• Tenderstem broccoli
• green garlic
• radishes with tops
• added: collards
• added: mixed chard (Bietola and rainbow)

Recipe Ideas of the Week

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First, do not throw those rutabagas tops away!  Simply use them in anyway you would use kale.  There are really delicious.  Also….

Tenderstem broccoli is just that – you eat the whole stem – peeling not needed, and….

In the box this week are three different root vegetables, so…

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Roasted Root Vegetables

We have roasted vegetables several times a week – sometimes with the dinner meal, sometimes as an evening snack while watching a movie, and, if there are any left over, added to an omelet the next morning.

Generally, all you need to do to roast root vegetables is to cut them to a fairly uniform size, lightly coat them in extra virgin olive oil with herbs and seasoning to taste, and roast in a medium-hot oven until tender.

• Herbs can be nearly anything you enjoy.  We often use thyme, rosemary, and/or oregano.
• Butter can be used instead of (or even in addition to) the olive oil, but you will need to keep the temperature at the lower end of medium.
• Drizzling a little lemon can be a nice touch.  Marge, our “egg lady” and long-time friend, suggests a bit of honey drizzled over the radishes before roasting.
• Seasoning is typically salt and pepper, although you could certainly spice things up with some pepper flakes or powder. Use a slightly coarse sea salt – here is a place where using a special salt will really make a difference.
• We’ve seen in recipes oven temps of 350-450 for roasting veggies,  but we find 400 to be just about perfect.

This week’s box in picture

This box has salad reds and greens, collards, Siberian kale, rapini, Pugliese cutting chicory, baby white turnips, and Marge’s eggs.  Not pictured: broccoli or cabbage.

–posted by Steven

Newsletter for Feb 14-17, 2012

News from the Farm

As you could tell from last week’s box, we sometimes have more to put in your box than we said in this newsletter.  The reason can be that we simply find more veggies that just need to be harvested than we had expected, and sometimes it’s because we don’t have enough of something for everyone, and don’t want to set expectations only to disappoint some of you.  So we try to spread these bonus goodies around as fairly as we can.  If you don’t recognize something in your box, just drop us a line.

This last week, it was Steven who had to be out of town, so Linda was kept pretty busy and didn’t have time for that promised EcoFarm trip report.  She will get to it pretty soon.

With the hoop houses, we are planning to get a selection of summer crops started earlier than we could before.  It’s only going to be a small percentage of the total, but we should be able to give you tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants a bit earlier than we have in the past.  Linda has been ordering seeds like crazy, and they will get started in the greenhouses soon.  We’ll be posting a list of some of the varieties we will be doing this year – and the pepper list is quite impressive!

–Steven & Linda

What’s in the Box? (click here for picture)

X

• Siberian kale
• rapini
• collard greens
• chicory – pugliese
• salad reds and greens
• turnips with tops
• either broccoli OR cabbage

Recipe of the Week

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This week the recipe is from Linda’s kitchen – a Lindencroft Farm exclusive.

Pasta with White Beans, Bitter Greens, and Tuna

The combination of tuna with white beans is an Italian classic, as is using pasta with a variety of different greens.  Here we combine those ideas to create an easy, very nutritious , inexpensive, and simply delicious main course.

You may be tempted to use canned beans for this, but don’t – you will lose out on the wonderful delicacy that freshly cooked white beans with sage offers.

Also, you may be reluctant to use tuna.  You can easily substitute a number of other oily fish, such as salmon or Monterey Bay sardines.

For bitter greens – this week’s rapini or chicory will do quite nicely.

SERVES 6

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Ingredients

• 2 cups dry cannellini or other white beans
• 1/2 – 3/4 lbs  bitter greens, roughly chopped with tough stems removed
• 1 can tuna of your choice – packed in oil is fine, packed in olive oil even better
• approximately 2 cups of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lb of whole wheat pasta (we like fusilli, but any kind will work)
• red chili flakes
• chopped fresh garlic (optional)
• pecorino romano, parmigiano reggiano, or lightly sauted bread crumbs
• salt

Procedure

• Soak the cannellini beans overnight, then simmer until almost tender with a little fresh sage in the water.  When they’re almost tender, drain off the cooking water and replace with enough olive oil to cover the beans.  Note: if you forget to soak the beans ahead of time, simply expect to simmer longer.
• Continue to simmer until they are fully tender and even a little crusty.  Remove from heat.  Drain off but save the oil.  You will use a little of this oil later in the recipe, but save the rest in the fridge for the next time you do this or any other white bean dish, rather than using new olive oil each time.
• Boil the whole wheat pasta
• With 3-4 tbls of the saved bean oil in a pan, heat the oil, saute the red pepper flakes and optional garlic for a few seconds, toss in the greens, add a dash of salt, and cook until almost tender.  You can add a little of the pasta water to help soften the larger stems.  Be sparing with that salt if you are going to use the grated cheese.
• Reduce the heat.  Add the beans to the greens and smash with a fork.  Add the tuna (with its oil or juices) and smash it in as well.
• Drain the pasta and combine with the beans and greens.  You can sprinkle on freshly grated pecorino romano or parmeseano reggiano (don’t use the green canned stuff!) and/or lightly sauted bread crumbs just before you serve.  [Note: Italian food purists would never add cheese to a fish dish.]
• Serve as either a main dish or a side.

Farm Log 1/29 to 2/4, 2012

Here is our weekly report of what was sown and what was harvested during prior week.

Sown

Crop	Variety	How Sown
Arugula		broadcast in outside beds
Broccoli	Apollo	transplanted in outside beds and hoop house
Cauliflower	Veronica	sown in flats, greenhouse
Celeriac		sown in flats, greenhouse
Fennel	Orion	sown in flats, greenhouse
Lettuce	green bib, butter crunch, green summer crisp, red cross, red rosie	sown in flats, greenhouse
Onion	bianca di maggio, Cortland	transplanted in outside beds
Ornamental for hedgerow	chaste tree	sown in flats, greenhouse
Pac Choy		transplanted in outside beds
Peas	dwarf grey	direct sown in hoophouse
Rapini		broadcast in outside beds
Turnips	Hakurei	broadcast in outside beds

Harvested

Crop	Variety (if recorded)
Cabbage	farao
Cauliflower
Chicory	catalogna pugliese
Collard Greens
Erba Stella
Fava Beans	shoots and flowers
Herbs	blue tuscan rosemary, sage
Kale	siberian, lacinato, red russian
Lemon	eureka
Micros	chery belle radish, celery, kohlrabi
Nettle	stinging
Parsnips
Pea Shoots	dwarf grey
Rapini
Rutabagas
Salad Reds & Greens
Tatsoi
Turnips	hakurei

 

–posted by Steven

This week’s box in picture

This box has salad reds and greens, rapini, tat soi, lemons, turnips with tops, Siberian kale, broccoli, and carrots.

–posted by Steven