Comments bahairus has made

  • Yay for CSAs!

    Thanks, Umbra, for covering this! My husband and I joined a CSA for the first time this year and we love it. Another great reason for joining one is if you want to experiment with veggies that you wouldn't normally purchase. (Like, Sunchokes. Those were new to me this year. Great in salads!) You generally have an idea of what is coming, but there are always surprises. It's fun!On Umbra on community-supported agriculture posted 2 years, 3 months ago 9 Responses

  • Hi, Grevangelical

    Great comment! I am in Minneapolis and pull from a CSA farm that uses these techniques. I also realize how blessed we are up here. I just moved from Ohio. When I was there, I had more trouble finding good meat-supplying farms. In that case, I ate a much smaller percentage of meat.

    The 20 to 1 ratio is also great to point out. We eat way too much meat in this country. I usually keep my total meat consumption to no more than two or three meals a week (including fish) and eating only the recommended serving size, which is tiny compared to what you get in a restaurant. (I.E. 4 oz of steak compared to 16 oz of steak.) If this is grass-fed beef, all the better. It is very rich in flavor (sorry, vegans) and high in bio-available omega 3s. On Umbra on sustainable meat posted 2 years, 3 months ago 32 Responses

  • Kudos to latenec

    Thank you, latenec, for pointing out how things work at Polyface.

    "The Omnivore's Dilemna" is a great book; one of the chapters lays out the Polyface model in detail. The veggies from these farms benefit from the existence of the animals and then grow without chemical help. Nikki, I did follow your links to Vegan-farming. Very interesting. I just wonder how many different ingredients are requires for good fertilizer? Aside from the compost, how far do the ingredients have to travel? I am in the upper-midwest.. limes are not a local crop.

    If anyone has any interest in eating meat, I would guide you to buy only from small, local/regional farms that truly pasture their animals. (Often, you can visit these places and see how the animals are raised.) Assuming that the cows are truly pastured and the chickens are out of the pen, you are avoiding a lot of the environmental pitfalls mentioned above. BTW: Veggies should be purchased in the same way: local, small-farm-grown and organic. Just because it isn't a animal product does not mean it is sustainable.On Umbra on sustainable meat posted 2 years, 3 months ago 32 Responses