We in the United States are eating way more meat than we did in the 1950s. We eat meat because our ancestors ate it and liked it and thrived, and in the US meat has become more affordable due to industrial agriculture. But meat and poultry production today is not a matter of keeping us healthy, it’s a matter of corporate profit—both the growing and processing of the cows, pigs, and chickens– and the restaurants that sell the tasty burgers, juicy steaks, and crispy chicken.

Yet eating animal products today is not quite as popular as it was just a few years ago. The linking of saturated fat from animal products to high blood pressure and heart disease is having an effect. Stories about industrial food production and its accompanying animal abuse turn stomachs. There are frequent recalls of ground beef due to bacterial contamination. There’s pink slime.

For some people the solution is to go vegetarian or to grow their own food. For others it’s to buy local animal products from farmers who treat their animals well. The local food movement is growing rapidly, meat and poultry consumption is dropping, and the industrial food producers are fighting back.

For example, there’s the book “Just Food: How Locavores are Endangering the Future of Food and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly” by Texas author James McWilliams followed by his recent op-ed piece in the New York Times entitled “The Myth of Sustainable Meat.” The author claims that the small family farm with its crop rotation and manure-fertilized gardens is unsustainable. Joel Salatin, whose Polyface Farm demonstrates these practices, comes under attack.

Salatin is famous for organizing farming so nutrients are cycled and cows and chickens are living happy outdoor lives. Salatin responds to the criticism with gusto. You can read his comments here.

Our friend and local farmer Darel Anderson sent us this post, which explains why we all should buy local food or grow our own.

Having attended the Pennington County Master Gardeners Spring Fever 2012 annual event I had the privilege of hearing horticulturalist Dr. Jeff Gillman of the University of Minnesota speak on gardening topics. One can be cautiously impressed with his common sense ideas and a mostly organic approach. He stated however, that a gardener can do less environmental damage by Roundup applied according to instructions, for example, than by home remedies applied haphazardly. Also, that no chemicals, organic or synthetic, are all good or all bad, that it is up to us to use them properly. While these statements have some merit, I personally like the all-natural approach. Sure, it may take a lot more patience, specialized knowledge, planning, and labor, but you can eat what you grow without wondering if it’s going to do you mischief.

I was gladdened to hear a modern-day professional horticulturist espouse the attributes and wisdom of Sir Albert Howard, the soil building by natural means advocate, J.I. Rodale, the organics advocate, and Rachel Carson who of course led us to question the use of synthetic chemicals for insect and weed control. If these people and their methods aren’t already familiar to you, introduce yourself to their knowledge, and you will profit immensely.

When I heard that Dr. Gillman would speak at this year’s lecture, I re-read his book “How the Government Got in Your Backyard: Superweeds, Frankenfoods, Lawn Wars, and the (Nonpartisan) Truth about Environmental Policies” co-authored with Eric Heberlig. Like his lecture his book, though mostly of an organic mindset, seems to say that synthetic chemicals are necessary to feed the world community. Gillman states that “Without these pesticide applications, we would be left with only a fraction of the food that we currently grow.”  Maybe so, but isn’t it worth doing a little of your own gardening to insure your health and that of the environment? If we all grew our own, we might not have miles of grocery store shelves full of “cheap” corn and soybean by-products, the majority of which are downright dangerous to our health, considering their high fructose corn syrup, sodium and chemical content. With proper growing methods and the human power to grow food the right way no one will go hungry.

One of the most important topics this book points out is that even though the USDA produces the guidelines a grower must follow to achieve USDA certification, actual certification is provided by independent certifiers. That means that some of these independent agents may have stricter or more lenient standards than you as a consumer are expecting. In my opinion, this procedure negates the real legitimacy of the organic label. Therefore, know how your food is being grown and where it comes from and become your own independent certifier.

When it comes right down to it, good food takes a lot of effort and time-honored knowledge. ”Our food system depends on consumer ignorance,” as Michael Pollan says. “You can buy honestly priced food (home/locally grown) or irresponsibly priced food, (industrial/manufactured).” Know where your food comes from, how it is grown, and the real cost/benefit to your health, the economy and the environment.

Rhonda Ramsdell of Piedmont Spice Company now sells her well-known baked goods year round at the Heritage Nursery Farmers Market, 3500 West Chicago in northwest Rapid City. Here’s what she tells us:

“I am taking freshly baked bread to market on Saturdays now, and usually beer bread mix, pop bread mix, and some of our spice mixes, along with cookies or other goodies. I plan to expand with more soups or sandwiches in the future.

The new Heritage market is promising for those of us who produce and sell year-round! It’s nice to have a consistent location where our customers can count on us, and to work with other local food producers to build our businesses!”

Several Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs have a limited number of available subscriptions for the 2012 growing season. For those of you not familiar with a CSA, it basically requires you to pay in advance or “subscribe” to a local grower for a season. In return, you receive a weekly ‘share’ of fresh, locally grown produce. Your share varies each week depending on a variety of factors including what is coming into season, recent weather events, etc. A CSA assures you of receiving the freshest, tastiest, and most nutritious produce available. The CSA programs listed below currently have shares available. If you are aware of any others, please let us know!

• Battle Creek Gardens will be offering 50 CSA subscriptions this year. This CSA program will most likely fill up so be sure to reserve your share early. For more details on the Battle Creek Gardens CSA program, click here.
• Also delivering weekly to the Rapid City area is Harmony Enterprises of Chadron, NE. There will be at least two (and possibly three) separate CSA seasons. Add-ons to your share might include fresh eggs, poultry and honey. For more details on the Harmony Enterprises CSA program, click on the “Recent Newsletter” tab at the bottom of the website page. (Note: Updated information will be available in March 2012.)
• Cycle Farm in the Spearfish valley will have an informational meeting on their new CSA program. It is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 19th. For more details, click here.
• Another new CSA to be offered in 2012 is located in the Sturgis area. Bear Butte Gardens will be offering only 25 subscriptions so sign up soon. For more details on the Bear Butte Gardens CSA program, click here.
• In the northern Black Hills, Nisland Farm & Garden operated by Harold Gray is accepting subscriptions for his CSA program, including home delivery. For more information, call Harold at (605)499-8840 or send e-mail to haroldgray@rocketmail.com.

With the weather so warm and dry I wondered how the winter wheat crop now in the ground might be doing here in West River. So I emailed Darel Anderson, who farms with his dad near Wall and has dealt with weather issues over the years. Here’s what he said:

It looks healthy enough now. I dug down and the roots and stems appear very healthy. It is green on top but the deer have eaten it down so that if we get a lot of wind it may get covered in dirt. Snow cover would be good but not ice or water. It can survive some ice cover but if it stands in water too long it’s dead. Extreme cold is always a concern but it takes a lot to do damage. Winter wheat now days is very resilient. There have only been a couple of years that dad, since the 1950′s, has lost a crop due to winter kill.