The view from here
Having just used “threat or menace,” albeit jokingly, I don’t suppose I can say the same about the “Real Food Challenge” (reported here) that’s currently sucking up so much internet ink. In fact, it’s probably unwise to give the thing any more PR by giving it an Eek.
But I can’t resist, because it’s such a classic example of the all-knowing self-righteous preaching that helps the processed food industry keep its stranglehold on the American diet.
Some are ok, some aren't. Can you guess which of these foods you're supposed to make yourself, or never heat - or not eat at all?
Left to right: Back row – Butter, smoked Spanish paprika, olive oil, hard cider, whole wheat flour, center – local cheese: Barat, from Sprout Creek Farm, and Shaker Blue, from Old Chatham Sheepherding Company, (home made cherry preserves, here for another reason), cocoa, thick cut rolled oats.
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Gray Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor) *
The way to blog brilliantly has been being demonstrated for a couple of years now by Margaret Roach, over at A Way to Garden. You wouldn’t necessarily know it from looking at my efforts, but she has been an ongoing inspiration ever since she started.
As the upgrades here continue I keep thinking I’ll find the right time to say thank you – after I get the new link list up, say, or post the long planned shopping page. But how bogus is that? The time to say thank you is always right now, so Thank You, Margaret, thank you very much.
If you know her, you know why the gratitude picture is of a frog. If you don’t, that’s one more reason to trot over there and have a look.
* I’m saying it’s Hyla versicolor on account of the markings and because it was tiny, about an inch long, max. But it might be a small Green Tree Frog, H. cinerea, not so much because it’s green (the gray ones can also be green) as because it was right there in the garden on a hollyhock leaf instead of hiding where it couldn’t be seen.
I’m happy to tell readers of Bill’s Coyote Post (and everyone else in the area) about a great opportunity to learn more, right from the muzzles of the top experts:
“Wile E. Coyote In Your Backyard: What You Should Know About Canis latrans”
will be presented free and open to the public on Thursday, March 4 at 4:30 p.m., in the Student Lounge in Vanderlyn Hall, SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge, NY, sponsored by the Catskill Institute for the Environment (CIE).
The panel will include Dr. Roland Kays, Curator of Mammals at the NYS Museum, who will speak on “New York’s Coyote/Coydog/Coywolf: What is it and how did it get here?;” Dan Bogan, Ph.D. candidate, Cornell University, discussing “Suburban coyote behavioral ecology: Implications for ecology and management;” and Robin Holevinski, Ph.D. candidate at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, who will address “Foraging Ecology and Population Status of Eastern Coyotes.”
For information and weather confirmation, call 845-687-5231.
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Spotted before last Christmas, offered in plenty of time for the lucky recipient to have Washington, Lincoln or Obama - sorry, Texas, no Reagan – to be in full greenery by Presidents Day. Still not on the clearance counter, however.
According to wikipedia “The Chia Pet was first used on September 8, 1977, and aside from its name, the Chia Pet is not a patented invention. The first Chia Pet was the ram, marketed and distributed in 1982.” They must mean trademarked; you can’t patent a name.
Bust embellishment notwithstanding, chia (salvia hispanica) isn’t an ornamental. It’s a food crop, native to Central America, where its highly nutritious seeds have been part of the diet for at least 3000 years.
As far as I know, the Aztecs – who were eating a lot of chia when the conquistadores got there – didn’t adorn their terra cotta sculptures with wooly green mats. But they may have been missing an opportunity. Joseph Enterprises, the company that manufactures the pets, reportedly had 98,000 employes in 2008.
Jeff Koons’ Puppy (1992) has already sucked up all the air in the irony department, so I have nothing else to say except don’t despair. The planting time that revives hope and brings change is just around the corner.
Ok, ok, the huge throng of us who urged the USDA to please adopt stronger standards for organic milk probably shouldn’t be taking credit. But it’s nice to think our voices were heard, and in any event we can cheer the outcome: those long-awaited new rules were adopted on February 12.
please pretend these are celebratory fireworks
The Cornucopia Institute, which led one of the largest petition drives, has a good report on what happened and why. The New York Times story is shorter but perfectly adequate if you’re not (yet, just stick with me) a farm policy geek.
This is the shortest version of all. At the heart of the new milk standards is a requirement that all dairy cattle be on pasture for the full length of the local grazing season or at least 120 days. Adios to the oxymoron: factory organic dairy.
I’m planning to write and say thank you, on the theory that pats are deserved and will be appreciated. People who run these agencies seldom get any feedback from the public except demands and complaints. Here’s the contact info. if you’d like to join me.
sorta. What they’re really about to do is get permission from the USDA to market GE alfalfa that will contaminate organic alfalfa and thus create huge problems for organic dairy farmers. The full story and a petition/comment form asking the USDA to please apply its own standards (sigh) are here (among many other places).
My own – completely unsubstantiated – theory is that individual letters carry a tiny bit more weight than those aggregated by activist organizations, so I wrote directly to the relevant USDA comment page. My letter follows, in case you’re curious, though I’m not sure why I bothered to make any arguments. It’s highly unlikely anyone will actually read them. But somebody will note whether I’m for or against, and that’s why writing matters. Deadline for comments is 2/16.
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How ’bout dem Saints!!!
Louisiana Iris (a fleur-de-lis for them)
That would be Lafayette, Louisiana, not Lafayette, Indiana. The style would be that of the city’s Junior League, circa1967, and Talk About Good! would be the title of said Junior League’s classic fundraising cookbook, a spiral bound journey to the South that was popular long before the food of New Orleans achieved nationwide cult status.
At this point T.A.G is more of a cultural artifact than a source of great recipe ideas, but there are a few gems that still shine with undiminished luster. A “Congealed Avocado and Chicken salad,” for instance, contributed by Mrs. Jacque Puken, of Eunice, LA, doesn’t sound all that promising, but in fact it’s absolutely delicious and a perfect make-ahead for a crowd. It’s hearty enough to be a main dish, light enough to play well with all the chili, boudin and/or brats, easy to serve and easy to eat - with or without a fork.
Molded and served like pate; no fork needed
Molded into a loaf and sliced; fork needed. Also chips. (Crunch must not be overlooked.)
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Now that I’ve got your attention…
The action is speaking out in support of the new, tougher set of organic standards currently under review and the asap is because the review period is almost over. (There’s a comment form provided here by the Cornucopia Institute.) If the standards are adopted, consumers are likely to get better, fresher milk and they’re likely to get it from the sort of small and mid sized farms that come to mind when you hear the word “dairy.”
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I was wrong!
Not long ago, I suggested that calling Monsanto “evil” was inaccurate, because Monsanto wasn’t a person capable of moral intention but rather a corporation, with “neither a soul to lose nor a body to kick.” Not sure everybody got it, but my point was that the people who run Monsanto might or might not be despicable, but the corporation itself had no meaning or purpose except to make money for the people who owned shares in it.
As of this morning, however, thanks to a 5 ( guess which 5) to 4 ruling of the Supreme Court, Monsanto IS a person, no different from you or me (except for being considerably less responsible for its actions). So go ahead, feel free, call it evil to your hearts’ content.
