I Heart Farms

Whole Lotta Somethin' Goin' On

 These Orange-Red apricots are delicious, and beautiful, and Farmer Al at Frog Hollow Farm was kind enough to give me a couple to bring home from the Santa Cruz farmers market yesterday. Drippy almost down the chin, they were.

Orange-Red: today's theme, in a certain way. At least the theme of the hot and smoky afternoon in Santa Cruz, where yesterday I ventured from the vast distance of six miles away. Thirteen if you count the trip to the Community on the Hill, as UCSC is known: that is where I went to retrieve my beautiful daughter for a visit to the market.

Well, Jennifer Started It!

Pictured here: some of the pigs at TLC Ranch, taken in March. Yes, there is an explanation about its deliberate appearance.

Yes, another two weeks go by, and here I am, bedridden with one of the ghastly colds that is being shared by a broad userbase in Santa Cruz county. So between downing cups of tea and Vitamin C tablets the size of bricks, I have been scanning some blogs. I don't have the energy to catch up on reading all of my favorites—one of which I am currently 47 posts behind on!—because it's just too strenuous. You know, the contests, the solicitation of our thoughts on certain topics, and so on. Things I enjoy when I'm feeling great, but not when half the air is out of the tires in my brain. Too demanding.

There are a handful of blogs that I scope out first, and will always click in if I see a new post has been added. A couple of days ago, I saw that my friend, the beautiful and über-creative Jennifer Jeffrey had added a new post to Jennifer Jeffrey: Writer/Editor. (She's selling herself short: her design skills are fabulous, too.) At the top of the post is a photograph so brimming with life that my mouth dropped open. And true to herself as ever, she finds something to inspire on an otherwise miserably hot day in the city.

You would not think that the statuesque and lovely Ms. Jeffrey and I share a host of addictions, what with her doing yoga and all, but under the skin, we share an insatiable craving for at least four things: cheese, typefaces, the election of Barack Obama in this year's presidential election, and playing around with images. (Read my comment on her post, if you like, to see where we're going here.)

AB 1604 Passes: Sing "Hallelujah," Ye Masses

Pictured here: some of the beautiful milk cows at Deep Roots Ranch.

I am posting this update on the raw milk legislation action this week. It's from Mark McAfee, director of the Organic Pastures Dairy and Creamery. I'm not sure yet what the upshot is: it sounds like there was some kind of compromise. And it's gratifying to read that Assemblywoman Nicole Parra "read the riot act" to the CDFA.

That, I would have liked to have seen, but Logan has been very sick for three days, and I couldn't go. I suppose I could have taken him, but his runny nose would not have presented the assembly with the picture of health of a child drinking raw milk. (Why call it "raw"? Call it "real"!)

Read on for MacAfee's e-mail.

• • • • • • • • • • •

Free Milk!! (Seriously: Come to Sacramento to FREE RAW MILK, and receive free, raw milk!)

An update on Wednesday's rally in Sacramento: I am publishing this that I received from Jean Harrah at Deep Roots Ranch. It contains more information about the rally on Wednesday at our state capitol, in support of raw milk.

RAW MILK GETS ITS DAY

Assembly Woman Nicole Parra announces Ag Committee hearings on AB 1735 raw milk issue.

You must attend! Raw milk needs every one of you!

ASSEMBLY HEARING FOR EMERGENCY AG. BILL TO BE HELD WED. JAN 16. AT STATE CAPITOL

Raw Milk Supporters Urged to Attend and Speak Out

Congratulations to all of our customers and supporters! Your hard work writing letters and making calls has paid off! NOW IS THE OPPORTUNITY OF YOUR LIFETIME TO PROTECT RAW MILK IN CALIFORNIA. There is a meeting by the Assembly Agriculture Committee on Wednesday, January 16th. The Committee is currently scheduled to hear three bills. Pending approval by the State Assembly on Monday, a fourth bill will be added to this list. This bill will propose technical corrections to AB1735, which took effect on January 1st. If these corrections become law, our raw milk will continue to be available.

IT IS ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL THAT YOU BE THERE! We need the impact of a multitude upon these legislators, who will be hearing our side of the story for the first time. This is the most important thing you will do to insure your supply of raw milk for the future. Do whatever is necessary to be there. Take off work, school, reschedule appointments, make it a field trip for your kids.

You will be making history. Otherwise, raw milk may be history.

WHERE: California State Capitol Bldg. Room 4202

WHEN: WED. JAN 16, 2008 - 12 Noon - Meeting begins at 1:30

WHAT TO BRING: Your infants, toddlers, tweens and teens: healthy children speak volumes! Letters you've written over the course of our campaign. (Bring copies to leave there.) A 30-second testimonial -  How Raw Milk has Changed My Life Your favorite raw milk t shirt (available for sale on site - $10)

NOTE: For security reasons, do not bring anything you would not bring on an airplane. We will provide banners and signs for you.

YOU WILL RECEIVE: Free quarts of Organic Pastures raw milk
"I Love Raw Milk" buttons to signal your support
Security-cleared rally signs
Satisfaction in mobilizing with the California "living foods" community!

OTHER PREPARATION: Before the hearing - Call the office of each member of the California State Assembly Committee on Agriculture and express key message points. Go to http://www.organicpastures.com/ag-assembly-info.htm for information on making calls

PLEASE RSVP at [email protected] if you plan to attend.

REMEMBER TO CALL EACH ASSEMBLY MEMBER PRIOR TO THE HEARING. Go to http://www.organicpastures.com/ag-assembly-info.htm  for contact info and message points.

• • • • • • • • • • •

If you are interested in carpooling from the Santa Cruz area, please contact me [tanabutler at gmail.com] and I will pass your name along to a group who's going.

Thanks!

Raw Milk Imperiled: California and New York

Pictured here: one of the sweet Jersey cows at Claravale Farm, one of California's two raw milk dairies.

CALIFORNIA
Others have written eloquent and informed pieces about AB (Agricultural Bill) 1735, a sneaky "Trojan horse" piece of legislation as has ever been passed. Amanda Rose wrote about it back in October at The Ethicurean. She says, "Coliform bacteria are a mixed lot. Some are beneficial, some are pathogenic. This legislation makes no distinction between the two." [Emphasis mine.]

And:

"Raw milk has coliforms. That is simply its nature. That is why it sours in my refrigerator. The beneficial strains of coliforms, the other beneficial bacteria, and the immunoglobulins are why I pay more for raw milk.

"I know that folks at the statehouse think I’m crazy and uninformed. They visit dairies regularly and know that it is increasingly common to find E. coli 0157:H7 in their cows. I am playing “Russian roulette,” they claim.

"But there is something that humans and cows have in common. When we are living on a diet that God intended for us, our intestines are less likely to be a breeding ground for pathogenic bacteria. When our gut is full of beneficial bacteria, it can fight back when we come into contact with pathogenic bacteria."

(I recommend reading the whole piece, which is intelligent and sensible, something you won't likely find inside Governor Schwarzeneger's office walls.)

There is also David Gumpert's piece at TheCompletePatient.com: "The reality, though, is that it is difficult to educate people about the true nature of coliform bacteria at varying levels. It’s also difficult to change legislation immediately after it's been passed. It’s especially difficult if the legislation was put into effect to accomplish a very serious long-term goal—namely, to deprive as many Americans as possible of the opportunity to obtain raw milk."

I have little more to add to the outcry beyond what I have already said here, but would like to direct your attention to something VERY IMPORTANT: Bonnie Powell, aka "Dairy Queen" at The Ethicurean, and deputy editor of Edible San Francisco, got a call from Collette Cassidy at Claravale Farm (one of the only raw dairies in California), alerting everyone to attend a rally on Wednesday in Sacramento. Assemblywoman Nicole Parra will hold a hearing on AB 1735, and your attendance could make a difference. Read Bonnie's talking points, please.

And if you can carpool and get to Sacramento, you might be part of making history. Failure to overturn this bill will effectively kill raw milk in California.

NEW YORK
Michael Ruhlman alerted me to Meadowsweet Farm in Lodi, New York, about an hour and a half southeast of Rochester. Meadowsweet Farm, owned by Steve and Barbara Smith, no longer sells raw milk products to the public, but to members of its LLC, a form of community supported agriculture that allows them to bypass the bureaucracy and mindless, uninformed restrictions that the state of New York would impose on them if they were doing business with the public.

The Smiths write: "Since March 2007, the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets has been trying to pressure us and Meadowsweet Dairy LLC out of business. For example, they have conducted numerous inspections, seized products, ordered the destruction of 260 pounds of raw dairy products, attempted to search our house, issued letters threatening fines and penalties, and have now issued an order requiring us and Meadowsweet Dairy LLC to show cause why the Department of Agriculture and Markets should not shut down the operation and levy fines. That show-cause order is now set for a hearing and a show down looms over whether the State’s police power extends to a group of private citizens who produce and consume their own food of their own choice."

There are two hearings coming up, and the Smiths would love your attendance at those:

January 17, 11 AM
Department of Agriculture and Markets
10B Airline Drive
Albany, NY
(Right next to the airport)

January 22, 1:30 PM
Seneca County Court
48 West Williams Street
Waterloo, NY

Please go to the link above and read what they have to say.

• • • • • • • • • • •

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "Never confuse movement with action." — Ernest Hemingway

I am really really really busy with work, and the weather's been horrid...but it's getting better and I hope to get out to a real farm real soon.

 

Thanks for visiting. Go rattle some bars in a government office: it'll feel good.

Not a Delicious Treat: Homeless Garden Project Twice an Arson Target

Pictured here, a Christmas fairy, which is the creation of a young woman named Roisin, a ten-year-old artist living in Pescadero. Roisin's Christmas fairies were the hit of the holiday fair at Harley Farms Goat Dairy: she sold every last one of her unique creations. I'm the happy owner of one myself: it's on our Christmas tree with a blue lightbulb up its skirt.

I'm going to take a break from the Delicious Treats student memoirs to bring a bit of news about the Santa Cruz Homeless Garden Project. Being a coastal city with a mild climated, Santa Cruz has a fairly large homeless population. In 1990, the Citizens Committee for the Homeless here in Santa Cruz started a small quarter-acre garden on the west side of town, providing "job-training and meaningful work in a therapeutic environment." (That's from their website.) It's a fine, fine organization which has changed the lives of many people—both homeless people who received the benefit of the education and work, as well as the myriad volunteers, staff, and now the families who are the recipients of the weekly CSA baskets.

I was reading the Santa Cruz Sentinel (affectionately or irritatedly called "The Senile" in these parts) last week and read with a sinking heart that the Homeless Garden Project has twice been the victim of arson. The fires, lit exactly one month apart, destroyed a storage shed containing all their hand tools and most of their seed, and on Sunday night, their kitchen.

Every Tuesday through Friday, the kitchen provided two hot meals for anyone who volunteered or worked that day: imagine its destruction. I am horrified, especially because the implication is that the fires were deliberate, targeted, and filled with malice. At Christmas time.

To make a long story short, I donated five boxes (250) of my farmers market calendars to their store in Depot Park, over near the Boardwalk. If you are in the area and want to make a difference, and get a beautiful calendar (or beeswax candles, preserves, knitted goods, or dozens of other items—very high quality stuff), please visit the Homeless Garden Project store as soon as you can. They're organic, and they're committed to providing the best service and products possible to our community.

Thanks for caring. (And for the record, I won't receive any tax benefit from the donation, as I'm self-employed. I had too many calendars as it was.)

That's all for now: I'll return tomorrow with another memoir from "The Meaning of Food" writing class.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be." — Clementine Paddleford

Thanks for visiting. And thanks for visiting the Homeless Garden Project's store, located near Depot Park. I'd call them for directions, as it's easier than trying to find it on a map:  831.426.3609.

A Favor for Facebook

Pictured here: one of the new kids on the block up at Harley Farms Goat Dairy, where I spent two happy afternoons selling calendars at the holiday fair. Which has nothing to do with this post, which I'm doing as a service to an e-mail I got yesterday from a young woman who works for Facebook. (All you elders, it's like MySpace for the tasteful and intelligent. I removed my repetition about "don't get me started," but PLEASE do not ask me how hideous MySpace is. Unless you want the full-on Rosanne Barr description of just what is wrong with the media right now.)

Treats

Pictured here, Route One Farm's basket of winter squash, taken yesterday at the bongo-banging market on an otherwise lovely wintry day.

Also, these beautiful painting-like red leaf lettuce, grown by Joe Schirmer of Dirty Girl Produce. (Don't you think it should be "Dirty Girls Produce"? Without the possessive apostrophe, of course: "produce" being a verb.)

It's really good to see Joe back at the market, in a new spot on the first row.

"Farmer Dave": I Ain't Buying It

It happened again. A seemingly innocuous e-mail giving a thumbs-up to my blog, but it set my Spidey Senses tingling immediately. (The Hotmail address didn't help: did you read the story about the big companies who automatically rejected job applicants if they had Hotmail addresses? Yep.)

Hi Tana,

Great site! Being a North Dakotan, I definitely support the farming way of life.
I came across this blog from Farmer Dave a Florida citrus grower that made me smile: http://www.orangediaries.com

Cheers,
Kristen

_______________________

I took a glance, already knowing I'd find some B.S. marketing apparatus at the "weblog," and was instantly gratified in my suspicions.

I wrote back to Kristen: "He doesn't look organic. Am I wrong?" Seven minutes later, she replied, "I can't say whether he is organic or not, but given the choice between organic and local, I'll take American grown anytime. What's your stance?"

So I rolled up my sleeves and wrote the following response, which she seemingly had blocked (at least that's what Hotmail claimed*. (That's what pissed me off enough to publish this rant.)

Farmers Market Calendars for Sale at eBay!

Howdy: let's just say that I've been very very busy.

One of the things I've been learning to do is to set up an eBay store: my ex-husband publishes my calendar, along with some beautiful ones of his own, and we've started a store. They're discounted: $10 each with discounted shipping for multiple purchases. (Thank God for Bob, who is otherwise a Luddite: he knows his eBay!)

Anyway, I hope to post more soon, but will be fairly scarce for the month of December, because work has to take a priority right now, and that includes selling the calendars.

• • • • • • • • • • •

We had one of the best Thanksgivings ever, thanks to all our daughters being with us, and the very special presence in our home of Simon Majumdar, who is traveling all over the world, eating amazing things. Think "British Bourdain" if you will. He's writing about about all his experiences, which have been astonishing to date.

If you want to read a beautiful example of his writing, read "Finally Finland: A Feast from a Princessa." And if you want to read his account of spending Thanksgiving with us, go to his other weblog, Dos Hermanos.

(Pictured above is the 25-pound organic turkey I roasted for our party of thirty-plus. YOWSAH!)

Friday night, Simon came back over and cooked a Bengali feast for ten, and it was nothing short of exquisite. If you can think of anything to add to his remaining tour, contact him (leave a comment on one of his blogs, I'd say). I think he's done in the United States, but has Asia and Africa coming up next. Eight more months!

He is one of the most intelligent, companionable people I've ever met, and I can highly recommend him for his wit, his warmth, and for the breadth and depth of his culinary knowledge.

So that's it for now, and I'm working on getting an eBay widget installed here. I thought I was a good midlevel geek, but this new technology. Sheesh! Hey, you kids! Off my lawn!

• • • • • • • • • • •

Another announcement, more great news. One of my best friends, Cynthia Sandberg, has a beautiful blog, GrowBetterVeggies.com. Cynthia's fame has spread far beyond Santa Cruz, where she was renowned as The Tomato Lady up in Ben Lomond. Now she's growing for one of the best-known restaurants around, one of only seven four-star rated San Francisco Chronicle restaurants, and with two Michélin stars. She's gone from organic to biodynamic growing, and the process has been fascinating. From no one else do I get phone calls asking me if I know where to find cow poop from a cow who has given birth. We were sitting in the audience waiting to hear Anthony Bourdain last week, and she got a text message from her assistant, "Ask Tana about horse manure."

(Please, none of you follow suit.)

Go subscribe to her blog and you might be the recipient of a pack of special tomato seeds. (But stay for the show: she really really really knows her stuff.) You can read more about Cynthia from the early days of this weblog: The Tomato Curator.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "They say the sun never sets over the British Empire, but it rises every morning. The sky must get awfully crowded." —Steven Wright

Thanks for visiting.