| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| ivmeer |
Posted - Sep 28 2005 : 12:21:36 PM
I got pensive today while making chicken broth. Like the old saw about the young Jewish woman who threw away the end of the pot roast because her mother threw away the end of the pot roast, I'm the young Jewish woman whose mother used to cut the backbones off of the chicken thighs and throw them away. Unlike the old saw, I knew exactly why my mother threw away the boniest part of the chicken thigh, and I agreed with her that chicken thighs were best with backbones removed. So after throwing them away for a while, I decided it was better to freeze them, and save them to make chicken broth. After I'm done boiling the chicken backs (and necks and wings if I have any), I skin everything, remove what meat is left, and make chicken salad out of it. This requires picking little bits of meat off of chicken spines and necks.
Now, I have to tell you, I'm a city girl, as are my mother and my grandmothers. I post on a farmgirl website because I like to cook from scratch. However, I don't know that many women who would be able to pick over chicken bones and not get grossed out. I don't understand this at all.
This is not an indictment of vegetarianism, since these people often aren't vegetarians. They'll eat chicken if it comes in a form where the bones and skin are already removed, such as boneless skinless breasts, breaded cutlets, nuggets, etc. These same people (if they actually eat red meat, which some do not) wouldn't dream of mashing egg and breadcrumbs into ground beef to make burgers or meatloaf, but would eagerly eat a burger from a fast food establishment.
I read in the book Fast Food Nation that until McDonalds invented the McNugget, most of the chicken in this country was sold on the bone. Nowadays the vast majority of chicken in this country is sold in processed forms like the one mentioned above. Less than 100 years ago, it was common enough in the US for people, when they wanted a chicken, to go back to the hen house, find one, and hack its head off. Nobody I know would be comfortable with slaughtering a chicken themselves.
This is to say nothing of the people who never have to wash a fresh vegetable, etc., because they buy all their food already cooked.
Is there something wrong with a society that has such a disconnect from the source of its food? What kind of problems do you think this will cause in the future? Health problems? Social problems? Right now, I simply find this squeamishness annoying, but I have to wonder if it has deeper implications. |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Shirley |
Posted - Oct 06 2005 : 11:57:01 PM
ROFL
to funny, my sister in law has way more smarts than my son in law
shirley :)) |
| ivmeer |
Posted - Oct 06 2005 : 3:24:43 PM
Ooops. I saw SIL and was still thinking about the other woman's sister-in-law. |
| katie-ell |
Posted - Oct 06 2005 : 1:31:06 PM
Amanda, that was a SON-in-law! Let's not blame that bit of craziness on the female gender (we have enough of our own). |
| ivmeer |
Posted - Oct 06 2005 : 12:55:03 PM
Shirley, there's a good one. She won't eat organic eggs because of where they come from? Will she eat eggs at all? What about products cooked with eggs, like cake? Does she even know what goes into what she eats? (My guess is no) |
| Shirley |
Posted - Oct 06 2005 : 12:36:57 PM
Golly, I didnt know there were alll those picky people out there.
amazing!!
Althought my SIL wont eat our ORGANIC EGGS because of where they come out of on the chicken. MAN if he ever went to a chciken farm, he would have the surprize of his life. LOL
shirley |
| greyghost |
Posted - Oct 06 2005 : 08:37:59 AM
Wow Bobbi - what does your SIL eat???
She doesn't know what she is missing in fresh-grown veggies! Or PIE made from fresh grown veggies! MMMMmmmmmm!
I've only had rhubarb pie once - I would gladly have her slice!
I do know the type, to an extent. Most of my in-laws are great but they do spend so much money! They make 2x and 4x as much as we do, (they're my hubby's cousins) have big fancy houses, new cars every year (she gets a new minivan, he gets a new, bigger truck), buy their kids all kinds of stupid noisy toys (those kids are awful, but that's another story). They have to have the latest and greates of every new gadget out there. Their homes are full of junk! They are up to their eyeballs in debt, if one of them loses their job they are up a dirty brown creek.
And they think we are nuts to work so hard. We remodel our houses, we have been landlords, we are always either remodeling one of our properties or someone else's. I've had the same car for 10 years, we just bought a "new to us" 2002 car last year to replace DH's that was 14 years old, and we have this noisy, 1986 Ford F-150 to haul stuff in. All our vehicles are paid for, and we are about to pay off our house. No mortgage! (I am so excited). We garden, I bake cookies and breads that people just go gaga over... No we don't go on five cruises every year like they do - we have never been on a cruise! Our idea of a vacation is camping and hiking for a week with the dogs. lol. Can't beat $3 a night camping!
I would take our way of life over theirs any day. My life is full of simple pleasures - like plucking the day's fresh tomatoes off the vine and inhaling that tangy growing-tomato smell that stays on your hands for the rest of the morning. I wouldn't be me if I didn't have a little dirt under my fingernails! |
| ivmeer |
Posted - Oct 06 2005 : 07:01:44 AM
Bobbi, I know what you mean. My own sister refuses to shop at the fruit market. She thinks that both the one with the Russian and Orthodox Jewish people and the one with the Mexicans and Koreans are "gross" and instead buys all her produce at a supermarket. She can't cook at all, despite the fact that every other woman in our family can, and she calls me white trash because I ride the bus. |
| Whimsy_girl |
Posted - Oct 04 2005 : 2:53:06 PM
She sure thinks it is..but sadly, no it's not.. for if it was she would be part of the Hiltons family, not mine.
you can be oh so smart, or you can be oh so positive. I wasted a lot of time being smart I prefer being positive. |
| Fabulous Farm Femmes |
Posted - Oct 03 2005 : 11:53:39 PM
Hey, vent all you want there Girl of Whimsey. Makes the rest of us with nutty relatives feel better...just goes to show you ignorance knows no social or economic barriers..wait, her name isn't PARIS by any chance??? |
| Shirley |
Posted - Oct 03 2005 : 11:51:06 PM
ROFL Bobbie,
Maybe she just buys another purse when the poop plops in the purse.
shirley in oly |
| Whimsy_girl |
Posted - Oct 03 2005 : 10:31:36 PM
To be honest yes she is. We don't get along well at all. She thinks my family is gross because I have a compost pile and eat things that came out of dirt, and poor because we try to live within our means.. I think she's got mental problems because she watches MTV all day, they make the same income we do but they are up to their ears in debt, not even the kind of debt that you HAVE to have, it's all really weird luxury items. Her latest is this poor little fashion accessory dog with a rhinestone collar and a pink sweater that she keeps almost permanantly in a crate except for when she carries it around in her purse.
So tell me, what is more gross? Having a tiny depressed dog piddle in your pocket or growing your own food? I know what your answer would be, but she has us pegged as dirty hillbillies that eat roadkill and go for nightly swims in the compost heap.
Whoops didn't mean to turn this into a venting thing, but she really is an unpleasant addition to our family.
you can be oh so smart, or you can be oh so positive. I wasted a lot of time being smart I prefer being positive. |
| KJD |
Posted - Oct 03 2005 : 08:00:25 AM
FloralSaucer,
I went to the link for You are what you eat, but didn't see info on a TV broadcast. The info. on the book was interesting. |
| ivmeer |
Posted - Oct 03 2005 : 06:36:19 AM
I'm very confused. She wouldn't eat it because it came out of the dirt? Has she ever eaten carrots or onions? Where does she think the potatoes for her french fries come from? I mean, obviously McDonalds washes their food (or the factories that process the food do. By the time it arrives at your local McDonalds all they have to do is defrost it, reconstitute it, or fry it), but so do you.
Your sister in law is crazy. I shouldn't be so blunt but I will be. |
| Whimsy_girl |
Posted - Oct 02 2005 : 10:23:33 PM
My sister in law wouldn't eat a rhubard pie I made, wouldn't even try it because it came out of the dirt. She also told me, now that McDonalds has apple slices and salads I don't have to go anywhere else!
I was pretty grossed out at that idea, but it seems like a lot of people agree with her.
you can be oh so smart, or you can be oh so positive. I wasted a lot of time being smart I prefer being positive. |
| FloralSaucer |
Posted - Oct 02 2005 : 10:00:43 PM
I am not sure when it is screened in America. Here is the site for it:
http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/Y/yawye/
It should be on your TV soon according to this page:
http://www.simply-natural.biz/You-Are-What-You-Eat.php
|
| ByHzGrace |
Posted - Oct 02 2005 : 9:32:18 PM
Is it too easy business because you don't have big fines? We are in a business about certifying our integrity. If you know of farmers who cheat don't you have an obligation to out them or the certifier who allows their certification to pass or continue?
Our soils are tested for the pesticides and fertilizers.Last year we lost part of our grove because with the hurricanes we had flood waters bring in effluents and synethics over the outer acreage by the lagoon. We took out trees,got dredges scooped out canals and bobcatted the top 4' of soil out and brought in new soil. We are won't redo grove will let this back area to return to mangrove/scrub oak hammock.
The state also have the authority to test for diseases. If we or a neighbor gets canker (it is a wind/rain blown bacteria)all citrus trees within 1900'whether they have been infected or not will be destroyed, our property quarantined and no fruit, plants, or can move/be sold until we go two years disease free. |
| ThymeForEweFarm |
Posted - Oct 01 2005 : 1:59:55 PM
>>We had to have the paperwork and receipts to document and show our complete organic farm management system.The certifyer here goes into all storage areas opens all bins buckets and cans. This was started 3years before certification is even allowed.You have to provide a history of management practices used on your farm, plotted soil tests, crop plans/maps, field history sheets of our yields to show my organic plan was to be followed for 3years. Then before the 3rd year we had to again swear and get notarized affidavits we would conitnue to follow standards for the 12 month or 3rd year of the certification period.<<
They're doing everythinghere that they're doing on your farm - but it's not enough in my opinion. It's too easy for farmers to bring back the non-organic herbicides and pesticides when the certifier leaves. Too many of them do it. Do you have to have your soil and food tested for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides? We don't here. It's a shame. When the government took over a grass roots movement they ruined it. We need another alternative - until they take that over too.
Robin
www.thymeforewe.com |
| ByHzGrace |
Posted - Oct 01 2005 : 08:29:43 AM
Wait a minute.
The NOSB set the standards.To be legally organic we had to comply with the rules and regulations set by our FL state agency that has to get certified to answers for this board.
Robin
Have you reported on how the certifier does his job to the state?
Now I have no idea because I haven't really thought the Maine Dept ofAg wouldn't be like FL Dept of Ag when we are all ruled by a national org but maybe Maine is way different?
Our organic certification had a written really detailed app.And all day was wasted work wise with a certifier any time he came and he visited without appointments here. Now we only have 10 acres under groves.
We had to have the paperwork and receipts to document and show our complete organic farm management system.The certifyer here goes into all storage areas opens all bins buckets and cans. This was started 3years before certification is even allowed.You have to provide a history of management practices used on your farm, plotted soil tests, crop plans/maps, field history sheets of our yields to show my organic plan was to be followed for 3years. Then before the 3rd year we had to again swear and get notarized affidavits we would conitnue to follow standards for the 12 month or 3rd year of the certification period.
We use the FL Organic Growers agents for certification.
FOG is a not-for-profit grassroots membership. FOG is licensed from the FL Dept of Ag.& Consumer Serv. and they got to comply with the FL Organic Farming and Food Laws.
Then to get the fruit off of my farm without you buying and trucking it home as an enduser, I am required to have trip tickets for my fruit which includes my current organic certification by the USDA accredited certifyer; organic certificate #; my name as grove owner; my grove's location; citrus variety grown; and the estimate of my current season production in field boxes or it is a 10k fine.
I will agree with Robin to look out for organic imitators. Because of the recent surge for and popularity of organic stuff, there are companies trying to confuse my customers into thinking they are the same as me and my organics. I've seen them use labels like "pesticide screened" "eco-friendly" or "chem-free". They have no affilidation to the organic certification rules and regulations. If in doubt ask to see their certification from an accredited org. |
| KJD |
Posted - Sep 30 2005 : 6:23:31 PM
Oh??? Where and when is this show on?
I was at the grocery store today and said a prayer of thanks that I have the privilege to buy organic meat and chicken - we ain't vegetarians around here - as well as the produce, chicken stock and canned tomatoes I bought - I'm just grateful the Lord provides the means for my family to eat as well as possible. We aren't wealthy, but what we put into our bodies is a priority for us. All summer I'm able to grow tomatoes, basil, peppers, lettuces and other herbs, but those are mostly gone this time of year. |
| FloralSaucer |
Posted - Sep 30 2005 : 6:06:06 PM
"You Are What You Eat" is another interesting show to watch. |
| ThymeForEweFarm |
Posted - Sep 30 2005 : 04:18:54 AM
I don't want this to discourage people but I think everyone needs to be well informed about their food supply. There's a lot of false advertising behind the organic label. Did you know that there's no testing done on soil or foods grown that give factual evidence to the claim of organic? None. Nothing. The certifier here comes to the farm, looks at your records, look at your grounds, and leaves. That's all. The certifier my friends use didn't come to their farms until two weeks ago, which is the end of the growing season here. They've been allowed to sell organically labeled food all year without any kind of certification. They are organic. I know people who are certified and hide the synthetic fertilizer when the certifier comes.
By all means, buy organic but be fully informed. If you can find a local farmer, even if "local" means driving a while to get there, get to know the farmer and see how she's growing her food for yourself.
Robin
www.thymeforewe.com |
| Shirley |
Posted - Sep 30 2005 : 12:19:44 AM
I guess I will add my 2 cents worth.
Your talking about chickensand vegetables, meat. Well unless they are certified organic, they have antibiotics given to them , because if one animal gets sick then it could kill all the others, so it is a prevention thing.
They have hormones given to them to make them grow bigger faster, and produce more milk.
The vegetables have sprays, fruit is sprayed, some of the labels say they have spray on them now, sure you can wash it off, but do you really get it all off, I dont think so. the root vegetables have insecticides in the soil to prevent worm and bug damage.
Food has been genetically altered, this is really scary, Most all corn is genetically altered now.
We have for years ( 20 easy) read books, sent for info on food, We learned alot, there was probably more info out there then ,then now.
And the quality of food was also much better. Now its very poor.
We read all the labels, we look for certified organic, because if you dont ,there is alot of false advertising out there, Like natural or field raised, or others like that ,they dont mean a thing./ it has to say certified
I also am amazed at what people feed themselves and thier kids, in the baskets at the grocery stores.
We both worked and raised 3 kids, and still had time to make stuff from scratch.
I think theses days people just arent interested enough to care what they eat, and they dont think of the old saying
"YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT" because it is true, if you just think about it
getting down from my podium now :)
shirley in oly |
| FloralSaucer |
Posted - Sep 29 2005 : 10:46:28 PM
When Jamie Oliver's school kids ate less reheated foods, they had less alergies, well they mentioned asthma. We have found we have been very healthy since 2003 when we moved to a rented farmhouse and then here. In the farmhouse, eventually I was able to go to a large grocery, but I think we were cooking from scratch to save money. |
| Kit |
Posted - Sep 29 2005 : 9:03:55 PM
Ew, milk sat on the table too long? Bleck!! :P That'd totally gross me out. Which is weird 'cause I like cottage cheese ... anyway ... our entire community is a small gaggle of friends trying to live in a more sustainable manner. I've already moved to the house, the rest of the gaggle is coming in the spring when the in town house is sold. I say gaggle 'cause we're not that terribly well organized yet!! :D :P I could prolly 'splain this a bit better if I wasn't half asleep and half brain dead from work. |
| Kim |
Posted - Sep 29 2005 : 7:53:16 PM
Kit, I'm curious as to what you mean by "our entire community?
I know a gilr at work who will eat chicken ONLY if it is boneless. She's grossed out by the bones. And I thought I had a food issue at 9 when the milk sat on the table too long!
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
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