Let Them Eat Grass

Whenever farmers inject artificial fertilizer into their cropland where I live, almost all of it will end up in the Missouri River Watershed. It will be carried to the Mississippi River, and down to the Gulf of Mexico. All this fertilizer has created a dead zone the size of Delaware. And the worst part is that we don't even need artificial fertilizer. We only need it because we've decided cows like grains more than they like grass.

The average conventional farm sells their product on the commodity market. Corn, Beef, Soybean, etc. Some random trader in Chicago or New York sets the prices for the whole nation and farmers across the US feel the squeeze. They have to bet on intangibles like inflation and future events like the weather months in advance, which is really impossible to do. The loans they took out in the spring need to be repaid with the fall's harvest. Sometimes what they plant or slaughter isn't even worth the initial investment and time they've put into them. For instance, during the 80's the US government bought the dairy cows from struggling farmers and dumped them on the beef market. That tanked the beef market for beef producers and put them out of business! The solution to all this anxiety-producing bet on intangibles and future events is buying direct. Support a farmer who heals the land and sells directly to consumer. They get to keep the entire dollar rather than watch part of it go to a middle man. Lucinda Cramsley is jumpstarting that revolution. She's something crazy like an 8th generation farmer, whose ancestors used to farm hemp. She's married, but she's not married to the past. Lucinda founded an internet company called "MOINK" ("Moo" and "Oink") that helps farmers sell direct to consumers. It accepts food that meets only the highest pasture-based standards and ensures farmers receive around 800% more than if they sold on the commodity market.

I've eaten a lot of meal replacement bars in my life. Most of the ingredients on the back label are unpronouncable. Since becoming a regenerative farmer, I'd like to believe there is a better way. And, I believe that better way is through something called "The Carnivore Bar". Regardless of whether you've decided to live on a meat and water diet, the Carnivore Bar contains only two ingredients: beef and salt. And I think those are two things most discerning foodies can get behind. Philip and Merry Meece are my friends. Philip was a combat medic and Merry is a touring musician. They both realized the need for healthy, shelf-stable food for different reasons. He needed food that was healthy and could withstand intense heat. She needed a healthy bar she could pick up at a gas station. If you live a mobile lifestyle, listen up! This might be the bar for you!

If you want to make small changes, change how you do things. If you want to make big changes, change how you see things. And today, friends, we are focused on big changes. Our understanding of "wilderness" in America prevents us from having healthy relationships with the land. It pits farmers and conservationists against each other unnecessarily. It complicates categorizing my farm. In today's episode, I tap into my roots as a past English teacher. We look at a little etymology, and deconstruct the cultural and ecological assumptions of the word "wilderness". I use a quote from Luther Standing Bear to illuminate how differently modern Americans view wilderness from Native Americans, and as an example of a better way to think about "wilderness". The upshot? We should think of "wilderness" as tame, bountiful, and blessed.

We see labels everywhere, to the point of immunity. Not that we're immune to their effects, but definitely to their presence. We see a label, like "USDA ORGANIC" or "CERTIFIED ANGUS BEEF", and we assume it means they are healthy for us. We feel like we've connected the mental dots. But we haven't. Labels haven't been around forever. Only since meat could be shipped nationwide year-round, which was 1867, did consumers begin to lose touch with their food supply. Leapfrogging to today, and we have no idea where 99% of our food came from. We go further to assume some things are inherently "pure", like wine, and couldn't possibly be contaminated with anything. A man named Rudy Kurniawan exploited this trust, and pumped over $550 million dollars of fake wine onto the marketplace before he was arrested in 2012. Oh, and one study found that 90% of french wines contained traces of insecticides. Labels don't have to be misleading though. Some labels don't just tell you what ISN'T in the meat, they also are affirming of good agricultural practices. I got to interview CARRIE BALKCOM, Executive Director of the American Grassfed Association. If you think I'm nuts, listen to her. She's been doing this for nearly 20 years. And she knows her stuff.

The majority of the hens in the United States lead monotonous and disgusting lives. From getting their beaks chopped off to prevent nervously pecking their friends, to living in a cage the size of an iPad for their entire lives, millions upon millions of eggs get produced in closely guarded facilities with are often cesspools of death and disease. The eggs are often washed in multiple chlorine baths, which end up leaching through the outer membrane into the egg itself. Yet, as Austin Williams will point out, the valid response is to search for eggs from hens who live lives on pasture. The egg industry has done a phenomenal job popularizing the narrative, "An egg is an egg is an egg." There is such widespread confusion about the differences between "all natural", "organic", "cage free", "free-range", and "pasture-raised" that people just assume they are different ways of saying the same thing. They are not. By the end of the episode, you'll learn three questions you can ask any egg producer to guarantee you're getting eggs from hens who live their lives on pasture, rather than dirty confinement barns. (And you'll get to hear the tales of Cindy and Henrietta!)

We have food amnesia. So often we can just buy food without ever thinking where it came from. This has terrible consequences for our bodies and the natural world. I am making this podcast not for other producers of food, but consumers of it. The main problem I had as a consumer of food was a knowledge-problem. I didn't know enough to feel like I could make a difference in my diet. This podcast seeks to arm consumers with the knowledge that makes them dangerous as critical consumers. We will cover many topics in the coming episodes. Everything from eggs to raw milk to wilderness abandonment to CAFO's to the California wildfires and more. Please join me on this journey. Eventually, I hope more people support farmers who's mission is to heal the land and nourish them with healthy food.