|
|
Post by mountainmark on Apr 15, 2013 10:26:12 GMT -7
So, for the past seven weeks I have been on a diet. When I describe the diets I go on, I sometimes get funny looks. ;D This one is called the "Localvore" diet. It consists of only eating foods that were grown/farmed/raised/hunted/gathered within a hundred miles of where I live. This time around DW complained that she misses our weekly date nights so an exception was made for once a week. I also have cheated a little when we go over to a friend's house or something like that. But for the most part, it's got to be local. I'm not sure how long i'll be on this one. I quite like it, and it has me thinking. The buy local movement has been largely spearheaded by liberals. I hate to admit it, but most of my customers have obama bumper stickers. But although they are miserably mistaken when it comes to politics, I think they are on to something. The food supply in our country is increasingly being seperated from the communities to mega farms in the midwest, west, or overseas. Due to the lack of tariffs, curruption in government and a number of other factors, the small family farm of the past is quickly becoming extinct. Fortunately in my area and a few spatterings around the country (mainly the liberal parts of the country), there is a movement toward supporting small sustainable farms. (I should be fair here and mention there are quite a few conservatives who shop in my store as well, I am making a generalization). I have been thoroughly enjoying shopping at all the local farms around my area, many of which are in walking distance. I get to know the farmers better and also get to help them stay in business, which in SHTF could mean the difference between life and death. Why am I saying this and why does it matter? Being a farmer who relys heavily on the buy local movement, I can't tell you how gratefull I am to the people who are willing to pay a little more for our products than they could getting them from wal-mart. And in TEOTWAWKI or even their personal SHTF situation, I will do everything within my power to make sure those customers do not walk away from my farm hungry. Obama hugger or not. Because they have supported us through the years we will help them in a time of need. Somehow I don't think wal-mart would do the same. I don't know. Another advantage of buying local foods is that you actually have a say in how your food is raised, grown, slaughtered etc. I can tell you that MOST of what we do as a farm is consumer driven. Our market is to people who buy local and they tell us what they want. Therefore our humanely raised veal are not tethered, our cows have no growth hormones, our herd is grass fed, our chickens are free range... and the list goes on. Most of these practices came about because of conversations with our customers. Yes, you are likely to have to spend more for locally raised/grown food from a small scale producer, but I consider this extra money as part of my preps. Not only might I need that farmer someday, it might just save me a hefty hospital bill down the road. You never know. I'll step down off the soap box now.....  |
|
|
|
Post by thywar on Apr 15, 2013 10:49:51 GMT -7
I'll borrow your soap box. I commend you and your local farming community for staying in business and not giving in to the craziness of large corporations. I agree that not only is the food healthier but your thoughts about being able to rely on them possibly in a SHTF situation makes the deal even sweeter. Good for you.. (now if I could just get you to sell spoiled food to those Obama huggers..  ) |
|
|
|
Post by mountainmark on Apr 15, 2013 11:08:43 GMT -7
Lol! thanks Thywar! Can't bite the hand that "feeds" me, but I still have to bite some giant holes in my tongue from time ti time!!  |
|
|
|
Post by angelhelp on Apr 15, 2013 13:54:14 GMT -7
After visiting you during the Christmas break, and eating/drinking REAL food for a couple of days, I should report/brag that my cholesterol, triglyceride, and blood pressure numbers came down. I had done NOTHING else to lower those numbers except to take the 2 blood pressure meds as prescribed.
Just for the record, Ceorlmann found raw milk available locally; it took some doing to find it, but he did. It was $10/gallon. Goat milk was the same price.
|
|
|
|
Post by mountainmark on Apr 15, 2013 14:42:15 GMT -7
After visiting you during the Christmas break, and eating/drinking REAL food for a couple of days, I should report/brag that my cholesterol, triglyceride, and blood pressure numbers came down. I had done NOTHING else to lower those numbers except to take the 2 blood pressure meds as prescribed. Just for the record, Ceorlmann found raw milk available locally; it took some doing to find it, but he did. It was $10/gallon. Goat milk was the same price. That's great to hear AH!! Glad C-mann could find some real milk down there as well. Don't feel too bad about the price. I just met a new customer who moved up here from FL. He said they had been paying $19/Gallon down there! When I told him we were only $5.50, him and his wife just looked at each other and their jaws dropped. ;D I guess we should up our price  |
|
|
|
Post by angelhelp on Apr 15, 2013 14:45:50 GMT -7
We plan on consuming more of it Memorial Day weekend when we come back to NH. That's still on, right? I haven't ordered tickets yet, but I'm looking forward to more REAL food.
|
|
|
|
Post by mountainmark on Apr 15, 2013 14:48:15 GMT -7
We plan on consuming more of it Memorial Day weekend when we come back to NH. That's still on, right? I haven't ordered tickets yet, but I'm looking forward to more REAL food. Yup, still on. I'll be cooking something nice up Can't wait to see ya'll  |
|
|
|
Post by angelhelp on Apr 15, 2013 14:56:23 GMT -7
Oh boy oh boy oh boy! ;D
|
|
|
|
Post by thywar on Apr 15, 2013 16:16:48 GMT -7
$5.50 a gallon? $19 a gallon for whole raw milk?.... Holy Cow.. When I was a teenager I got to drive the car out into the country to a dairy farm and I bought 4 gallons for $2... yep.. I'm THAT old.. My uncle was the last self bottling dairy farmer in Arkansas. The state was very happy when he retired. |
|
|
|
Post by angelhelp on Apr 15, 2013 16:57:05 GMT -7
Turns out I was mistaken about the goat milk, but until Ceorlmann gets home from German class, I can't ask about the price.
|
|
|
|
Post by solargeek1 on Apr 15, 2013 17:08:32 GMT -7
The book (and apparently website), animalvegetablemiracle.com/ by Barbara Kingsolver is a year in the life of a normal family eating local even through winter. HOWEVER, in dear old WI, with snow on the ground still and more coming, and ground frozen solid till last week (now mud) you could not do this without total preps ahead of time. You would need lots of $$$$$$ to buy anything local; and there are no farmer's markets after Oct. 1. Local stores stock fish FROM CHINA (which I won't touch), and very expensive meat. So unless a family had its own huge pantry and freezer, you would only eat meat in WI. |
|
|
|
Post by mountainmark on Apr 15, 2013 19:21:35 GMT -7
The book (and apparently website), animalvegetablemiracle.com/ by Barbara Kingsolver is a year in the life of a normal family eating local even through winter. HOWEVER, in dear old WI, with snow on the ground still and more coming, and ground frozen solid till last week (now mud) you could not do this without total preps ahead of time. You would need lots of $$$$$$ to buy anything local; and there are no farmer's markets after Oct. 1. Local stores stock fish FROM CHINA (which I won't touch), and very expensive meat. So unless a family had its own huge pantry and freezer, you would only eat meat in WI. Yes, through the month of march was rough here. A lot of meat. Plenty of potatoes, carrots, parsnips, onions, garlic and winter squash. Severely lacking in leafy greens. Have to make pine needle tea to ward off the scurvy ;D But there starting to show up now. Just found some local spinach Luckily there is a local farmer who grows tomatoes in his green house all winter so I have those. Also a local guy has an oil press and makes his own sunflower oil. He has been a lifesaver!! Other than that I have been making my own veal lard which isn't too bad. This diet isn't too bad for me b/c my farm provides beef, veal, eggs, milk, and cheese. Our farm store carries local bacon, sausage, honey, maple syrup, chicken, frozen yogurt and other things. I have been making my own yogurt, butter and sour cream too. It really is a fun exercise in what might happen post SHTF. The only difference is things would be much different w/o electricity........hmmm .... But I would suggest this to anyone. Kinda like MissJ's post a while back about living off your preps. (whatever happened to her anyway, anyone heard??) Only on a little larger scale. |
|
|
|
Post by mountainmark on Apr 15, 2013 19:26:43 GMT -7
$5.50 a gallon? $19 a gallon for whole raw milk?.... Holy Cow.. When I was a teenager I got to drive the car out into the country to a dairy farm and I bought 4 gallons for $2... yep.. I'm THAT old.. My uncle was the last self bottling dairy farmer in Arkansas. The state was very happy when he retired. Lol, the state was non-too-happy when we started, that's for sure.... But they put up with us ;D |
|
|
|
Post by Ceorlmann on Apr 15, 2013 20:06:58 GMT -7
I must concur with the benefits of buying and consuming locally-grown foods. I was first introduced to that when I ate at the farm I stayed at in Switzerland, and I have been hooked on the idea since.
Thankfully there is at least one local place out here where one can get local stuff (Blue Jay Orchards) in addition to the occasional farmer's market.
On a side note: I discovered the raw milk solely by chance when I was perusing through the local natural foods store.
|
|
|
|
Post by somuchtodo on Apr 15, 2013 20:12:02 GMT -7
So, for the past seven weeks I have been on a diet. When I describe the diets I go on, I sometimes get funny looks. ;D This one is called the "Localvore" diet. It consists of only eating foods that were grown/farmed/raised/hunted/gathered within a hundred miles of where I live. This time around DW complained that she misses our weekly date nights so an exception was made for once a week. I also have cheated a little when we go over to a friend's house or something like that. But for the most part, it's got to be local. I'm not sure how long i'll be on this one. I quite like it, and it has me thinking. The buy local movement has been largely spearheaded by liberals. I hate to admit it, but most of my customers have obama bumper stickers. But although they are miserably mistaken when it comes to politics, I think they are on to something. The food supply in our country is increasingly being seperated from the communities to mega farms in the midwest, west, or overseas. Due to the lack of tariffs, curruption in government and a number of other factors, the small family farm of the past is quickly becoming extinct. Fortunately in my area and a few spatterings around the country (mainly the liberal parts of the country), there is a movement toward supporting small sustainable farms. (I should be fair here and mention there are quite a few conservatives who shop in my store as well, I am making a generalization). I have been thoroughly enjoying shopping at all the local farms around my area, many of which are in walking distance. I get to know the farmers better and also get to help them stay in business, which in SHTF could mean the difference between life and death. Why am I saying this and why does it matter? Being a farmer who relys heavily on the buy local movement, I can't tell you how gratefull I am to the people who are willing to pay a little more for our products than they could getting them from wal-mart. And in TEOTWAWKI or even their personal SHTF situation, I will do everything within my power to make sure those customers do not walk away from my farm hungry. Obama hugger or not. Because they have supported us through the years we will help them in a time of need. Somehow I don't think wal-mart would do the same. I don't know. Another advantage of buying local foods is that you actually have a say in how your food is raised, grown, slaughtered etc. I can tell you that MOST of what we do as a farm is consumer driven. Our market is to people who buy local and they tell us what they want. Therefore our humanely raised veal are not tethered, our cows have no growth hormones, our herd is grass fed, our chickens are free range... and the list goes on. Most of these practices came about because of conversations with our customers. Yes, you are likely to have to spend more for locally raised/grown food from a small scale producer, but I consider this extra money as part of my preps. Not only might I need that farmer someday, it might just save me a hefty hospital bill down the road. You never know. I'll step down off the soap box now..... It would be neat if you could convert some of your customers into a prepay type situation. Sort of like the seed bank programs that people pay into. It would possibly give you some additional extra cash now to purchase land, materials and equipment and put you in a better position to help them when the time comes. Just some food for thought (no pun intended). |
|
) 
