Despite the nomenclature “swine flu”, the CDC assures us that there is no danger of contracting influenza from eating or handling pork.  Here’s some facts:

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security:
•    People cannot get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Most influenza viruses, including the swine flu virus, are not spread by food.
•    Eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe.
•    No food safety issues have been identified, related to the flu.
•    Preliminary investigations have determined that none of the people infected with the flu had contact with hogs.
•    The virus is spreading by human-to-human transmission.

 The CDC recommends the following measures to prevent the transmission of flu: 
•     Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.
•    Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
•     Wash your hands frequently and use alcohol-based sanitizers.
•     Try not touch surfaces that may be contaminated with the flu virus.
•     Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
•     Try to stay in good general health.
•     Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food.

Detailed information and updates on the flu outbreak may be obtained at:
Texas Department of State Health Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

If you own swine, consider the following practices to enhance the biosecurity on your farm to prevent the disease from being transmitted to your herd:
•     Workers should shower and change into farm-specific clothes and shoes before entering swine facilities.
•     Establish, implement and enforce strict sick leave policies for workers presenting influenza-like symptoms.
•     Recommend that workers with symptoms be seen by a medical provider immediately.
•     Restrict the entry of people into your facility to only workers and essential service personnel.
•     Prevent international visitors from entering your facilities.
•     Ensure adequate ventilation in facilities to minimize re-circulation of air inside animal housing facilities.
•     Vaccinate pigs against the influenza virus.  Vaccination of pigs can reduce the levels of virus shed by infected animals
•     Contact your swine veterinarian if swine exhibit flu-like or respiratory illness, especially if the onset or presentation of the illness is unusual.

Like many of my colleagues, I’ve been swamped by forwarded e-mails about the pending “Food Safety” legislation, HR 875.  Most, if not all, of the e-mails tell me that this will be the end of my direct-to-consumer marketing, farmer’s markets, organic gardening and so on; such as “… if NAIS and 875 both pass, we will all be forced to eat ONLY imported foods or that processed by big corporations”

I admit I’ve not had the time to investigate the matter thoroughly.  And being a skeptic, I tend to think that the more often and more emphatic these type of forwarded e-mails are, the more likely they are to contain inaccuracies.

I was delighted to see a very thorough post on the subject on Ethicurean.  The bill is actually quite reasonable, does not interfere with within-state commerce and certainly do not make it illegal to be an organic farmer.   Before you hit the forward button, or write to your congressman, please read this very thoughtful post (and some very good comments).

I recently read a new report on consumer’s attitudes about food technologies.  The report was done by the Food Standards Agency (an independent UK Government department aiming to protect the public’s health and consumer interests in relation to food).

“Overall, the public was found to be wary, uneasy and uncertain about emerging food technologies. Having said
this, emerging food technologies tend not to be top-of-mind concerns”

I’m not all that surprised, but it set me to thinking about our attitudes toward “new” in food and how it’s changed since the 50s and 60s.
Over at Texas Locavore, I saw a video of a new short film on slow food:  “Slowing Down” by Adrian Tapia

The film blames our fascination with new technology as a big part of the reason we got so far away from “slow food” and became that infamous fast-food nation.But if we were so anxious to try everything new “back when’; from microwaves to Mel-mac dinnerware (remember when plastic was “cool”?) what’s changed?  I think there are several reasons:

• “New” is no longer new; technology is advancing so rapidly that we are being overrun with ‘new’ every day.  Perhaps we are feeling out of control?
• Trust; I suspect that those making food purchase decisions in the 50s and 60s had a much greater trust level in government and the media than consumers do now.
• Balance: Personally, I think we’ve gotten out of balance with consuming in many ways.  There is increasing nostalgia for simpler times and new technologies don’t fit in with that.
• Emotional Arguments: In our web-enabled age, consumers are bombarded with information and emotional arguments against technologies (often with slanted science) abound.  The report found that emotion was a primary driver in opinions about food technologies.

All of this begs the question which prompted the report in the first place:  Should consumer opinion shape government policy on food technology?

Just for fun, the folks over at So Good blog are having a tournament of their own.  Each day, you can vote for your favorite meat dish in a NCAA tournament-style matchup.  Today’s contest pits Bacon (#1 seed) versus Pork Chops and Ham versus Pulled Pork.  Yesterday, Steak trounced Roast Beef and Buffalo edged Veal in the bovine bracket.

So, go vote your gastronomic favorites!  Any bets on the ultimate winner?  I can’t decide between steak and bacon.

The American Meat Institute (AMI) has released a YouTube Video which seeks to counter some of the recent press about health risks from eating processed meats.   I admit I am a big fan of bacon.  In fact, I have read in several places that bacon is the single most frequent food that lures people out of vegetarianism.

Even though this comes from an industry group, (so obviously there is an agenda) there are some good facts in here.  For example, only 5% of the nitrate in our diet comes from processed meats–far more comes from green leafy vegetables and other plant sources.   Although I’d fall short of calling lunch meat a health food, the video points out that lunch meats can be low-fat and/or low sodium.  They also correctly say that many of the sensational press articles about “processed meat” have confused pickled and very high-salt meat-based diets (such as in parts of Asia) with the typical lunch-meat in the US.

I’m a huge advocate for simple, less processed foods.  But, the take-home message is that you don’t have to feel guilty for eating an occasional hot-dog or giving your children lunch meat on some days.  In moderation, lunch meat or nitrate-cured bacon is not something to lose sleep over. 

Back in 2007, we wrote about a paper claiming the use of growth promotants in beef production was more beneficial to the environment than grass-feeding.  Virtually the same story is in the most current issue of Beef Magazine.  I find it interesting that Beef doesn’t provide a link to the report, and the link I included to the report in my blog post no longer works.  Nor can I find the report anywhere on the CFGI website.  At least the original Iowa State Report is still available.  Note that this report has nothing to do with the environmental effects of either type of production.

I do not argue that increasing the efficiency of production can be beneficial for the environment and for the economy.  I take issue, however, with propaganda disguised as journalism.  I believe this article (like many on the other side of the debate) to be misleading and less about information than influence.

I have the same problem believing extreme positions on any subject;  be it claims that we will be poisoned if our food is produced using any technology invented in the 20th Century, or disregard of any and all concerns that some technologies have negative effects. 

Amanda, over at Beef Daily Blog, is hosting a discussion about ranch chores, which got me thinking about my own chore philosophy.

I can’t say I was a big fan of chores as a child.  Now that I’m a Mom, I have come to the conclusion that a good chunk of what’s wrong with our society, our economy and our food/health status could be fixed if all children grew up doing chores.

My boys go to a Montessori school where there is no homework.  Instead, parents are asked to pledge they will involve their children in daily life activities, such as laundry, grocery shopping and cooking.  I am convinced that, if a parent does so consciously, the children learn more of value that way than any amount of homework can teach them.  It is especially so out on a ranch, but true enough in any home.

When children are responsible for helping take care of their environment, they are truly a part of the family. Face it, especially when they are young, having children “help” often just isn’t much help.   It is tempting to do it yourself.  BUT, if you are taking the time to teach them or to work beside them, they are gettting serious “quality time” from you.

I think we unconsciously teach our children to be passengers when we take care of all their needs.  Without participating in life chores, how can we expect them to suddenly be competent parents or responsible adults once they leave home?  Chores teach children responsibility.  Perhaps as importantly, when children inevitably fall short on their responsibilities, they can experience the consequences in ways that are sooo much cheaper than learning that lesson later in life.

At our ranch, our boys are part of the food chain all the way through.  They are there when we artificially inseminate, help name the calves, go with us when we take beeves in for harvest and they really love a good steak.  In fact, we joke that at our ranch, we know our beef “from semen to sewer”.

Children don’t need to be on a ranch, though, for chores to contribute to an appreciation for where their food comes from.  Chores such as gardening, cooking, grocery shopping or going to the farmer’s market help promote healthy eating habits.  It’s amazing what vegetables children will eat when they grow them themselves.  Especially if you get some of the cool varieties, such as purple ‘green’ beans, rainbow chard, purple carrots, zebra striped tomatoes or blue potatoes.

All this adds up to self-esteem.  And it’s a lot cheaper than therapy, martial arts classes or reform school!

I’m trying something new:  Once a month, I’m going to attempt to outline an entire day here at the ranch, no holds barred.  Here’s the last day in February at Wild Type Ranch:

We woke up to howling winds and a drop of 50 degrees from yesterday’s unusually warm temps of 85 degrees. The winds here blow with gusts to 25-40 mph, sometimes stronger, and if you spend a day out in them, your ears hurt for another day.  Today the wind blew the door past where it should comfortably go on the new tractor.  My wonderful husband, Ralph, spent an hour welding up a suitable repair, in the middle of too much other work.  [note to single women–if you are planning to live a rural life, I strongly recommend finding a husband who can weld AND cook].

My first chore (before coffee!) is to check for heat in our yearling heifers.  Nothing happening, but I note a case of pinkeye, so that changes the entire day’s priorities.

After a cup of tea and a discussion of the day’s battle plan, we begin to move cattle around.  We were planning to “synchronize” our heifers for breeding starting next week, but the pinkeye outbreak means we have to bring all the heifers up to the barn to check them out and treat the affected ones, so we move that plan ahead by a week.  In retrospect, it works out, as we were hoping to be able to go back to Illinois for my sister’s annual Christmas caroling party, and to do so, we need to avoid calving between Dec 18th and 28th, which means avoiding breeding between March 12 and 27th. We take duties as stewards of our animals’ welfare seriously, and check our cattle at least twice daily during calving season.  Consequently, vacations are planned a year in advance.

Before we can work with our heifers, we need to free up some space in one of our smaller paddocks.  We have had a few older cows out with our bull for 30 days.  These girls didn’t breed last spring, but were put in with a young bull, so it may not have been their fault.  Each one of our cows is an individual–it’s hard to make the decision to cull them, but we also have a responsibility as producers of registered stock to make sure that the genetics we are selling are sound in every way.  We decided to give them one more chance before we let them go, but if they aren’t bred now, they will have to go to the sale barn.

Next, we gather our heifers, weigh, check for pinkeye on each one and move them to the paddock outside our kitchen window, so we can detect estrus if they are ready to be bred.  To help us determine which heifers are ready for breeding, we put a patch on them so we can detect any “mounting” when they come into heat. The patches are kind of like scratch-off lottery tickets, with a silver coating over the brightly covered base.  One of my boys used to tell me “look Mom, that cow won” when he would notice a rubbed patch after a cow had come into heat.  We A.I.  (artificially inseminate) most of our cattle in order to get the best genetics into our beef and registered Angus and Red Angus herds.

Once the heifers are moved and patched, I water the 250 feet of potatoes we planted yesterday along with the rest of our spring garden (mostly greens, peas and carrots and the first rows of beans) while Ralph cooks up a quick lunch to get us through the afternoon.  Breakfast was a piece of toast with vegemite, so lunch is really welcome!

I’ll ‘fess up to taking a 20 minute nap on the couch after lunch.  After that necessary refresher, it’s time to sort off the cows that will be having embryos implanted on Monday and Tuesday.   We work closely with Dreamcatcher Ranch on embryo transfer and selling our bulls.  Ralph puts out big round bales to the various paddocks in advance of tonight’s expected freeze.  Cattle need full bellies to stay warm in windy or wet weather.

Once cattle work is done for the day, we start on the other end of the production chain: beef.  We picked up beef last week, but because the local farmer’s markets haven’t started for the year, our freezers are unusually full.  We’ve got a few orders and a quarter to fill, as well as inventorying what we have on hand before markets start April 1 (we sell at the Georgetown Farmer’s Markets all season).  That takes both of us the better part of 2 hours.  Ralph leaves as the sun goes down to cook us up a wondeful supper, while I finish reorganizing our portable freezer trailers for next week’s delivery points and orders.

I come in after dark, and am glad to find that Ralph has gathered the eggs (usually my job, if I am here) and has a glass of wine waiting for me.  18 eggs today! Spring is definitely on its way!  Supper, a much needed shower and e-mails back to family in other parts of the country and world finish out the day.

The Animal Ag Alliance just released an alarming report showing that extreme animal rights groups dramatically increased their attacks on the food chain in 2008.  Attacks on food retailers, such as Hardee’s, McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC increased by triple digits.

Extremist groups claimed responsibility for “liberating” thousands of animals during the year and causing millions of dollars worth of damage.

It’s important to understand that groups such as Animal Liberation Front, Earth Liberation Front and even PETA and HSUS (Humane Society of the United States) are ultimately about promoting the total elimination of the use or keeping of animals in any way, even as pets.  Masquerading behind “animal rights” they often use intimidation and destruction to advance their agenda.

Don’t get me wrong: I am a big advocate of humane animal handling;  “Respect for all life is the founding principle of our own Wild Type Ranch.  I support my local humane society and animal shelter.  (the local humane society is not at all the same entity as HSUS).  I take issue with groups that act in an inhumane manner, using terrorist techniques, under the guise of promoting “welfare”.

If you’ve been thinking about jumping on the local bandwagon, the latest Local Harvest newsletter had some good pointers:

• Start small and easy.   Don’t think of “going local” as all-or-nothing, or it will seem impossible.   Face it, local coffee just isn’t going to happen for most people!
• Switch to more whole foods and less processed.  Whole foods are easier to get locally.  The more processed, the more likely the ingredients are broadly sourced.
• Find and shop your local farmer’s markets.  You may find this to become one of your favorite parts of the week (and when was the last time you felt that way about going to the super?).  My market days do more to renew my faith in humanity and hope for our future than almost anything I do.
• Utilize web resources to find farmers, markets and vendors.  Two good places to start are LocalHarvest.org and EatWild.com.
• Be prepared to pay more for some items.  Your total food bill doesn’t have to be higher, however.  Eating at home, eating whole foods and concentrating on in-season items usually lowers the total cost of food to balance out the higher per-item cost.
• Consider growing your own.  Start small, with a few herbs, perhaps.  I use peppers and lettuce in my flower beds as edible ornamentals.

Remember, the main idea behind eating locally is making the most of your region’s agricultural strengths.  Be conscious and do what you can, but don’t worry about being fanatic.