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We ordered some wonderful grass fed beef recently and one of the cuts we got were short ribs. They need to be cooked long and slow, and are best eaten the next day.  They’re SO good. Short ribs are an inexpensive cut of meat, we paid $3.00 a pound and four pounds made six servings. The meat is similar to brisket, but even better. 🙂  Serve with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans and you have a delicious and comforting meal.

Red Wine Braised Short Ribs

These braised ribs are even better the next day–on their own or inthe delicious sandwich that follows.

Original Recipe by Tom Valenti, chef and co-owner, Ouest, New York City

SERVINGS: 4 SERVINGS, PLUS LEFTOVERS

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 pounds grass fed meaty beef short ribs on the bone

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 organic celery ribs, coarsely chopped

1 organic carrot, coarsely chopped

1 large organic onion,coarsely chopped

1/2 cup organic tomato paste

5 thyme sprigs

3 anchovy fillets, chopped

1 bay leaf

1 head of garlic, halved crosswise

1 quart organic chicken stock, homemade is preferable

2 cups dry red wine

1/3 cup white vinegar

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 325°. Heat 2

tablespoons of the olive oil in a large

enameled cast-iron casserole. Season

the ribs with salt and pepper. Add half

of the short ribs to the casserole and

cook over moderately high heat until

browned, about 6 minutes. Transfer the

ribs to a plate. Repeat with the

remaining oil and ribs.

1.

Add the celery, carrot and onion to the

casserole and cook over moderate

heat until softened, about 7 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and cook,

stirring, until glossy, about 2 minutes.

Add the thyme sprigs, anchovies, bay

leaf and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2

minutes. Add the stock, wine and

vinegar and bring to a boil. Return the

short ribs to the casserole, then cover

them and braise in the oven until the

meat is very tender, about 3 hours.

2.

Transfer the ribs to a platter. Strain the

braising liquid, pressing hard on the

solids; skim the fat. Season with salt

and pepper. Serve half of the ribs with

some of the sauce. Reserve the rest in

the remaining sauce for sandwiches.

The short ribs can be refrigerated in their

sauce for 3 days.

from: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/red-wine-braised-short-ribs

Read more great Fight Back Friday posts here: http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-november-20th

We make hummus a lot, and with teenagers in the house, it goes fast!

This is our basic recipe and we play with it a lot. You can make it to taste and experiment with different herbs. We’ve made parsley hummus, chive hummus, spinach hummus – we always use garlic, and sometimes scallions.

Recently we’ve tried taking the skins off of the chickpeas, after they’re cooked. This is time consuming but makes a wonderfully smooth hummus. If you have time, it’s worth the effort. You can also used canned Organic chickpeas, but chickpeas are so easy to cook and it’s less expensive too.

Basic Hummus

Ingredients:

2 cups dried chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans)

2 tablespoons whey or lemon juice

3 cloves garlic

2-3 heaping tablespoons tahini ( sesame seed paste)

1/4 to 1/2 cup of lemon juice – we usually use the juice of one large lemon

1/4 to 1/2 cup cup olive oil

1 teaspoon celtic or sea salt

Directions:

1. 1.Cover chick peas with warm water. Stir in lemon juice or whey, cover and let sit overnight on your stove.
2. 2.If  you want to take the skins off, drain, rinse and pick off skins. Otherwise drain, add fresh water to cover and bring to a boil simmer for at least 2 hours and up to 6, until the chickpeas are very tender.  Drain – and save about 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid for the hummus.
3. 3.Put the garlic and any herbs/spinach you are using into a food processor or blender and blend until  minced fine.
4. 4.Once the garlic/herbs are processed add the chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Process and blend. If you need more liquid you can use the reserved cooking water or more olive oil. Taste.
5. 5.You can add more lemon juice, salt or olive oil. If you like it spicy you can add some cayenne pepper or black pepper. We’ve been making hummus for years and we still vary to taste. You can serve it with crackers, bread, pita bread or celery. Enjoy!

Avoiding GMOs—It’s Harder than You Think

By Stanley A. Fishman, Author of Tender Grassfed Meat

Want to avoid GMOs? You’re not alone. Polls consistently show that 90 percent of the people polled would not buy a product if they knew it contained GMOs.

Perhaps that is the reason that the United States government has made it illegal for manufacturers and sellers to label a product as containing GMOs.

While 90 percent of the people would not knowingly eat GMOs, it is likely that over 90 percent of the American food supply contains GMOs.

Even Organic Food May Be Contaminated with GMOs

I used to think that I could avoid GMOs by buying organic. Sadly, that is no longer true. Seeds from GMO crops are blown by the wind, or transferred by insects, and can contaminate non-GMO crops, even organic crops.

I learned this the hard way. We buy all of our milk and cream from an excellent local dairy. I was recently shocked to learn that the owner of the dairy had tested the organic grains he bought for his herd, and found that one-third of the grain was contaminated by GMOs. He now tests every lot of grain he gets before feeding it to his cattle. I had thoroughly investigated the dairy, researched their methods, philosophy, and feed. I was convinced that their products were free of GMOs. I was wrong.

The contamination of the Canadian flax crop by GMO flax was described on this website on November 9, 2009. https://www.momsforsafefood.org/Blog/Entries/2009/11/9_Entry_1.html

The situation has been made worse by the weakening of the organic standards. It used to be that the word “organic” meant that everything in the product had to be 100 percent organic and that no GMOs were allowed.

The new organic standards, adopted during the Bush Administration, created three different definitions of organic:

1)“100 percent organic” means that all ingredients in the product must be organic.

2)“Organic” means that no less than 95 percent of all ingredients in the product are organic. The remaining 5 percent do not have to be organic.

3)“Made with organic ingredients” means that at least 70 percent of the ingredients in the product are organic. The remaining 30 percent do not have to be organic.

I’ve seen conflicting information on whether the non-organic ingredients contained in organic products must be free of GMOs.

The contamination of organic crops by GMOs has become such a huge problem that a major effort is under way to test organic products for GMO contamination and to create a non-GMO label.

GMOs Are Everywhere

It is estimated that over 91 percent of the soybeans, over 75 percent of the corn, over 70 percent of the canola, and over 80 percent of the cotton grown in the United States is GMO. Oils made from soy, corn, canola, and cotton are commonly added to processed foods. These oils constitute the vast majority of “vegetable oil” used in the United States. Many other substances made from GMO soy and GMO corn are added to processed foods. Conventional vegetables are often coated with a wax that contains oils made from GMO soy and/or GMO corn.

GMO bacteria and other GMO substances are used in the manufacture of many medications. GMO soy products are often added to supplements. Pesticides containing GMOs are often sprayed on crops. Several artificial sweeteners contain GMOs.

How to Avoid GMOs

Since GMOs are so pervasive, it is hard to avoid them. But it is not impossible. Here are some tips that I use to avoid GMOs:

Avoid Processed Foods

Almost all conventional processed foods contain GMOs. An exception would be processed foods that state they have no GMOs. Even organic processed foods may contain GMOs, due to the contamination of organic crops by GMOs.

The only processed foods I buy are labeled 100 percent organic and do not contain any of the most common genetically altered crops, such as soy, corn, canola, and cotton. I will not buy something that contains “vegetable oil,” as vegetable oil almost always consists of soy, corn, or canola oil.

Eat Only Organic (Or the Equivalent) Dairy Products

Conventional dairy products almost always come from cattle that have been fed GMO feed, such as soy and corn. Some conventional cows have been injected with genetically modified bovine growth hormone. It is important to research the dairy you use to make sure that it really is organic, or the equivalent.

Eat Only Grassfed and Grass-Finished Beef, Lamb, and Bison

Conventionally raised beef, lamb, and bison are usually fed GMO feed.

Eat Only Organic (Or the Equivalent) Produce

Conventional produce is often sprayed with GMO pesticide, and/or coated with wax containing GMO oils.

Don’t Eat Anything Containing Soy, Corn, Canola, or Cotton

Because so many of these crops are GMO, even the organic versions are often contaminated with GMOs.

Only Eat Seafood that Is Wild Caught

Farmed fish and other farmed seafood are usually fed pellets made from GMO soy.

Do Not Use Artificial Sweeteners

Some artificial sweeteners are made with GMOs. If you must use a sweetener, stevia is a natural non-GMO substance.

Only Use Organic Sugar Made from Sugar Cane

At least half of the sugar in the United States is made from sugar beets. As of 2008, most of the sugar beets used for making sugar are GMO. While a Federal judge has recently ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture violated the law by approving the use of genetically modified sugar beets without first having a comprehensive report done on its environmental impact, the Court has not yet, to my knowledge, prohibited the actual sale and growing of these GMOs. Sugar made from sugar cane, is not GMO.

Know Your Source, Buy Local

One of the best ways to avoid GMOs is to buy as much of your food as possible from local farmers and ranchers who do not use GMOs. You can actually ask them how they raise their crops and animals, and find out exactly what you’re getting.

Be Informed and Be Vigilant

Knowledge is power. The biotech industry is constantly trying to introduce new GMO crops and the only way you will know about it is by checking the news on a regular basis. The conventional media is not interested in exposing the existence of new GMOs, and your best source is the Internet. There is no better place to start than this website.

Read more, great Fight Back Friday posts here: http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-november-13th/

I highly recommend Stanley’s cookbook, we use it all the time. – Mom

Curried, Orange Ginger Chicken

This was the first time I cut a chicken down like this and it wasn’t too hard. Prep time was only about 15 minutes and the chicken is cooked in 35-40 minutes. It was really delicious – the sauce makes the dish.  I only had blood oranges, which is why they look so dark in the picture – but they worked. We served it with a fresh green salad and baked sweet potatoes.

Whole chickens are much less expensive then buying individual parts, and if you have a Trader Joe’s nearby they have very reasonably priced organic chicken.

Ingredients

3-1/2 pounds Whole Organic, Free Range Chicken

6 slices Fresh Ginger

2 teaspoons Kosher Or Sea Salt

1/2 teaspoons Ginger Powder

1 teaspoon Curry Powder

1/2 teaspoons Freshly Ground Black Pepper

2 Tablespoons Organic Coconut Oil

1/4 cups White Wine

1 whole Orange, Cut Into 4 Sections

Preparation Instructions

Preheat your oven to 475F.

1. Turn the chicken breast-side down. Using a pair of sharp kitchen shears, begin cutting 3/4″ to the right side of the backbone and cut all the way to the other end. Repeat with the left side.

Discard the backbone (or save for stock). Lay the chicken flat on the cutting board, skin side up. Use the palm of your hands to press down on the breast to break the rib bones and flatten. Pat the chicken on both sides very dry. Season the chicken on both sides with salt, ginger powder, curry powder and pepper.

2. Heat a large oven-safe frying pan (I prefer cast-iron) large enough to fit the chicken over medium-high heat. When the pan is very hot, add the cooking oil and swirl to coat. Carefully lay the chicken skin side down in the pan. Scatter the ginger and oranges around the bird. Let cook for 2 minutes. Turn off stove, place the entire pan into the oven for 10 minutes.

3. After 10 minutes, remove from the oven and carefully turn the bird over so it is skin side up. The skin should be browned. Return pan to the oven and roast for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the thickest part of the breast not touching bone is 165F. Remove the bird from the pan and tent with tin foil to keep warm.

4. Keep the orange wedges. Discard all but 3 tablespoons of the pan drippings from the pan. Place the pan onto your stove top and turn the heat to medium-low. Pour in the white wine and scrape the surface of the pan to loosen any bits. Squeeze 2 of the roasted orange wedges into the pan and reduce sauce by half. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Pour over chicken. Enjoy!

Serves 4-6

Read more, great Pennywise Platter Thursday posts here, http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2009/11/pennywise-platter-thursday-1112.html

Read more, great Fight Back Friday posts here, http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-november-6th/

Found this article this week, and had seen this is the news. I find it so sad that this foundation is using their money to support big ag and not on the way to reliably and sustainably feed the worlds hungry. – Mom

As it has come to dominate the agenda for reshaping African agriculture over the years, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been very careful not to associate itself too closely with patent-protected biotechnology as a panacea for African farmers.

True, the foundation named 25-year Monsanto veteran Rob Horsch to the position of “senior program officer, focusing on improving crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa.”

Yet its flagship program for African ag, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), explicitly distances itself from GMOs. “AGRA does not fund the development of GMOs,” the organization’s Web site states.

But AGRA—co-funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, proud sponsor of the original Green Revolution—is just part of what Gates does around African ag. What precisely is the foundation getting up to over there? Is it pushing GMOs on African smallholder farms?

[I have a call into the foundation to ask directly about the role GMOs play in its efforts. I’ll report on the response.]

It has been surprisingly hard to say. Until now.

In a speech at the World Food Prize gathering last week, Bill Gates himself chided the critics of GMOs—and shed some sunshine on the foundation leadership’s philosophy on ag development. At one point, he declared, “some of our grants [in Africa] do include transgenic approaches, because we believe they have the potential to address farmers’ challenges more efficiently than conventional techniques.”

Gates’ speech seems like a significant event to me—the World Food Prize website describes it as his “first major address on agriculture.” One of the major knocks on the foundation’s Africa efforts is the lack of democratic accountability and transparency. Since the foundation’s careful message management makes it hard to figure out precisely what it’s getting up to, I’m glad to see its leading light airing his views freely.

Gates opened with a standard-issue awestruck paean to Norman Borluag, recently deceased architect of the original Green Revolution. Gates delivered a rather unnuanced assessment of Borlaug’s legacy. Gates declared: “He [Borlaug] proved that farming has the power to lift up the lives of the poor.”

Really? To be sure, Borlaug’s “dwarf” hybrid seed varieties, when coupled with the heavy fertilizer and pesticide doses they need to thrive, dramatically increased yields in the places where the Green Revolution took root—the main success story being India.

But higher yields drive down crop prices—and increased use of imported inputs requires the taking on of debt. Rather than boosting the fortunes of most farmers in its purview, the Green Revolution drove hundreds of thousands into ruin. The survivors consolidated land holdings. The big got bigger and the poor tended to leave the land—too many of them ending up as excess labor in urban slum zones.

Maybe Gates didn’t mean that Borlaug’s efforts improved the lives of farmers, but rather the lives of non-farming urban dwellers. As he later says in the speech, also in the context of Borluag’s legacy, “better farming can end hunger and poverty and lift whole countries out of poverty.”

To be sure, many people were predicting famine for India in the 1960s, and the availability of cheap grain engendered by the Green Revolution no doubt forestalled widespread starvation. But it’s demonstrably wrong to claim that the Green Revolution ended hunger and poverty in India.

Indeed, hunger rates remain appalling in India—site of the Green Revolution’s greatest putative success. From a 2008 report by the International Food Policy Research Institute:

    According to the 2008 Global Hunger Index, India ranks 66 out of 88 nations (developing countries and countries in transition). Despite years of robust economic growth, India scored worse than nearly 25 Sub-Saharan African countries and all of South Asia, except Bangladesh.[Emphasis added.]

The bit about India faring worse than “nearly 25 Sub-Saharan African countries” is particularly noteworthy, given that the Gates Foundation is explicitly spearheading a “new Green Revolution for Africa.” Of course, the original Green Revolution in India lies in shambles —the water table has been tapped near dry by massive irrigation projects in the zones where the Borlaug program took hold, and the remaining farmers there are struggling mightily with crushing debt loads and heightened pesticide-related cancer rates.

To be fair, Gates did point to “excesses” of the first Green Revolution, naming “too much irrigation and fertilizer” as examples. He vowed to avoid those mistakes in Africa. He insisted, more than once, that ecological sustainability was critical to the foundation’s project. Yet he repeatedly emphasized that increasing gross production—the Borlaug project of squeezing as much yield out of a piece of land as possible—was the key.

And that led him to the most fiery moment of his speech (if this dour man’s demeanor can ever be described as “fiery”): the part where he denounced unnamed “environmentalists” who are somehow blocking GMO seeds from entering Africa.

“This global effort to help small farmers is endangered by an ideological wedge that threatens to split the movement in two,” Gates declared. He decried what he called a “false choice” between a “technological” approach geared to boosting productivity and an “environmental” one geared to sustainability. “We can have both,” he said.

He went on: “Some people insist on an ideal vision of the environment which is divorced from people and their circumstances. They have tried to restrict the spread of biotechnology into sub-Saharan Africa without regard to how much hunger and poverty might be reduced by it, or what the farmers themselves might want.”

The Gates Foundation, by contrast, isn’t so demure. In an apparent reference to this project with GMO seed giant Monsanto, Gates allowed that “one of our [unnamed] private-sector partners” is working on a genetically modified drought-tolerant corn variety for African farmers. The seeds will be available to farmers royalty-free—meaning that farmers will pay market price for the seeds themselves, but not pay the hefty biotech premium Monsanto normally slaps on top. It’s unclear whether seed-saving will be allowed under the arrangement.

According to the above-linked press release, the magic seeds are expected to come online in 2018. Gates emphasized repeatedly that as climate change proceeds apace, greater and greater swaths of Africa will face persistent drought conditions. In pushing for drought-tolerant seeds, Gates is swinging for the fences—looking for a single big solution to feed Africa’s drought-stricken areas.

For me, this deal raises questions that cut to the heart of the Bill Gates approach to African ag.

First of all, it can’t be noted often enough that a) GM agriculture’s much-hyped ability to boost yields, taken as a given by Gates, has thus far proven purely spectral; b) there’s serious evidence, despite a paucity of cash for critical research and heavy-handed control of research by seed companies,  that GMOs cause health problems; and c) GMOs have so far proven quite proficient at generating unintended ecological consequences, such as the rise of “superweeds.”

There’s no room for any of that in Gates’ discourse.

Further, I absolutely agree with Bill Gates that there’s no zero-sum tradeoff between productivity and sustainability. But I urge him to tear his gaze away from the biotech lab and train it toward the field, where the best research on organic ag is being done. Indeed, one of the great benefits of organic farming is its long-term focus on soil health—and healthy soils can increase productivity over time without massive ecological externalities.

Here’s a summary of a 2005 paper published in Bioscience comparing yields of organic and conventional corn. The 22-year study compared yields of corn and soy for the following systems: 1) conventional chemical-based agriculture; 2) organic ag using manure for soil fertility; and 3) organic ag using “green manure” (nitrogen-fixing cover crops) for fertility. From the summary, here’s the key nugget of the study:

    “First and foremost, we found that corn and soybean yields were the same across the three systems,” said [researcher David] Pimentel, who noted that although organic corn yields were about one-third lower during the first four years of the study, over time the organic systems produced higher yields, especially under drought conditions. The reason was that wind and water erosion degraded the soil on the conventional farm while the soil on the organic farms steadily improved in organic matter, moisture, microbial activity and other soil quality indicators. [Emphasis added.]

Note well the “especially under drought conditions” bit. Here is a technology for “drought-tolerant” corn that’s ready right now—no need to wait until 2018. It doesn’t rely on the benevolence of Monsanto to waive a technology fee; and there are no questions about seed-saving. It asks no one to accept a drop in long-term productivity as the price paid for sustainability. And not only does it help farmers adapt to climate change with its drought-tolerant qualities, but it helps mitigate climate change by sequestering carbon. From the summary:

    The fact that organic agriculture systems also absorb and retain significant amounts of carbon in the soil has implications for global warming, Pimentel said, pointing out that soil carbon in the organic systems increased by 15 to 28 percent, the equivalent of taking about 3,500 pounds of carbon dioxide per hectare out of the air.

Moreover, in a 2008 paper (PDF), the U.N.‘s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) endorsed organic ag as a way to boost food security and improve farmer livelihoods in Africa. Concluded the FAO:

    Organic agriculture can increase agricultural productivity and can raise incomes with low-cost, locally available and appropriate technologies, without causing environmental damage. Furthermore, evidence shows that organic agriculture can build up natural resources, strengthen communities and improve human capacity, thus improving food security by addressing many different causal factors simultaneously … Organic and near-organic agricultural methods and technologies are ideally suited for many poor, marginalized smallholder farmers in Africa, as they require minimal or no external inputs, use locally and naturally available materials to produce high-quality products, and encourage a whole systemic approach to farming that is more diverse and resistant to stress. [Emphasis added.]

Gates cash could go a long way in dispersing the skills and (relatively low-cost) equipment needed for effective organic farming in Africa. Why not, for example, fund a dramatic expansion of the Soil, Food, and Healthy Communities project that’s proving so successful in Malawi?

So where’s the Gates cash, and the fiery speech from the foundation’s leader defending organic ag from its critics? Now, it’s true that the Gates Foundation does fund research into alternative, low-input agriculture. Just this past spring, the foundation awarded $1.3 million to World Watch to study such techniques for improving ag productivity in Africa.

But let’s look at funding levels. The above-mentioned Monsanto GMO corn project got $42 million from Gates—and an additional $5 million from the Howard Buffet Foundation, run by the son of investor/insurance magnate Warren Buffet. The Worldwatch grant is loose change in comparison. (When I get a Gates official on the phone, i’ll ask about other organic-style programs they’re funding.)

Given the pro-high-technology thrust of Gates’ speech, this imbalance is hardly surprising. As I took in the video of Gates’ speech and heard him go on about the “needs of small farmers” and the critical role of biotech in serving those needs, I couldn’t help but think of him as a kind of unelected agriculture commissioner for the African continent. And I wondered how many African farms will survive the embrace of the great software magnate.

From: http://www.grist.org/article/2009-10-21-bill-gates-reveals-support-for-gmo-ag/

Read more great, Fight Back Friday posts here: http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-october-30th/

Soaked Steel-Cut Oats

With rare exception, this is our breakfast everyday.  One of our boys is eating it too!   We set up the oats to soak in the evening and then the cereal takes only about 10 minutes to cook in the morning.  We vary our additions: raisins, prunes, mulberries, walnuts, fresh fruit – take your pick.

Ingredients:

½ cup Organic Steel-Cut Oats

1 cup water

2 tablespoons organic, preferably homemade kefir  (you can also use whey, buttermilk, yogurt or lemon juice)

½ tsp. celtic sea salt

½ cup water

¼ cup dried fruit, chopped if larger then raisins

1 tablespoon Organic Coconut Oil

¼ cup Kefir, Buttermilk or Yogurt

The evening before, put the first three ingredients in a small pot, stir, cover and leave sitting until the next morning.

In the morning add the salt, dried fruit, and ½ cup water.

If you like your oatmeal creamy, add the salt after cooking.

Cook, uncovered, over medium heat until it’s gently boiling, then cook for five minutes more.  If we’re not going to eat it right away we turn the heat to low and let it sit covered, until we’re ready.  Just before serving stir in 1 heaping tablespoon coconut oil and ¼ cup kefir.  You can add nuts, more dried fruit, sprouted flax – anything else you like as an add in – and enjoy!

Serves 2

Read more, great Pennywise Platter Thursday posts here: http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2009/10/pennywise-platter-thursday-1029.html

Read more, great Real Food Wednesday posts here: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2009/10/real-food-wednesday-blog-carnival-for-102809.html

Joel Salatin, America’s farming heavyweight

Joel Salatin.

by Staff Writers

Swoope, Virginia (AFP) Oct 16, 2009

A diehard activist for some, a pioneer for others, Joel Salatin is fighting against America’s genetically-modified foods and for local subsistence farming.

Leading his crusade from the heart of the Shenandoah Valley in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, this anti-globalization messenger who dubs himself a “Christian Libertarian environmentalist capitalist lunatic farmer” has become the face of healthy eating and agriculture.

“The desire from consumers to eat this kind of food is exploding,” Salatin said at his 500-acre (200-hectare) farm in Swoope, Virginia.

Small farmers’ markets — still scarce just a few years ago — are now in full swing in the United States.

The online Farmers’ Market Directory lists 5,274 markets across the country, a 13 percent rise from 4,685 a year ago. The number has grown by nearly 4,000 nationwide since 1994.

“Nobody trusts the industrial food system to give them good food,” said Salatin, surrounded by the many cows, pigs, turkeys, rabbits and chickens he raises in methods that remain unconventional in the highly-industrialized US agricultural sector.

“The distrust is very real.”

An iconoclast who has authored several books with titles like “Everything I Want to Do is Illegal,” Salatin makes regular media appearances and now spends a third of his time at conferences.

But farming is still a family affair built over three generations on the rocky terrain of his “Polyface Farm”.

Chickens

and turkeys run free here, transported in a chicken coop built on wheels to a different pasture every three days.

The 1,000 cows and 700 pigs raised for meat each year change pastures every week.

Salatin, 53, hails his “healing farming” method, where each animal plays an environmental role.

“The cows shorten the grass and the chicken eat the fly larvae and sanitize the pastures. This is a symbiotic relation,” he explained.

This natural approach to farming is just as profitable as industrial farming, Salatin insists, because he saves where big chicken and beef producers are forced to invest in structures, drugs and labor.

His customers are 400 families, about 50 restaurants and a dozen shops in the area. He also charges 800 dollars for a two-hour tour of his farm.

“Yes, the prices are higher, but it’s because all of the costs are in the price of this chicken and you are paying it here at the cash register, not paying it in sickness and disease and pollution and stink,” he explained.

But his unorthodox methods leave some thinking Salatin is a “terrorist”, he claimed, “because the new word is science-based agriculture and this is not science-based.”

Salatin’s products are not certified as organic — a booming food sector in the United States, now accounting for 3.5 percent of all food sales — because he refuses to do the necessary inspections and paperwork.

“We are beyond organic,” exclaimed Salatin, observing that government-certified organic meat products do not necessarily come from chicken and cows on pasture.

“Organic doesn’t mean what people think it means.”

From: http://www.seeddaily.com/reports/Joel_Salatin_Americas_farming_heavyweight_999.html

Read more, great Fight Back Friday posts here:  http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-october-23rd

Here’s a link to one of Joel Salatin’s great book,

I was so happy to stumble across this article a few days ago. I make home made kefir and the wonderful grains I use, I got from Edwin. I didn’t know the history of his farm. What a great inspiration! –   Mom

“We Can Feed the World,” Says Ed Shank, As He Transitions from Feedlot to Organic Raw Dairy Operation

The empty confinement area at The Family Cow farm. It’s almost eerily quiet in the huge holding area that was once the center of Edwin Shank’s confinement dairy in central Pennsylvania. In the adjoining photo, you can see the empty structure, where hundreds of cows were once kept 24/7.

The action is now several hundred yards away, out in the pasture, where 275 cows grazed on Saturday afternoon, and the main sound was that of orchard grass, blue grass, rye grass, and clover being ripped and chomped by the hungry animals. The other sound was the uneven melody of about 1,000 broiler chickens and laying hens grazing in an adjoining pasture.

It’s been nearly four years since Ed Shank made the decision to end years of running a confinement operation as the fourth generation owner of The Family Cow farm, and transitioned to an organic system, modeled heavily on Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm, and Mark McAfee’s Organic Pastures Dairy Co. Since it takes three years to transition from a conventional to an organic system in any event, it’s only been in the last year that The Family Cow farm has been able to sell its raw milk, eggs, beef, and chicken as organic products.

In the process of making the transition, Edwin Shank is seeking to disprove the arguments of both agriculture experts and some raw milk advocates that conventional dairies shouldn’t even attempt to become sellers of raw milk, not to mention grass-fed beef and pastured chicken. “The dairy inspectors always told us, ‘If you do raw milk, you’ll be okay, but your customers won’t. Of course, that hasn’t happened.”

I’ve long argued that state ag departments, which are supposed to be in the business of promoting agriculture and farm viability, should help dairies out of the downward-spiraling conventional dairy business, and educate farmers who are interested in how to safely make the kind of transition Ed Shank is making, together with his wife, Dawn, and six children.

As he took me on a whirlwind tour of his operation just off I-81, with its 120 acres of pasture, small farm store, and airy home, Ed made the point a few times that he’s a poster boy for the viability of such transitions. As enthusiastic as he is, he cautions that it’s not a simple proposition. “It’s never going to work for the farmer who maintains his old mindset. He has to read. He has to get past the idea that production, production, production is important. He has to change his mentality.” Ed Shank holds a chicken, as cows graze on an adjoining pasture.

Farmers who approach such a transition only from the vantage point of increasing their profits “shouldn’t try to make the change. Raw milk in a confinement setting won’t work.”

But for those farmers willing to change their way of thinking about farming—from one of maximizing productivity to one of creating an ecologically sustainable system—“this is a model that is so repeatable,” says Ed. “We can feed the world.”

Part of his enthusiasm stems from the contrast with his feedlot operation, which involved hauling in feed for the cows, and hauling out their manure. The new sustainable system involves moving the cows from one pasture to another in line with growing grasses. The chickens follow the cows, and spread their manure around, as well as reduce the population of flies and other bugs. “This green grass is a solar panel,” says Ed, looking over his cows. “The cow is the harvester. She is powered by solar energy… The harvesting and hauling of feed is done by the cows and the hauling of manure is done by the cows.”

Another part of his enthusiasm stems from the changed nature of his interaction with customers. “You have these families that are thrilled that we are producing food for them,” he says. “Before, I sold to a dairy co-op. Now I sell to a mom and dad and children coop. Those co-ops say sometimes, ‘We pray for you.’ I don’t think the big co-ops ever prayed for me.” Not only that, “We’re glad the cows have a nicer life.”

The entrance to The Family Cow farm. So far, The Family Cow is selling its products both through its farm store and through groups of consumers placing orders via email. With 275 milking cows, Ed Shank has instantaneously become the largest raw dairy operation in the East.

He is extremely grateful for the outside assistance he’s received. “I can’t say thanks enough to Mark McAfee and Joel Salatin and the Weston A. Price Foundation for their help and for preparing people’s minds where they are ready for this sort of thing. It’s been a liberating experience for us.”

From: http://www.thecompletepatient.com/journal/2009/10/5/we-can-feed-the-world-says-ed-shank-as-he-transitions-from-f.html

Read more great posts on Real Food Wednesday, here: http://www.cheeseslave.com/2009/10/20/real-food-wednesday-october-21-2009/