i am really excited about the two books that are off my larder shelf this month! actually they haven’t even been on my larder shelf yet because they are two brand new preserving books that have come into my paws recently that i just can’t put down. aside from the fact that they are awesome preserving books just in time for preserving season, i have a special affinity to both authors.
in celebration of these two wonderful authors, and to bring more awareness to the cause that i am giving to each month in my off my larder shelf series, i’m giving away a copy of each!
if you don’t win, that doesn’t mean that you should not have these books. it means that you should order one or both from my amazon larder because a) these books are awesome and b) just by buying from my amazon larder you are giving to a very important cause!
first i’m going to tell you all about the books, and then i’m going to tell you what to do for a chance to win!
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i’m sure many of you know marisa from her very popular food in jars blog. what you may not know is that marisa and i started blogging right about the same time back in early 2009. we were of the first to focus our blogging on ‘putting up’, and it’s been a joy to watch all of marisa’s success since those early days. i could not be happier to see her come out with her first cookbook! true to form, the food in jars cookbook feels like you’ve got your good friend in the kitchen with you as the two of you chat and make batch after small batch of preserves. there’s jams, jellies, marmalade, curds, syrups, chutneys, pickles, relishes, and more. marisa even includes granola and nut butters too. like many of us marisa preserves out of a small kitchen, and finds ways to fit preserving into her busy schedule – and year round. there’s been many stellar reviews around the preserving blogosphere, and i agree wholeheartedly; marisa delivers yet again, this time in a thoughtful, modern, recipe packed book. | |
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there hasn’t been much hubbub on this newly released book, but i am here to say that there most definitely should be. andrea chessman was one of the first ladies to write about pickling. the pickled pantry is the new and improved version of andrea’s earlier book (i’m talking early 90′s peeps) pickles & relishes. that book was the very first book i owned on the subject of pickling! the pickled pantry is a book clearly written by someone who has been gardening and pickling for over 20 years. aside from the 150 recipes on every kind and type of pickle you can imagine, including ferments, canned, quick, and single jarred, there’s chutneys, salsas, relishes and recipes for enjoying the pickles that you make. the ‘kitchen notes’ included with most recipes are little tidbits of know-how that one learns from years of perfecting pickling, only andrea lays them all out for you in this gem of a book. the illustrations make this book positively charming, oh, and there’s an interview with yours truly too! |
ok, i told you about the books and the lovely authors. the second reason why i’m giving away these two books is because give-aways always generate activity. and i am going to selfishly use it to bring awareness to a cause i believe in strongly. i support the humane society of the untied states efforts in correcting the terrible conditions that factory-farmed animals are forced to live and die in each day. each month i’ve pledged to contribute and match the 6% amazon associates fee that comes my way from your purchases through my amazon larder page, and i guarantee a minimum of $50 contribution each month, even if my associates fee and match does not equal $50.
amazon associates receive their fees at the end of the month for the time period two months prior. that means i’ve recently received info regarding march sales. my march associates fee plus my matching of that amount does not equal $50. today i have contributed my minimum guarantee of $50. please go to my amazon larder page for full details on how your purchasing dollars can contribute.
oh…you want to know how you can be the one lucky winner of both of these must have preserving books right? tell me in the comments section below your thoughts on factory farms. i want to start a dialogue, i want to know what you dear readers think. is it something you are aware of, do you make choices in your life and meals surrounding these issues? or do you not think much about it? all answers welcome and the winner will be chosen by the random number generator this coming sunday. all comments must be posted by midnight saturday the 30th.
off my larder shelf: a flavor of the month shout-out on books & kitchen things. why? ’cause your
purchase on my amazon larder contributes to a very important cause and I’ll match your contribution. go!
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I do think about it a lot. We do our best to avoid it, but I have to say that it is so hard on a newly-very-limited income. It bothers me that I can’t always afford to have the food that matches my morals, and it bothers me even more that it has to be that way. I don’t understand why we spend so much money subsidizing the big factory farms and not the smaller farms that are doing their best to do things the right way.
When I think about factory farms, I keep remebering that video of Willie Nelson doing Coldpaly’s “The Scientist”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMfSGt6rHos
I saw it first here on your website. I don’t think I’m exagerating to say it changed my life.
i am so happy that i was able to provide that link for you. it’s an important one and done so well. it resonated with a lot of people and made them see the bigger picture of what our food choices mean and how far reaching they are.
Wow awesome giveaway! And also an issue I’m passionate about: factory farming. I’ll be brief: I think it’s inhuman and gross, screws up the environment, and fosters an inability to connect with our food providers. I’m by no means a vegetarian – I firmly believe in eating meat, but I do my homework and only buy from small family farms who raise their animals well, giving them a good life and a humane death so that I can sustain MY life. I’m grateful for that. It’s the circle of life; life requires death for life no matter if it’s humans or other animals or plants, but we need to be good stewards of what we do have, and that means being conscious of what meat we eat. I love me some good grassfed beef from happy cows!
thanks for helping spread the dialogue on this, and for the excellent giveaway!
I do think about it quite often. We’re a one-income family with student loans to think about and a munchkin to provide for, so it can be tough. Most often, I purchase grass-fed beef and butter and free-range chicken at the grocery store, but when we have a little extra in the budget, I shop at the farmer’s market or at a small family farm maybe 30 miles from us. Ultimately though, it’s about doing the best I can with what I’ve got.
doing the best you can with what you’ve got is always a great action!
Factory Farms are a sad place – for the animals, for the farmers. When I think of them I associate them to the Matrix movie, turning living things into a “source”. Greed has turned farming animals from raising and caring for livestock with our hands into overcrowding and confinement for the biggest buck. And we have allowed it.
I try to shop local and we hunt to offset the box-type grocery store purchases. I find we are more respectful of the food we grow, kill and prepare with our own hands.
I would like to see the factory farms eliminated, return respect to livestock, and put people back to work and not depend on robotics in any farming.
We raise chickens for eggs, and buy our meat free-range as often as possible. We’ve recently joined a meat CSA that provides us with fresh, local pasture-raised beef/pork/lamb/goat/chicken. Next on the wishlist is a goat for milk!
Hi tigress, I’m a lurker that you are bringing out of her shell with your dialogue
(and when I say lurker I mean YEARS). I care about these issues too. Have you read the New York Times essay contest about ethical meat?
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/04/20/magazine/ethics-eating-meat.html
Good reading material. Thanks for trying to make the world a better place.
hi cece, so nice to hear from you.
yes i am aware of the new york times essay contest. thanks for posting the link here – worth reading for all interested in the subject of ethical consumption of meat.
I’m a vegetarian who has always been aware of the inhumane treatment of animals in factory farms, and the fact that the animals are given hormones and antibiotics all in the name of bigger profits, but have become even more aware of the various issues after reading Omnivore’s Dilemma. I do eat eggs and cheese, but only buy organic and free-range (and local when possible). It scares me that so many people are not aware of what they are doing to both themselves and the environment when they purchase from these farms. I understand it can appear more expensive to buy humane and healthy, but people do not need meat (or as much meat) to survive and be healthy. Planning meals may be more difficult at first, but I’ve learned that once you make some adjustments it isn’t any more expensive.
I know more than enough about factory farms, coming from midwest and rural parents. However, the price for ethically and eprfectly raised meat is not sustainable for me and I do not choose to be vegan and only kill plants, not animals. While I may stick out as the black sheep here, I am so tired of feeling like a bad person for eating meat, let alone meat that comes in a package I can afford. I cannot afford to eat only organic, grass fed, free range, etc. As most of the US cannot. And its tiring to have to read every post on food blogs making me feel like a bad person because I am unable to make enough money to have ethics and morals instead of a full stomach.
i want to thank you for posting here because a dialogue isn’t a dialogue if people don’t feel they can speak a different view. it is a real concern that meat from factory farmed animals is in some cases much cheaper than meat from humanely raised animals. it brings up the subject of fair wages for all, government support of big agribiz, and lack of support for the small farmer. i think as more people are aware of the inhumane practices of factory farming they will begin to seek out ways to bring meat from humane farms into their diet in an affordable way. the more people do this, hopefully the more affordable choices people will have. there are some great comments here of people finding ways to eat meat from humanely raised animals on a budget. thanks again for posting your view here angela.
Great way to bring attention to this matter. For the last few months, I have been trying to eat mindfully and locally. At least as much as my budget allows ……. grass fed butter, raw milk, organic fruits and vegetables and the like. I’ve done some sprouting and attempted freezing jam lately and would love to try some picklng. Hope I win, but the books will go on my wish list if I don’t.
I’ve always been disturbed by factory farms but only recently decided to do something about it. For the last few weeks the only meat I have eaten is a little bit of fish. I will probably eventually go back to eating meat but only if I find a more humane source. (Or maybe I won’t…. I haven’t missed it like I thought I would.)
The real issue at hand (in my mind) here is the idea that we need more, more, more and more of something. The whole reason these factory farms exist is to make a product cheaper so you can buy more of it. The catch is that the product ends up being filled with addictive junk your body can’t process leaving it craving more because you basically haven’t given your body the proper nutrients with the first helping. Organic food is VERY affordable, it gets my back up when someone says they can’t afford organic food because it costs too much. I went and picked strawberries with my son the other day and we got 3 pints for $2.39. Our CSA we get every week has easily 15 lb. of fresh vegetables in it and we pay $20 for the whole bag. Our family of four EASILY eats out of that bag for an entire week. I could go on and on…like about the local honey share’s they have and also a local cattle ranch has sides of organic beef for cheaper than at the store. The solution to the factory farm problem? Educate people on how they too can eat better and more consciousnesses on the same budget as they do now.
i agree that education is key. and that is why i want to roar about it! i think first, many people don’t really know how bad factory farm practices are. and it’s a sensitive subject because people can’t bear to know – it’s that bad. second, it’s very easy to think that humanely raised meat is more expensive, because in many cases it is. but not in the long run, for many things not the least of which is eventual heath care bills. but you are right on stacey, once people know more, they have more choices to make. let’s roar!!!
I am glad you are keeping this topic alive. The only way factory farming will stop is if companies stop making money doing it and peopel stop voting for the politicans who rub shoulders and line the pockets of the corporate executives. We can make changes, like were made to large scale farming in the EU, it is possible if consumer groups would ban together. And there are affordable ways to east ‘morally’ generations of people ate that way for many years with more limited incomes then we have now. We need to make the time to learn how to do it. I started learning affordable ways to eat ethically about 6 years ago, and as a lower income person am able to do it 90% of the time. Thanks.
I’m on a learning curve about factory farms. My 26 year old daughter is very conscientious about her food choices and brings me all the latest news from Berkeley. I’m making more choices based on farming practices all the time. I vote with my dollars, but do not fuss when I am a guest or starving on the road. I’m interested in learning all kinds of food ways – canning, fermenting, drying etc. Your garden looks like a version of heaven. I often fantasize about guerilla farming in my neighborhood. Thanks for the contest and the education. Both of these books look great.
I agree with Stacey on this; its about education and alterntives. There are cheaper and as far as my opinion goes better ethically/morally produce and food out there. It takes effort to find it though, since its not normally available off the shelf at the supermarket…
When eating at home we’re able to get meat we feel good about, where we know the provider directly. Going in with friends and buying directly from a farmer means meat is often cheaper than the grocery store and much more ethical. Unfortunately eating out is another thing entirely. I know if most places don’t tell you where the meat came from you can assume it’s from a factory or fish farm. I try to eat vegetarian when I’m out for that reason. At friends houses or at the workplace it isn’t so easy. They often assume I’m actually vegetarian because they don’t understand the concept of ethical meat.
Factory farms scare me. I am honestly scared that so many people eat the products of factory farms. I try dearly to stay away from factory farmed meat in my own cooking. But it’s a difficult situation because I also purchase lunch in midtown, NY. Finding delis and restaurants that don’t use factory chicken breasts, etc in salads, etc, is seemingly impossible.
So I’m not perfect. But I try to not eat/buy/support factory farmed meat 90% of my life.
I wish we could ban factory farms as of yesterday. It saddens me that $ is more important than quality of food and life for all involved. I find it equally frustrating that organic in the grocery store doesn’t necessarily mean sustainable & humane.
Factory farms aren’t farms, they are disgusting businesses that only care about their bottom line and making money. I work at a national natural grocery chain where we’re educated and updated on many items including factory farms. I’ve seek videos that would make you sick. It amazes me that such a large percentage of our population don’t have a clue as to how animals at these types of farms are treated, or don’t care. Every opportunity I have I share about the choices we have when it comes to meat and poultry. After much conversation, I recently got a friend to stop buying cheaper, factory chicken and change to free range, humanely raised poultry. Success, one person at a time!
Those of us who know how terrible factory farms are need to step up and educate those who don’t. I love what you’re doing Tigress!
I am glad you are bringing awareness to this issue. I am a meat eater and believe that animals should be raised humanely. It may be difficult to incorporate pasture raised meat in a tight budget, but in that case I would personally rather eat meat in general less often during the week then to resort to factory raised meat.
Wow, much impressed by the dialog so far. My honest answer is I’m just learning and now thinking about it. With the information I’ve gained and continue to seek out, I’m better able to manage my and my family’s life around it and avoid it entirely. I completely agree with everyone that has said in one way or another that these places must go! Finally, I agree with Zazy – less often was our first route of choice as I dove into educating myself about exactly where my food was coming from! (Never the less and don’t EVEN get me started on cat and rabbit food!!) Wtg Tigress – love what you do!
This was a very interesting topic to raise and I have enjoyed, for the most part, reading all of the comments. I am fortunate to live in an area that is focusing on living local and sustainable foods. I am surrounded by fabulous farmer’s markets that provide wonderful affordable produce and there are many farmers selling clean animial products as well. However, that does not mean that these options are affordable or even reasonable choices for every person. I am a meat eater and will always be (Angela from the midwest – don’t feel guilty about that EVER!). As much as I would like to purchase a side of beef from a local farmer, I can’t afford it nor do I have space to store it and buying something to hold it would raise my costs tremendously. And joining a CAS in my area cost $200-$400 up front – not an financial option. I agree that something must be done to clean up these factory-style animal farms in order to produce a healthy, trustworthy product. And I appreciate your efforts to raise awareness. Keep up the good work!
Its wonderful that there are so many more options now, and that one can know exactly where their food is coming from and what was done to it. I love my CSA, and they offer a protein option & dairy option if you are so inclined. Factory Farms are not needed, or at least not needed by those who care where & how their food comes to them.
Not entering the contest but just wanted to say that you have some really awesome books in front of you! You know that, but I just wanted to concur. Also, Tart and Sweet is really good, picked it up at a half price book store last night for $10 and couldn’t wait to devour it
yes it’s true tart and sweet is another great preserving book that i have been roaring about for quite some time now. it’s on my amazon larder so readers – another great one to purchase and give to a great cause! thanks sara!
I’m probably not as aware of these issues as I should be but in general I am trying to eat better by focusing on more veggies from my new CSA share and that winds up meaning less meat. It’s a better fit for my budget too. I think it’s hard to cut through some of the hype about organic or grass fed or whatever practices, and I wish there could just be standards in place to better protect our health and the humane treatment of animals without having to separate out the ethical farms from the factories, just require everything to meet a certain standard… But in the current political and lobbying climate that seems pretty unlikely!
agreed. and that’s why i am giving to the humane society of the united states – and offering up a way for others to give simply by making purchases off my amazon larder – because they are fighting big biz practices and winning. i realized a while ago that it is very important to me to help make changes not just for me, but for everyone who has to make choices around eating meat in this country.
I have really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments and opinions. Like most people, I want good food that can be provided ethically without cruelty to animals or harm to the environment. And while I’m continually conscious of that, like Angela, it’s not always possible to purchase in that manner. I do garden to grow our own vegetables and some berries, but I’m too soft-hearted to raise animals for meat. If I feed it, it becomes a pet. Added to that is the fact that my husband doesn’t share my views 100% and he’s the one who makes the money.
I recently drove by a place called Happy Hen Farms. It was a massive bright red barn with a smiling chicken on their sign and absolutely no windows. I could not fathom what the happy residents actually looked like inside. Yet another reminder of why I grow what I can and buy the rest from local, sustainable farmers.
I won’t eat meat when we go to restaurants unless the menu specifically states that the meat is from a grass fed local farm that I know of. And, recently I visited my sister in NC. I was going to be there a whole week so the first thing I did when I got there was look up a local farm and went to buy meat for the week. It’s not as hard as you would think… even when you aren’t familiar with the area. People just need to put in a little effort. The more of us doing it, the easier it will get because the market will respond by putting it in the stores where we can find it easily.
Factory farms are so deceptive when it comes to how much space they take up and how sustainable they are. They are portrayed as efficient places and yet they require more space in order to produce the feed necessary. Grass fed cows take up only slightly more space and contributes to the fertility of the grassland on which they feed.
Right now the way many of us are feeling less well it is easy …..LESS or NO meat. If we all stopped buying or slowed down the glut of meat consumption the demand would plummet. Try more vegan meals…..YOU and the planet will get feeling better! Get back to basics…simple. If a 54 year old woman can change, anyone can!
I don’t like them but every one can’t afford to buy the more expensive organic meats and produce. I try to when I can and I raise chickens for my own eggs but price dictates. We don’t eat a lot of meat but it does come from the local grocery. What really is the answer, I don’t know. There are too many people who have no choice but to buy factory raised products.
i think there is no one answer. awareness is key, and then hopefully we will all have better choices eventually. what i think needs to change is what is acceptable in this country in terms of how food animals are raised. i think finding ones way in eating ethically is comprised of a series of choices. choices that can change over time as one has better options available to them. i also agree that eating less meat is key.
Definitely not a fan! I’m very blessed to be able to get wild game and grass fed meats from my parents. My Dad likes to hunt and they also raise a few cattle each year to eat. Plus our meat chickens are almost ready to be butchered. My freezer is full of delicious, local animals that lived a happy life.
They are awful from every standpoint– quality of life for the animals, for the humans involved, nutrition, environment. We went to all-local meat and eggs about a year ago, and just don’t eat a whole lot of meat because of the price.
I’ll be honest: When I’m making a purchasing decision, I’ll buy ethically raised meat from a butcher who gets it, and I prefer to patronize restaurants that are like-minded. But somehow when it comes to the company bbq or food at someone else’s house, I tend to forget about the factory farm issue. I can definitely do better about making conscious choices about my meat. As a lapsed vegetarian, you’d think I would be better on this front.
I guess I’m the same when it comes to my fruit and veg: local and sustainable whenever I make the decision myself, but if someone else is buying it, I kind of accept that not everyone will have the same values as I do.
The low price of conventionally-raised meat is this country is due to factory farming. It’s hard to take the large price hit by purchasing meat, eggs, and produce from local farmer but it’s worse being responsible for creating such misery for other creatures. The new reality, if we don’t completely poison our land and food supply, is that everything will reflect more closely the cost of farming.If that means that animals will be treated more humanely, I am willing to pay the cost.
It makes me sad that people have lost touch with where their food comes from, and that they don’t care. I don’t eat meat, partly because of the conditions that animals live their miserable lives in. I hope that with the farmers markets and sustainability movement gaining momentum more people will become aware of the reality of where their meat comes from, and they will make better choices – for themselves, for our environment and for the welfare of other creatures on earth.
i want to thank everyone so far for roaring out loud about factory farming and your relationship to it. keep the dialogue going!
Good for you for taking this on. It is all too easy to not think about issues like this and just take part in the celebration of food that takes place in the online community. Because I have been a vegetarian for so long (26 years!), I kind of gave up attempting to influence anyone long ago. Maybe just trying to be an example is not enough.
It is uplifting to see so many people taking an interest in where their food does from–and especially taking part in its production. By the way, NPR is doing reports on meat eating in America this week–interesting stuff.
hi val, i have not eaten meat or poultry for 15 years. tho i do consume fish occasionally. i am not the ‘preachy’ type by nature and always believe that its up to people to make their own choices. but recently i too have felt that my actions are not enough, because if people are made aware of what is happening in factory farms (and it is really tucked away for people not to see) they would be compelled to make different choices. or most would i believe. it is in fact, so atrocious that most people can’t bare to see, and so i am navigating my way, trying to start the dialogue so that people can make an educated choice.
Thank you for all the information that all of you have shared. I am allergic to whey, and am frequently trying to find alternatives to soy and corn as the GMO issue is frightening to me as well. And I believe the GMO is harder to see and find, GMO seeds can be grown organically and be labeled as organic. Makes it tough to eat a healthy diet. I am lucky enough to live in an area where there are many local farmers and PA Amish who generally follow organic practices. There are also some good local dairy’s and cattle farmers who follow grass feed natural practices. The thought of the animals in small pens makes me so sad. I do understand chicken runs to protect your birds from roaming cats (and for me with being in a rural area fox as well) I wish I could have a chicken tractor
a mobile run that they would be able to get fresh food all the time and still be protected. Some day. Until then I will grow what I can and support my wonderful local farmers.
i am becoming more and more aware of what i am putting into my body now that i have children. there are so many different chemicals out there that weren’t around years ago. while lots of diseases and illnesses are on the rise. someone was recently praising the goodness of a product she puts into her water. i came back with the fact that it is artificial sweetener, artificial color and artificial flavor. the only “real” ingredient was the water. last year we purchased several animals from the county fair and just recently raised some chickens on our own. what a big difference in the quality of the meat. i enjoy going to the farmer’s market and getting what i can. we need to be proactive with what we are putting into our bodies.
Thanks for the awesome giveaway. For me, personally, being vegetarian or vegan is not a sustainable choice. However, we’ve gotten much more fussy in the past couple of years about where our meat and eggs come from, especially after driving past a factory farm on I-5 and seeing how awful the conditions were first-hand. We’re lucky enough to live in Northern California and be well-off enough to be able to find and afford humanely raised meat and eggs. We eat less meat now than we used to, but what we do eat is much more humane.
We do still struggle with other dairy products, though. Milk is easy enough — Straus and Clover are both wonderful local dairies, who get their organic milk from small family farms. I ride my bike past those farms all the time, and those “happy cows come from California” ads aren’t wrong
However, cheese is tricky. We eat a lot of it, and it’s hard to find things like just basic, affordable cheddar for a grilled cheese sandwich from a local farm where I know the animals have been treated well.
Factory farms are scary. I know that the conditions are horrible. I also worry about what these animals are given to eat that will end up in our bodies! Yuck. I try and eat as much as I can that is organic and hormone free. Good discussion.
Although I’ve been a vegetarian since high school (many years ago), I’ve only recently been made aware of the horrible conditions in raising our nation’s meat supply. My 17 year old daughter is much better informed and shares her recently gained knowledge with us. As a result, we are trying harder and harder to eat healthier and grow more of our own produce.
I try to avoid purchasing factory farm meat whenever possible; I buy my eggs from a little girl who raises them as a business and we purchase a quarter or half cow from friends who have pasture cattle. Chicken is the tough one because I have not found a good source yet.
I have read and read (probably more than what is good for me, but knowledge is power) about the travesty that is factory farming. I have been trying to move my family completely away from factory farming for a few years now. This year we just bought our first whole pastured pig (split w/ another family) and 1/2 grass fed pastured cow (again, split w/ another family) from a local farmer whose farm we have had the pleasure to visit often and whose practices are pretty close to perfection. His pigs dig and rut in the mud and grass, lounging around with PLENTY of space to roam, and no one has to have their tails cut off for fear of their angry, penned up neighbor biting it off. The cows roam just as free (if not more so, considering the pastures they rotate on), as do his chickens. His ground is fertilized for his vegetables and his animals get sunshine, fresh air, and a natural diet. I nearly cried when I found this farmer.
Knowing what’s happening, you can’t help but do something. You have to change. Each McDonald’s cheeseburger comes from a sick, stressed animal. Each strip of Hormel bacon means that pig was tortured and terrorized for its ENTIRE life. The meat is diseased and unsafe, regardless of what the broken FDA tries to tell you. If this is the price of convenience, I don’t want it. The meat may look cheap, but the true price is far too high. Our food system is so corrupt to the point of poisoning the very nation it is meant to feed. We have to take it back.
Thank you, Tigress, for caring. And for doing something. Every little effort counts… it’s all our little efforts – my local, pastured meat & eggs and local, organically grown produce, your hard-earned money going to support the Humane Society to turn this putrid tied… may seem like a drop in the bucket, but our collective drops will soon be enough to push open the floodgates. <3
I was lucky enough to be raised with a consciousness about where my food came from and I enjoy passing the knowledge along to my kids. We live in a city surrounded by farms and rural land and never have to go more than two days between farmers’ markets. My family has had a meat CSA from our local pig farmer (beef, chicken and lamb, too!) and we have been to the farm to see the happy pigs, cows and chickens roaming free. I know the health benefits of pastured meat are significant and I am happy to eat happy, healthy meat from farmers I know on a first name basis. I am also happy to know my kids understand the meat they are eating is from animals, not a package in the grocery store.
Large scale farming is necessary though to feel the millions of mouths in this country. That doesn’t mean they need to do it with the substandard that have become accepted. The bottom line is often more important than health or the environment and changing habits/behaviors is very hard. I think the beef and corn lobby are too powerful although the growing awareness of food origin is beginning to make a difference with producers. People speak with their dollars and buying sustainable, organic, local products will only encourage more of it.
I try to buy as much of my food from small local farms. We have a CSA in both Summer and Winter and we buy most of our meat directly from the farmers.
I too grew up on a small farm where we raised a hodgepodge of everything from animals to the orchard to the garden. My mother did a lot of preservation with the old pressure cooker so many of my memories of summer include the hiss and heat of that canner. It breaks my heart that factory farms are allowed to exist and are hidden away neatly from the conscience of the public. We as a society are far too removed from our food and how it is processed. However there is a growing awareness which is fuel for the hope that things will change. thank you for the dialog which can only add to the movement.
factory farms are cruel to the animals, as well as the planet we live on.
We raise pastured pigs, steers, sheep, chickens, turkeys and goats to sell to customers who value humane, healthy and consciously-raised meat. Something your readers might not realize is that by far the greatest impediment to getting good meat into the hands of customers is the lack of small butchering facilities. The state and federal rules governing such mom-and-pop places really inhibit people going into the business. We have to travel over an hour to get to a legal chicken butcher, and then have to go back the next day to get the birds when they are frozen!
I am disgusted with the large amount of antibiotics used on animals in factory farms. The over-crowded, unclean conditions necessitate it. When we eat the meat, the antibiotics pass on to us. No wonder we have so many problems with antibiotic resistant viruses and bacteria.
I avoid buying factory farm meat and eggs for home use, and when I eat out, I try to choose places that source well. But I’m not perfect, and there’s always room for improvement. Hopefully I’ll improve so much eventually that I can just raise all of my own meat and eggs!!
i dont really have much to say about factory farms, other than that i personally dont buy meat from anyone but my local farmer bc of the conditions and contribution to super bugs and unsustainable agriculture. i also think its really important to know where your local farmer is buying his herds from, its just as bad to be buying animals from the mass producers.
I don’t know that much about factory farms! I am almost afraid to learn more, I’m afraid that I have lazy consumer habits and that my personal values don’t match my consumer habits! I get my milk and eggs from a local dairy that delivers, I try to buy Organic chicken and eat limited amounts of other meats. I think it is becoming easier for consumers to become educated, easier to shop local but habits are hard to change and it seems the economic instinct to be thrifty is counter to buying products that are fair trade or humanly produced.
My family and i just purchased 38 acres to raise our own meat, vegetables, and horses. But I have been on the side of not being able to afford the quality non factory farmed meat. One way i started taking control of our meat was by purchasing from 4H members. Many 4H members raise more than one animal per species. But they are only allowed to sell one per species in their county fair auction. I have been able to purchase meat at market price. Last year I purchased half a steer for $2.50 a pound after processing. I have a hard time finding decent ground beef for that price. Plus i am supporting a great organization. And most of the time the kids are saving for college.
In college I spent a summer on an island off the coast of Tanzania. Beans and ugali were plentiful, but I craved meat. The only way that happened was to raise and kill chickens we kept in the courtyard of our house. It was an experience, but one that has always contrasted with the experience of seeing meat wrapped in plastic on a grocery shelf. For me, the connection to animals we use for meat, honey, eggs, milk is so valuable and grounding.
We’re heading into our third year of buying half a pig from a farmer about an hour away. I admit it kind of just happened. While it’s not labeled organic, I think it’s pretty much that without the certification. I figure it’s more expensive than buying factory-farm meat on sale at the supermarket, but it wouldn’t be if I didn’t shop the sales. And it’s meant we eat way less red meat.
The 4H idea is an interesting one.
And when I see girls who look like they’ve hit puberty much earlier than in my day, I wonder if it is because of all the hormones in milk and meat.
Otherwise … I have a big vegetable garden. And I can!
I do not buy factory farmed animal products. It is abhorrent. I am a vet and have seen conditions within abattoirs and intensive farming situations and it is not pretty viewing. I am vegetarian but my family isn’t so if I don’t know who reared and butchered the animal, I don’t buy it.
I love your amazon pledge. If only more bloggers were like you.
Cheers,
Julia
i love reading all these comments…… my two cents: we try to eat meat that was raised/hunted by someone we know on a first name basis. We end up eating meat less often but once or twice a month seems to be just fine. also, I will say: back in the day, a long time ago, i used to splurge on the occasional egg mcmuffin (aah! i know!). then i saw a bunch of videos of how they treat the chickens that lay those eggs, and these days, the thought of actually eating that makes me literally start to feel sick. so: animal rights people, those videos you took worked super well. A+.
Hi Tigress, thanks for hosting this giveaway and creating such a great & important dialogue.
I made a very conscious decision to re-introduce a small amount of meat into my diet after 5 years as a vegetarian. This decision came about after visiting local farms (I work at a local vegetable farm in the Finger Lakes of NY) and seeing farmers raising animals & vegetable crops simultaneously or just animals, and I began to realize how much animals truly fit into the system of farming in this northeastern US climate. There are so many wonderful small farmers here, raising animals in the most healthy & humane ways, and I feel privileged to support them. I eat very little meat and choose to only purchase meat from these farmers. It’s expensive & precious, truly! I believe that it’s easier to support my neighbors and fellow farmers than to go out of my way to buy eggs or meat at the grocery store where they’d likely be just as expensive, not as tasty, and not raised in a way that is sustainable or humane.
I love what you’re doing with your donations, by the way… a few months ago I purchased an ice cream maker on Amazon and (assuming I did it correctly) I purchased it from your amazon larder! Keep rockin’!
yes you did do it correctly. i saw the ice cream maker and 6% of that purchase went to the humane society’s farm animal protection fund. thank you taryn!
While I think that it’s a nice thought that the general population would rise up in protest if they knew what the words ‘factory farm’ meant, I don’t see it happening. Ease of availability & lowered prices is what count to the majority of urban dwellers. The quickest way to alter the way factory farms do business is regulation: the owners can raise as many animals as they want provided certain guidelines are met, such as the health & welfare of the animals, workers, & the surrounding environment. I don’t for a minute believe that utilizing available technology to treat animals & workers humanely while safeguarding the environment will raise prices astronomically or eliminate profits. There just won’t be as much profit.
yes i agree. there needs to be regulation, and i do believe that the humane society is in the position to put pressure on the government. they’ve been making some progress!
I recently adopted a new diet lifestyle to overcome some long-held eating habits and regain health, and in that I have “become” vegan since June 1. When I set out on this plan, I was planning on returning to some kind of middle ground, as I’ve cut out many other things (gluten, sugar, corn, soy) and have been adding them back in to see how they affect my health.
Well, a side effect of this diet plan is that I’ve thought way more about how I feel about the things I’ve given up. And meat is a huge one! At this point, I don’t see a return to meat the way I used to in my future (sorta kinda trying to be sustainable but certainly not turning down or opting out of grocery store meat). Now I feel that if I choose to add meat back into my diet it will have to be meat that I know exactly where it comes from, how the animal has been treated, what it ate, etc. As in, farmer’s market or home-grown only. And given that I would never have the heart to butcher an animal myself, I think I will be sticking to the eggs raised down the street if I need animal protein. I am growing more and more concerned about these things, so thank you for the chance to think about it and dialogue!
Let me add a few more thoughts to this dialogue …
It IS cheaper to buy fresh materials through a local CSA or pick-your-own fields, but in both situations (at least locally for me), the trade-off is time and it is not a trade off that I can always make. The local CSA requires me to pick up foods during late afternoon hours at settings that I can not get to with my work schedule. Pick-your-own is time-consuming and sometimes that just can’t happen during the small amounts of time when things are in season.
Plus, there is additional time required in preparing those foods, as compared to the heat-and-eat things coming from the frozen section of the supermarket. Most of which have been prepared with meat from factory farms.
Not only is cost (and a correlate, time and transportation, since neither the CSA pickups or the pick-your-own sites are on a bus/public transportation line), an issue for many people, the blunt truth is that the US societal norm still equates purchase and consumption of large quantities of meat with success. This is an outgrowth of the 19th-century Gilded Age moneyed class, who prepared huge quantities of many kinds of meat for each meal. Why? Because they could afford to do so – it was a sign of wealth, class, prosperity. Factory farms made that “American Dream” accessible to the lower classes.
Having said all that, I should note that I do a large amount of canning/preserving each year, buy local (although the CSA is not a current option, unfortunately) and in season, and have cut down on most of the meat purchases, because buying local/organic/free range meat is difficult on my budget.
What would be nice in the broader dialogue (beyond this blog – great idea, BTW) is to feel like there was still room for discussion about how to grow/raise/eat food sustainably and still live a lifestyle that others recognize. So often when I read blogs, I am struck by how unlike me the bloggers are – if I were more like them, perhaps I could more easily mirror their ethical/moral choices. For now, it is a constant trade off between what I would like to see and w hat needs to happen given the constraints of my current situation.
thank you everyone for participating. i really appreciate hearing everyone’s voice on the subject of factory farming. it’s uplifting to hear from so many of you that are finding ways to source meat from humanely raised animals, or to cut down or abstain from meat in a stance against factory farming. also hearing the ways in which it is difficult in this country to afford meat from humanely raised animals, and even to raise and offer that meat for sale is sobering. there is a lot of work to do, but i believe with effort great changes can be made.
and now…the winner is anne-marie, who i’ve just discovered has a wonderful blog that chronicles her families’ efforts to eat sustainably. http://greenishmonkeys.wordpress.com anne-marie i will be contacting you to get your snail mail address. congrats!
and, lastly, all you peeps are inspiring! thank you – and let’s keep the conversation going!
This seams like a dialogue among a lot of like minded people! Very interesting nontheless!
I live in France so my point of view is a bit different.
Here the question of factury farming is pretty insiduous because people assume that the meat they eat comes from traditional farms. Unfortunetly the american model is comming over seas and so quickly that it’s happening before most of us realize it. Some people are aware of the situation but they truly come off as radicals, burning down McDonalds, distroying GMO fields…When I bring up the subject most of the time people look at me like “what’s the fuss? I’ve always bought here or there” what they don’t realize is they way their old producers operate has changed. I have never seen any indication whether meat was grassfed or not, even at the butcher’s! Most of the time it is, there is just not the info and the butcher will get offended if you bring up the subject!!
Luckly the quality of the food they eat is very important to the french and so their choices are oriented in that direction. Now even our low cost supermarkets there are more and more organic products.
To be honest and blunt I’m pretty poor it’s difficult to eat the way my ethics dictate, expecially concerning meat. What I do have is time, or, let’s say, I take it. Taking the time to go out and buy the food and to process it allows me to eat pretty good quality produce most of the time.
One piece of advice I could give is don’t hit youself over the head (that hurts and it’s not helpfull) and do the best you can taking one baby step at a time. Every year I make one change, just one, that I stick to. If you only do one thing at a time you can really figure out how to make it work even if you’re on a budget, you don’t have time, you don’t know how, you don’t know where…
Thanks for such an inspiring topic!! Maybe we should all plegde to speak to some not-likeminded soul about it?
so great to hear from you! it is very interesting to learn about what is happening in other countries. many european countries have some sort of restrictions on factory farming so it is disheartening to hear from you how quickly american factory-farmed meat products are coming to you. it is good to hear that people in france care about what they are eating as a matter of culture, but not that you can’t ask your butcher for fear he will be offended!
i do agree, if we all speak to not person who is not aware about this topic, we move toward change.
after seeing the videos on food.inc and several other i was horiffied! animals who could barley walk were being hearded into the slaughter house, boils being popped before they were slaughtered, its no wonder people are getting sick and dying. We no longer by meat from stores, my dad raises organtic cows, no hormons or antibotics, grass feed till the end. We get our eggs from a local farmer that lets his chickens run wild. I can and pickle everytrhing I can get my hands on. I am fortunate to live in a small rual communtiy so we grow alot of the vegetables and all my spices in the spring. We very rarley eat at fast food restarants anymore. I have checked out both of your books listed here and they are wonderful!the pickled pantry offers recipes for you to make single quarts of one thing which is great in case you dont like it, you wont be stuck with a bunch of stuff, food in jars has some unique recipes that i havent found anywere else, I would love to own either of both of the books, actuallyfound your web site in the book thats why Im here!!!