OMG GMOs!

Just came across this video: Pando House Rock: OMG GMOs!  It's kind of a cute way to share the story on why GMOs were started by big food corporations, but ultimately, GMO crops can't be the solution to solving world hunger.  The nutritional value of GMO crops are just not proven and the results so far as we look across the USA, Americans have access to so much food, yet they are starving for the nutritional value that they need, and obesity is the result from what I am calling the 'GMO starvation'.

This summer, we did a little experiment, and the results were scary.  We tried growing crops by a field that was sprayed with pesticides for the corn on the field.  I have walked through this corn field, and nothing grows on the field except for this pesticide resistant GMO crop.  Not even one tuff of grass - just dirt and corn (the pesticides kill everything else).  We planted some of our precious non-GMO squash seeds a few feet away from the field.  The squash plants started to grow in early summer, but right after the fields got the pesticide, all the squash plants started to grow stunted, none flowered, and none developed fruit.  The squash plant looked like it was dieing from non-natural causes (it didn't look like it was dried out by no water or yellow from no sun).  It looked mutated and stunted.  If this is what pesticides are doing to real, natural plants, then my question is, what is it doing to our bodies??!!  And, think about the GMO crop that seems to thrive with the pesticides, what is it really?!  I can't believe this is what food corporations are calling food.

It's this kind of stuff that gets me riled up.

Pando House Rock: OMG GMOs!

 

Garden Yield

The garden this year is teeming with interesting yield.  Can't believe it's been a month since my last post (Garden Bounty) of what is going on in my garden world.  Here are a few food pictures of what has been harvested (and delightfully consumed).

A picture of our corn.  So the interesting thing about this corn is that the consistency of the kernel is not juicy but chewy.  I actually am not sure I like the texture as much as the 'selected' corn species we get from the commercial farm, but I bet this corn is far more nutritious and fibrous, which is not what most healthy people today connect corn to.  Also, there are hundreds if not thousands of species of corn, so hope to be trying other varieties in the future.

The following is our very own watermelon!  Notice the holes, it is a big overgrown (sorry should have taken plastic wrap off before shooting a picture).  But if you pick your watermelon at the right time, the flavor and crispness of the fruit is DELICIOUS.  Wish I could share bites of this over the internet.

These are our vine ripened tomatoes.  They are a beauty (except for that traumatized one on the right).  They take a long time to grow (and water), but so well worth it.  Especially when you make it into a tomato sauce.

Lastly, check out our bitter vegetable.  I think it looks so cool.  However, I really don't like eating these because it is spicy and bitter!  It is used in Chinese cooking, although a cool looking specimen and packed with nutrients, I am sure, but I usually can do without it...

Raising Chickens

I have written about my extraordinary experience of eating pasture-fed chicken (the post is here: Really Good Chicken), and since then, have been exploring this idea of raising my own little chickadees!  Btw, thanks to my friends who shared some information with me!  It has been fun learning about this. 

The first question that I looked into, and that every interested person needs to find out is, will the city or village allow me to raise chickens? 

But alas, my village hasn't passed such ordinance...  Guess I have to either start a chicken rally where I live or move to a city that allows me to have my own chicken coup!  Although I currently will not be able to raise chickens (legally), I did learn a few things in the process, which I will share in this posting.

One has to first answer the age old problem: is it the chicken or the egg? 

Well, haha, in a different sense but it is so funny that this all-time great analogy can be used in SO many situations.

Raising chickens for meat and raising chicken for eggs are two separate decisions.  For one, meat chickens and egg chickens need separate coups.  If you want to raise chickens for meat, the time is much shorter; you would raise them for about two months (8 weeks) before the slaughter.  Also, their feed (if you are doing feed or supplement feed) is different than that of egg-laying chickens.  Meat chickens are raised to become plump and fat, otherwise you will have skinny chickens with little meat on the bone.

The egg-laying chickens have a much longer life and don't start laying eggs until 18-20 weeks.  You also don't want them to be too plump because they need to run around and stay fit, which will mean better eggs.  Healthy chickens lay on average one egg a day.  At one a day for a couple of years; you can do the math.  Wow, that is a lot of ovulation! 

Chickens are in some ways like children.  They need discipline!  It is important to feed them on the same hour everyday, once early morning and once in the evening, which is one other reason why I could not commit this moment--the early morning thing doesn't register that well with me (right now).  This is tough if you are out of town at all.  No wonder farmers can't just take a vacation when they want to!  You have to make sure the chickens are well hydrated and fed on a consistent basis; otherwise, they will start to peck at each other (same goes for children).  It is really bad when they start to peck, these wounds are usually the start of disease.

There is a lot more info out there, but for now, no chickens for me.  Maybe the future will hold a few.

Source of picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:K%C3%BCken_vor_dem_ersten_Ausflug.jpg
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken and Keeping Chickens, by Jeremy Hobson and Celia Lewis

Really Good Chicken

I have had the incredible opportunity over the last few months to eat really fresh, pasture fed chicken.  Wow.  The difference between a pasture fed chicken and a corn-raised chicken (read: grocery bought) is so evident.  The pasture fed chicken meat is tighter and the flavor, especially when the carcass is slow cooked for a soup or broth, is just so aromatic.  Not bland, droopy meat with tons of fat (you would see this if you bought the whole bird), and almost tasteless broth.  If you haven’t tried it ever, you need to find yourself a farmer friend.

Now, this is not really comparing organic vs. conventional chicken.  Most organic chickens are still grain fed.  Chickens weren’t meant to eat only grains (i.e., corn), but most of the ones you find in the grocery do since it is the fastest way to fatten up chicken for market.  Pasture-fed chicken means it eats bugs, worms, other little critters in addition to corn, and usually these chickens run around outside, like really live the life of a chicken.  I have seen this in action.  And, I would guess that small farmers who raise chickens just for their family and friends rather than for industry let their chickens grow this way.

Here’s a crazy idea.  What does it take to raise chickens?  I want to raise chickens.

I was curious, so I went to the library.  I couldn’t find any chicken books in the system, so when I asked the librarian, the conversation went something like this… 

“Can we help you?”

“Yes, I am looking for some books on how to raise chickens.  Silence.  Like farming, um not really like children's books.  Yeah, I know, it’s kind of weird.”

Librarian heads both nod while trying not to smirk.  I couldn’t help laughing myself, what is an urban girl doing asking for books on how to raise chickens?  (sidenote: my mom wanted to know more about the chickens than I did.)

More to come on what I find out.