I Heart Farms

Hippo Birdies, Too, Me!

Have you ever seen such beautiful artichokes in your life? These were at the West Side farmers market on Saturday morning, at Betty Van Dyke's booth. The dark purple ones with the very long thorns are called Kiss of Burgundy—two will be on my dinner table tonight. My daughter is home for a brief visit to celebrate my birthday (tomorrow, April 30)...we're going to have hamburgers made from a grass-fed steer at TLC Ranch. I'd post a picture of him (George, brother of Weezy) but it might be too poignant.

Jim Dunlop Speaks His Mind about NAIS: "Bring It On!"

If there is anything in the world sweeter than standing amid 200 chickens underneath flowering apple trees on one of the most beautiful farms I've ever seen, I don't know what it is. This was taken a little more than a week ago at Everett Family Farm, here in Soquel, just a couple of miles from our house. These chickens belong to Mike Irving and Teresa Kurtak (pictured below), who met each other at last year's Eco-Farm conference, just as today's guest author, Jim Dunlop, met his beautiful wife, Rebecca Thistlethwaite.

The idea that sights like this might become imperiled if NAIS (National Animal Identification System) is implemented on a mandatory basis continues to alarm me. The response I got from the people I know who raise animals has been consistent: they're cheering this post.

I try very hard not to take anything beautiful for granted—I'm aware that there are people who read this site who may never in their lives have the chance to visit California, or even to visit a farm. My long-stated hope in visiting farms is that I might awaken in someone far away a curiosity about where their local farms are, and their local farmers.  I think any small farm should give a visitor the feeling of an oasis: water in a society parched for real, lasting beauty. At least, that's what they do for me.

NAIS: Hide Your Babies!!! [ACTION ALERT]

NOTE: If there are errors in my information, please correct me. I didn't read the NAIS bill but trusted the people who are themselves informed to have done so.

My ignorance last January (2006) was appalling. Walter Jeffries, of Sugar Mountain Farm in Vermont, left a comment here saying, "Please write about the National Animal Identification System [NAIS] and let people know just how horribly this will affect small farms and homesteaders. Big Brother Government is breathing down our necks on this one and will soon crush the small producers.”

Well, that's all he said, and frankly, on the date he wrote that, enough was going on in our little family that it soon fell off my radar. I heard a little more about NAIS another time or two, but when I wrote to a rancher friend, she tried to reassure me that NAIS was "voluntary." This is NOT the case.

Susan, at FarmgirlFare, also wrote me about it—what the hell I was thinking, I don't know. My complacency was based on misinformation. And I'm so out of the loop, being unable to keep up on my blog reading, that it wasn't until Michael Ruhlman alerted me to a brouhaha—and asked what I knew—that I roused myself to go find out for myself what the hell this NAIS is about. (P.S.—You need to read the comments.)

Susan writes, in one comment:

The "cost" to small farmers will be in both time and money. Each animal will be charged a registration fee. In addition, tons of paperwork will be required to be filled out. Every single time an animal is moved (say, to the processor--or even the vet!) forms will have to be filled out to track the movements. If a baby chick dies, a form will have to be filled out. I can't speak for other small farmers, but I'm running on too little sleep as it is, and my To Do List is never going to be finished in my lifetime. I'm busy enough caring for my live animals—I don't have time to fill out five different forms stating that Snugglebunny's lamb was breached and died during birth.

 

It's insane. It sounds like asking every single American to fill out a form for their fingernail clippings.

While the House of Representatives has passed this bill, it's not too late to petition the Senate to STOP NAIS before...well, the unthinkable, the unimaginable, happens. I've been reading for two days about NAIS and its implications, and you need to be one of the people to do something.

Redwood Hill Farm, The NY Times, & Mariquita Farm

I heard from a woman named Melissa Baldauf last week, who asked me to publish an invitation to a Slow Food event up in Sebastopol later this month. (The photo of the kid is at Redwood Hill Farm. I didn't take it.)

Date: Sunday April 22nd
Time: 10:30 am - 2 pm

Location: Redwood Hill Farm in Sebastopol ( redwoodhill.com). Carpool location from San Francisco (departs precisely at 9 am) is the big Main Post parking lot in the Presidio.

Cost: Members: $10, Non-Members $15
Children under 12 FREE
Potluck lunch: please bring a dish to share
Contact: Lisa Ryers, Eric Cohen (farmvisits@mac.com)

Action Alert: Claravale Dairy

It's been a while since I visited Claravale Farm—Ron Garthwaite and Collette Cassidy have been under siege in legal woes that you, dear reader, can help with.

I've written before about the how the Santa Cruz county bureaucracy threw up hurdle after ridiculous hurdle when Ron and Collette's landlords unexpectedly set about evicting from their Watsonville site.

This week, I heard from Ron and Collette, who sent out the following e-mail.

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