Chicken Run

I’ve decided that “zoning out” is truly an ability that is not natural to human beings. We strive constantly to pay attention, to be “present”, and to multi-task. I am guilty of always trying to do something in conjunction with something else. But I digress… have you ever seen a chicken run? Like really run? Across a 3 acre wide open field with nothing in her way, no obstacles to hurdle, no worries to slow her down? This is truly a fascinating sight. I watch my 5 chickens as much as I can out of my large windows that over look our pasture. The chickens are so entertaining. Especially since I’m a really good chicken owner and let them roam a 3 acre pasture as free as a bird…. I honestly believe they are happier doing that than when they lived in their coup all day. But come on, why do I believe that? Because I’m human, and I am purely putting my emotions on a chicken. I’d be happier roaming than couped up. But I also don’t eat seeds out of cow poop, get hunted by birds of prey, or break off albumin and turn it into an egg now do I? So I have a little problem with people who believe “animals are happier when…” Come on, people! They’re not human! But I digress…They stay gone most of the day, in the woods or somewhere looking for bugs. But when they come out, usually around 5 pm, they are so far from the coup and their feed that they all of a sudden feel the urge to run home. And seeing them run makes me laugh out loud. Chickens are an oddly shaped bird, being so bottom heavy. And when there are only 2 very short legs to run upon, the running is more like really fast waddling. They lurch their heads forward and take off. They run the whole way, like 100 yards! What’s really funny is when 2 run together, side by side, like 2 people finishing a marathon trying to inch ahead of the other. They are running fast across an open field and then all of a sudden they get to the fence and halt. Then very slowly, then begin to peck the ground again. They aren’t out of breath or noticeably tired, or wondering if their stocks are worth anything… they’re just pecking the ground and clucking. Oh and leaving me a beautiful brown egg everyday. They have no idea how much I appreciate that.
I really wish I could post a video of the ladies doing their afternoon sprints. You would laugh out loud. {for all you city folk, yes there still exists a peculiar and miserable thing called dial-up which prevents me from uploading videos within a reasonable amount of time- like a day}

Words

>while browsing a particularly crunchy (meaning mainly shopped in by people who put the "dirt worshipping tree hugger" bumper sticker on their car) grocery store (that will remain nameless since they do have some redeeming qualities like very delicious pimento cheese), I was marveling at how pretty the organic produce was. The farmer (who took the wife) always likes to make the comment that most Americans wouldn't buy organic produce because it "isn't pretty enough." Well, this stuff was pretty. And small. And very neatly arranged. Anyway, as I got closer to the display, there were signs in front of each section. The first sign read: CONVENTIONAL HONEYDEWS. Hmmmm.... The next sign read: CONVENTIONAL CANTELOPES. More hmmmm.... And yet again, CONVENTIONAL ORANGES. I giggled. The little person arranging them looked at me and said, "Can I help you, mam?" Oh definetly not. But thanks! The farmer and I just walked off still giggling. So when I got home, I looked up the word 'conventional' in the dictionary. Of course I knew what they meant on the signs, and in fact we use that term to refer to our methods of agriculture as well. But words imply things, and can often be a slippery slope.... so here is the definition I found:
adj. depending on or conforming to formal or accepted standards or rules rather than nature; not natural, original, or spontaneous
Now I'm really laughing! I just don't know what words are safe anymore. I mean, yes, of course we adhere to "accepted standards and rules" - but so do certified organic growers. And they would absoluetly die if you called them conventional. And we fight constantly to educate the public that 'natural' just isn't the word to use when referring to things grown in the 21st century, organic or not. Nothing is in it's 'natural' state anymore. And that word is SO subjective and loaded... (don't get me started on the GMO debate!) And I never considered us to be 'not original'... Seriously? As farmers, we make up less than 1% of America's population, and other than the "oldest profession on earth", I'm pretty sure farming is the second oldest and therefore QUITE original.

I know what you are thinking- I'm reading too much into it, right? But reading too much into it is exactly the problem these days... Words mean whatever people want them to mean. They mean everything and nothing at all. So go ahead, call my peanuts CONVENTIONAL. But please don't call me unnatural!

Can you solve this riddle?

Where would you be if you were....
Naked, starving, and can't find ethenol ??

Stephen's "View From Here"

This is an article that Stephen was asked to write for our Florida Farm Bureau monthly magazine. I couldn't have said it better myself....

“…It was farmers that went over the mountains, cleared the land, and settled it, and farmed it, and hung on to their farms. …it was farmers who took all that country and made it America, son. Don’t you ever forget that.” (Laura Ingalls Wilder, Farmer Boy, 1933)

That is why I am proud to be a farmer. Without a doubt our country’s success is directly tied to the farmers who have worked hard to succeed. We could not have done it alone; fortunately, we have had the support of our government from our nation’s inception. Our forefathers believed that a nation that could feed itself could not fail and maintaining that ability should rank among its highest priorities. George Washington said, “I know of no pursuit in which more real and important services can be rendered to any country than by improving its agriculture, its breed of useful animals, and other branches of a husbandman's cares.”

This past year I traveled with my church to southern Mexico, the center of origin for corn, but most fields there would barely yield 10 bushels/acre. That is 6% of America’s average corn yield. The farmers that were successful in Mexico learned to farm in America and took their knowledge back to Mexico. I saw the effects of a government with little priority toward developing its agriculture and therefore bringing its citizens beyond subsistence agriculture.

It requires a constant effort to educate our neighbors and political leaders of the challenges we face and how important it is to protect agriculture’s future, not simply for our own sake as farmers, but for our nation’s sake. American agriculture still needs the support of the federal, state, and local government. We need our land-grant institutions. We need the support of our neighbors. We face skyrocketing production costs, out of reach land prices, and volatile markets unlike any have ever seen. We have to ensure that our story is told and our importance is not forgotten. Through the Young Farmer and Rancher Leadership program I have been prepared to meet this challenge not just as a farmer, but an agricultural promoter and a citizen of this greatest of nations. I see that I cannot sit on the sidelines and expect someone else to speak for me; I must step out and be a leader. I have taken my first step by running as a candidate for my local Board of County Commissioners in this year’s election.

I am proud to be part of the 1.5% of our population that is tasked with feeding, clothing, and now recently fueling the remainder of the population. A daunting task, but well worth the effort. The words of Thomas Jefferson propel me forward: “Let the farmer forevermore be honored in his calling; for they who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God.”

Stephen Fulford, 3^rd generation farmer

Jefferson County

How does your garden grow?

We've got everything coming in at once.... cucumbers, zipper peas, corn, squash, watermelon, cantelope, okra.... Esther is quite pleased with her self. I was telling her, as we were shellin' peas, "Esther you did such a great job growing these peas!" And her response was, "Don't thank me, thank Daddy!" I thought that was pretty cute.

I hate to say I told you so...

Well, the research is finally rolling in and we are pleased with what is being told. However, I know that this info will not be out in the TV arena, so people will continue down the path of believing their own truth.... anyway, it is interesting.

Reporting on the GM Debate
14.jul.08
The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 3, No. 5
Nerissa Hannink
http://uninews.unimelb.edu.au/articleid_5277.html
Ultimately, the most critical issue for sustainable farming is whether we can grow enough food to sustain the human population
“I see my role as applying a scientific scalpel to vexatious issues,” says Dr Elizabeth Finkel. As a former biochemist and now award-winning journalist, Dr Finkel is well placed to guide the public through the vast amount of information on the contentious topic of GM food.
For many people journalists are their primary source for the major issues, so as a proxy for the concerned public, she has been invited to reveal the process behind her work at a Faculty of Land and Food Resources Dean’s lecture on the 6 August.
Dr Finkel’s piece Organic foods exposed – published in the popular science magazine COSMOS – won the 2007 Bell Awards’ categories for Best feature writer and Best analytical writer.
To address this issue, Dr Finkel posed two questions:
What is the healthiest way to produce our food – for us and for the environment? And what is the most sustainable way to produce our food – organics or technological solutions like GM?
“My conclusion, is that the mass migration to organic food has not been on the back of scientific evidence, but based on the ideology that ‘natural is best’,” says Dr Finkel.
Her search through the literature revealed that data on organic food is predominantly from non-refereed or very low-ranking journals, and is often used in distorted ways.
“I found it important to steer away from highly polarised people from both sides of the debate. My technique is to peel away the layers of the onion by being guided by the science. To write this article, it took three months of reading articles in high-ranking peer-reviewed journals and interviewing the academics themselves.
“One of the most useful journal articles I came across was a comprehensive review of some 400 scientific papers on the health impacts of organic foods, published by Faidon Magkos and colleagues in 2006 in the journal Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, which concluded there was no evidence that eating organic food was healthier.
“The bottom line is that there is tremendous variation in the nutritional make-up of fruit and vegetables regardless of whether they were grown by organic or conventional means.”
In her article Dr Finkel notes that it is so difficult to support the claim that organic food is healthier that the Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority has directed the British Soils Association – an organic foods advocacy group – to desist from making it.
“The next step in my search was to ask: If the end-product isn’t healthier for us, is the actual process of growing food organically better for us and for the environment? Organic farmers are bound to an ideology that demands they use only natural techniques. In some cases, such purism gets in the way of practices that are better for the environment and more sustainable for farmers.”
She uses the example of organic farmers using litres of BT spray (BT is a ‘natural’ pesticide made by the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis), yet they often demonise the genetically modified (GM) cotton crops that carry an inbuilt supply of BT, and which therefore require less spraying, sparing farmers – and the environment – from the risks of pesticide overuse.
Dr Finkel agrees that there are historical reasons for concern with conventional farming, including the widespread use of the pesticide DDT and fertiliser run-off which led to algal blooms and soil erosion.
“But these days, modern farming techniques have evolved after decades of pressure from the environmental movement and decades of work by a generation of scientists inspired by environmental awareness. In fact, conventional farming is starting to look a lot like organic farming.”
Ultimately, the most critical issue for sustainable farming is whether we can grow enough food to sustain the human population.
“I sought the views of many agricultural scientists. According to Norman Ernest Borlaug, the American plant geneticist who won a Nobel Peace Prize: ‘This shouldn’t even be a debate. Even if you could use all the organic material you have – the animal manures, the human waste, and the plant residues – and get them back on the soil, you couldn’t feed more than four billion people’”.
So when asked how to move this issue forward, Dr Finkel says, “I have had an amazing response to this article; people earnestly want answers to the question of sustainable farming.
“We need a combination of scientists and regulators involved in future discussions to articulate the benefits of GM crops and show how we deal with the risks.
“The precautionary principle is a good one, but that doesn’t mean paralysis

More hard times

As I looked out on our little piece of heaven this morning, saw my animals playfully enjoying the day and seeing our peanut field enjoying yesterday's inch of rain.... I was thankful. Our family has been enjoying this land for almost 70 years and we are thankful to have the privilege of being stewards of it.

But not too many states away, there are families looking out over their land and seeing a completely different view. Over 5 million acres are gone. That number may not mean that much to the average American. Let me put it this way: 2500 family farms. Gone. I guarantee that the world will feel this. Corn, wheat, soybeans, beans.... beef, poultry, pork..... staples that America supplies the world with. We didn't grow corn for years because of the low price... $2 a bushel. Today it is $8. And climbing. We don't mind making money, but never at another farmer's expense!

As I said in a previous post, times are only going to get harder.