What's for dinner tonight?

[freemotion]

I mentioned this somewhere already.....on one of my visits to my folks in Maine this year, when walking the dog along some fields, I came across a large patch of black stuff that reminded me of finely ground blacktop. My father said the farmers are now getting "ashes" from the local mill in Canada, the mill that makes the pulp for the papermill on the US side of the river. These ashes are from burning wood/bark waste to fuel the plant, and this waste is dowsed in spent petroleum-based oil to get it to burn. That is why the ashes I saw were kinda tar-like. They bring tractor-trailer loads in and dump them next to the fields, and the farmers spread it, using it as free lime. Amazing, the stupidity. The mill managers are chuckling over their good fortune, not having to pay to dispose of this hazardous waste. They give it free to these D students who gladly grow food in it.

It seems lately that every time I visit my parents, they tell me of yet another person I went to school with who died of brain cancer.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

 

[me&thegals]

Amazing, the stupidity. The mill managers are chuckling over their good fortune, not having to pay to dispose of this hazardous waste. They give it free to these D students who gladly grow food in it.

Free, I know you are a very kind and very helpful person. But, I think I need to respond to this one. I am married to a conventional farmer. Many things that a person could chalk up to pure stupidity and ignorance are usually really a farmer's hands being tied in a very difficult, very competitive, very narrow-margin profit agricultural system.

So, please give farmers credit for intelligence. But also try to realize that profit margins are incredibly small, and their time is probably being spent fixing equipment, tending to crops and animals, marketing their products and not necessarily researching the toxicity of "free" lime.

I'm so very glad to have my own model for organic agriculture, but the more I read, the more I come to understand how commercial ag came to be the toxic mess that it is.

 

[big brown horse]

Last night I loaded up on veggies with steamed cabbage, spinach with garlic, and oven roasted brussel sprouts. I ate the brussel sprouts raw too as I prepared them. All veggies were smeared with butta!

I served that (local raised) piggy sholder I've been yacking about. It was slow cooked with tomatoes and onions in the pokey pot..scrumptious! It was more expensive, but I didn't make it the main course, the veggies were the main course.

For dessert we each had a dove dark chocolate...4g of carbs. Sugar makes me very sleepy, so I will have a bit at night...but I probably shouldn't do it.

We are going to the market today and I am going to load up on veggies, raw and frozen. "6 servings a day, half cooked and the other half raw"

 

[Dace]

Tonight will be pumpkin, (split with chickens), coconut milk and mixed hot pepper, garlic soup. Also made a corned beef soup with barley from stuff in the freezer for a little more time than I wanted.

Garden weasel....can you tell us more? Your soup sounds delicious!

 

[freemotion]

Amazing, the stupidity. The mill managers are chuckling over their good fortune, not having to pay to dispose of this hazardous waste. They give it free to these D students who gladly grow food in it.

Free, I know you are a very kind and very helpful person. But, I think I need to respond to this one. I am married to a conventional farmer. Many things that a person could chalk up to pure stupidity and ignorance are usually really a farmer's hands being tied in a very difficult, very competitive, very narrow-margin profit agricultural system.

So, please give farmers credit for intelligence. But also try to realize that profit margins are incredibly small, and their time is probably being spent fixing equipment, tending to crops and animals, marketing their products and not necessarily researching the toxicity of "free" lime.

I'm so very glad to have my own model for organic agriculture, but the more I read, the more I come to understand how commercial ag came to be the toxic mess that it is.

Sorry, didn't mean to offend anyone....I come from a farming family (extended) and lived in the community for almost two decades. I have friends who farm and use this stuff.....I don't believe that anyone is forced to take part in the destruction of our planet. We all have choices. There are methods and crops that are more sustainable and also just as profitable, if not more so. It takes creative thinking and not allowing anyone else to think for you, which most people do. It is the path of least resistance.

There are sustainable models that are quite profitable. Organic is becoming a huge buzz-word, but also "natural" or other words that are used during the time that a farm is switching over. On a local scale, word gets around fast that a farmstand uses sustainable and natural practices, even if they haven't jumped through the legal loopholes to become certified organic.

Dumping petroleum on fields poisons the soil and the groundwater for far too long. Profit, schmofit. That one is just too big of a crime, imo. Sorry for the rant. I must be PMS'ing. But I stand by my feelings on this. Not picking on you or your husband or anyone else. We are all responsible for taking care of this planet.

 

[me&thegals]

I completely agree with our responsibility to the planet, and that's why my small vegetable business is organic, sustainable, natural, whatever the preferred word is these days

I also think it is unrealistic to expect that ALL farmers can, know how to or even should switch to organic. Our nation is not built on expensive farming practices. It is built on cheap and fast. I don't like it, but it is the way it is. Most farmers are doing their very best in that system. I'm glad I can break out of it, but my whole family is not depending on my CSA to support us. The transition years from conventional to organic can break the bank and cause a family to lose their land. It takes a tremendous amount of time and expense to completely convert from one type of farming to another. Those who are barely scraping by as it is do not have that kind of time or money. They may not even physically be able to (neighbor's fields too close, etc.).

So, while I wish the world were different and I will always be that difference I wish to see, I also believe we are all part of systems larger than ourselves. While we should try to change those systems, change is slow, and we should at least not insult those who still labor in those systems.

Call them evil if you want, but stupid D students? That's just another farming stereotype that I gave up a long time ago.

 

[freemotion]

I was most certainly not referring to all farmers as D students! Not at all. I was using hyperbole to express my disgust at people who are stupid enough to think that spreading petroleum-laden waste on their fields was a good idea in any way, shape or form. That it would increase the long-term profitability of their farms and benefit their families. That is actually F student thinking.

I hear ya. I am aware of those issues and the concept of feeling stuck. I also know that people can be resourceful and make good decisions while still feeding their families.

 

[me&thegals]

Fair enough, and I don't want to argue. I think we could agree that people make incredibly bad choices for varying reasons.

 

[okiegirl1]

We're having roast