EatGreenDFWhttp://www.eatgreendfw.com/eat-green-dfw-blog/Your online source for sustainable food and crafts in North Texasen-US2010-03-10T23:32:22ZSquarespace Site Server v5.9.2 (http://www.squarespace.com/)Consumers Voting with Their Forks for "GMO-Free"http://www.eatgreendfw.com/eat-green-dfw-blog/2010/3/8/consumers-voting-with-their-forks-for-gmo-free.htmlBrian2010-03-08T14:27:20ZFood Safety GMO GMO Sales food policy 

GMO-free is the fastest growing health and wellness claim among store brands in 2009 according to a report  from The Neilson Company, a leading marketing and media information company that studies consumer habits.  The report notes that "GMO-free" labeling on store-brands was up by 67% in 2009 while product sales were $60.2 million.  
It looks like more people are getting the message that genetically modified foods are being linked to a list of problems from organ damage in animals fed GMO corn to decreased crop yields despite promises to the contrary. 
I find it amazing that so many people are actually getting the message.  There's the occasional NY Times article, but outside of the blogosphere and some specialized online healthy food sites, the GMO controversy gets little notice. 
A Google alert on GMO's returns dozens of articles every day about opposition to GMOs places like Australia, India, France, Bulgaria and even Azerbaijan.  But not much in the USA.  Despite that consumers, it seems, are voting with their forks. 
For information on where to find non-GMO products, check out the website for the Non-GMO Project.
]]>Don't want to pay a premium for grass-fed beef?http://www.eatgreendfw.com/eat-green-dfw-blog/2010/3/7/dont-want-to-pay-a-premium-for-grass-fed-beef.htmlBrian2010-03-07T16:54:16ZBeef Food Safety beef food safetyThe New York Times' Nicholas Kristoff talks about the danger of using low-dose antibiotics to make factory-raised pigs, chicken and cows grow faster--super bugs that are resistant to antibiotics.  We're using so many in agriculture that today, more antibiotics are fed to livestock in North Carolina alone than are given to humans in the entire United States

A chilling quote: 

“We are seeing infections caused by Acinetobacter and special bacteria called KPC Klebsiella that are literally resistant to every antibiotic that is F.D.A. approved,” Dr. Spellberg said. “These are untreatable infections. This is the first time since 1936, the year that sulfa hit the market in the U.S., that we have had this problem." 

Grass-fed meat producers use antibiotics--if at all--only to fight an infection, not to promote growth. And the best ones (you can find them here at EatGreenDFW.com) don''t use hormones either.  True, their meat costs more but consider this paragraph from Kristoff's article. 

"Dr. Martin J. Blaser, chairman of the department of medicine at New York University Langone Medical Center, and a former president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, agrees that agricultural use of antibiotics produces cheaper meat. But he says the price may be an enormous toll in human health."

We're all going to pay for cheaper hamburger one way or another.  

]]>Yours Truly Featured in Advocate Magazinehttp://www.eatgreendfw.com/eat-green-dfw-blog/2010/2/25/yours-truly-featured-in-advocate-magazine.htmlBrian2010-02-26T03:26:12ZFarmers Markets farmers market locavores sustainableCheck out the latest edition of Advocate magazine.  Yours truly is featured prominently. The piece accurately describes the problems faced by me and people like Sarah Perry from the White Rock Local Market  and Ed Lowe at Celebration in bringing local foods to neighborhood markets.  

If you live in Dallas and like the idea of neighborhood markets, call your city councilman and tell him or her to do what they can to make it easy (and inexpensive) for local farmers to sell directly to you at an accessible location. 

And, if you live in Plano, do the same.  The folks in the Plano Health Department are right now drafting new farmers market rules and regulations.  I've met with them and their hearts are in the right place. Their new proposed regs will probably go before the Plano City Council in April.

Buying locally raised produce, grass-fed beef, pasture-raised pork and chicken, truly free-range eggs and farmstead relishes, jams and sauces should be as easy and accessible as buying Hamburger Helper® Spaghetti O's® and Cap'n Crunch®. 

 

]]>New Beef Producer at EatGreenDFW.comhttp://www.eatgreendfw.com/eat-green-dfw-blog/2010/2/24/new-beef-producer-at-eatgreendfwcom.htmlBrian2010-02-24T21:19:20ZBeef beef new producerSendaro Brothers Ranch has joined the EatGreenDFW.com community.  The brothers Shane and David Hamilton raise their cattle on their ranch in Palo Pinto County, just west of Ft.Worth-Dallas overlooking the Brazos River Valley. 

As they explain on their website:

"Here, you will find the best in native grasses, cool clear water, and an atmosphere of low stress that provide our cattle with exactly what they need to bring you and your family a diet of low saturated fat, high CLA'S, high OMEGA 3's, and low cholesterol, in a beef that is produced in the ethical manner our customers have come to expect.

"Sendero  Brothers  cattle are never put through feedlots in cramped pens or given growth hormones or antibiotics. The nutritional benefits to both cattle and man are apparent and have allowed us to produce healthy natural grassfed beef with the nutrition, texture, and flavor your family will truly enjoy."

The brothers also offer all-natural grassfed/ finished Kosher Texas beef under the name "Abe's Sendero Brothers All Natural Grassfed/finished Kosher Beef".  Their meat is processed at Hamiltons Meat Market in Weatherford, which was started by their grandfather 45 years ago. The meat is is dry aged for 18 to 21 days before it is custom cut. They offer free delivery to DFW on orders over $90.

]]>Confused Over Food Terms?http://www.eatgreendfw.com/eat-green-dfw-blog/2010/2/18/confused-over-food-terms.htmlBrian2010-02-19T00:39:06ZGMO definitions food policy locavores organicStumbled upon this great blog post that does a great job in explaining the differences between and among all those terms that foodies and food marketers like to throw around, like "certified naturally grown" and "naturally grown" and "Beyond Organic" and "GMO-free" etc. 

Worth a read. 

]]>Oak Cliff Coffee Offering "Aid for Haiti" Blendhttp://www.eatgreendfw.com/eat-green-dfw-blog/2010/2/10/oak-cliff-coffee-offering-aid-for-haiti-blend.htmlBrian2010-02-10T14:25:25ZHaiti charity giftFrom now until February 24th, Oak Cliff Coffee will be offering an "Aid for Haiti" Blend, with 50% of the proceeds from sales going directly to Aid for Haiti, a a faith based charity formed to meet the medical and spiritual needs of people that have no where else to turn. The volunteer organization seeks out "populations in Haiti that are not being touched by any aid of any kind, no matter how remote they are," to help.
The blend will be roasted every Thursday (Feb 11th, 18th 25th) and delivered next day for the next 3 weeks. Oak Cliff is also offering free delivery anywhere within Dallas City Limits for all orders that include but not limited to the ‘Aid for Haiti’ Blend.  February 24th will be the last day to order.  
The blend is described as "a sugary sweet cup with bright citrus notes... recommended as a drip or French press." 
More info here. 

 

]]>Three New Producers Addedhttp://www.eatgreendfw.com/eat-green-dfw-blog/2010/2/8/three-new-producers-added.htmlBrian2010-02-08T22:17:48ZCSA CSA Vegetables new new producer organicSqueezepenny Sustainable Farm, Texas Honeybee Guild and Windy Hill Farms have been added to the pages of EatGreenDFW.com. 

Squeezepenny, which is in McKinney and run by Penny Braley, hosts a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and is currently accepting applications for the Spring 2010 season. 

Texas Honeybee Guild, owned by bee wranglers Susan and Brandon Pollard, offers a line of signature local honey products including Zip Code Honey and Blackland Prairie Wildflower Honey along with other products from the hive.   

Windy Hill Farm, which is in Comanche, is run by Ty Wolosin and raises produce, meat and eggs that are Certified Naturally Grown.  The farm is offering weekly CSA's  in the Comanche, Abilene, and Dallas area for the upcoming 2010 season.

]]>The USDA has announced that it is dropping NAIShttp://www.eatgreendfw.com/eat-green-dfw-blog/2010/2/8/the-usda-has-announced-that-it-is-dropping-nais.htmlBrian2010-02-08T21:26:48ZFARFA NAIS NAIS food policy small farmingLooks like if you shout loud and long enough, the USDA listens.  On Friday the USDA announced d that it is refocusing its efforts on “a new, flexible framework”  in its search for a way to control animal diseases that will apply only to animals moved in interstate commerce and encourage the use of “lower-cost” technology.

For those of you who aren't fully up to speed, the USDA spent more than $120 million over the past several years in an attempt to implement the National Animal Identification System, a plan to basically put a microchip in every farm animal to track its whereabouts in case of a disease outbreak.  

It was a plan only bureaucrats, microchip makers and feedlot operators could like.  Feed lot operators wouldn't have had to tag EVERY cow since once the cow arrives, it only leaves for trip to the slaughterhouse.  But local farmers and ranchers would.  Overall, it was intrusive, expensive and wasteful. 

Last year, the Obama administration held a series of "listening sessions" around the country and first hand how hated NAIS was.  And they listened. For more information

You can read more details from USDA here.  For the small farmers side of the story go to the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance site. Judith McGeary, the head of FARFA, was a leader in the fight against NAIS.

 

]]>Tune in today when Oprah Winfrey asks Michael Pollan "Where Does Our Food Come From?"http://www.eatgreendfw.com/eat-green-dfw-blog/2010/1/27/tune-in-today-when-oprah-winfrey-asks-michael-pollan-where-d.htmlBrian2010-01-27T15:31:19ZGMO GMO food policy locavores media sustainable sustainableSustainable food goes more mainstream today with the help of Oprah Winfrey when she quizzes food guru Michael Pollan on where our food comes from.  More info here Pollan's new book Food Rules offers 64 common-sense rules for eating, some of which have been described as "laugh-out-loud" funny.  (e.g. Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of your milk."

I haven't read it yet, but if its as well done as his Omnivore's Dilemma it will be well worth a read.  Ifyou can take the time, tune in to Oprah today (4 p.m. on channel 8) He's sure to take more than a few swipes at big ag and the folks who offer us cheap, nutritionally bankrupt Frankenfoods .

]]>Farmer-Rancher Network Meeting to Feature Producer-Consumer Roundtableshttp://www.eatgreendfw.com/eat-green-dfw-blog/2010/1/23/farmer-rancher-network-meeting-to-feature-producer-consumer.htmlBrian2010-01-23T16:31:06ZFarmers Markets Meet Ups farmers local localvore locavoresMark you calendar for Saturday, Jan. 30 for the Farmer-Rancher Network day-long gathering bringing together producers and consumers to discuss ways to work together to promote local foods.

Rancher Jackie King from P.O.P. acres and Tony Johns, formerly with the Dallas Farmers Market have organized a day of roundtable discussions on food issues along with presentations of interest to producers and consumers alike including one on the "Intricacies of Serious Produce Production" by Bobby Thurman from Lawns Alive.  More info to follow. 

The event will be held at the Gander Mountain Lodge Meeting Room at 3301 Corsicana Crossings Blvd. in Corsicana. Admission is free.  Lunch will be available for $6, but you need to RSVP to Tony Johns tony.johns2007@yahoo.com.

If your a farmer and want to know what consumers want or a consumer who wants to let farmers know what you're looking for, this is your chance.  Contact Jackie King at popacres@peoplepc.com or 903-673-1435 for more information.

]]>