All Entries in the "Food and Agriculture" Category
Five Lies Fed Us by Organic Farmers
Organic food is a great idea. Grow food as naturally as possible without toxic chemicals by providing for the health of the soil. The farmers’ market is a great idea. Get fresh, local produce directly from the grower. So what has gotten me so irritated that I’ve written six–make that seven–posts?
Because what are essentially great [...]
Screw National Farmers’ Market Week — Part VI
Our little town of Veneta hosts a farmers’ market on Fridays, and I seldom go because so few farmers participate. I went this past Friday to check out the prices and struck up a conversation with a couple next to me. Turns out they grew the produce on the table that I was considering buying. [...]
Screw National Farmers’ Market Week — Part V
Continued from Part IV.
Saturday’s Farmers’ Market was packed when I arrived around 11 o’clock. I decided not to risk getting a ticket and parked in the free parking structure a couple blocks away. The market runs from April to mid-November and is open from 10 o’clock to 5 o’clock. The air was warm, the mood [...]
Screw National Farmers’ Market Week — Part IV
Continued from Part III.
The major grocery stores need large volumes of uniformly sized fruits and vegetables that can survive handling and transport. They aren’t interested in small batches from local farms. Their logistics system requires they buy from huge monoculture farms, such as Earthbound. So how do the little farms compete? They grow a variety [...]
Screw National Farmers’ Market Week — Part III
Continued from Part II.
An organic bulletin claims that the price of organic food is more reflective of the actual cost of growing it, and that tax subsidies have helped conventional farmers from going bankrupt. Are conventional farmers going bankrupt because they’re selling so cheaply? Or is it because they are growing one crop of expensive, [...]
You May Never Eat Bacon Again
I just stumbled across this humorous post and thought I’d share it with you. It’s more than you want to know about bacon. I actually got nauseous. But check out the video on how bacon is made. You may never eat bacon again.
Screw National Farmers’ Market Week — Part II
Continued from Part I.
Two days ago while shopping I did some price comparisons between organic and conventional, because the Organic Trade Association tells me:
Generally, organic produce is often priced 20-25 percent higher at retail than conventional produce. But the differential may be twice as much, or only a few pennies. –Organic Trade Association Flier
First off, [...]
Screw National Farmers’ Market Week — Part I
This week has been declared National Farmers’ Market Week. Well, not for me. I’m a bit miffed at the farmers in my community–organic farmers in particular–and am boycotting the market. I’ve been writing this blog post for several days and it keeps growing. I’m going to have to break it up into manageable chunks. So [...]
Nutrition Experiment Day Six
I drove into town today to stock up on produce and spent over one hundred dollars. I can’t believe how expensive organic food is, and I’m getting very discouraged. I would like to buy at the farmers’ market and support my local farmer, but my local farmer doesn’t appear to want to support me. They [...]
Nutrition Experiment Day Five
I woke up around eight o’clock this morning. My back was feeling pretty good, but I felt tightness in my ribcage. The true test is when I get on my stomach and up on my elbows. That puts a lot of pressure on my low back, and this morning it was painful. I have a [...]
Paula, (posting as Daniel, Emily, Marjorie, Mary and Amy) please don't spam my blog.
Frances, so glad you liked it! ... 
Let's team up to write the equivalent of Nancy Drew in 2009 - mystery, sex and adventure for a targeted ... 
Oh the poor kitties. How are they doing these days? I'm guessing that they've all healed themselves. How many cats ...