 |
| Bugs don't always wait for fruit to ripen. Treat your plants early with organic insecticidal soap. |
Monday, April 30, 2012
They're coming...
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Diving into the food waste problem
I highly recommend you take a DIVE! into this Chicago Tribune article...
Diving into the food waste problem
Diving into the food waste problem
Kale Chips Recipe
Kale Chips!
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cut leaf away from thick stem.
This is easiest with a pair of
kitchen shears
3. Cut leaf into bite size pieces (optional)
4. Brush LIGHTLY with
extra virgin olive oil
(you can also use salt
here, but I recommend trying
kale on its own first-its
packed with natural flavor)
5. Bake at 350 for 9-13 minutes.
Edges should start browning.
It might look like rabbit food, but encourage your family to try one! They won't be able to stop eating, and why should they? Kale is packed full of nutrients, (just one of the many yummy 'super-foods')- much better than the LAYS they normally reach for.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
GARDEN UPDATE: A little expansion...
 | |
| We've started some new projects! |
 |
| Cucumber: don't forget these guys need plenty of support. A tomato ring works fine, and its cheap! |
 |
| Plant starter plants 2/3 down in the soil to give them strength, especially your tomatoes! |
 |
| The squash will soon be moved to the ground so the vines can grow outside the pots. |
 |
| Watermelon and cantaloupe beds. 5x2 and 10" deep. Always get pressure treated wood to avoid rot. |
 |
| Chicken wire to keep the vermin out...and a house cat or two |
 |
| A section of the happy family! |
Give Your Garden Some Reinforcements...
Trying to keep my veggies extra healthy and safe, and of course- still organic. There are a lot of products out there, so do your research! These are just two of the tools in my own gardening belt!
Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.4
McDonaldization: A Sociological Glimpse at the Rationalization of Our Food Industry
Society has changed a great deal since our move from a pre-industrial/pre-capitalistic society to a capitalistic industrial economy that is moving further away from local economies to one that is global. The way in which we live day-to-day and the ways in which our economy and politics operate would be unrecognizable to someone who lived two hundred years ago. Technology has changed the way we travel, the way we work, the way we communicate, the way we spend our leisure time, the way we consume, and all of these technologies have made a tremendous impact on our natural environment. Knowing our society has impacted the natural world in such a colossal way, it should be no surprise this new way of living has also affected our bodies, because after all, our bodies are a part of a larger ecosystem that includes the natural world in which we live. And since we are so greatly impacted by the ecosystem we live in, should it not be common knowledge that what affects us even more than the environment around us, is what we choose to put inside our bodies. To understand the change in our health, it is imperative to understand the change in how our food in produced and consumed.
There are many reasons for the change in diet among Americans. Modern society has reached the peak of what Max Weber saw as the rationalization of society and what George Ritzer later called the McDonaldization of society. That is characterized by a focus on efficiency, quantification, predictability, and control through the process of replacing humans with nonhuman technology. Weber noticed a shift from substantive rationality to a more formal rationality that put profit over product and morals, and he noticed this long before we reached the level of “rationalization” in which we currently operate. This idea of formal rationality pushes us to decide what we eat not on substance or quality, but what is cheapest and fastest, being that those are the “rational” things to consider when making such a choice. This is how the fast food industry has grown to be such a powerful force in today’s economy and social organization. Producers have perfected the art of one key item and can make that item cheaply, uniformly, and quickly, thus allowing a greater profit. This process of uni-product sellers is not something that has been restricted to restaurants though; our agricultural system has become this way as well. Policies within the Farm Bill encourage overproduction of a certain handful of crops, namely corn, and when a surplus occurs (such as the seemingly permanent surplus America is now dealing with in corn) producers must find use for it. And so in true American fashion, producers put the surplus to use in a manner which is cheapest to them and makes for bigger profit in the supermarkets. The selling of just high fructose corn syrup might not be that lucrative in small increments; it by no means sells at a high price. When producers can market a product like high fructose corn syrup so well that it gets placed in almost every item we see today in the grocery store, it does however make profit due to the sheer volume being sold.
Michael Pollan blames a lack of a stable culture of food for the state of America’s poor nutrition and diet. He argues that this collapse of nutrition “would never have happened in a culture in possession of deeply rooted traditions surrounding food and eating". When many American’s still have yet to acknowledge there is a problem with the fact that we “eat a fifth of [our] meals in cars [and] feed fully a third of [our] children at a fast-food outlet everyday”, it is hard to even begin to propose solutions to such problems. Therefore, before we begin to fix our national diet, we must first fix our mentality and acknowledge the McDonaldization of our food as problematic. We must start to reconnect with our food and undo what Brewster Kneen (a Candadian agriculture economist) calls distancing. Distancing, according to Kneen, is “the process that separates people from the sources of their food and replaces diversified and sustainable food systems with a globalized, commoditized system”. Ideas like distancing and McDonaldization are all supported further by our own consumption patterns, local government decision makers, and larger pieces of government legislation like the Farm Bill.
There are many reasons for the change in diet among Americans. Modern society has reached the peak of what Max Weber saw as the rationalization of society and what George Ritzer later called the McDonaldization of society. That is characterized by a focus on efficiency, quantification, predictability, and control through the process of replacing humans with nonhuman technology. Weber noticed a shift from substantive rationality to a more formal rationality that put profit over product and morals, and he noticed this long before we reached the level of “rationalization” in which we currently operate. This idea of formal rationality pushes us to decide what we eat not on substance or quality, but what is cheapest and fastest, being that those are the “rational” things to consider when making such a choice. This is how the fast food industry has grown to be such a powerful force in today’s economy and social organization. Producers have perfected the art of one key item and can make that item cheaply, uniformly, and quickly, thus allowing a greater profit. This process of uni-product sellers is not something that has been restricted to restaurants though; our agricultural system has become this way as well. Policies within the Farm Bill encourage overproduction of a certain handful of crops, namely corn, and when a surplus occurs (such as the seemingly permanent surplus America is now dealing with in corn) producers must find use for it. And so in true American fashion, producers put the surplus to use in a manner which is cheapest to them and makes for bigger profit in the supermarkets. The selling of just high fructose corn syrup might not be that lucrative in small increments; it by no means sells at a high price. When producers can market a product like high fructose corn syrup so well that it gets placed in almost every item we see today in the grocery store, it does however make profit due to the sheer volume being sold.
Michael Pollan blames a lack of a stable culture of food for the state of America’s poor nutrition and diet. He argues that this collapse of nutrition “would never have happened in a culture in possession of deeply rooted traditions surrounding food and eating". When many American’s still have yet to acknowledge there is a problem with the fact that we “eat a fifth of [our] meals in cars [and] feed fully a third of [our] children at a fast-food outlet everyday”, it is hard to even begin to propose solutions to such problems. Therefore, before we begin to fix our national diet, we must first fix our mentality and acknowledge the McDonaldization of our food as problematic. We must start to reconnect with our food and undo what Brewster Kneen (a Candadian agriculture economist) calls distancing. Distancing, according to Kneen, is “the process that separates people from the sources of their food and replaces diversified and sustainable food systems with a globalized, commoditized system”. Ideas like distancing and McDonaldization are all supported further by our own consumption patterns, local government decision makers, and larger pieces of government legislation like the Farm Bill.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Catching up to the Local Food Revolution | Common Dreams
Check out this awesome article by Bill Wenzel and keep buying local!
Catching up to the Local Food Revolution | Common Dreams
Catching up to the Local Food Revolution | Common Dreams
Monday, April 9, 2012
Farm Bill 101- Know the Basics
Despite America’s free market economy and its valuing of free enterprise, there exists a piece of legislation that reaches with sticky government fingers from the offices of big government, right into the homes of everyday Americans. It’s currently powering one of the biggest industries in the world, and yet still determines something as local as what shows up on our children’s lunch trays.
The Farm Bill originally started in the early to mid 1900’s, during the time of the Great Depression. Its purpose at that time was to create stability for farmers and their families, during a period when the farming industry was growing to become an extremely unprofitable and unstable way of life. Throughout the course of American industrialization, “increased global trade, the call for less government spending, the concentration of distribution and processing capabilities, and low commodity prices took their toll on the farm sector and rural communities.” (Daniel Imhoff, Food Fight). Large corporations took control of the agricultural world and terms like “agribusinesses” and “mega-farms” were needed to describe the new type of economy that existed around agriculture. The money once meant for America’s everyday farmers and their families now only benefited two out of five farmers, with the richest five percent receiving on average $470,000 each.
Because of the overhead prices that are required to start farming in modern society, and the annual costs to keep a farm running, farmers make little money without off farm jobs and government subsidies. When the Farm Bill was passed in 1996, most American’s thought it would affect little beyond the people that farmed. But the farm bill has a farther reaching impact than first anticipated. The farm bill started to pay farmers to produce only certain crops. When you look at the Farm Bill’s numerous sections, you will notice a substantial section titled “Commodity programs”. This section addresses what commodity crops the government will pay farmers to produce, and produce in excess. Some of the crops covered in this section are corn, cotton, soybeans, sugar, and wheat. Foods such as corn and soybeans are then turned into the cheapest fats, oils, and sugars on the market. Food engineers started using the surplus to create harmful additives like hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. They feed some of the surplus to the cows in beef plants, causing the cows to acquire new diseases and illness because of the unnatural diet. Imhoff states it most simply when he says, “…the Farm Bill determines what crops the government will support- and, in turn, which kinds of foods will be plentiful and cheap” (Daniel Imhoff, Food Fight). It rewards farmers for producing crops that are government supported, giving little incentive to produce crops that are not government supported—like fruits and vegetables. In the industrial agriculture’s quest to profit off consumers, corporations have created a system in which the food that is cheapest is also the food that is the worst for us nutritionally.
The graph below shows the change in food prices in the United States between 1985- 2000. Foods such as dairy, red meats, sugar and sweets, and fats and oils all decreased in price from five to fifteen percent between 1985 and 2000. Soft drinks decreased an astounding twenty three percent in that time period, while the costs of fresh fruits and vegetables rose thirty eight percent in price during that same time. We’ve made the highest calorie foods the most accessible, decreasing the opportunities we have to choose the healthier alternatives that help avoid the serious risks involved with a lifestyle full of high sugar/high calorie foods. Americans are in danger, and it is obvious the risks are much greater within low-income families.
It is crucial we recognize the Farm Bill is a symptom of the lack of food culture at work in America.
The Farm Bill originally started in the early to mid 1900’s, during the time of the Great Depression. Its purpose at that time was to create stability for farmers and their families, during a period when the farming industry was growing to become an extremely unprofitable and unstable way of life. Throughout the course of American industrialization, “increased global trade, the call for less government spending, the concentration of distribution and processing capabilities, and low commodity prices took their toll on the farm sector and rural communities.” (Daniel Imhoff, Food Fight). Large corporations took control of the agricultural world and terms like “agribusinesses” and “mega-farms” were needed to describe the new type of economy that existed around agriculture. The money once meant for America’s everyday farmers and their families now only benefited two out of five farmers, with the richest five percent receiving on average $470,000 each.
Because of the overhead prices that are required to start farming in modern society, and the annual costs to keep a farm running, farmers make little money without off farm jobs and government subsidies. When the Farm Bill was passed in 1996, most American’s thought it would affect little beyond the people that farmed. But the farm bill has a farther reaching impact than first anticipated. The farm bill started to pay farmers to produce only certain crops. When you look at the Farm Bill’s numerous sections, you will notice a substantial section titled “Commodity programs”. This section addresses what commodity crops the government will pay farmers to produce, and produce in excess. Some of the crops covered in this section are corn, cotton, soybeans, sugar, and wheat. Foods such as corn and soybeans are then turned into the cheapest fats, oils, and sugars on the market. Food engineers started using the surplus to create harmful additives like hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. They feed some of the surplus to the cows in beef plants, causing the cows to acquire new diseases and illness because of the unnatural diet. Imhoff states it most simply when he says, “…the Farm Bill determines what crops the government will support- and, in turn, which kinds of foods will be plentiful and cheap” (Daniel Imhoff, Food Fight). It rewards farmers for producing crops that are government supported, giving little incentive to produce crops that are not government supported—like fruits and vegetables. In the industrial agriculture’s quest to profit off consumers, corporations have created a system in which the food that is cheapest is also the food that is the worst for us nutritionally.
The graph below shows the change in food prices in the United States between 1985- 2000. Foods such as dairy, red meats, sugar and sweets, and fats and oils all decreased in price from five to fifteen percent between 1985 and 2000. Soft drinks decreased an astounding twenty three percent in that time period, while the costs of fresh fruits and vegetables rose thirty eight percent in price during that same time. We’ve made the highest calorie foods the most accessible, decreasing the opportunities we have to choose the healthier alternatives that help avoid the serious risks involved with a lifestyle full of high sugar/high calorie foods. Americans are in danger, and it is obvious the risks are much greater within low-income families.
 |
| Graph from Daniel Imhoff's Food Fight |
It is crucial we recognize the Farm Bill is a symptom of the lack of food culture at work in America.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)