Wayne and I held a pasture walk as part of the Northern Wisconsin Fall Field Day & Pasture Walk. Speakers included Dr. Nadine Kriska who spoke about the benefits of dung beetle and Dr. Erin Silva who spoke about her research project. Erin and her team are trying to determine the best small grains for organic growers in Northern Wisconsin, where the growing season is short. It was an  informative and fun day, with Organic Valley supplying snacks and Mann-Made Sandwichs catering lunch at the Lake View shelter.

Below are some photos from the event:

Chuck and Dawn–Countryside readers and fellow Organic Valley producers.

Visiting before the walk starts

My grandson Aydan playing in the leaves.

The County ag agent, the Organic Valley rep, and the NRCS agent had a quite the discussion about Johne’s Disease. It’s a controversial issue, but in the end filth is filth, and organic producers have a responsibility to ensure that our herds are free of the disease. You can read more about Johne’s Here.

We also learned about dung beetles from Nadine. These little scavengers really are an important indicator of health in a pasture. According to Nadine, if you don’t see several small, round holes in the top of cow patties in 24 hours, you don’t have enough beetles to help break down the manure and return in to the soil. Without a healthy beetle population, it will take longer for the manure to break down, slowing regrowth of the pasture.

All in all, a productive day. And my grandson had a great time too!

A reader writes:

I was reading the Scarecrow Chronicles and read Jeri’s entry about the Greens and Browns, and I just had to send an email thanking her for her thoughts. I whole heartedly agree with her opinion of the authors words who wrote that letter.

While reading that letter, I kept getting an uncomfortable feeling about what was being said, but couldn’t really put a finger on what was bugging me. And Jeri just coined it!!

We as humans need to be tolerant of everyone!! And tolerance is not a one way street! I also feel that so many people in this country feel divided, that putting more fuel on the “thems verses us” is NOT going to get anyones agenda moved forward!

I look forward to my magazine every other month and am so glad that I get to read everyone’s perspective! I always “take what I want and leave the rest”, and know that everyone’s voice is important. Even if it’s different than what I believe. ~ S.H. from California

I’ve long held that industry and government have co-opted the concerns of people who want to live as healthy as they can. First, the USDA, at the behest of big agri-business eviscerated the term “organic” so that it doesn’t mean what consumers believe it means. For instance, organic producers are allowed to spread anti-biotic contaminated manure from CAFOs on certified organic land, even though there is plenty of research to show that there is significant uptake of anti-biotics and other industrial chemicals in the crops grown on land where imported, conventional manure has been applied. Most consumers have no idea. They just want to do what’s right.

Now, besides industry and government, we are seeing an almost evangelical type of dogma evolving among those who consider themselves “green.” The writer of the letter was struggling with whether or not she had sinned against her greeness by attending a wedding in Hawaii, and enjoying herself. This is the same sort of self-loathing that religious zealots (and dieters) engage in: am I holy enough? Have I committed a sin? Did I eat too much? Along with this comes extreme self-debasement.

The author resorted to the same tactics as religious fanatics and fat people: she justified her beliefs and actions by condemning someone else–the “Browns.” Fat people, especially women, do the same thing. I know. When we enter a room, we immediately look to see who’s fatter than us. It’s a dangerous and limiting way to identify ourselves.

It seems to me, no matter what your agenda is, the environment or the budget, the simple solution to both is to consume less, not to consume politically correct things. I know people who feel good when they buy “environmentally friendly” products, but they dont’ stop to think that they may not need the product in the first place. It’s simply a way to feel better, just like fat people who buy packages of fat-free fudge because it makes them feel like they’re doing the right thing.

People are shocked to learn that I have been part of the “organic” movement for decades (I’m fond of telling people that I was “green” long before the Gore and Moore show happened on the scene). While I am an advocate for small-scale sustainable farming, I’m decidedly not “green” in my ideology. This has gotten me in hot water more than once. People assume just because we own an organic farm, we have certain political leanings. They take great umbrage when they learn I’m not the ideologue they would like me to be (not that I’m an ideologue, just that I’m not their sort of ideologue).

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Jerri

Experts are warning that food prices in America’s retail grocery stores could rise sharply in the coming years. Chris Hurt, agricultural economist with Purdue University, expects sharp rises in the cost of food over the next decade. The average consumer spends between 8 and 10 percent of their income on food. Without exception, experts are warning this could jump as high as 20 percent in the next few years.

What’s causing this? Several things:

• Farm Subsidies. Before 1933, when farm subsidies were implemented, twenty-five percent of the American population lived on farms. Today, less than one percent remains. Money that was supposed to keep small farms viable, instead led to their demise . And that’s how the CAFO was born, through the unholy union of government regulation and corporate greed. As small farms disappear, so does competition.
• Worldwide Water Shortages. The planet’s water is being depleted faster than it can be replenished. Demand for fresh water has tripled in the last 20 years and is expected to keep climbing. The soaring demand has led to higher prices for water, and less water for irrigation of vital crops. Around the globe, many countries are facing starvation because of the lack of water brought on by drought and demand.
• “Green” Policies. These policies, which are more like religious edicts from politically correct zealots, are causing more problems than they solve. With the push on to solve global warming (which has conveniently been changed to climate change because there’s no such thing as global warming) the proponents of ethanol, solar and wind alternatives have seen to it that land that should be used to grow food is being used to grow GMO corn for ethanol or being cleared for wind and solar array “farms.”
• Transportation. Even those of us who farm in a sustainable manner and manage to eek out a living at it know that what we are getting paid versus what the consumer is paying has everything to do with transportation. It’s expensive to transport fresh food across an entire country. Unless we learn how to eat locally and regionally, the price of food will continue to climb.

You can prepare by buying bulk, in-season produce and preserving it yourself. Now, some of my readers will most certainly chime in here with cries of “grow it yourself!” Which is fine and good if you have experience growing all of your own food. Most of us don’t. If you have to buy, buy bulk.

Preserving food isn’t hard. If you can boil water, you can preserve your own food. If you’ve never done it before, I recommend The Beginner’s Guide to Preserving Food at Home. You can also find food preservation tips in back issues of Countryside and on our Website.  The experts agree: the price of food, water, and oil are about to go through the proverbial roof. Taking steps now to ensure your budget doesn’t take a direct hit is the most prudent thing you can do.