May 18, 2008
The Feed
Yes, It's a Cooperative. But for Whom?
By ANDREW MARTIN
THE traditional idea of agricultural cooperatives is that farmers have more muscle to negotiate prices when they band together.
At the nation's largest dairy cooperative, the Dairy Farmers of America, it hasn't always worked that way. The group's executives have often seemed more concerned about pleasing dairy executives than their members, this during a time of brutal consolidation in the industry.
The cooperative, created in 1998 from the merger of four others, generates $11 billion in sales. Because it is so big, some dairy farmers have felt compelled to join, only to find that they were paid less than before for their raw milk.
D.F.A. executives didn't suffer such hardships, traveling the country in a corporate jet and making deals that appeared to benefit a few in the industry; some members complained that they were largely left in the dark about how the money from the deals was spent.
Wait, aren't the farmers supposed to own the cooperative?
Now, we come to hear that the Dairy Farmers' former chief executive, a larger-than-life figure named Gary E. Hanman, transferred $1 million in 2001 to the board chairman at the time, Herman Brubaker, for reasons that remain a mystery.
The payment was disclosed by the current president and chief executive, Richard P. Smith, during a recent press conference with dairy trade publications. Mr. Smith described the payment as "an improper transaction" that had been concealed.
The cooperative has since recovered the money with interest, said Mr. Smith, who in 2006 replaced Mr. Hanman, who retired. Mr. Smith said he believed that both Mr. Brubaker and Mr. Hanman had chipped in to cover the payment. "It was a breach of trust," Mr. Smith said in an interview. "I do believe it was an aberration."
Asked what the payment was for, Mr. Smith said: "We don't know. I'd rather not speculate. Certainly there is no valid reason."
Neither Mr. Hanman nor Mr. Brubaker, who retired in 2003, were available for comment.
This might seem like a dispute that would be confined to states like California and Wisconsin, where there are plenty of dairy farms. But it has implications well beyond dairy states.
Mr. Hanman was among the most powerful people in the dairy industry at a time of monumental change.
In the last decade, the number of dairy farmers has declined sharply — from about 99,000 in 1997 to about 59,000 last year, according to the Agriculture Department. At the same time, there has been a major shift in where milk is produced.
Small dairy farmers east of the Mississippi River and in the Upper Midwest are increasingly being replaced by huge dairy farms in the West, in places like New Mexico and western Texas. Few dairy farms are even left in the Southeast.
These days, more milk is trucked halfway across the country because the local dairy farmer and milk bottler are out of business. All of this change was done in the name of efficiency — and may have made sense when gasoline was $2.50 a gallon. But if you have bought milk any time in the last year, you know that consumers aren't benefiting from the new dairy landscape.
Mr. Hanman was in an ideal position to help dairy farmers deal with the shifting winds. But if anything, he seemed to have made the situation worse.
A large man with thinning red hair who favored bright red suspenders, Mr. Hanman aggressively expanded his cooperative and his influence by outmaneuvering competitors, rewarding his allies and giving campaign contributions to politicians who were in a position to help him.
To expand the cooperative, Mr. Hanman used a strategy that gave dairy farmers little choice but to join and, in the process, helped push competing cooperatives out of business. (In some instances, they merged with the Dairy Farmers of America.)
The D.F.A. would sign exclusive supply agreements with milk bottlers or buy the bottling plants outright, often in areas where it had few if any members.
The dairy farmers who supplied the plant could then either join the cooperative or find somewhere else to sell milk. In a time of rapid consolidation, there often weren't any other plants within a reasonable distance.
In some parts of the country, including the Northeast and areas of the South, three out of four dairy farmers now sell their milk through the Dairy Farmers of America or one of its affiliates. Some farmers have complained that the money they were paid for their milk declined when they started selling it through the D.F.A. or its subsidiaries.
Questions about where farmers' money was going intensified when court documents filed by the Justice Department a few years ago revealed that some of the Dairy Farmers' business partners were making extraordinary profits.
For instance, Robert Allen, a dairy executive, participated in a joint venture in the Northeast and made $21.7 million profit on a $1 million investment. Another dairy executive, Allen Meyer, had a joint venture with the D.F.A. in Kentucky and Tennessee: he turned an investment of several hundred thousand dollars into a gain of $70 million.
Neither Mr. Allen nor Mr. Meyer could be located for comment.
D.F.A. officials say the cooperative made the same return on those investments as Mr. Allen and Mr. Meyer.
But Peter Hardin, editor and publisher of The Milkweed, a newsletter that has long been critical of Mr. Hanman, remains skeptical. "Outside business partners seemed to walk away with sweet deals, and the farmers were left with the crumbs," he said. "The money went anywhere but to the farmer."
MR. SMITH said that "some combination of lack of transparency and arrogance" existed in the old days at the D.F.A., and he has vowed to change the culture. For one thing, he got rid of the corporate jet.
He has also promised a thorough and transparent investigation of the cooperative's finances to ensure that there weren't any other unexplained payments. The farmers who lost their dairies during the last decade deserve at least that much.
Better yet, perhaps the Justice Department, which began an investigation of the Dairy Farmers of America about four years ago, will finally let them know if it found anything more than an aberration.
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
No day is the same...
My mother-in law often says that she likes coming to our farm because "no day is ever the same...there are always so many things going on...I'm never bored..." Some days I long for that boring suburban existance watching t.v. or shopping. I get over it quick though, but I can never actually plan things.
I should have been in VT looking at two M. Devons. Water problems and lack of electricity on Friday ended those plans.
Plan B.
Yesterday, Dave went to help Lawrence move two hay elevators. He was gone until 3:30pm. Not their fault, but we were suppose to get a screen door at the hardware store and deal with the lack of water on the farm. Lawrence got hurt, so that humbled me and I could not be angry at Dave anymore.
We did have to replace the well pump. Learned about well pumps and also learned that our well is only about 70'. Problem was that it cost us another pump and we had to call Dick out again. He is starting to make weekly calls to the farm. Kinda expensive visitor. He will be here Wednesday to install aging cooling system. $$$
Calves are eating well. Twins on Thursday. They look nothing alike. We were able to move the close up heifers. It was nice to see the bags filling up. Lotsa lotsa cheese in a couple weeks!!!
Thinking about Farmers markets again. A wee conserned about having to mind husband and being allowed the time to market. Hopefully the farmstore can replace one of them and I will only have to do 2 instead of 3.
Have to run out and help with calf chores.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Peppermint Patti goes to Poplar Hedge
Dave Nackley bought the sheep. Becky, his wife, somehow got me to agree to trade one of the lambs for a goat. An Alpine. My little feral goats took offence to this trade. Sheep were tollerable enough, but a dairy goat 4 X their size! Horrors!
Patti goat was sweet, so I rang Tim who loves Alpines. Tim is getting a goat dairy together in West Winfield, NY. He will be milking and making cheese this summer. We have been helping him and he has loaned me the recording thermometer and manual read ones to make pasteurized products.
In the pictures above, Dave is one the right considering taking the money. Tim is on the left looking nervous having a photo taken of him.
Patti is in the other photo in the back of the Subaru.
Archie
He'll have a proper name, but his barn name is "Archie". Right now, Moose is out to pasture and we kept him in the calving pen while we move things around. We will probably graft another calf on Moose as well and it is easier to keep the calves in the pen for a couple of weeks before they go to pasture. Moose grazes with the dairy herd and comes in the feed her baby two times a day.
Why not milk Moose? We tried. We eventually came to an understanding. She raised a beautiful veal calf last year as well as Mini Moose (
Ultra Miss). We just handle her so much. She does like her curry in the winter when the hair is shedding, but just don't go near the udder. We can deal wtih that.
Ultra Miss). We just handle her so much. She does like her curry in the winter when the hair is shedding, but just don't go near the udder. We can deal wtih that.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
It's a Boy!
Moose had a boy. Figures, everyone else has heifers out of this bull.... Me, a bull. Cute. Dave nick named him "Archie".
Dave was body slammed by Moose as he carried her calf to the pen. She charged me when I checked on her out in the pasture. Moose is actually Plimoth Plantation Panzy. She was kicked out of Plimoth Plantation because she broke John Truelson's ankle. We have an understanding of sorts. She is not a beginner cow!
She is the only cow to give me heifers. The first one "Damson" is at Plimoth Plantation. The second is "Ultra Miss". As her name suggests, she was missed in an ultra sound and Moose was almost shipped. Good thing she started bagging up!
I will take a photo of her and her calf tomorrow. One more Kerry cow in the world! Woohoo... Too bad it wasn't a heifer. Yet, it is the only bull with Irish semen in the U.S..
Waxing cheeses
It is funny how I tend to talk to some people on the phone while I am waxing cheeses. Was working on that for the better part of the morning today. Clear wax. A great way to eliminate the smell of garlic in some of these experimental "flavored" cheeses.
I am a great fan of simple, unadulterated cheese. I seem to feel this pressure to "flavor" my cheeses. Not so sure how this experiment will go. Most seem to come up garlic. Sundried tomato and garlic, garlic and garlic and herbs... Garlic and cheese go well together. I anhaving a time of it deciding how much garlic however...
We use a double aluminum pan method. Take two pans suitable for Thanksgiving turkey. Melt wax in the upper pan. Use the lower pan as a sort of protective layer. Some pans are deeper than others.
Use care in waxing. You need to get all of the cheese covered. No pin holes. Each type and color has a temp it likes to be at. Again NO PIN HOLES. This is trickier with beeswax.
I have dropped a wheel in the wax. EVERYTHING gets covered with wax. Be careful.
Never walk away from wax. It can combust. Use the lowest setting you can and use those thermometers.
Monday, May 12, 2008
The Farm Store
This is the farm store building. Nothing fancy, just practical. In the back half, I will be aging my cheeses.
I still have to paint it and put up the trim, but I plan to do most of that out of cash flow. I also want to put pea stone in the drive way in front of the building and landscape it a bit.
We had to take down an ugly 3-Bay garage that wa shalf-falling in to do this building. It is 18' x 18'.
I have cheeses in the florist cooler that have to be moved to the back. I also have to get the sign. I think that comes this week. Once that comes... Open!!!!
Our House and Pole Barn
This is our humble house. It is a typical farmhouse in the area. Built in the mid 1800's (~1847-1852). We have 3-bedrooms upstairs with a generous landing area. It has aluminum siding and a roof that the Stone's put on in 2000.
This is our "pole sheed". Otherwise known as equipment/hay storageand sheep winter quarters. The chicken shed is to the left of the building. You can also see our "Kitchen Art" near the house. I'll talk more about that later. There is a hop plant growing at the base.
This farm was a hop farm in its earliest days. There were also apple trees. I saw them in the 1938 air photos at the District office.
This is our "pole sheed". Otherwise known as equipment/hay storageand sheep winter quarters. The chicken shed is to the left of the building. You can also see our "Kitchen Art" near the house. I'll talk more about that later. There is a hop plant growing at the base.
This farm was a hop farm in its earliest days. There were also apple trees. I saw them in the 1938 air photos at the District office.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
More cows
A first calf heifer and a mature cow. Both Ayrshires. Grazing the field behind the barn. We use to dock tails to keep the cows cleaner, but do not now. Organic standards and a change in attitude.
Snow White
Starbuck II had a white calf with red ears. Kinda like the ancient Celtic cows that they use to sacrifice to the Gods. This is our first of two almost white Ayrshire calves out of this Nicholas bull.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Sheep and Technology
Ok. Sheep are probably the only animal on a farm that is in total equilibrium with the world. They offer me a sort of Zen. I love to watch them from the kitchen window going through their grazing routine. I did something that I was not happy about, but had to be done... For the first time since 1997, I do not own sheep. I sold the ewes and lambs to Dave Nackley. He is a great person to own sheep and I am glad he owns them, but it was a hard thing to do.
The guilt comes in because I bought a computer (you know to replace the one that took the radish and I had to go to the library). I was unable to efficiently do my work without a computer.
Dave and Claire were in shock because I took them completely out of their element and went to the ultimate media place... the mall media box store... I have not seen Claire so silent for so many hours. Dave was sweating and looked like the deer in headlights while being bombarded with t.v. screens, accessories, cell phones, computers, mini DVD players, etc...
Generally, I do go to the local guy and buy a local computer. I had a slim financial thing going on and had to break down and succumb to the box store thing. I DID go to the local Radio Shack/Hardware/Household place to get the digital camera and cords however. I like them there and it made the guilt of selling sheep and turning them into media shock feel a little better (?)
I did get a goat out of the whole deal. An alpine named Peppermint Patti. Yes, Patti with an "i". My friend Tim loves Alpines and Phragmites (SCI goat) is mortified that I defiled the hollowed grounds of her pasture with a non feral goat species. I offered her to Tim at cost. I think the very non-combative Alpine and Phrag will be happy about this.
Back to media. Guess what?! I can liberally add photos and video to this blog now!
The guilt comes in because I bought a computer (you know to replace the one that took the radish and I had to go to the library). I was unable to efficiently do my work without a computer.
Dave and Claire were in shock because I took them completely out of their element and went to the ultimate media place... the mall media box store... I have not seen Claire so silent for so many hours. Dave was sweating and looked like the deer in headlights while being bombarded with t.v. screens, accessories, cell phones, computers, mini DVD players, etc...
Generally, I do go to the local guy and buy a local computer. I had a slim financial thing going on and had to break down and succumb to the box store thing. I DID go to the local Radio Shack/Hardware/Household place to get the digital camera and cords however. I like them there and it made the guilt of selling sheep and turning them into media shock feel a little better (?)
I did get a goat out of the whole deal. An alpine named Peppermint Patti. Yes, Patti with an "i". My friend Tim loves Alpines and Phragmites (SCI goat) is mortified that I defiled the hollowed grounds of her pasture with a non feral goat species. I offered her to Tim at cost. I think the very non-combative Alpine and Phrag will be happy about this.
Back to media. Guess what?! I can liberally add photos and video to this blog now!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Spring Rains
I love the green after a spring rain. The clean smell. The hope that the leaves finally come and my allergies going with them... A funny thing age. I use to hold it over my sister that I was not allergic to everything and didn't have asthma like she did... Well, it comes to you in time...
Dr. Brown died. He was a Food Science Proff at Cornell. He dealt with the cheeseheads like me. I was disappointed when he wasn't at the PPS meeting last Wednesday. I liked the conversations with him. He challenged me and we always had a conversation that made me think about where I was going with various cheese projects. I didn't always agree with him, but what is a friendship if you always agree on things? I made a brief appearance at the funeral. I missed the calling hours and didn't know him that well, so didn't feel right in staying and all. I liked him and I have this thing about funerals and people I like and respect. You will be missed Dave Brown! Darn it, you will not judge my cheeses at the NYS Fair!
I am hopeful and frustrated. The lean months are better this year, but they still bring stress. The lack of computer has made this especially difficult. It looks like it is not as easy to reclaim the computer as I thought. Library visits... This will be remedied with a new computer and eventual fix of the old.
Farm stand will be open in a couple of weeks!
Lambs are getting bigger. Moose is second in line for a calf. Grass is growing. I start cheesing again pretty soon.
I will be looking into the idea of the book on starting a dairy processing business.
Dr. Brown died. He was a Food Science Proff at Cornell. He dealt with the cheeseheads like me. I was disappointed when he wasn't at the PPS meeting last Wednesday. I liked the conversations with him. He challenged me and we always had a conversation that made me think about where I was going with various cheese projects. I didn't always agree with him, but what is a friendship if you always agree on things? I made a brief appearance at the funeral. I missed the calling hours and didn't know him that well, so didn't feel right in staying and all. I liked him and I have this thing about funerals and people I like and respect. You will be missed Dave Brown! Darn it, you will not judge my cheeses at the NYS Fair!
I am hopeful and frustrated. The lean months are better this year, but they still bring stress. The lack of computer has made this especially difficult. It looks like it is not as easy to reclaim the computer as I thought. Library visits... This will be remedied with a new computer and eventual fix of the old.
Farm stand will be open in a couple of weeks!
Lambs are getting bigger. Moose is second in line for a calf. Grass is growing. I start cheesing again pretty soon.
I will be looking into the idea of the book on starting a dairy processing business.
Friday, April 04, 2008
April showers bring May flowers
With homeschooling, we have this opportunity to teach Claire these wonderful poems and sayings that go with life. Some of them we learned in school, others from parents or books. Claire likes to improvise when she cannot remember some of them. This is a favorite one today as there are no sun rays beaming down to earth and after lessons, she was relegated to runnign errands for us and our neighbor (with Dave). Me, I have to go to library to use computer.
Email is not working great on this computer, so I will try another one. Maybe. I may just go home and forget about trying to stay in contact with the world outside of Madison, NY.
Dave asked to have our farm de-listed with our agent. I am not sure how he worded it, but he is eternally going to try to make things "smooth" for the relationship with him and whomever he is talking to ont he phone. He can be cuttingly to the point with me, but he is a huge softy with others. Tom may try to sell his farm as well. Can we put them together for a price that will make all people happy? He is in pain and I hope he stops this whole idea. Milking cows was not suppose to be penence for sins.
In moments of stress, I accidently double paid my cheese loan payment last month! Scrambling to make up for that. Never pay bills while stressed. Never do anything financial when stressed.
Got blue cheese cultures. Want to play with this one blue recipe. The devon milk and a blue is hauntlingly good. I have cheese supplies to sell in the farm store now. Will try to get some of that together as soon as I can. Hope to officially open it on the first weekend of May. I finally got a reluctant ok from Dave. I think it will only be good. The cheese was decent this make and I have local products collected for sale. I did give up Hamilton. I need a local outlet. The Peppermill may be a good location as well. Leslie suggested I think about it. I like the idea. We will see.
Happy spring! (sheep are out, sure sign of spring for me).
Email is not working great on this computer, so I will try another one. Maybe. I may just go home and forget about trying to stay in contact with the world outside of Madison, NY.
Dave asked to have our farm de-listed with our agent. I am not sure how he worded it, but he is eternally going to try to make things "smooth" for the relationship with him and whomever he is talking to ont he phone. He can be cuttingly to the point with me, but he is a huge softy with others. Tom may try to sell his farm as well. Can we put them together for a price that will make all people happy? He is in pain and I hope he stops this whole idea. Milking cows was not suppose to be penence for sins.
In moments of stress, I accidently double paid my cheese loan payment last month! Scrambling to make up for that. Never pay bills while stressed. Never do anything financial when stressed.
Got blue cheese cultures. Want to play with this one blue recipe. The devon milk and a blue is hauntlingly good. I have cheese supplies to sell in the farm store now. Will try to get some of that together as soon as I can. Hope to officially open it on the first weekend of May. I finally got a reluctant ok from Dave. I think it will only be good. The cheese was decent this make and I have local products collected for sale. I did give up Hamilton. I need a local outlet. The Peppermill may be a good location as well. Leslie suggested I think about it. I like the idea. We will see.
Happy spring! (sheep are out, sure sign of spring for me).
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Waiting Sucks
Ok, I should not start with a bad word. I am not a patient person. I try hard to be, but I vent. I need to and will buy a bottle of wine tonight...
We are trying to sell the farm and the cheese business. It is not because I don't like what I am doing or am not making money. We have family health stuff to deal with in MA. I am tired. I can make cheese anywhere.
I have offers for the cheese business. If we stay, do I sell this? What do I do then? If it is here will it make the farm easier or harder to sell? There is over 600# of cheese in the cooler. Do I retail it local? Do I wholesale it? Do we open the farm store like planned as though we will be here always? Should I make more cheese? Should I just take the whole thing with us? Do I sell and repopulate a plant somewhere else?????
I hate unknowns like this. Especailly when I have to deal with a variable tempered husband who is less fun to live with when there are so many unknowns.
Next thing to ponder... where? Washington County NY, VT, Berkshires, NH... All have their plus and minus arguments. I just want a simple farmstead and make cheese. I want my Kerry cows and maybe a devon or two for butter and blue cheese. I want calm and order. (what was that calm and order?).
I got the plant and the Cut and wrap room cleaned. I did leave that for a day. I hate to do that, but I hurt so much. It was a nice thing to ponder everything with the steam coming from the vat and the cool breeze from the cracked open window. I have to finish the boiler room and get the next round of cheeses waxed. That will be tomorrow and Thursday. Tomorrow I will have to confirm that people are or are not coming to the cheese workshop this weekend. Did that again... you know they say they are coming... I don't market and then they don't send deposit. Busy life means loose ends.
Think happy cheese thoughts!
We are trying to sell the farm and the cheese business. It is not because I don't like what I am doing or am not making money. We have family health stuff to deal with in MA. I am tired. I can make cheese anywhere.
I have offers for the cheese business. If we stay, do I sell this? What do I do then? If it is here will it make the farm easier or harder to sell? There is over 600# of cheese in the cooler. Do I retail it local? Do I wholesale it? Do we open the farm store like planned as though we will be here always? Should I make more cheese? Should I just take the whole thing with us? Do I sell and repopulate a plant somewhere else?????
I hate unknowns like this. Especailly when I have to deal with a variable tempered husband who is less fun to live with when there are so many unknowns.
Next thing to ponder... where? Washington County NY, VT, Berkshires, NH... All have their plus and minus arguments. I just want a simple farmstead and make cheese. I want my Kerry cows and maybe a devon or two for butter and blue cheese. I want calm and order. (what was that calm and order?).
I got the plant and the Cut and wrap room cleaned. I did leave that for a day. I hate to do that, but I hurt so much. It was a nice thing to ponder everything with the steam coming from the vat and the cool breeze from the cracked open window. I have to finish the boiler room and get the next round of cheeses waxed. That will be tomorrow and Thursday. Tomorrow I will have to confirm that people are or are not coming to the cheese workshop this weekend. Did that again... you know they say they are coming... I don't market and then they don't send deposit. Busy life means loose ends.
Think happy cheese thoughts!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Beeswax
I officially have over 600# in the coolers now. Beeswaxed all the Gouda. Have a lovely burgundy colour I made for the Havarti and black for the Dunlop. Cut hand bad while chipping out beeswax. Had to have Tim (cow breeder) drop off the arm length gloves to make cheese yesterday. Also dropped one of the wheels in the wax (hand hurt + thin wheel = splash). Wax makes a mess.
Beeswax is hard to work with. Brittle. You have to use another "oil" to work with it. Vegetable shortning, olive oil, mineral oil or whey butter are the better ones to work with. It imparts a mead flovor through the cheese. Works nice on gouda. Not so good the cheddar types.
I am tired, but happy that cheese making is coming along as well as it has this year.
Beeswax is hard to work with. Brittle. You have to use another "oil" to work with it. Vegetable shortning, olive oil, mineral oil or whey butter are the better ones to work with. It imparts a mead flovor through the cheese. Works nice on gouda. Not so good the cheddar types.
I am tired, but happy that cheese making is coming along as well as it has this year.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
It Took the Radish
Well the computer finally took the radish. It limped through taxes and responces to the MOA signing for the Kerry Cattle Society and then it kept throwing errors at me. I am now at the library. Have a cold. It is blustery. I made about 90# of cheese in that little vat of mine! Woof!
Have over 500# in the coolers now. This is nice. Waxing left and right. Dunlop, Havarti (one batch), Honey Gouda...
People are interested in the farm. I don't think the message is getting out there correctly. After the computer thing is sorted, I'll be working on that...
Have to keep going. I only have 30 minutes on this thing.
Have over 500# in the coolers now. This is nice. Waxing left and right. Dunlop, Havarti (one batch), Honey Gouda...
People are interested in the farm. I don't think the message is getting out there correctly. After the computer thing is sorted, I'll be working on that...
Have to keep going. I only have 30 minutes on this thing.
Friday, March 07, 2008
New Farmers
I was a new farmer once. I was and am still a hopless dreamer. Marge thinks that is why we get on so well. Dreamers actually have a possible job in life. They call them "Planners". This can be a Conservation Specialist (doing conservation plans), CNMP plans if you want to consider extra large farms, Financial Planner (so not me), consultant who does business plans... A lot of non-profit, educational and government types also have this planning bit about them. See there is more to dreamers than just pretty clouds to look at!
I have to do this talk about Business Plans tomorrow. I like the process of business planning. Dave thinks it is a waste of time. Sucks to be perfect! I like it because I can put all of the contingencies in paper and then use this as a "To Do" list. Being organizationally challenged, I need "to do" lists to function.
Business Plans can serve a few functions. They can get you financing. They can assist you in planning an new enterprise. They can be adapted for a grant to make it sound like you know what you are talking about... I've used them for all of the above.
My farmstead cheese business plan was the most fun to write. See, I am an obsessive planner if I use the words "fun" and "business plan" in the same sentence. It is different than a term paper. More like a strategic plan.
I am roughly on plan. A few things like a compressor that cooked Christmas cheeses in November, a boiler guy that didn't give me what I asked for and then charged me more for it... Little thinks like that were kinda planned for. After the nervous break down... I started to make more cheese.
I am making cheese most every day right now. Gouda yesterday. Havarti today. Over 60# of cheese and after my talk for the New Farmers program my county extension person is hosting, I will be making yoghurt and setting some milk up for Quark. Cheese cheese cheese. A great thing happened today too. A local woman came by to get milk for cheese making. She is going to try ricotta and fresh moz. I sold her a half-pint of rennet. She is getting into the whole cheese thing.
Right now I also have to revisit the Marketing Plan. Package design, labels, UPC codes, etc, regional focus this year... Wooohooo, more cheese, more planning!
I have to do this talk about Business Plans tomorrow. I like the process of business planning. Dave thinks it is a waste of time. Sucks to be perfect! I like it because I can put all of the contingencies in paper and then use this as a "To Do" list. Being organizationally challenged, I need "to do" lists to function.
Business Plans can serve a few functions. They can get you financing. They can assist you in planning an new enterprise. They can be adapted for a grant to make it sound like you know what you are talking about... I've used them for all of the above.
My farmstead cheese business plan was the most fun to write. See, I am an obsessive planner if I use the words "fun" and "business plan" in the same sentence. It is different than a term paper. More like a strategic plan.
I am roughly on plan. A few things like a compressor that cooked Christmas cheeses in November, a boiler guy that didn't give me what I asked for and then charged me more for it... Little thinks like that were kinda planned for. After the nervous break down... I started to make more cheese.
I am making cheese most every day right now. Gouda yesterday. Havarti today. Over 60# of cheese and after my talk for the New Farmers program my county extension person is hosting, I will be making yoghurt and setting some milk up for Quark. Cheese cheese cheese. A great thing happened today too. A local woman came by to get milk for cheese making. She is going to try ricotta and fresh moz. I sold her a half-pint of rennet. She is getting into the whole cheese thing.
Right now I also have to revisit the Marketing Plan. Package design, labels, UPC codes, etc, regional focus this year... Wooohooo, more cheese, more planning!
Thursday, March 06, 2008
New Cheese Season
I did survive the winter. Winter is still here, but I am more opptomistic about things. A lot has happened... All cheesy things too.
Got to go to Long Island to help with the shooting of an t.v. show called "Kitchen Nightmares" with this chef Gordon Ramsey. The premise is that he goes into a restaurant in trouble and tries various things to help them succeed rather than fail. This restaurant was an Italian one. Tuscan influence I believe. I was there to make sure the fresh mozzarella bit worked out. I had many contingencies planned for. Even brought stuff to do the direct acidified version if needed (tricky for a newbie who needs it "on" for the camera. They did do a good stretch for the camera. He got bits about the making of the actual curd wrong, but he did do great for such short notice and only working with this buffalo moz. in the UK. It was fun and I enjoyed the whole bit.
After that, I went up to Orford, NH to work with Bruce and Christine Balch with their 100% milking devon herd. BOY was that milk different than Kerry and Ayrshire milk. Very high fat and solids. Like working with jersey milk, onlu not musky like that milk can get. I liked the color, the clean smell and the way it made a lactic curd (quark). Any of you considering a blue cheese, get yourself a herd of these cows! I am impressed.
I did learn that I do not like the vats made up there in NH. The man was helpful and did take questions at all hours, but the vat had a 2 degree difference from the top to the bottom for a raw milk cheese. The agitator was very quick, even at the low speed and you have to be a rather tall person to work in the 35 gal. vat. It was designed to be a chevre vat I guess. That is about all I would recommend it for.
Started to make cheese for the year. Commercial batches, not the stuff I do on the kitchen or cut&wrap room counter. Made my standard, gouda. Dave and I piped over the hot water from the propane hot water heater to help stabilize the cook temperature. That made things better.
I have been experimenting with blue cheeses for the last month. The devon milk intregued me. I have this bloomy rind/blue thing in mind using those Italian molds I bought 3 years ago and never fully utilized. That and I will play with bloomy/surface rind cheeses with those moulds regardless of the blue thing going on..
Computer is not in a happy place and has to be replaced.
Sheep had lambs. I think the high grain prices will spell the end of many flocks this year. I already heard about a couple rather large flocks selling out. Too bad. They use to be such a great "beginner" farmer animal. I love the calm, simple needs of a sheep. They are also wonderful for children to work with. Who can resist lambs in the spring? They are Maple Sugar for me (early spring thing).
Have to get back to getting farm stand ready for the season...
Got to go to Long Island to help with the shooting of an t.v. show called "Kitchen Nightmares" with this chef Gordon Ramsey. The premise is that he goes into a restaurant in trouble and tries various things to help them succeed rather than fail. This restaurant was an Italian one. Tuscan influence I believe. I was there to make sure the fresh mozzarella bit worked out. I had many contingencies planned for. Even brought stuff to do the direct acidified version if needed (tricky for a newbie who needs it "on" for the camera. They did do a good stretch for the camera. He got bits about the making of the actual curd wrong, but he did do great for such short notice and only working with this buffalo moz. in the UK. It was fun and I enjoyed the whole bit.
After that, I went up to Orford, NH to work with Bruce and Christine Balch with their 100% milking devon herd. BOY was that milk different than Kerry and Ayrshire milk. Very high fat and solids. Like working with jersey milk, onlu not musky like that milk can get. I liked the color, the clean smell and the way it made a lactic curd (quark). Any of you considering a blue cheese, get yourself a herd of these cows! I am impressed.
I did learn that I do not like the vats made up there in NH. The man was helpful and did take questions at all hours, but the vat had a 2 degree difference from the top to the bottom for a raw milk cheese. The agitator was very quick, even at the low speed and you have to be a rather tall person to work in the 35 gal. vat. It was designed to be a chevre vat I guess. That is about all I would recommend it for.
Started to make cheese for the year. Commercial batches, not the stuff I do on the kitchen or cut&wrap room counter. Made my standard, gouda. Dave and I piped over the hot water from the propane hot water heater to help stabilize the cook temperature. That made things better.
I have been experimenting with blue cheeses for the last month. The devon milk intregued me. I have this bloomy rind/blue thing in mind using those Italian molds I bought 3 years ago and never fully utilized. That and I will play with bloomy/surface rind cheeses with those moulds regardless of the blue thing going on..
Computer is not in a happy place and has to be replaced.
Sheep had lambs. I think the high grain prices will spell the end of many flocks this year. I already heard about a couple rather large flocks selling out. Too bad. They use to be such a great "beginner" farmer animal. I love the calm, simple needs of a sheep. They are also wonderful for children to work with. Who can resist lambs in the spring? They are Maple Sugar for me (early spring thing).
Have to get back to getting farm stand ready for the season...
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
From COMFOOD about the election from another Farmer
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/14/7062/
The Capital Times <http://www.madison.com/tct/>
Jim Goodman:
Clinton, Obama must answer to farmersJim Goodman ?
2/14/2008 7:12 am
The Wisconsin primary is less than a week away, and I have some questions for the Democratic candidates, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.I would like to be enthusiastic about this election, I really would. After the past eight years, who wouldn't be ready for the "change" that they talk about? Even the Republicans are talking about change.It seems, however, that the American people may have little to say about what that change will be. The media have already decided who the viable candidates are, and the superdelegates may decide who the Democratic nominee will be. We are supposed to act like a nation of sheep and just go along, but perhaps this time we won't.Wisconsin is a state where agriculture is still important, and while farming may not be as glamorous as, say, politics, we still have more people engaged in agriculture-related jobs than any other occupation in the state. Still, when politicians come to Wisconsin, they may do the obligatory photo op on a farm, but they spend their time courting the voters in the big cities. So what are Clinton and Obama promising people like me -- people who spend more time worrying about cows than poll numbers?Many farmers in Wisconsin don't have health insurance. I'm lucky because I do. It's not very good insurance; it's expensive, and it doesn't pay for much of anything. I need to be really sick before I can collect. Clinton and Obama both say they have a health care plan. I don't think they do; they have another insurance plan. They want people to have insurance, but insurance is not health care. They're looking out for the insurance companies, not the people. They should support giving us the same coverage they have. Put everyone in the plan -- if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us.As farmers, we are told we need to compete in the global marketplace. They have both said they want to level the playing field so we can compete fairly with farmers around the world and we will win. No, we won't; we won't win, and neither will farmers anywhere else in the world. Clinton has some history with agri-business corporations Monsanto and Tyson and the world's largest food retailer, Wal-Mart. Is it part of their corporate philosophy to let farmers win?Both Clinton and Obama support biofuels as a means to end our dependence on foreign oil, yet corn and soy production is based on oil -- diesel fuel for tractors, oil to manufacture crop chemicals and fertilizer, oil for transportation and processing. They both want to increase auto fuel economy standards, but not for 18 or 20 years! Why not now?They both support local and regional food systems -- buy fresh, buy local. Good, but what will they do to make it work? Will they take food out of trade agreements and encourage American farmers to grow food instead of commodities? Or will food, like health care, be just another money maker for corporations?Will they cap subsidy payments and give responsible farmers a chance? Will they encourage a set-aside for marginal land that should never be farmed? Will they restore government purchase of surplus crops to establish fair and stable farm and consumer prices?Do they plan to do anything to rein in the power of multinational grain corporations? Those corporations now dump our cheap subsidized grain on southern nations, undermining the local economy and, as in Mexico, driving farmers off their land and across the border to work in the United States. There's your immigration problem; our corporations created it, and walls and fences won't cure it.Do they know the term food sovereignty? It is a simple concept. It recognizes the right of people, all people, to grow the food of their choice -- food that is nutritious, safe and culturally appropriate. Food sovereignty demands that food be healthful, green, fair and affordable. The only problem some might see with this idea is that people would profit, not corporations.The candidates' support for local and regional food systems is sorely needed, and I hope they agree that we need to let the rest of the world feed themselves.Obama's campaign recently told the Bush administration that he didn't really need any foreign policy advice from the architect of the worst foreign policy in a generation. Bush's agricultural policy is just as bad. Change it.Jim Goodman is a farmer in Wonewoc and a policy fellow for the Food and Society Fellows Program.Jim Goodman ? 2/14/2008 7:12 am
The Capital Times <http://www.madison.com/tct/>
Jim Goodman:
Clinton, Obama must answer to farmersJim Goodman ?
2/14/2008 7:12 am
The Wisconsin primary is less than a week away, and I have some questions for the Democratic candidates, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.I would like to be enthusiastic about this election, I really would. After the past eight years, who wouldn't be ready for the "change" that they talk about? Even the Republicans are talking about change.It seems, however, that the American people may have little to say about what that change will be. The media have already decided who the viable candidates are, and the superdelegates may decide who the Democratic nominee will be. We are supposed to act like a nation of sheep and just go along, but perhaps this time we won't.Wisconsin is a state where agriculture is still important, and while farming may not be as glamorous as, say, politics, we still have more people engaged in agriculture-related jobs than any other occupation in the state. Still, when politicians come to Wisconsin, they may do the obligatory photo op on a farm, but they spend their time courting the voters in the big cities. So what are Clinton and Obama promising people like me -- people who spend more time worrying about cows than poll numbers?Many farmers in Wisconsin don't have health insurance. I'm lucky because I do. It's not very good insurance; it's expensive, and it doesn't pay for much of anything. I need to be really sick before I can collect. Clinton and Obama both say they have a health care plan. I don't think they do; they have another insurance plan. They want people to have insurance, but insurance is not health care. They're looking out for the insurance companies, not the people. They should support giving us the same coverage they have. Put everyone in the plan -- if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us.As farmers, we are told we need to compete in the global marketplace. They have both said they want to level the playing field so we can compete fairly with farmers around the world and we will win. No, we won't; we won't win, and neither will farmers anywhere else in the world. Clinton has some history with agri-business corporations Monsanto and Tyson and the world's largest food retailer, Wal-Mart. Is it part of their corporate philosophy to let farmers win?Both Clinton and Obama support biofuels as a means to end our dependence on foreign oil, yet corn and soy production is based on oil -- diesel fuel for tractors, oil to manufacture crop chemicals and fertilizer, oil for transportation and processing. They both want to increase auto fuel economy standards, but not for 18 or 20 years! Why not now?They both support local and regional food systems -- buy fresh, buy local. Good, but what will they do to make it work? Will they take food out of trade agreements and encourage American farmers to grow food instead of commodities? Or will food, like health care, be just another money maker for corporations?Will they cap subsidy payments and give responsible farmers a chance? Will they encourage a set-aside for marginal land that should never be farmed? Will they restore government purchase of surplus crops to establish fair and stable farm and consumer prices?Do they plan to do anything to rein in the power of multinational grain corporations? Those corporations now dump our cheap subsidized grain on southern nations, undermining the local economy and, as in Mexico, driving farmers off their land and across the border to work in the United States. There's your immigration problem; our corporations created it, and walls and fences won't cure it.Do they know the term food sovereignty? It is a simple concept. It recognizes the right of people, all people, to grow the food of their choice -- food that is nutritious, safe and culturally appropriate. Food sovereignty demands that food be healthful, green, fair and affordable. The only problem some might see with this idea is that people would profit, not corporations.The candidates' support for local and regional food systems is sorely needed, and I hope they agree that we need to let the rest of the world feed themselves.Obama's campaign recently told the Bush administration that he didn't really need any foreign policy advice from the architect of the worst foreign policy in a generation. Bush's agricultural policy is just as bad. Change it.Jim Goodman is a farmer in Wonewoc and a policy fellow for the Food and Society Fellows Program.Jim Goodman ? 2/14/2008 7:12 am
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Exhausted
I think I am beyond finding an answer anymore. I will never get it right. I am not put in a position where my decisions will make a difference anymore. I am just a simple housewife on a simple farm in the middle of the state of New York. Only I am not simple and this farm is so far from simple. I could get it right. All of it right. I am just not suppose to. Then it would work and everything would be OK and people would tell me what a great person I am.
Is it wrong to want to leave because you are alone? I see food trends and livestock management trends before a lot of people. I tell them all about it. They make money and I am left with a not so simple farm. It is harder when the people around you laugh at those incites and then someone where you should be makes that money. Someone in some place where you want to be, not here.
I have moved beyond burned out. I was there 7 years ago when people were not truthful about their interests in the Stafford Slaughterhouse and when in my innocence I said something about it... I was made irrelevant. I am still living with that irrelevance and I have no desire anymore. I let people tell me how I should feel or what I want to do. That was not and is not me. It is easier to bark and growl like that dog chained to the dog house... ignored...cold...
I see morons here trying to pretend they are the next guru. The big one, the con-artist and his foolish followers looking to spend money on a dream he will crush once he has spent your $60,000; $120,000; $250,000. I don't have the money, but some fools part with it and some hill billy farmers want to be him. I saw through it and I was made irrelevant.
I make rash decisions to survive stress. They don't always make sense then either. I just don't like anger or people yelling. I hate anger. I cower like the dog again. Afraid. I am here. I hate people who take advantage of other people. I hate people who don't care. I hate people who make others feel bad only because they do. I hate feeling powerless. I am here.
We are going to sell this place. The push over the edge was health issues in both sides of the family. I cannot tell you where we will be. I know I will be making cheese. I love making cheese. It gives me purpose. We will not budge much on the price. It is worth it. We have done a lot to this place. Someone can make A LOT of money with this cheese business. Again, someone else, but we have to leave. It is time to let someone else make a lot of money...
Is it wrong to want to leave because you are alone? I see food trends and livestock management trends before a lot of people. I tell them all about it. They make money and I am left with a not so simple farm. It is harder when the people around you laugh at those incites and then someone where you should be makes that money. Someone in some place where you want to be, not here.
I have moved beyond burned out. I was there 7 years ago when people were not truthful about their interests in the Stafford Slaughterhouse and when in my innocence I said something about it... I was made irrelevant. I am still living with that irrelevance and I have no desire anymore. I let people tell me how I should feel or what I want to do. That was not and is not me. It is easier to bark and growl like that dog chained to the dog house... ignored...cold...
I see morons here trying to pretend they are the next guru. The big one, the con-artist and his foolish followers looking to spend money on a dream he will crush once he has spent your $60,000; $120,000; $250,000. I don't have the money, but some fools part with it and some hill billy farmers want to be him. I saw through it and I was made irrelevant.
I make rash decisions to survive stress. They don't always make sense then either. I just don't like anger or people yelling. I hate anger. I cower like the dog again. Afraid. I am here. I hate people who take advantage of other people. I hate people who don't care. I hate people who make others feel bad only because they do. I hate feeling powerless. I am here.
We are going to sell this place. The push over the edge was health issues in both sides of the family. I cannot tell you where we will be. I know I will be making cheese. I love making cheese. It gives me purpose. We will not budge much on the price. It is worth it. We have done a lot to this place. Someone can make A LOT of money with this cheese business. Again, someone else, but we have to leave. It is time to let someone else make a lot of money...
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Selea died today
My daughter's favorite farm animal and companion at the swing set died this morning. We had a grave site service with Claire Dave and myself. She is in the garden with a tea towel and cardboard box from Christmas. Claire is upset. We took her to Symeons form lunch to cheer her up. She enjoyed the meal, but did seem so quiet in the car. It is a sad day for Bear.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
South Wind
Woke to smoke and Dave with a scowl sitting in the green chair. Dave tends to be like this. I cannot remember if he had pants on though. The south wind was pretty strong with this storm coming through and the draft is touchy with certain south winds. Smoke! Once you get her up and hot, boy the place is warm, be lazy and the smoke comes in.
Next, no water pressure. South wind again. Seems Dave forgot that when a cold south wind is forcasted, we need to move the brooder light into the cubby hole (workshop area where pressure tank is for the whole place). Mr Grumpy stormed out of the house confident that one of my Kerry cows broke a water line again and his day would be ruined. Nope. He didn't put lamp in cubby hole. Worse yet, the boiler got more of an arctic blast that expected and the whole blooming thing was frozen. I almost died.
For those of you who have a steam boiler to heat your cheese vats, what is one think cast iron hates? Frozen water. My day seemed doomed. I have learned to have this calm "will my world just calm down" demeaner that I didn't have in my youth. I switch heaters from cheese plant and water heater room (turned on that one evern though I don't use it lately). A copper pipe burst, but so far... Funny how religion comes with desperation... I don't think that boiler had so many prayers associated with it since it was made!
Made some rum/tea brack to cheer the spirits.
South Wind use to mean warmer weather. I think I need to go back to a place where south wind means warmer weather.
Next, no water pressure. South wind again. Seems Dave forgot that when a cold south wind is forcasted, we need to move the brooder light into the cubby hole (workshop area where pressure tank is for the whole place). Mr Grumpy stormed out of the house confident that one of my Kerry cows broke a water line again and his day would be ruined. Nope. He didn't put lamp in cubby hole. Worse yet, the boiler got more of an arctic blast that expected and the whole blooming thing was frozen. I almost died.
For those of you who have a steam boiler to heat your cheese vats, what is one think cast iron hates? Frozen water. My day seemed doomed. I have learned to have this calm "will my world just calm down" demeaner that I didn't have in my youth. I switch heaters from cheese plant and water heater room (turned on that one evern though I don't use it lately). A copper pipe burst, but so far... Funny how religion comes with desperation... I don't think that boiler had so many prayers associated with it since it was made!
Made some rum/tea brack to cheer the spirits.
South Wind use to mean warmer weather. I think I need to go back to a place where south wind means warmer weather.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Chicken Love and Costume Dramas
I was watching an old copy of a BBC costume drama. I watch them in the cold winter. They make me dream of being somewhere other than the arctic tundra. Maybe I am just an old sap. That or I miss my youth and the ability I had to just go when and where I want. Cannot just go to Paris on a whim for the weekend with a farm, child or husband to find sitters for. I don't like soaps or romance novels but some Bronte or Austen and I am there through two or three VHS tapes even with poor sound quality and my reels needing cleaning! My peace at horrid hours of the evening for a dairy farmer!
On the couch as I am getting up I find one of Claire's new Poultry mags. The british small holder one with the children in it. She loves that one. I like chickens. They have this peaceful thing about them like sheep do. A kind of equilibrium with the world.
When I was little, our neighbors had this farm. We lived in this cul de sac on the edge of their farm. The farm was eventually an island with developments surrounding it with possible roads ending on the edges of their fields. The place had tobacco sheds, a tidy New England barn with halls and rooms they said their father and uncle hid things during the rations in the war. In the cellar they had this chicken area. Not so much a room if I remember. Nests were wooden with tobacco leaves in them to keep the bugs out. Like everything else on the farm, tidy...
It was their place. The pride they took in it that got me into this "farm thing". We could set the clocks to Stanley mowing his lawn. My mother liked to watch them bring the milk cows (a guernsey and a jersey if my memory is correct) up the lane. They had this horse Chubby. A cross of Belgian and something. Maybe 15hh. I'm thinking Suffolk, but who knows anymore. They used him to cultivate tobacco. I use to love to watch Adolph cultivate tobacco. When the horse was tired, he'd step on a few plants.
Back to the chickens (I'll tell you about Katey, the jump roap and the heifer later). Britt and I were exporing as was our job at the time. It usually meant going to the farm to see if we could beg a tour of the grey barn. We saw this hen. She was limping or something. Just not right. We figured that to be nice, we'd catch the hen and show Stanley or Adolph so they could fix her. To make a long story short, we were caught "chasing chickens" and sent home. I was horrified. I was in love with everything about that place and it stuck that I was thought as mean enough to do that to them.
If I had Claire with me then... things would have been different. She doesn't have this fear of failure and she has this uncanny ability to walk up to any chicken and pick it up. She has even trained one of her birds (Salea) to swing on a swing with little protest. Chicken chores generally mean she hasn't collected eggs yet, or fed or watered them. She is basically on the floor of the chicken coop talking to and holding one of her birds... Mean old mum then has to open the window and ask if chores are done yet! She loves those birds.
On the couch as I am getting up I find one of Claire's new Poultry mags. The british small holder one with the children in it. She loves that one. I like chickens. They have this peaceful thing about them like sheep do. A kind of equilibrium with the world.
When I was little, our neighbors had this farm. We lived in this cul de sac on the edge of their farm. The farm was eventually an island with developments surrounding it with possible roads ending on the edges of their fields. The place had tobacco sheds, a tidy New England barn with halls and rooms they said their father and uncle hid things during the rations in the war. In the cellar they had this chicken area. Not so much a room if I remember. Nests were wooden with tobacco leaves in them to keep the bugs out. Like everything else on the farm, tidy...
It was their place. The pride they took in it that got me into this "farm thing". We could set the clocks to Stanley mowing his lawn. My mother liked to watch them bring the milk cows (a guernsey and a jersey if my memory is correct) up the lane. They had this horse Chubby. A cross of Belgian and something. Maybe 15hh. I'm thinking Suffolk, but who knows anymore. They used him to cultivate tobacco. I use to love to watch Adolph cultivate tobacco. When the horse was tired, he'd step on a few plants.
Back to the chickens (I'll tell you about Katey, the jump roap and the heifer later). Britt and I were exporing as was our job at the time. It usually meant going to the farm to see if we could beg a tour of the grey barn. We saw this hen. She was limping or something. Just not right. We figured that to be nice, we'd catch the hen and show Stanley or Adolph so they could fix her. To make a long story short, we were caught "chasing chickens" and sent home. I was horrified. I was in love with everything about that place and it stuck that I was thought as mean enough to do that to them.
If I had Claire with me then... things would have been different. She doesn't have this fear of failure and she has this uncanny ability to walk up to any chicken and pick it up. She has even trained one of her birds (Salea) to swing on a swing with little protest. Chicken chores generally mean she hasn't collected eggs yet, or fed or watered them. She is basically on the floor of the chicken coop talking to and holding one of her birds... Mean old mum then has to open the window and ask if chores are done yet! She loves those birds.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Winter
It is dark and cold in Central New York in the winter. I dread going down to the lower shed to feed animals. I love to watch them eat and to visit with them, but the blast of cold coming down from Rte 20, across the pasture and slap into my face! We have changed buildings and slopes of things, so the drifts and wind currents are different. That and Dave snapped the dog run line with the spear and never found it necessary to fix it (it was a mistake you see), so my only support life line going down the hill from the side poarch to the sheep shed is, well gone. I tried the sled that I use to bring grain down, but well... a 50# sack of grain on the stomach hurts after taking a spill over a bank.
I think I mentioned my lack of grace once before... Marge is even naming a cheese after me "Grace". At least the wheel chair ramp is down. Poor Marcia has to be lifted into the house, but at least I don't do any more splat dives...
The aging/farmstand structure is done. Well the structure is. I am awaiting the final $$ to give to the great contractors on that project and to finish the guys that installed my boiler incorrectly and charged me for doing it wrong and then just looking at it! I got some aging shelves for Christmas. Thank you Dave. We dug the ditch by hand and pick on Christmas Eve. The ditch will be for the electricity line.
Hank still hasn't paid me for the bank charges he caused after bouncing a check to pay for the workshop I did for his organization back in August. I gave up a Farmers' Market and everything! I am becoming cynical about non-profit agencies that are here to help the poor disadvantaged farmer. If we get paid for product and services, we aren't poor then are we? I think he missed the idea. Well live and learn. I will not do workshops for non-profits unless I see the money up-front any more.
Shaun Lord bought two of the IN Kerry cows from me. She is a great person and I like how she has consistently improved her herd of Dexters. I have Kelmscott Larry up to Dependa Bull. I have to run up there to visit him and to get those measurements and all. Patti Adams is drawing Kelmscott Seamus at K State right now and Dana Wakefield has drawn Mountain Shade Ebon. They represent the three Kerry families in the US.
Looking for an intern for 2008. Someone interested in doing Farmers Markets, working on rinds and who is interested in developing their own cheese. With David's health and Marcia not in the best physical shape, I need to have more flex time while at the same time expanding the cheese side of the business. I think that there is real potential for someone who is really interested in becoming a cheese maker to try some things out while someone with more experience can help. That and they will have access to awsome organic milk, markets, etc...
I think I mentioned my lack of grace once before... Marge is even naming a cheese after me "Grace". At least the wheel chair ramp is down. Poor Marcia has to be lifted into the house, but at least I don't do any more splat dives...
The aging/farmstand structure is done. Well the structure is. I am awaiting the final $$ to give to the great contractors on that project and to finish the guys that installed my boiler incorrectly and charged me for doing it wrong and then just looking at it! I got some aging shelves for Christmas. Thank you Dave. We dug the ditch by hand and pick on Christmas Eve. The ditch will be for the electricity line.
Hank still hasn't paid me for the bank charges he caused after bouncing a check to pay for the workshop I did for his organization back in August. I gave up a Farmers' Market and everything! I am becoming cynical about non-profit agencies that are here to help the poor disadvantaged farmer. If we get paid for product and services, we aren't poor then are we? I think he missed the idea. Well live and learn. I will not do workshops for non-profits unless I see the money up-front any more.
Shaun Lord bought two of the IN Kerry cows from me. She is a great person and I like how she has consistently improved her herd of Dexters. I have Kelmscott Larry up to Dependa Bull. I have to run up there to visit him and to get those measurements and all. Patti Adams is drawing Kelmscott Seamus at K State right now and Dana Wakefield has drawn Mountain Shade Ebon. They represent the three Kerry families in the US.
Looking for an intern for 2008. Someone interested in doing Farmers Markets, working on rinds and who is interested in developing their own cheese. With David's health and Marcia not in the best physical shape, I need to have more flex time while at the same time expanding the cheese side of the business. I think that there is real potential for someone who is really interested in becoming a cheese maker to try some things out while someone with more experience can help. That and they will have access to awsome organic milk, markets, etc...
Friday, October 19, 2007
Visiting with other cheesemakers
I got to see the Amish cheese maker today. Found this lovely little Raw milk cheese plant in Richfield Springs. Dan is a decent sort, clean and simple place, nice cheese. I like him.
Dave, Claire Tim Powers and I were on this road trip. We picked Tim up. Tim took us over the river and through the woods. We had no idea where we were by the time we got there. Got to see a lot though and there were plain and pretty roads along the way. Took Rte 20 back (needed to get Tim some Stewerts coffee and us some petrol). The trip made sense when we got back to Rte 20.
Met the other wanna-be cheese maker. Andelo. He, like Rosemary Belforti, is trying to make a cheese using Kefir cultures. Interesting. Reminded me of some of Brian Rivington's creations he made in our plant last summer. Rind is too dry, paste is yeasty, doesn't have strong goat flavor... Claire liked the older cheese. Not so much his younger one.
He has this neet goat barn and was in the process of making the milking parlor. I'll get photos developed and see about pasting on the blog at some time.
Would love a digital camera, but we need to make it through the winter. Maybe for my birthday...
I bought two wheels of the Caerfili for the market this weekend from Dan. I am short on aged cheeses and he is in need of thinning his inventory. He is learning. I think that he will become a very good cheese maker with time. He has the Margaret Morris book and is an inquiring mind. Something about him makes me think he'll do pretty good.
A couple of more cheesemakers on Rte 20 corridor and we can get a trail! Need that cheese cluster. Want the tourists!
My goats milk project is not so good. Looks like the volume is slipping with the quality. It was 1 mil. SCC again. I have to toss the wheel most likely. I don't need a "late blower" in the cooler. I'm going to put it into a seperate smaller cooler and see what happens. It will be an educational cheese for future workshops, not something I want to sell. I've already dubbed it "Stinking Goat". Some people seem to think that milk for cheese can be crap. Well, no. It actually has to be better than the stuff going into the UHT ultra-filtered bottles of fluid milk-food that supermarkets pass off as a dairy product. You want good-bugs working, not not-so-good bugs working. Neet thing if the goat boys get that.
Our herd will be drying off February/March. I need the goats milk until then. We will be milking about 6 cows until April. I'll be making a lot of cows milk cheese until then (and supporting the whole deal with cheese sales). Daunting yet somehow I like this challange. Bout time the cheese stepped up to the plate.
Dave, Claire Tim Powers and I were on this road trip. We picked Tim up. Tim took us over the river and through the woods. We had no idea where we were by the time we got there. Got to see a lot though and there were plain and pretty roads along the way. Took Rte 20 back (needed to get Tim some Stewerts coffee and us some petrol). The trip made sense when we got back to Rte 20.
Met the other wanna-be cheese maker. Andelo. He, like Rosemary Belforti, is trying to make a cheese using Kefir cultures. Interesting. Reminded me of some of Brian Rivington's creations he made in our plant last summer. Rind is too dry, paste is yeasty, doesn't have strong goat flavor... Claire liked the older cheese. Not so much his younger one.
He has this neet goat barn and was in the process of making the milking parlor. I'll get photos developed and see about pasting on the blog at some time.
Would love a digital camera, but we need to make it through the winter. Maybe for my birthday...
I bought two wheels of the Caerfili for the market this weekend from Dan. I am short on aged cheeses and he is in need of thinning his inventory. He is learning. I think that he will become a very good cheese maker with time. He has the Margaret Morris book and is an inquiring mind. Something about him makes me think he'll do pretty good.
A couple of more cheesemakers on Rte 20 corridor and we can get a trail! Need that cheese cluster. Want the tourists!
My goats milk project is not so good. Looks like the volume is slipping with the quality. It was 1 mil. SCC again. I have to toss the wheel most likely. I don't need a "late blower" in the cooler. I'm going to put it into a seperate smaller cooler and see what happens. It will be an educational cheese for future workshops, not something I want to sell. I've already dubbed it "Stinking Goat". Some people seem to think that milk for cheese can be crap. Well, no. It actually has to be better than the stuff going into the UHT ultra-filtered bottles of fluid milk-food that supermarkets pass off as a dairy product. You want good-bugs working, not not-so-good bugs working. Neet thing if the goat boys get that.
Our herd will be drying off February/March. I need the goats milk until then. We will be milking about 6 cows until April. I'll be making a lot of cows milk cheese until then (and supporting the whole deal with cheese sales). Daunting yet somehow I like this challange. Bout time the cheese stepped up to the plate.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Splat Dives
My back hurts. I am squerming in my seat. Had to check bank balance for hundredth time. Did market deposit and all it did was cover some moron's bounced check and the bank fees. Thanks! No more favors for anyone. I cannot afford people anymore. I do workshops again, it is on my dollar. No more helping organizations use them as fundraisers or projects to check off of grant projects!
So, the splat dive. We have this handicap ramp outside of our house. It is our way to make the house more inviting to my mother in-law. She is in a wheelchair. I am determined a few times a year, however to try this ramp out to see how far and fast I can do a splat dive onto the ground! I think I have wheel chair envy!
Landed face down. Knee and left hip were involved somehow. Belle showed that she does care. Tail quiver. Tongue crazy trying to lick mud off face and I bring her back to house. Poor pup. I bet she never saw a chubby woman do such accrobatics before!
I am having more conversations with people who are actually interested in sustainable agriculture and great food this year. There was this shift of people in the region this last year. I am finally encouraged. Even looks like Green Rabbit is sold! I hear it is a young couple interested in farming. Great!
Brought Lorenzo home yesterday. Dennis MacDonald did the hauling. I like him. I do think he figures I'm off, but he is game to see what is next on the agenda here. Lorenzo promptly chased sheep, harassed the Kerry cows on the south pasture and jumped the fence to have closer discussions with the Dexter bull doing clean up breeding on the heifers (and now dairy herd). Too much testosterone.
Gailen Bridges finally sent the pedigree info on the KY Kerry cows.
Things are working out slowly. I am just pissed that people can still take advantage of my passions and cause wreckage in my finances just when things are starting to look up (again). A couple more days of wholesale sales and I'll be sorted, but damned if I help again!
So, the splat dive. We have this handicap ramp outside of our house. It is our way to make the house more inviting to my mother in-law. She is in a wheelchair. I am determined a few times a year, however to try this ramp out to see how far and fast I can do a splat dive onto the ground! I think I have wheel chair envy!
Landed face down. Knee and left hip were involved somehow. Belle showed that she does care. Tail quiver. Tongue crazy trying to lick mud off face and I bring her back to house. Poor pup. I bet she never saw a chubby woman do such accrobatics before!
I am having more conversations with people who are actually interested in sustainable agriculture and great food this year. There was this shift of people in the region this last year. I am finally encouraged. Even looks like Green Rabbit is sold! I hear it is a young couple interested in farming. Great!
Brought Lorenzo home yesterday. Dennis MacDonald did the hauling. I like him. I do think he figures I'm off, but he is game to see what is next on the agenda here. Lorenzo promptly chased sheep, harassed the Kerry cows on the south pasture and jumped the fence to have closer discussions with the Dexter bull doing clean up breeding on the heifers (and now dairy herd). Too much testosterone.
Gailen Bridges finally sent the pedigree info on the KY Kerry cows.
Things are working out slowly. I am just pissed that people can still take advantage of my passions and cause wreckage in my finances just when things are starting to look up (again). A couple more days of wholesale sales and I'll be sorted, but damned if I help again!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
chevre and Steve Baker
Well we finally did it! Charles Farnham Sr. dropped off the first load of goats milk. Had to take sample to Verona Labs to get it tested for SCC and antibiotics. Made Chevre. 25 gal. for the first batch. I was relieved. I was dreading 60 gal for the first batch.
Seemed decent. Goats milk does smell different than cows milk. I've done it before, it is just a smell that takes me a bit to get use to. Thank God it is good milk. I'll get results tomorrow.
We couldn;t kill the broilers (gone mini-turkeys). I gave them to Steve Wratten. In our negotiations for the birds I saw the meanest little white bantam rooster! Dave has been asking for one for his cousin for 5 years! I figured it was an even trade! Steve moves fast with a net! Got the rooster and came home. Dave visits it a few times a day and is grinning from ear to ear! It is pretty with pink legs and a stut about him... Dave named it after Stave Baker. He was a friend from MA who had a run in with the first bantam rooster. Apparently the story goes that Chris Bruelman (when he ran the auction some 20 years ago) let it go from the box at the Northampton Cooperative Auction and it terrorized theplace for weeks! It will be fun to see how this revenge project goes. I hope he lives happily in the haymow on this pretty little farm on Rte 12 in Sangerfield!
Seemed decent. Goats milk does smell different than cows milk. I've done it before, it is just a smell that takes me a bit to get use to. Thank God it is good milk. I'll get results tomorrow.
We couldn;t kill the broilers (gone mini-turkeys). I gave them to Steve Wratten. In our negotiations for the birds I saw the meanest little white bantam rooster! Dave has been asking for one for his cousin for 5 years! I figured it was an even trade! Steve moves fast with a net! Got the rooster and came home. Dave visits it a few times a day and is grinning from ear to ear! It is pretty with pink legs and a stut about him... Dave named it after Stave Baker. He was a friend from MA who had a run in with the first bantam rooster. Apparently the story goes that Chris Bruelman (when he ran the auction some 20 years ago) let it go from the box at the Northampton Cooperative Auction and it terrorized theplace for weeks! It will be fun to see how this revenge project goes. I hope he lives happily in the haymow on this pretty little farm on Rte 12 in Sangerfield!
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
We Must Be Crazy
I have had nothing but emails and calls from people asking my opinion about Farmstead Dairy Processing. 16 requests for workshop information at the Farmers market! I know I am getting cheeky, but two people in 24 hours tell me they are into goats and cannot stand the idea of drinking the milk let alone the cheese! You gotta like the stuff you make. Passion comes from your love of something. You don't love it and all you are is talk.
I did arrange for two workshops. One in November and one in December. I can handle workshops right now. I do like doing them when I am in charge. (I get paid that way) I'm going to lay off consulting after Marjorie and Dave get up and going. They have the most viable of the projects. I like them all, I just need to focus on the me part of things. It is affecting the business, especially this year.
I do make goats milk cheese for a bit, but I will tell all after the first batch. Dave is so not amused with me. I need milk. Sorry.
Karen Baase came by with this Dairy Profitability facilitator. Sorry facilitator, I liked our conversation this morning, I just don't remember your name. I was being a good girl and answered their questions as best I could and as truthfully as I could. I think I have to be a little less blunt at times. I was pretty good there though.
I am plowing through the Kerry Herd Books Judy Sponaugle of Jams Hundred and the Legacy Dexter Project gave me (I borrowed). Editing the ones I've done right now. Photocopied the other two I didn't enter or scan. I want to get the books published on the web site and credit her for loaning me the books. I would like the Irish books 62 and earlier. I am not trying to form another registry. There are enough. Kinda two things. The Irish Strategy did say that one of the limitations to the genetic study of the breed is that it is in book and not electronic form (except for more recent pedigrees). I will get them a copy of it. I also want us (U.S.) to do a genetic study of the U.S. and international herd as well. We will genotype the remaining cows. I also want an analysis of the pedigrees with as much data as possible to help us develop a strategy for conserving our Kerry cattle. Judy was a HUGE help.
I did pull off the first Kerry Cattle Breeders Meeting since 1917! Robert Reilly and his assistant secured the space at the First Ever Shaker Settlement in Albany. Patti Adams, Dana Wakefield and Dave Adams helped tremendously before the meeting. Jonathan White brought cheese and bread from his operation. The conversation was great. ALBC and Rare Breeds Canada were there... See picture above...(need to figure out how to place photo where I want to in this blog).
Let me see, ~back row~Dave Adams, Jeanette Beranger (ALBC), Ted Lawrence (Rare Breeds Canada), Sean Stanton, me, ~front row~Robert Reilly, Liz MacKenzie (Rare Breeds Canada), Patti Adams, Dana Wakefield, Jonathan White and Jonnie Larason (Plimoth Plantation). Photo taken with Patti Adams camera.
Tom Tucker rang back tonight. The lads are in CA. Well some are there/were there... They are laying the new surface for the Thoroughbred Race tracks. After that one horse died from the leg break, most of the surfaces on these tracks are being done over. It is kinda neet. He will ring back with a start date for the aging/farm market building.
Have to get two more pages edited and go to bed. Chevre tomorrow!
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Fall Market Cheese
I'd like to start the blog with a title that actually reflects my mood. I don;t think it is appropriate for a mother of a 5 year old to swear that vehemently.
Day started ok like. Dave agreed to run the trailer plug to John and Lisa Kirby (yup John you are mentioned in the blog again). Claire and I went to church. A nice place. I like the people there. They had this dedication for a stained glass window. It is pretty. I'd like to hire the guy who installed it. Looks like he actually knows how to work on an interior of a house. Kinda rare to find in these parts. We stayed for cidre and muffins/cookies/cake. Claire got to tell people we were going to kill birds after church...
We got home. She was cooperative for the most part and did agree that changing out of her fashion statement of the day into something that is ok to get grubby in was fair enough. I went to cheese plant to acid wash cans and clean up some more. Move the small fridge back to the house. Get the drains cleaned. You know, tiddy time!
Well! While filling the vat up with water for its acid wash, I looked at the fridge. It was making on off sound. Sure enough, the Gouda's on the top (you know the ones ready to market this weekend) were kinda melty. The ones on the next shelf were cracked and melty!!! Crap. Powerful stink while I open the cooler door. Damn, the hose I dropped in the vat just flapped back at me and drenched my right leg...
82 degrees F after the door was open while I reached in to get the thermometer!
Cheesemakers need pigs.
Vile smelly unruly undisciplined (however tasty) pigs eat cheeses that go off and then supply you with the most wonderful bacon and chops...
So much for fall market Gouda! I only have one wheel in the house right now.
Did talk to the goat guys. Goat guys don't even drink their goats milk. Not sure if that is a good thing. They say more than a couple words on this visit. They have less milk to offer than I thought. Maybe I can help them this winter...
I need about $7000 - 10000 to finish this cheese project. I make damn good cheeses in a retrofit milk house attached to our barn. I age the poor buggers in reach in coolers (kinda like shack farming).
I hate shack farming! We did that when we bought the place. Looks a lot different now. I feel better about inviting people here. Sheeps don't have the best place, but at least the pastures are nice this year. They get posh digs over the next 12 months.
I'll keep on this digression mind thought instead of trying to paste lines here and there. I have a hard enough time making sense of this vent, let alone trying to edit a vent!
Basically depressed in afternoon. Craving any carbs after this allergy sniffing diet thing. Coffee is one of them, by the way. Cannot have that nectar of the gods anymore...
Anyhow..
Went to Quacks with Dave and Claire to consume carbs. Had a Reuben sandwich and their horrid fries. The sandwich was good. Claire likes the grilled cheese. Dave not so much his meat/gravy/potato thing. He never likes it and yet orders it most every time. I guess expecting that you will not like it, yet with the hope that maybe you will like it is an ok menu item search technique.
I don't know. I guess I will have to bite the bullet and sell Moose (pregnant with Irish semen) and Lorenzo. Damn the cooler!
Day started ok like. Dave agreed to run the trailer plug to John and Lisa Kirby (yup John you are mentioned in the blog again). Claire and I went to church. A nice place. I like the people there. They had this dedication for a stained glass window. It is pretty. I'd like to hire the guy who installed it. Looks like he actually knows how to work on an interior of a house. Kinda rare to find in these parts. We stayed for cidre and muffins/cookies/cake. Claire got to tell people we were going to kill birds after church...
We got home. She was cooperative for the most part and did agree that changing out of her fashion statement of the day into something that is ok to get grubby in was fair enough. I went to cheese plant to acid wash cans and clean up some more. Move the small fridge back to the house. Get the drains cleaned. You know, tiddy time!
Well! While filling the vat up with water for its acid wash, I looked at the fridge. It was making on off sound. Sure enough, the Gouda's on the top (you know the ones ready to market this weekend) were kinda melty. The ones on the next shelf were cracked and melty!!! Crap. Powerful stink while I open the cooler door. Damn, the hose I dropped in the vat just flapped back at me and drenched my right leg...
82 degrees F after the door was open while I reached in to get the thermometer!
Cheesemakers need pigs.
Vile smelly unruly undisciplined (however tasty) pigs eat cheeses that go off and then supply you with the most wonderful bacon and chops...
So much for fall market Gouda! I only have one wheel in the house right now.
Did talk to the goat guys. Goat guys don't even drink their goats milk. Not sure if that is a good thing. They say more than a couple words on this visit. They have less milk to offer than I thought. Maybe I can help them this winter...
I need about $7000 - 10000 to finish this cheese project. I make damn good cheeses in a retrofit milk house attached to our barn. I age the poor buggers in reach in coolers (kinda like shack farming).
I hate shack farming! We did that when we bought the place. Looks a lot different now. I feel better about inviting people here. Sheeps don't have the best place, but at least the pastures are nice this year. They get posh digs over the next 12 months.
I'll keep on this digression mind thought instead of trying to paste lines here and there. I have a hard enough time making sense of this vent, let alone trying to edit a vent!
Basically depressed in afternoon. Craving any carbs after this allergy sniffing diet thing. Coffee is one of them, by the way. Cannot have that nectar of the gods anymore...
Anyhow..
Went to Quacks with Dave and Claire to consume carbs. Had a Reuben sandwich and their horrid fries. The sandwich was good. Claire likes the grilled cheese. Dave not so much his meat/gravy/potato thing. He never likes it and yet orders it most every time. I guess expecting that you will not like it, yet with the hope that maybe you will like it is an ok menu item search technique.
I don't know. I guess I will have to bite the bullet and sell Moose (pregnant with Irish semen) and Lorenzo. Damn the cooler!
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Sooooo Cooold
I have these sayings going through my head. You know like --
"Be careful what you wish for" - 'we need some cold days for the maple trees to run sap'
"too much of a good thing" - global warming means the cows get to graze in January
"Biological Systems are Cyclical" - very warm, now very cold
All these things. Pipes burst in dairy plant. Someone or somehow the door was open 1/2" on the night of January 5th. That was the big wind -22 degree day... Also took out a check vlave in teh vat. That took $204 to fix. Pipes another $34 in supplies and time.
I am just cold all of the time. The poor small ruminants in the pole shed are cold. 4 lambs so far. Only one ewe. No kids thank God! I am hoping that they will hold off until it is consistently 40-50 degrees out.
Cheese has been put on back burner again. Doing wonderful experiments. The Appenzellar is actually very nice. The Asiago needs to be lower in fat, but promising. The Wenslydale is not quite there. The Double Gloucester needs more salt and something... not quite balanced and too bland. Toasts like nothing else though. The Leicester is getting there. Better than fall, but needs another 4 or 5 batches and another 5 months...
Entering the Colwick in a cheese cake contest on March 31st. It is a lovesly rustic cheese. Lactic drained one. Goes best with a glaze of bluberries and cultured cream.
Yoghurt/Labneh experiments going VERY well. Need to see what is up with the new TA 060 cultures. I am not the only one having problems with it. Elmond said a batch of moz. was crap after using that culture. My Cacciocavallo took for evvvver to get going and then dropped acid like a rocket. It was during a rainy period and Dave did start feeding the haylege in teh silo. It just seemed interesting that Elmond has a similar experience with it...
"Be careful what you wish for" - 'we need some cold days for the maple trees to run sap'
"too much of a good thing" - global warming means the cows get to graze in January
"Biological Systems are Cyclical" - very warm, now very cold
All these things. Pipes burst in dairy plant. Someone or somehow the door was open 1/2" on the night of January 5th. That was the big wind -22 degree day... Also took out a check vlave in teh vat. That took $204 to fix. Pipes another $34 in supplies and time.
I am just cold all of the time. The poor small ruminants in the pole shed are cold. 4 lambs so far. Only one ewe. No kids thank God! I am hoping that they will hold off until it is consistently 40-50 degrees out.
Cheese has been put on back burner again. Doing wonderful experiments. The Appenzellar is actually very nice. The Asiago needs to be lower in fat, but promising. The Wenslydale is not quite there. The Double Gloucester needs more salt and something... not quite balanced and too bland. Toasts like nothing else though. The Leicester is getting there. Better than fall, but needs another 4 or 5 batches and another 5 months...
Entering the Colwick in a cheese cake contest on March 31st. It is a lovesly rustic cheese. Lactic drained one. Goes best with a glaze of bluberries and cultured cream.
Yoghurt/Labneh experiments going VERY well. Need to see what is up with the new TA 060 cultures. I am not the only one having problems with it. Elmond said a batch of moz. was crap after using that culture. My Cacciocavallo took for evvvver to get going and then dropped acid like a rocket. It was during a rainy period and Dave did start feeding the haylege in teh silo. It just seemed interesting that Elmond has a similar experience with it...
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Happy New Year
Almost said Happy New York... I'm posting while listening to Fords funeral on radio. Unger is here to look at some animals. Not worth starting the bull calves we found. Got $50 for a 8 week jersey cross and $200 for a 450# holstein bull calf. Well, not unless we sell them in plastic packaging anyways.
I just did some research on catching up on registrations of Ayrshire, Kerry and Arapawa animals. Did the To Do list for the New Year. Getting the house organized for the first time since we moved here.
I meet with a bee guy tomorrow to trouble shoot the beeswax issues I have. He gave me some good ideas. We'll wax cheese tomorrow. Tomme and Appenzellar, which will be interesting to see what turns out. Nutty cheese with mead character. Maybe called Backlava??
The order report stuff is on-line now. I'm going to see how that works out today. Promised to get them in on a timely basis for now on. My bad. Seems a shame to send in a report and pay $.46 for one month and a couple of dollars for the next. Planning on making a bit of cheese this year, so that will change.
Artisan cheese listserve was ended abruptly. Hope it wasn't because people told the moderator that she was sarcastic to a newbie. Seemed more agressive a post than she normally does. I hope things are ok with her. I was enjoying the conversations about the swiss style cheeses. I wouldn't worry so much about the eye development as I would the flavor. Flavor is what gets the price. Eyes are free to the customer. Besides, I prefer Guyere and Beufort types of Apline cheeses and they don;t have the ementaller type eyes.
Siobhan calved. Got her to milk with machines without kicking too bad. She is not going to be the most friendly cow in the earth, but by the time Patti gets her, she will be a good little dairy cow! Bull calf. We will name him Kieran. After St. Keiran (and St Piran for Cornwall). Vigorous little guy.
I hope all who read have a wonderful and prosperous New Year!
I just did some research on catching up on registrations of Ayrshire, Kerry and Arapawa animals. Did the To Do list for the New Year. Getting the house organized for the first time since we moved here.
I meet with a bee guy tomorrow to trouble shoot the beeswax issues I have. He gave me some good ideas. We'll wax cheese tomorrow. Tomme and Appenzellar, which will be interesting to see what turns out. Nutty cheese with mead character. Maybe called Backlava??
The order report stuff is on-line now. I'm going to see how that works out today. Promised to get them in on a timely basis for now on. My bad. Seems a shame to send in a report and pay $.46 for one month and a couple of dollars for the next. Planning on making a bit of cheese this year, so that will change.
Artisan cheese listserve was ended abruptly. Hope it wasn't because people told the moderator that she was sarcastic to a newbie. Seemed more agressive a post than she normally does. I hope things are ok with her. I was enjoying the conversations about the swiss style cheeses. I wouldn't worry so much about the eye development as I would the flavor. Flavor is what gets the price. Eyes are free to the customer. Besides, I prefer Guyere and Beufort types of Apline cheeses and they don;t have the ementaller type eyes.
Siobhan calved. Got her to milk with machines without kicking too bad. She is not going to be the most friendly cow in the earth, but by the time Patti gets her, she will be a good little dairy cow! Bull calf. We will name him Kieran. After St. Keiran (and St Piran for Cornwall). Vigorous little guy.
I hope all who read have a wonderful and prosperous New Year!
Friday, December 15, 2006
aging bit starting to happen
I don't have the trust fund or the huge financial backing, so I will not be building the cave. Too bad really. Great way to reduce my utility expenses. I did get the single door reach-in cooler the other day. A simple one that will go into the plant to brine/dry cheeses. That should do a lot towards my elimination of rind yuck that I battle with on a daily basis.
I hope to have things together enough to complete the whole Phase III part of my plan by March 2007. I am working in that direction. With the wet weather we were set back financially with the need to purchase the bale wrapper. I'm just getting things around enough to push this to the next step.
My goal is 10,000# of cheese in 2007. Do or die (hopefully quick and with a smile) I will do it. I also need to push for the 100 gal. vat. We have little milk over the winter. I need to calculate how much I need to process to cash flow the winter. I've already lined up the "other" products to sell in the farm stand. There is Arapawa goat soap, High Mowing seeds, thorvin and north american kelp, sea salt, redmond salt, thinking about cheese making stuff... Honey, beeswax products, milk, butter, eggs, I have the coffee maker...
The double Glaucester turned out interesting. I am intersted in the final outcome. The Small Holders cheese experiment turned out pretty well. Very mild, but I think that it how it is suppose to be. Honey Gouda sold out just after Christmas to my suprise. I think I'll need 20 wheels a week at current sales to make it til New Years next year. Not bad for 12-18# wheels!
I hope to have things together enough to complete the whole Phase III part of my plan by March 2007. I am working in that direction. With the wet weather we were set back financially with the need to purchase the bale wrapper. I'm just getting things around enough to push this to the next step.
My goal is 10,000# of cheese in 2007. Do or die (hopefully quick and with a smile) I will do it. I also need to push for the 100 gal. vat. We have little milk over the winter. I need to calculate how much I need to process to cash flow the winter. I've already lined up the "other" products to sell in the farm stand. There is Arapawa goat soap, High Mowing seeds, thorvin and north american kelp, sea salt, redmond salt, thinking about cheese making stuff... Honey, beeswax products, milk, butter, eggs, I have the coffee maker...
The double Glaucester turned out interesting. I am intersted in the final outcome. The Small Holders cheese experiment turned out pretty well. Very mild, but I think that it how it is suppose to be. Honey Gouda sold out just after Christmas to my suprise. I think I'll need 20 wheels a week at current sales to make it til New Years next year. Not bad for 12-18# wheels!
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Voting with your trolley
Food politics Voting with your trolley
Dec 7th 2006 From The Economist print edition
Can you really change the world just by buying certain foods?
HAS the supermarket trolley dethroned the ballot box? Voter turnout in most developed countries has fallen in recent decades, but sales of organic, Fairtrade and local food—each with its own political agenda—are growing fast. Such food allows shoppers to express their political opinions, from concern for the environment to support for poor farmers, every time they buy groceries. And shoppers are jumping at the opportunity, says Marion Nestle, a nutritionist at New York University and the author of “Food Politics” (2002) and “What to Eat” (2006). “What I hear as I talk to people is this phenomenal sense of despair about their inability to do anything about climate change, or the disparity between rich and poor,” she says. “But when they go into a grocery store they can do something—they can make decisions about what they are buying and send a very clear message.”
Those in the food-activism movement agree. “It definitely has a positive effect,” says Ian Bretman of Fairtrade Labelling Organisations (FLO) International, the Fairtrade umbrella group. Before the advent of ethical and organic labels, he notes, the usual way to express political views using food was to impose boycotts. But such labels make a political act out of consumption, rather than non-consumption—which is far more likely to produce results, he suggests. “That's how you build effective, constructive engagement with companies. If you try to do a boycott or slag them off as unfair or evil, you won't be able to get them round the table.”
Consumers have more power than they realise, says Chris Wille of the Rainforest Alliance, a conservation group. “They are at one end of the supply chain, farmers are at the other, and consumers really do have the power to send a message back all the way through that complicated supply chain,” he explains. “If the message is frequent, loud and consistent enough, then they can actually change practices, and we see that happening on the ground.”
The $30 billion organic-food industry “was created by consumers voting with their dollars,” says Michael Pollan, the author of “The Omnivore's Dilemma” (2006), another of this year's crop of books on food politics. Normally, he says, a sharp distinction is made between people's actions as citizens, in which they are expected to consider the well-being of society, and their actions as consumers, which are assumed to be selfish. Food choices appear to reconcile the two.
How green is your organic lettuce?
Yet even an apparently obvious claim—that organic food is better for the environment than the conventionally farmed kind—turns out to be controversial. There are many different definitions of the term “organic”, but it generally involves severe restrictions on the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers and a ban on genetically modified organisms. Peter Melchett of the Soil Association, Britain's leading organic lobby group, says that environmental concerns, rather than health benefits, are now cited by British consumers as their main justification for buying organic food. (There is no clear evidence that conventional food is harmful or that organic food is nutritionally superior.)
But not everyone agrees that organic farming is better for the environment. Perhaps the most eminent critic of organic farming is Norman Borlaug, the father of the “green revolution”, winner of the Nobel peace prize and an outspoken advocate of the use of synthetic fertilisers to increase crop yields. He claims the idea that organic farming is better for the environment is “ridiculous” because organic farming produces lower yields and therefore requires more land under cultivation to produce the same amount of food. Thanks to synthetic fertilisers, Mr Borlaug points out, global cereal production tripled between 1950 and 2000, but the amount of land used increased by only 10%. Using traditional techniques such as crop rotation, compost and manure to supply the soil with nitrogen and other minerals would have required a tripling of the area under cultivation. The more intensively you farm, Mr Borlaug contends, the more room you have left for rainforest.
What of the claim that organic farming is more energy-efficient? Lord Melchett points out for example that the artificial fertiliser used in conventional farming is made using natural gas, which is “completely unsustainable”. But Anthony Trewavas, a biochemist at the University of Edinburgh, counters that organic farming actually requires more energy per tonne of food produced, because yields are lower and weeds are kept at bay by ploughing. And Mr Pollan notes that only one-fifth of the energy associated with food production across the whole food chain is consumed on the farm: the rest goes on transport and processing.
The most environmentally benign form of agriculture appears to be “no till” farming, which involves little or no ploughing and relies on cover crops and carefully applied herbicides to control weeds. This makes it hard to combine with organic methods (though some researchers are trying). Too rigid an insistence on organic farming's somewhat arbitrary rules, then—copper, a heavy metal, can be used as an organic fungicide because it is traditional—can actually hinder the adoption of greener agricultural techniques. Alas, shoppers look in vain for “no till” labels on their food—at least so far.
Fair enough
What about Fairtrade? Its aim is to address “the injustice of low prices” by guaranteeing that producers receive a fair price “however unfair the conventional market is”, according to FLO International's website. In essence, it means paying producers an above-market “Fairtrade” price for their produce, provided they meet particular labour and production standards. In the case of coffee, for example, Fairtrade farmers receive a minimum of $1.26 per pound for their coffee, or $0.05 above the market price if it exceeds that floor. This premium is passed back to the producers to spend on development programmes. The market for Fairtrade products is much smaller than that for organic products, but is growing much faster: it increased by 37% to reach €1.1 billion ($1.4 billion) in 2005. Who could object to that?
The Guardian
It makes me feel so good
Economists, for a start. The standard economic argument against Fairtrade goes like this: the low price of commodities such as coffee is due to overproduction, and ought to be a signal to producers to switch to growing other crops. Paying a guaranteed Fairtrade premium—in effect, a subsidy—both prevents this signal from getting through and, by raising the average price paid for coffee, encourages more producers to enter the market. This then drives down the price of non-Fairtrade coffee even further, making non-Fairtrade farmers poorer. Fairtrade does not address the basic problem, argues Tim Harford, author of “The Undercover Economist” (2005), which is that too much coffee is being produced in the first place. Instead, it could even encourage more production.
Mr Bretman of FLO International disagrees. In practice, he says, farmers cannot afford to diversify out of coffee when the price falls. Fairtrade producers can use the premiums they receive to make the necessary investments to diversify into other crops. But surely the price guarantee actually reduces the incentive to diversify?
Another objection to Fairtrade is that certification is predicated on political assumptions about the best way to organise labour. In particular, for some commodities (including coffee) certification is available only to co-operatives of small producers, who are deemed to be most likely to give workers a fair deal when deciding how to spend the Fairtrade premium. Coffee plantations or large family firms cannot be certified. Mr Bretman says the rules vary from commodity to commodity, but are intended to ensure that the Fairtrade system helps those most in need. Yet limiting certification to co-ops means “missing out on helping the vast majority of farm workers, who work on plantations,” says Mr Wille of the Rainforest Alliance, which certifies producers of all kinds.
Guaranteeing a minimum price also means there is no incentive to improve quality, grumble coffee-drinkers, who find that the quality of Fairtrade brews varies widely. Again, the Rainforest Alliance does things differently. It does not guarantee a minimum price or offer a premium but provides training, advice and better access to credit. That consumers are often willing to pay more for a product with the RA logo on it is an added bonus, not the result of a formal subsidy scheme; such products must still fend for themselves in the marketplace. “We want farmers to have control of their own destinies, to learn to market their products in these competitive globalised markets, so they are not dependent on some NGO,” says Mr Wille.
But perhaps the most cogent objection to Fairtrade is that it is an inefficient way to get money to poor producers. Retailers add their own enormous mark-ups to Fairtrade products and mislead consumers into thinking that all of the premium they are paying is passed on. Mr Harford calculates that only 10% of the premium paid for Fairtrade coffee in a coffee bar trickles down to the producer. Fairtrade coffee, like the organic produce sold in supermarkets, is used by retailers as a means of identifying price-insensitive consumers who will pay more, he says.
As with organic food, the Fairtrade movement is under attack both from outsiders who think it is misguided and from insiders who think it has sold its soul. In particular, the launch by Nestlé, a food giant, of Partners' Blend, a Fairtrade coffee, has convinced activists that the Fairtrade movement is caving in to big business. Nestlé sells over 8,000 non-Fairtrade products and is accused of exploiting the Fairtrade brand to gain favourable publicity while continuing to do business as usual. Mr Bretman disagrees. “We felt it would not be responsible to turn down an opportunity to do something that would practically help hundreds or thousands of farmers,” he says. “You are winning the battle if you get corporate acceptance that these ideas are important.” He concedes that the Fairtrade movement's supporters are “a very broad church” which includes anti-globalisation and anti-corporate types. But they can simply avoid Nestlé's Fairtrade coffee and buy from smaller Fairtrade producers instead, he suggests.
Besides, this is how change usually comes about, notes Mr Pollan. The mainstream co-opts the fringe and shifts its position in the process; “but then you need people to stake out the fringe again.” That is what has happened with organic food in America, and is starting to happen with Fairtrade food too. “People are looking for the next frontier,” says Mr Pollan, and it already seems clear what that is: local food.
“Local is the new organic” has become the unofficial slogan of the local-food movement in the past couple of years. The rise of “Big Organic”, the large-scale production of organic food to meet growing demand, has produced a backlash and claims that the organic movement has sold its soul. Purists worry that the organic movement's original ideals have been forgotten as large companies that produce and sell organic food on an industrial scale have muscled in.
This partly explains why food bought from local producers either directly or at farmers' markets is growing in popularity, and why local-food advocates are now the keepers of the flame of the food-activism movement. Local food need not be organic, but buying direct from small farmers short-circuits industrial production and distribution systems in the same way that buying organic used to. As a result, local food appears to be immune to being industrialised or corporatised. Organic food used to offer people a way to make a “corporate protest”, says Mr Pollan, and now “local offers an alternative to that.”
Think globally, act locally?
Buying direct means producers get a fair price, with no middlemen adding big margins along the distribution chain. Nor has local food been shipped in from the other side of the country or the other side of the world, so the smaller number of “food miles” makes local food greener, too. Local food thus appeals in different ways to environmentalists, national farm lobbies and anti-corporate activists, as well as consumers who want to know more about where their food comes from.
Obviously it makes sense to choose a product that has been grown locally over an identical product shipped in from afar. But such direct comparisons are rare. And it turns out that the apparently straightforward approach of minimising the “food miles” associated with your weekly groceries does not, in fact, always result in the smallest possible environmental impact.
The term “food mile” is itself misleading, as a report published by DEFRA, Britain's environment and farming ministry, pointed out last year. A mile travelled by a large truck full of groceries is not the same as a mile travelled by a sport-utility vehicle carrying a bag of salad. Instead, says Paul Watkiss, one of the authors of the DEFRA report, it is more helpful to think about food-vehicle miles (ie, the number of miles travelled by vehicles carrying food) and food-tonne miles (which take the tonnage being carried into account).
The DEFRA report, which analysed the supply of food in Britain, contained several counterintuitive findings. It turns out to be better for the environment to truck in tomatoes from Spain during the winter, for example, than to grow them in heated greenhouses in Britain. And it transpires that half the food-vehicle miles associated with British food are travelled by cars driving to and from the shops. Each trip is short, but there are millions of them every day. Another surprising finding was that a shift towards a local food system, and away from a supermarket-based food system, with its central distribution depots, lean supply chains and big, full trucks, might actually increase the number of food-vehicle miles being travelled locally, because things would move around in a larger number of smaller, less efficiently packed vehicles.
Research carried out at Lincoln University in New Zealand found that producing dairy products, lamb, apples and onions in that country and shipping them to Britain used less energy overall than producing them in Britain. (Farming and processing in New Zealand is much less energy intensive.) And even if flying food in from the developing world produces more emissions, that needs to be weighed against the boost to trade and development.
There is a strand of protectionism and anti-globalisation in much local-food advocacy, says Gareth Edwards-Jones of the University of Wales. Local food lets farming lobbies campaign against imports under the guise of environmentalism. A common argument is that local food is fresher, but that is not always true: green beans, for example, are picked and flown to Britain from Kenya overnight, he says. People clearly want to think that they are making environmentally or socially optimal food choices, he says, but “we don't have enough evidence” to do so.
What should a shopper do? All food choices involve trade-offs. Even if organic farming does consume a little less energy and produce a little less pollution, that must be offset against lower yields and greater land use. Fairtrade food may help some poor farmers, but may also harm others; and even if local food reduces transport emissions, it also reduces potential for economic development. Buying all three types of food can be seen as an anti-corporate protest, yet big companies already sell organic and Fairtrade food, and local sourcing coupled with supermarkets' efficient logistics may yet prove to be the greenest way to move food around.
Food is central to the debates on the environment, development, trade and globalisation—but the potential for food choices to change the world should not be overestimated. The idea of saving the world by shopping is appealing; but tackling climate change, boosting development and reforming the global trade system will require difficult political choices. “We have to vote with our votes as well as our food dollars,” says Mr Pollan. Conventional political activity may not be as enjoyable as shopping, but it is far more likely to make a difference.
GOOD FOOD?
Dec 7th 2006
If you think you can make the planet better by clever shopping, think
again. You might make it worse
"You don't have to wait for government to move... the really fantastic
thing about Fairtrade is that you can go shopping!" So said a
representative of the Fairtrade movement in a British newspaper this
year. Similarly Marion Nestle, a nutritionist at New York University,
argues that "when you choose organics, you are voting for a planet with
fewer pesticides, richer soil and cleaner water supplies."
The idea that shopping is the new politics is certainly seductive.
Never mind the ballot box: vote with your supermarket trolley instead.
Elections occur relatively rarely, but you probably go shopping several
times a month, providing yourself with lots of opportunities to express
your opinions. If you are worried about the environment, you might buy
organic food; if you want to help poor farmers, you can do your bit by
buying Fairtrade products; or you can express a dislike of evil
multinational companies and rampant globalisation by buying only local
produce. And the best bit is that shopping, unlike voting, is fun; so
you can do good and enjoy yourself at the same time.
Sadly, it's not that easy. There are good reasons to doubt the claims
made about three of the most popular varieties of "ethical" food:
organic food, Fairtrade food and local food (see article[1]). People
who want to make the world a better place cannot do so by shifting
their shopping habits: transforming the planet requires duller
disciplines, like politics.
BUY ORGANIC, DESTROY THE RAINFOREST
Organic food, which is grown without man-made pesticides and
fertilisers, is generally assumed to be more environmentally friendly
than conventional intensive farming, which is heavily reliant on
chemical inputs. But it all depends what you mean by "environmentally
friendly". Farming is inherently bad for the environment: since humans
took it up around 11,000 years ago, the result has been deforestation
on a massive scale. But following the "green revolution" of the 1960s
greater use of chemical fertiliser has tripled grain yields with very
little increase in the area of land under cultivation. Organic methods,
which rely on crop rotation, manure and compost in place of fertiliser,
are far less intensive. So producing the world's current agricultural
output organically would require several times as much land as is
currently cultivated. There wouldn't be much room left for the
rainforest.
Fairtrade food is designed to raise poor farmers' incomes. It is sold
at a higher price than ordinary food, with a subsidy passed back to the
farmer. But prices of agricultural commodities are low because of
overproduction. By propping up the price, the Fairtrade system
encourages farmers to produce more of these commodities rather than
diversifying into other crops and so depresses prices--thus achieving,
for most farmers, exactly the opposite of what the initiative is
intended to do. And since only a small fraction of the mark-up on
Fairtrade foods actually goes to the farmer--most goes to the
retailer--the system gives rich consumers an inflated impression of
their largesse and makes alleviating poverty seem too easy.
Surely the case for local food, produced as close as possible to the
consumer in order to minimise "food miles" and, by extension, carbon
emissions, is clear? Surprisingly, it is not. A study of Britain's food
system found that nearly half of food-vehicle miles (ie, miles
travelled by vehicles carrying food) were driven by cars going to and
from the shops. Most people live closer to a supermarket than a
farmer's market, so more local food could mean more food-vehicle miles.
Moving food around in big, carefully packed lorries, as supermarkets
do, may in fact be the most efficient way to transport the stuff.
What's more, once the energy used in production as well as transport is
taken into account, local food may turn out to be even less green.
Producing lamb in New Zealand and shipping it to Britain uses less
energy than producing British lamb, because farming in New Zealand is
less energy-intensive. And the local-food movement's aims, of course,
contradict those of the Fairtrade movement, by discouraging
rich-country consumers from buying poor-country produce. But since the
local-food movement looks suspiciously like old-fashioned protectionism
masquerading as concern for the environment, helping poor countries is
presumably not the point.
APPETITE FOR CHANGE
The aims of much of the ethical-food movement--to protect the
environment, to encourage development and to redress the distortions in
global trade--are admirable. The problems lie in the means, not the
ends. No amount of Fairtrade coffee will eliminate poverty, and all the
organic asparagus in the world will not save the planet. Some of the
stuff sold under an ethical label may even leave the world in a worse
state and its poor farmers poorer than they otherwise would be.
So what should the ethically minded consumer do? Things that are less
fun than shopping, alas. Real change will require action by
governments, in the form of a global carbon tax; reform of the world
trade system; and the abolition of agricultural tariffs and subsidies,
notably Europe's monstrous common agricultural policy, which coddles
rich farmers and prices those in the poor world out of the European
market. Proper free trade would be by far the best way to help poor
farmers. Taxing carbon would price the cost of emissions into the price
of goods, and retailers would then have an incentive to source locally
if it saved energy. But these changes will come about only through
difficult, international, political deals that the world's governments
have so far failed to do.
The best thing about the spread of the ethical-food movement is that it
offers grounds for hope. It sends a signal that there is an enormous
appetite for change and widespread frustration that governments are not
doing enough to preserve the environment, reform world trade or
encourage development. Which suggests that, if politicians put these
options on the political menu, people might support them. The idea of
changing the world by voting with your trolley may be beguiling. But if
consumers really want to make a difference, it is at the ballot box
that they need to vote.
-----
[1] http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_ID=8380592
Dec 7th 2006 From The Economist print edition
Can you really change the world just by buying certain foods?
HAS the supermarket trolley dethroned the ballot box? Voter turnout in most developed countries has fallen in recent decades, but sales of organic, Fairtrade and local food—each with its own political agenda—are growing fast. Such food allows shoppers to express their political opinions, from concern for the environment to support for poor farmers, every time they buy groceries. And shoppers are jumping at the opportunity, says Marion Nestle, a nutritionist at New York University and the author of “Food Politics” (2002) and “What to Eat” (2006). “What I hear as I talk to people is this phenomenal sense of despair about their inability to do anything about climate change, or the disparity between rich and poor,” she says. “But when they go into a grocery store they can do something—they can make decisions about what they are buying and send a very clear message.”
Those in the food-activism movement agree. “It definitely has a positive effect,” says Ian Bretman of Fairtrade Labelling Organisations (FLO) International, the Fairtrade umbrella group. Before the advent of ethical and organic labels, he notes, the usual way to express political views using food was to impose boycotts. But such labels make a political act out of consumption, rather than non-consumption—which is far more likely to produce results, he suggests. “That's how you build effective, constructive engagement with companies. If you try to do a boycott or slag them off as unfair or evil, you won't be able to get them round the table.”
Consumers have more power than they realise, says Chris Wille of the Rainforest Alliance, a conservation group. “They are at one end of the supply chain, farmers are at the other, and consumers really do have the power to send a message back all the way through that complicated supply chain,” he explains. “If the message is frequent, loud and consistent enough, then they can actually change practices, and we see that happening on the ground.”
The $30 billion organic-food industry “was created by consumers voting with their dollars,” says Michael Pollan, the author of “The Omnivore's Dilemma” (2006), another of this year's crop of books on food politics. Normally, he says, a sharp distinction is made between people's actions as citizens, in which they are expected to consider the well-being of society, and their actions as consumers, which are assumed to be selfish. Food choices appear to reconcile the two.
How green is your organic lettuce?
Yet even an apparently obvious claim—that organic food is better for the environment than the conventionally farmed kind—turns out to be controversial. There are many different definitions of the term “organic”, but it generally involves severe restrictions on the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers and a ban on genetically modified organisms. Peter Melchett of the Soil Association, Britain's leading organic lobby group, says that environmental concerns, rather than health benefits, are now cited by British consumers as their main justification for buying organic food. (There is no clear evidence that conventional food is harmful or that organic food is nutritionally superior.)
But not everyone agrees that organic farming is better for the environment. Perhaps the most eminent critic of organic farming is Norman Borlaug, the father of the “green revolution”, winner of the Nobel peace prize and an outspoken advocate of the use of synthetic fertilisers to increase crop yields. He claims the idea that organic farming is better for the environment is “ridiculous” because organic farming produces lower yields and therefore requires more land under cultivation to produce the same amount of food. Thanks to synthetic fertilisers, Mr Borlaug points out, global cereal production tripled between 1950 and 2000, but the amount of land used increased by only 10%. Using traditional techniques such as crop rotation, compost and manure to supply the soil with nitrogen and other minerals would have required a tripling of the area under cultivation. The more intensively you farm, Mr Borlaug contends, the more room you have left for rainforest.
What of the claim that organic farming is more energy-efficient? Lord Melchett points out for example that the artificial fertiliser used in conventional farming is made using natural gas, which is “completely unsustainable”. But Anthony Trewavas, a biochemist at the University of Edinburgh, counters that organic farming actually requires more energy per tonne of food produced, because yields are lower and weeds are kept at bay by ploughing. And Mr Pollan notes that only one-fifth of the energy associated with food production across the whole food chain is consumed on the farm: the rest goes on transport and processing.
The most environmentally benign form of agriculture appears to be “no till” farming, which involves little or no ploughing and relies on cover crops and carefully applied herbicides to control weeds. This makes it hard to combine with organic methods (though some researchers are trying). Too rigid an insistence on organic farming's somewhat arbitrary rules, then—copper, a heavy metal, can be used as an organic fungicide because it is traditional—can actually hinder the adoption of greener agricultural techniques. Alas, shoppers look in vain for “no till” labels on their food—at least so far.
Fair enough
What about Fairtrade? Its aim is to address “the injustice of low prices” by guaranteeing that producers receive a fair price “however unfair the conventional market is”, according to FLO International's website. In essence, it means paying producers an above-market “Fairtrade” price for their produce, provided they meet particular labour and production standards. In the case of coffee, for example, Fairtrade farmers receive a minimum of $1.26 per pound for their coffee, or $0.05 above the market price if it exceeds that floor. This premium is passed back to the producers to spend on development programmes. The market for Fairtrade products is much smaller than that for organic products, but is growing much faster: it increased by 37% to reach €1.1 billion ($1.4 billion) in 2005. Who could object to that?
The Guardian
It makes me feel so good
Economists, for a start. The standard economic argument against Fairtrade goes like this: the low price of commodities such as coffee is due to overproduction, and ought to be a signal to producers to switch to growing other crops. Paying a guaranteed Fairtrade premium—in effect, a subsidy—both prevents this signal from getting through and, by raising the average price paid for coffee, encourages more producers to enter the market. This then drives down the price of non-Fairtrade coffee even further, making non-Fairtrade farmers poorer. Fairtrade does not address the basic problem, argues Tim Harford, author of “The Undercover Economist” (2005), which is that too much coffee is being produced in the first place. Instead, it could even encourage more production.
Mr Bretman of FLO International disagrees. In practice, he says, farmers cannot afford to diversify out of coffee when the price falls. Fairtrade producers can use the premiums they receive to make the necessary investments to diversify into other crops. But surely the price guarantee actually reduces the incentive to diversify?
Another objection to Fairtrade is that certification is predicated on political assumptions about the best way to organise labour. In particular, for some commodities (including coffee) certification is available only to co-operatives of small producers, who are deemed to be most likely to give workers a fair deal when deciding how to spend the Fairtrade premium. Coffee plantations or large family firms cannot be certified. Mr Bretman says the rules vary from commodity to commodity, but are intended to ensure that the Fairtrade system helps those most in need. Yet limiting certification to co-ops means “missing out on helping the vast majority of farm workers, who work on plantations,” says Mr Wille of the Rainforest Alliance, which certifies producers of all kinds.
Guaranteeing a minimum price also means there is no incentive to improve quality, grumble coffee-drinkers, who find that the quality of Fairtrade brews varies widely. Again, the Rainforest Alliance does things differently. It does not guarantee a minimum price or offer a premium but provides training, advice and better access to credit. That consumers are often willing to pay more for a product with the RA logo on it is an added bonus, not the result of a formal subsidy scheme; such products must still fend for themselves in the marketplace. “We want farmers to have control of their own destinies, to learn to market their products in these competitive globalised markets, so they are not dependent on some NGO,” says Mr Wille.
But perhaps the most cogent objection to Fairtrade is that it is an inefficient way to get money to poor producers. Retailers add their own enormous mark-ups to Fairtrade products and mislead consumers into thinking that all of the premium they are paying is passed on. Mr Harford calculates that only 10% of the premium paid for Fairtrade coffee in a coffee bar trickles down to the producer. Fairtrade coffee, like the organic produce sold in supermarkets, is used by retailers as a means of identifying price-insensitive consumers who will pay more, he says.
As with organic food, the Fairtrade movement is under attack both from outsiders who think it is misguided and from insiders who think it has sold its soul. In particular, the launch by Nestlé, a food giant, of Partners' Blend, a Fairtrade coffee, has convinced activists that the Fairtrade movement is caving in to big business. Nestlé sells over 8,000 non-Fairtrade products and is accused of exploiting the Fairtrade brand to gain favourable publicity while continuing to do business as usual. Mr Bretman disagrees. “We felt it would not be responsible to turn down an opportunity to do something that would practically help hundreds or thousands of farmers,” he says. “You are winning the battle if you get corporate acceptance that these ideas are important.” He concedes that the Fairtrade movement's supporters are “a very broad church” which includes anti-globalisation and anti-corporate types. But they can simply avoid Nestlé's Fairtrade coffee and buy from smaller Fairtrade producers instead, he suggests.
Besides, this is how change usually comes about, notes Mr Pollan. The mainstream co-opts the fringe and shifts its position in the process; “but then you need people to stake out the fringe again.” That is what has happened with organic food in America, and is starting to happen with Fairtrade food too. “People are looking for the next frontier,” says Mr Pollan, and it already seems clear what that is: local food.
“Local is the new organic” has become the unofficial slogan of the local-food movement in the past couple of years. The rise of “Big Organic”, the large-scale production of organic food to meet growing demand, has produced a backlash and claims that the organic movement has sold its soul. Purists worry that the organic movement's original ideals have been forgotten as large companies that produce and sell organic food on an industrial scale have muscled in.
This partly explains why food bought from local producers either directly or at farmers' markets is growing in popularity, and why local-food advocates are now the keepers of the flame of the food-activism movement. Local food need not be organic, but buying direct from small farmers short-circuits industrial production and distribution systems in the same way that buying organic used to. As a result, local food appears to be immune to being industrialised or corporatised. Organic food used to offer people a way to make a “corporate protest”, says Mr Pollan, and now “local offers an alternative to that.”
Think globally, act locally?
Buying direct means producers get a fair price, with no middlemen adding big margins along the distribution chain. Nor has local food been shipped in from the other side of the country or the other side of the world, so the smaller number of “food miles” makes local food greener, too. Local food thus appeals in different ways to environmentalists, national farm lobbies and anti-corporate activists, as well as consumers who want to know more about where their food comes from.
Obviously it makes sense to choose a product that has been grown locally over an identical product shipped in from afar. But such direct comparisons are rare. And it turns out that the apparently straightforward approach of minimising the “food miles” associated with your weekly groceries does not, in fact, always result in the smallest possible environmental impact.
The term “food mile” is itself misleading, as a report published by DEFRA, Britain's environment and farming ministry, pointed out last year. A mile travelled by a large truck full of groceries is not the same as a mile travelled by a sport-utility vehicle carrying a bag of salad. Instead, says Paul Watkiss, one of the authors of the DEFRA report, it is more helpful to think about food-vehicle miles (ie, the number of miles travelled by vehicles carrying food) and food-tonne miles (which take the tonnage being carried into account).
The DEFRA report, which analysed the supply of food in Britain, contained several counterintuitive findings. It turns out to be better for the environment to truck in tomatoes from Spain during the winter, for example, than to grow them in heated greenhouses in Britain. And it transpires that half the food-vehicle miles associated with British food are travelled by cars driving to and from the shops. Each trip is short, but there are millions of them every day. Another surprising finding was that a shift towards a local food system, and away from a supermarket-based food system, with its central distribution depots, lean supply chains and big, full trucks, might actually increase the number of food-vehicle miles being travelled locally, because things would move around in a larger number of smaller, less efficiently packed vehicles.
Research carried out at Lincoln University in New Zealand found that producing dairy products, lamb, apples and onions in that country and shipping them to Britain used less energy overall than producing them in Britain. (Farming and processing in New Zealand is much less energy intensive.) And even if flying food in from the developing world produces more emissions, that needs to be weighed against the boost to trade and development.
There is a strand of protectionism and anti-globalisation in much local-food advocacy, says Gareth Edwards-Jones of the University of Wales. Local food lets farming lobbies campaign against imports under the guise of environmentalism. A common argument is that local food is fresher, but that is not always true: green beans, for example, are picked and flown to Britain from Kenya overnight, he says. People clearly want to think that they are making environmentally or socially optimal food choices, he says, but “we don't have enough evidence” to do so.
What should a shopper do? All food choices involve trade-offs. Even if organic farming does consume a little less energy and produce a little less pollution, that must be offset against lower yields and greater land use. Fairtrade food may help some poor farmers, but may also harm others; and even if local food reduces transport emissions, it also reduces potential for economic development. Buying all three types of food can be seen as an anti-corporate protest, yet big companies already sell organic and Fairtrade food, and local sourcing coupled with supermarkets' efficient logistics may yet prove to be the greenest way to move food around.
Food is central to the debates on the environment, development, trade and globalisation—but the potential for food choices to change the world should not be overestimated. The idea of saving the world by shopping is appealing; but tackling climate change, boosting development and reforming the global trade system will require difficult political choices. “We have to vote with our votes as well as our food dollars,” says Mr Pollan. Conventional political activity may not be as enjoyable as shopping, but it is far more likely to make a difference.
GOOD FOOD?
Dec 7th 2006
If you think you can make the planet better by clever shopping, think
again. You might make it worse
"You don't have to wait for government to move... the really fantastic
thing about Fairtrade is that you can go shopping!" So said a
representative of the Fairtrade movement in a British newspaper this
year. Similarly Marion Nestle, a nutritionist at New York University,
argues that "when you choose organics, you are voting for a planet with
fewer pesticides, richer soil and cleaner water supplies."
The idea that shopping is the new politics is certainly seductive.
Never mind the ballot box: vote with your supermarket trolley instead.
Elections occur relatively rarely, but you probably go shopping several
times a month, providing yourself with lots of opportunities to express
your opinions. If you are worried about the environment, you might buy
organic food; if you want to help poor farmers, you can do your bit by
buying Fairtrade products; or you can express a dislike of evil
multinational companies and rampant globalisation by buying only local
produce. And the best bit is that shopping, unlike voting, is fun; so
you can do good and enjoy yourself at the same time.
Sadly, it's not that easy. There are good reasons to doubt the claims
made about three of the most popular varieties of "ethical" food:
organic food, Fairtrade food and local food (see article[1]). People
who want to make the world a better place cannot do so by shifting
their shopping habits: transforming the planet requires duller
disciplines, like politics.
BUY ORGANIC, DESTROY THE RAINFOREST
Organic food, which is grown without man-made pesticides and
fertilisers, is generally assumed to be more environmentally friendly
than conventional intensive farming, which is heavily reliant on
chemical inputs. But it all depends what you mean by "environmentally
friendly". Farming is inherently bad for the environment: since humans
took it up around 11,000 years ago, the result has been deforestation
on a massive scale. But following the "green revolution" of the 1960s
greater use of chemical fertiliser has tripled grain yields with very
little increase in the area of land under cultivation. Organic methods,
which rely on crop rotation, manure and compost in place of fertiliser,
are far less intensive. So producing the world's current agricultural
output organically would require several times as much land as is
currently cultivated. There wouldn't be much room left for the
rainforest.
Fairtrade food is designed to raise poor farmers' incomes. It is sold
at a higher price than ordinary food, with a subsidy passed back to the
farmer. But prices of agricultural commodities are low because of
overproduction. By propping up the price, the Fairtrade system
encourages farmers to produce more of these commodities rather than
diversifying into other crops and so depresses prices--thus achieving,
for most farmers, exactly the opposite of what the initiative is
intended to do. And since only a small fraction of the mark-up on
Fairtrade foods actually goes to the farmer--most goes to the
retailer--the system gives rich consumers an inflated impression of
their largesse and makes alleviating poverty seem too easy.
Surely the case for local food, produced as close as possible to the
consumer in order to minimise "food miles" and, by extension, carbon
emissions, is clear? Surprisingly, it is not. A study of Britain's food
system found that nearly half of food-vehicle miles (ie, miles
travelled by vehicles carrying food) were driven by cars going to and
from the shops. Most people live closer to a supermarket than a
farmer's market, so more local food could mean more food-vehicle miles.
Moving food around in big, carefully packed lorries, as supermarkets
do, may in fact be the most efficient way to transport the stuff.
What's more, once the energy used in production as well as transport is
taken into account, local food may turn out to be even less green.
Producing lamb in New Zealand and shipping it to Britain uses less
energy than producing British lamb, because farming in New Zealand is
less energy-intensive. And the local-food movement's aims, of course,
contradict those of the Fairtrade movement, by discouraging
rich-country consumers from buying poor-country produce. But since the
local-food movement looks suspiciously like old-fashioned protectionism
masquerading as concern for the environment, helping poor countries is
presumably not the point.
APPETITE FOR CHANGE
The aims of much of the ethical-food movement--to protect the
environment, to encourage development and to redress the distortions in
global trade--are admirable. The problems lie in the means, not the
ends. No amount of Fairtrade coffee will eliminate poverty, and all the
organic asparagus in the world will not save the planet. Some of the
stuff sold under an ethical label may even leave the world in a worse
state and its poor farmers poorer than they otherwise would be.
So what should the ethically minded consumer do? Things that are less
fun than shopping, alas. Real change will require action by
governments, in the form of a global carbon tax; reform of the world
trade system; and the abolition of agricultural tariffs and subsidies,
notably Europe's monstrous common agricultural policy, which coddles
rich farmers and prices those in the poor world out of the European
market. Proper free trade would be by far the best way to help poor
farmers. Taxing carbon would price the cost of emissions into the price
of goods, and retailers would then have an incentive to source locally
if it saved energy. But these changes will come about only through
difficult, international, political deals that the world's governments
have so far failed to do.
The best thing about the spread of the ethical-food movement is that it
offers grounds for hope. It sends a signal that there is an enormous
appetite for change and widespread frustration that governments are not
doing enough to preserve the environment, reform world trade or
encourage development. Which suggests that, if politicians put these
options on the political menu, people might support them. The idea of
changing the world by voting with your trolley may be beguiling. But if
consumers really want to make a difference, it is at the ballot box
that they need to vote.
-----
[1] http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_ID=8380592
Thursday, December 07, 2006
computer
I wish I knew html and all of those other computer alphabet soup letters. Then this blog would look great and I'd have my web site up and...
I hired a new guy to do the web site. If my computer will cooperate, I'll have the stuff to him by this weekend! Got CD thingy ready and it froze. Been doing that since. Worse comes to worse, I'll flood him with emails. That always seems to work lately (if I use the right email).
Head cold again. Death by Snots I think it is called. Makes me sound more masculine or just sick. Hard to be taken seriously when I have a cold. Trying not to make too many phone calls.
As we get closer to the whole organic grain part of our transition, Dave is panicking. UCF may drop orgo line, UCF on again by feed rep not making any calls, Called grain coop who deals with RIcher feeds, Richer Feeds on and off again, Cargill comes back into the line up. How about getting Coop to carry a PA line. Call Coop to give names of those guys. UCF may just be dropping NY, but sales guy coming tomorrow...
Trying to get cookies started, web site info (talked about already) stuff compiled. Clean out cheese cooler and rinds, finish cornell projects, think about processing schedule for 2007...
My mind is cluttered and I don't have the drive anymore. Must be the grey weather. Combine it with my own personal oofs and I feel like I'm getting nothing accomplished. Lake effect snow tonight. Only good thing is that I may not have to bring Claire to school tomorrow. Still have to consider market on Saturday and cheesemaking on Sunday and and and...
I hired a new guy to do the web site. If my computer will cooperate, I'll have the stuff to him by this weekend! Got CD thingy ready and it froze. Been doing that since. Worse comes to worse, I'll flood him with emails. That always seems to work lately (if I use the right email).
Head cold again. Death by Snots I think it is called. Makes me sound more masculine or just sick. Hard to be taken seriously when I have a cold. Trying not to make too many phone calls.
As we get closer to the whole organic grain part of our transition, Dave is panicking. UCF may drop orgo line, UCF on again by feed rep not making any calls, Called grain coop who deals with RIcher feeds, Richer Feeds on and off again, Cargill comes back into the line up. How about getting Coop to carry a PA line. Call Coop to give names of those guys. UCF may just be dropping NY, but sales guy coming tomorrow...
Trying to get cookies started, web site info (talked about already) stuff compiled. Clean out cheese cooler and rinds, finish cornell projects, think about processing schedule for 2007...
My mind is cluttered and I don't have the drive anymore. Must be the grey weather. Combine it with my own personal oofs and I feel like I'm getting nothing accomplished. Lake effect snow tonight. Only good thing is that I may not have to bring Claire to school tomorrow. Still have to consider market on Saturday and cheesemaking on Sunday and and and...
Saturday, November 25, 2006
X-Mas rush
Otherwise known as avoid going to New Hartford at all costs! I hate crowds and stupid suburban drivers. Needed printer ink and Bookstore fix. Came away with anxiety and strong desire to shop for everything on-line. If only one can get a grocery delivery service in rural America. Wouldn't need to leave the farm.
Thinking about Distribution/Food Chain projects and the 100 mile diets. Could I survive the last one? Single, yes, but with a more traditional Yankee diet consuming husband and typical pre-K aged daughter? I think I will seriously research this in more depth. I like the 100-mile diet idea and I think Hank and I can come up with something dynamic/systainable in the Food-Chain/Distribution area...
That is my weekend project. Think about food systems. Get Grant projects completed for the new year. Get web site done... Things upon things upon things. Oh yah, and the pile of cordwood to get in before teh snows start next weekend.
Thinking about Distribution/Food Chain projects and the 100 mile diets. Could I survive the last one? Single, yes, but with a more traditional Yankee diet consuming husband and typical pre-K aged daughter? I think I will seriously research this in more depth. I like the 100-mile diet idea and I think Hank and I can come up with something dynamic/systainable in the Food-Chain/Distribution area...
That is my weekend project. Think about food systems. Get Grant projects completed for the new year. Get web site done... Things upon things upon things. Oh yah, and the pile of cordwood to get in before teh snows start next weekend.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Apathy
There is this difference between Collecting and Conserving rare breeds of cattle. I think that there is this grey area as well. Most feel that they are conserving the breed when they multiply numbers. That is the case to a degree. Not developing a whole herd or flock plan and just multiplying for the sake of multiplying is not the answer. Look at the Guernsey. It can devistate a herd pretty quickly. Especially when all breeders use the same bull families over and over again.
For critical breeds there is sometimes a reason that they are still a critical population. There seems to be this sort of apathy. A go it alone kind of mentality. They are friendly towards each other, but consiously choose not to work together. It is hard to fathom why they have the breed. Some it is for pure speculation. Others because it is so rare. Some for a true passion to save critical genetics. Others happen onto animals and for lack of anyother reason, just like the individual animal and don't seem to want to breed it. All valid reasons. All reasons why the animal is rare.
I am developing this desire to NOT organize anymore. To not try to develop plans and talk to people and make meeting plans... I have become one of the many tired worn out coordinators that are all over the sustainable agriculture movement that act as champions. WOrk tirelessly for many hours. Some succeed, others fail. People like me just grow weary of the fight without a co-champion to help...
For critical breeds there is sometimes a reason that they are still a critical population. There seems to be this sort of apathy. A go it alone kind of mentality. They are friendly towards each other, but consiously choose not to work together. It is hard to fathom why they have the breed. Some it is for pure speculation. Others because it is so rare. Some for a true passion to save critical genetics. Others happen onto animals and for lack of anyother reason, just like the individual animal and don't seem to want to breed it. All valid reasons. All reasons why the animal is rare.
I am developing this desire to NOT organize anymore. To not try to develop plans and talk to people and make meeting plans... I have become one of the many tired worn out coordinators that are all over the sustainable agriculture movement that act as champions. WOrk tirelessly for many hours. Some succeed, others fail. People like me just grow weary of the fight without a co-champion to help...
Friday, November 03, 2006
Road Trip
It was one of those days. Had to do the Road Trip. Lisa's daughter wasn't feeling well. We were hankering for bacon and she needed the lamb. Went to Taberg. Lake effect snow warnings didn't scare us...
Started to have pangs of regret that I gave up the pastured meat deal. I used Dave's "I've killed enough animals" excuse. Even to get out of working on projects that Krys and others asked me to look into. I think that part of me hates the whole dynamics of working with others, the other wants peace at home. Dave hated the hours I'd spend working on these projects. I do miss the cash flow from marketing grass-fed meat. Lamb in particular.
I need to get through the whole winter of nothing accomplished thing. Aging facility holding for what ever reason. Boy do I hate waiting for other people... Being dissapointed with the way things are working with guest cheesemakers. Wanting to have some control of my business. This go slowly waiting bull shit is driving me up a wall...
Bought paint at Home Depot. Close to Dave's appointment, so bought a gallon. Also a trim colour in a qt. size that Claire decided to throw when she was pissed that I didn't buy yet another thing that struk her fancy. Apparently Home Depot is prepared for spoiled 4 year olds that were given paint cans to throw.
I have to decide pretty quickly what EXACTLY I am going to do. That will be it. At this point I don't care what everyone else has for plans. I am just going to bull ahead and get the cheese/farm business into the black and hammer make something of this.
Started to have pangs of regret that I gave up the pastured meat deal. I used Dave's "I've killed enough animals" excuse. Even to get out of working on projects that Krys and others asked me to look into. I think that part of me hates the whole dynamics of working with others, the other wants peace at home. Dave hated the hours I'd spend working on these projects. I do miss the cash flow from marketing grass-fed meat. Lamb in particular.
I need to get through the whole winter of nothing accomplished thing. Aging facility holding for what ever reason. Boy do I hate waiting for other people... Being dissapointed with the way things are working with guest cheesemakers. Wanting to have some control of my business. This go slowly waiting bull shit is driving me up a wall...
Bought paint at Home Depot. Close to Dave's appointment, so bought a gallon. Also a trim colour in a qt. size that Claire decided to throw when she was pissed that I didn't buy yet another thing that struk her fancy. Apparently Home Depot is prepared for spoiled 4 year olds that were given paint cans to throw.
I have to decide pretty quickly what EXACTLY I am going to do. That will be it. At this point I don't care what everyone else has for plans. I am just going to bull ahead and get the cheese/farm business into the black and hammer make something of this.
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