…but Mighty God King [You may safely assume that all links contain swears and off-color humor] a blog that’s primarily about comic books, jokes about bad science fiction and an unhealthy obsession with Rex the Wonder Dog has published a short essay on sustainable agriculture and responsible meat consumption.
drivingrex2
My dog did this just the other day. (Stolen from Mighty God King with respect.)
Good Dog! But…which of your dogs was it? Our dog just wants you to know that he can handle a stick shift…
Very interesting post – especially the part about specialized farming. My maternal grandfather owned a farm, and it seemed so natural to do crop rotation, small scale local production, letting land lie fallow, etc… that when my mother moved here she was amazed at the notion of doing only, say, spinach farming and draining the soil of nutrients in the name of mass production.
As a veg, I am trying to learn about what it means to eat locally when one also eats meat – there are so many competing factors, nothing seems clear. But as you suggested, its the discussion for awareness that might help overall.
I’m also wondering which dog. I’d assume Ruby June, but then I remember her stuck in the fence…
Trent and I are building a raised bed. Many questions may follow, but I’ll swap you kimchee for answers.
Oh, it was Oscar all the way. He’s unfazed by things like operating motor vehicles. Poor Ruby is less worldly, I’m afraid.
Mangochild, one of the things about critters on the farm is that they do such wonderful things for the system as a whole. Even when ours six hens were tiny week-old chicks, dumping their litter into the compost made the composting process take off. And their winter pen is full of decomposing plant matter that they’re all scratchin’ and poopin’ on in preparation for composting in the Spring. Larger pastured animals also do wonderful things in terms of producing manure and maintaining fields during the fallow portion of the rotation.
Whether or not this justifies raising animals for meat instead of dairy or eggs isn’t a question I can answer for anyone but myself. We do feed out critters off-farm feed, but they also eat grass, slugs, and insects in season as well as acting as mobile food-scrap recycling stations. The biodynamic folks say that, to qualify as biodynamic, animals must have 80% of their feed produced on-farm.
One thing that were incredibly privileged to have available to us on our little island are animals that we know were raised and slaughtered humanely and with respect for the animals and the soil. My general feeling is that, by eating the animals that we do, there is a net positive for the world.
My favorite part, though, is that a bunch of random comic fans are thinking about their food, where it comes from, and what it means to eat it. This just makes me deliriously happy and maybe even a little bit hopeful for the future.
MangoChild: I was a vegetarian until I started eating locally-raised food. I had been a vegetarian because of factory farming, not because of inherent ickiness or inappropriateness of eating meat — I always thought hunting was fine, and that to be a responsible meat eater one should be willing to kill and prepare the meat oneself. I just wasn’t willing to do that! And I was in college and didn’t have a lot of control over my food in the dorms, and once I moved out I didn’t really get into cooking for several years.
So when Garth and I started shopping at farmers’ markets and meeting the people who produced the food, it was pretty natural to start eating their meat as well.
Great post. Yeah, what is this world coming to!?!
And I must say, that’s just awesome that you guys have worked your way behind the scenes at the farmer’s markets to buy directly from the farmers. I remember your post about the beef you bought last year, I was so jealous. Great work folks!
Sinfonian, it’s pretty easy to but directly from farmers, especially for meat. Let me know and I’ll refer you to some suppliers. The difficulty most farmers have in selling meat retail is that it needs to be processed in an FDA-approved facility. These facilities are both expensive and hard-to-find. One can, however, legally sell chickens (only, not other poultry) processed on-farm directly from the farm. (This is not legal advice, I’m going from memory and imperfect recall) The way around this is to sell an animal on-the-hoof/claw/flipper/what have you which means that the farmer delivers the animal directly to a processor for custom cutting. The butcher breaks the animal down according to your specifications and delivers you a couple hundred pounds of meat wrapped in paper labeled NOT FOR RESALE because it wasn’t processed according to FDA standards for resale. Easy-peasy and it save a ton of money over shopping at farmer’s markets. The downside is that you need a *big* freezer and the ability to deal with less-desirable cuts of meat that you can avoid buying retail.
This has the effect of allowing farmers without the wherewithal to handle processing for retail to still raise animals for market and allows the committed eater to save a ton of money.
I also want to stress that producers who sell retail earn every penny of their markup as conforming to FDA regulations for retail is neither easy nor cheap. I also want to stress that custom not-for-resale butchers *are* thoroughly regulated (as they should be) and probably offer a cleaner and safer product than legal-for-resale meats.
Hmm, I may very well take you up on that. I know a couple families that may want to go in on something with us. And I know my wife would enjoy knowing where the meat came from (local, oganic, free range or whatever). Thanks for the offer. I’ll let you know.
Hehe, it would take some work to clear out our freezers for something like that. Never seems to be enough room.