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I was, at the time I started this blog, part of a class at Kalamazoo College on food and travel writing. So if you like food, or travel, or participating in interesting discussions having to do with both or either of those things, you are in the right place. Also, you should check out my classmates' blogs because they're awesome.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Moo-se Your Own Adventure

Okay, my lovely people. Here is your present. Oh I am so excited for this. You have no idea. First read THIS, because it raises some excellent questions and gives things to think about. Then when you're done come back here and read the corrections, because the article is a little out of date.
 grassfed cows

CORRECTIONS:
1. It says in the article that the milk and cheese is all organic--which it is--but then it says they also sell to Organic Valley. Not so. They now sell their leftover milk to Horizon Organic. (Cow shareholders get first dibs on the fresh stuff.)
2. Further down in the section about beef cattle, it says that "there’s no guarantee that the mothers of the beef cattle were raised naturally." LIES. Clearly the person who wrote the article did not actually ask or wasn't paying attention. The mothers of the beef cattle are the dairy cows at Grassfields, which means that while the beef cattle are not certified organic, there IS a guarantee that their mothers were raised naturally. Dairy cows at Grassfields are raised naturally. Duh. That's the whole POINT.
3.  The chicken portion. The author of the article says that they are fed "non-organic, local feed made up of corn and soy, as well as kelp for minerals and sometimes egg shells to make the new eggs have harder shells." This is also false. Grassfields has recently switched to an all-organic feed supplement, which means the eggs are now certified organic. (I got to hear all about this because my mom was mad that they upped their price a full dollar per dozen.)
4. Same with the pigs as it is for the chickens. All their food supplements are now organic. Also, yes they do actually feed the pigs the leftover whey from making cheese. The pigs go gaga for it.

6 comments:

  1. Cool stuff Rachel, I'm excited to hear you talk about this farm. I'm going to assume that it's near where you're from as your mom gets food there? Thanks for sharing!

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    1. This dairy is about half an hour from where I live, and it's where my mom gets all our milk and the meat that we eat. You should probably check your email though, Marin cancelled class tomorrow. :D

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  2. This is extremely interesting considering what we read in Omnivores Dilemma! I'm interested in knowing where the corrections are based off of. Personal experience? Interesting!

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    1. Yes, the corrections are based off personal experience, plus I actually talked to the wife of the man who owns the farm. She was kind enough to take some time to let me interview her when I went home for midterm break. :)

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  3. Super cool, Rachel. Thanks for doing the legwork and sharing with us. It works so nicely with TOD, too. Really looking forward to your presentation.

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  4. Can't wait to discuss this cool farm! I feel so bogged down about the food system after TOD, so I can't wait to hear about this one and hopefully have a discussion about something lovely!

    Talk to you soon!

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