Posts by Dana

Taking advantage of liberal food ethics

By Dana, 5 March, 2010, 2 Comments

Food ethics is becoming big business in America, an influence of our affluence. When you are worried about where your next meal is coming from, well, you just don’t worry so much about how it came to be. Vegetarian and vegan cuisine have been with us for some time, growing in market share enough to receive at least tokenary service in even national chain restaurants. Now, to satisfy the food conscience of even those who have a taste for meat, the terms “organic,” “pastured,” and “free range” are beginning to appear even in Walmart.

But these terms don’t always mean what people think they mean, and some producers are taking advantage of ambiguities in the law to attract a market willing to pay top dollar to ease their conscience.

Recently, I was looking through our grocer’s egg case, trying to get an idea for how much we might be able to sell our eggs for. The highest priced eggs there cost twice as much as the eggs we normally buy and for only half a dozen. “Some egg,” I thought. And read the label.

It had such feel good phrases on it as “100% organic,” “cage free” and “Fed a 100% vegetarian diet.” And then I knew. They were taking advantage of this socially conscious market, selling them a product that isn’t quite what they think it is.

See, “cage free” simply means “raised in a large shed with a thousand birds on the floor and no outdoor access.” If there were, they’d claim “pastured” or “free range.” Being that chickens can be aggressive when kept in close confinement, I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire flock had its beaks trimmed to prevent pecking.

And vegetarian? That’s like raising your dog on a vegetarian diet, though I’ve heard their are people who try to do that as well. Chickens are omnivores and are happiest chasing after crickets and earthworms. Restricting their diets to suit our dietary preferences is not really fair to the chicken. It also proves that these birds have no outdoor access, even if not confined to cages. If allowed outside, they would enthusiastically chase every thing that moved.

I commend the market for its increasing diversity, with greater choices appearing regularly. But think about the labels for a moment, especially if you are paying higher prices for goods based on the promises it makes.

Dana Hanley is a homeschooling mother of five, living out her dreams on a small acreage in the country. You can learn more of her family’s adventure at Roscommon Acres, as well as her chicken adventures.

On organic foods and WalMart

By Dana, 26 February, 2010, No Comment

There are a number of movements related to the foods we eat. The tiny little bananas with brown spots labeled as “organic” at WalMart intrigue me, for they sport a price tag at least twice what I normally pay. It seems an awkward spot to find such foods, like a wave to a market that hates WalMart on principle and thus unlikely to ever shop there anyway.

But apparently, the massive supermarket change has been making a number of changes in how it runs its operation, including a greater investment in local agriculture resulting in fresher, tastier produce. In a little taste-off between foods purchased at Whole Foods and WalMart, Walmart did surprisingly well, beating the competition in many areas.

But food and taste are very subjective things, and I doubt even the foodies upset to discover they had preferred something from WalMart will begin shopping there after this little event.

I don’t know that much about organic foods on its own, and tend to make my purchasing decisions based more on price. I was quite pleased to see WalMart’s commitment to local agriculture which only benefits everyone in a community through a larger market for local farmers and fresher, better tasting food for all of us.

Dana Hanley is a homeschooling mother of five, living out her dreams on a small acreage in the country. You can learn more of her family’s adventure at Roscommon Acres.

On building a sustainable lifestyle

By Dana, 12 February, 2010, 1 Comment

Looking through the literature on returning to our rural roots, you will find a lot said about green living, organic horticulture, and sustainable lifestyles. Now, I don’t mind “going green” so much. Clean air and water are valuable resources we often take for granted and preserving our valuable energy resources is a good thing.

But the word sustainability bothers me. It is a meaningless word, a plastic word. Yet somehow, without any clear agreement on what it actually means, what precisely is or is not “sustainable” it infers the inferiority of one practice and the inherent necessity of another. It is a good word for propaganda because it appears to mean “I’m right and they are dangerous” while not actually meaning anything at all.

And the word is everywhere. In the magazines I read, in the books I check out from the library, in the newspaper, on the radio, in discussions with others moving to the country.

Few people seem to ask what it really means and what change in that direction would mean for our society. I love the idea of weeding with geese and using guinea hens to control pests, but I’m a small-time hobbyist, tending my land for my own pleasure. I love the “eat local” movement and what that means for local economies as well as the health and flavor of the foods we buy. But I like cheap food, too. I like that obesity, not starvation, is a major concern in the United States today. That we are fighting diseases related to abundance, slothfulness and a lack of self-control rather than battling for survival each and every day.

Dana Hanley is a homeschooling mother of five, living out her dreams on a small acreage in the country. You can learn more of her family’s adventure at Roscommon Acres.

Shoot first, ask questions later

By Dana, 5 February, 2010, No Comment

We recently had a confrontation with local wildlife when a pack of coyotes showed up in our front yard, totally casual, totally unafraid. Now I’m a bit of a wildlife lover, myself, and normally I would love to sit and watch a pack of such beautiful animals go about their thing in my front yard. But that night, two of my chickens were out of the coop and I was on full defense, trying to keep them safe until morning when they would come out of their hiding place.

Fortunately for all of us, I was thinking more about the chickens than the wildlife or it could have eventually spelled trouble for all of us. I released the dogs who dispatched the pack, picking one individual to chase for over a mile before returning home, winded and excited. Once they had returned safely, my attention turned to learning a bit more about coyotes and how one is supposed to deal with them.

Apparently, looking at them through your window with a sense of wonder at such a beautiful part of nature is the wrong way. Chasing them, threatening them and, yes, shooting them, is the appropriate way.

As wolves have been driven out of much of their native range, the coyote has been steadily increasing its range, filling in the wolve’s old ranges with an animal that is much more willing to adapt to human environments. When research on urban coyote populations in Chicago was started, researchers expected to find a few isolated animals or small packs scattered about the outskirts. Instead, they were surprised to find coyotes everywhere they looked and now estimate their numbers to be in the thousands.

The first coyotes appeared in Maine in the 1940s, after the last known wolf was killed. Through it’s eastward and northward migration, however, the coyote has gained in size, leading many to speculate that it is hybridizing with dogs and wolves. So-called coydogs have even less fear of humans than their wily cousins, and wolf genes can contribute to impressive sizes not normally associated with coyotes.

The biggest problems, however, seem to be in California where attacks on humans have doubled in recent years. Coyotes are becoming active in broad daylight, and have been known to take dogs off retractable leashes right in front of their owners. Most attacks on humans are on children under the age of five, with the only confirmed death by a coyote attack being a three year old girl in Glendale, CA.

To help deal with the problem, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife recently reclassified the coyote as a non-game mammal so it may be hunted year-round with a license, but it has its protectors even (and especially) there where attacks are most common.

And that is the center of the problem with the gradual urbanization of the coyote. Residents with a respect for wildlife think they are “co-existing peacefully” with local animals when they call for education campaigns, relocation of problem coyotes, and the disposal of only those proven guilty of an attack. But the only way to co-exist peacefully with the intelligent coyote is to shoot him, trap him, harass him, and make sure he recognizes humans as a threat.

In areas where predator control activities are practiced, coyotes are particularly wary of humans and of changes in their environment. Similarly, they are also wary of humans in places where sport hunters pursue or shoot at coyotes. Their excellent sense of smell and their tendency to avoid new objects makes it very difficult to capture or even to study them, as they often recognize and evade traps, snares, and cameras. University of California

Only then do we live alongside one another without threat to humans.

Image source: Wikipedia.
coyotes predator control animal rights

Dana Hanley is a homeschooling mother of five, living out her dreams on a small acreage in the country. You can learn more of her family’s adventure at Roscommon Acres.

On guns and country life

By Dana, 29 January, 2010, 2 Comments

Ever since we began looking at houses in the country, my husband has been looking at guns. Glocks, mostly, as well as something that looks like an assault rifle. I try to divert his attention to the shotguns. “How about one of these?” I say hopefully, trying to imagine myself shooting anything but my own foot with a handgun.

Now I know my discomfort is due primarily to unfamiliarity. I grew up with a shotgun hanging in the garage and shotguns don’t scare me. I also grew up in the middle of the whole gun control debate, with the continual reminder that a gun purchased for defense was most likely to be used (accidentally or intentionally) against a member of your own family.

Welcome to the root cellar

By Dana, 15 January, 2010, 4 Comments

On a not-so-recent episode of Glenn Beck, he recommended learning certain skills to help prepare for a long recession possibly sliding into an economic depression: canning, sewing, gardening and storing food in a “fruit” cellar, all good and useful skills. And he’s right that you won’t be any worse off having learned them even if the economy recovers and you never need to use them.

Except it isn’t a fruit cellar; it’s a root cellar. And I figure if Glenn Beck got it wrong, there are millions more who don’t know the difference, either, hence the idea for this column.

I am far from any kind of survivalist. We are moving to five acres in the country to live closer to the land, produce more of our own food, and give our children the kind of upbringing we think they need with plenty of hard work, fresh air and open space to pursue their little projects. We believe these skills are not only good to know in case something goes wrong, they are just plain good to know. They are good for you.

The flavor of a homegrown tomato, the independence of living within your means, the sense of accomplishment at making something yourself, the education your children receive as they, too, learn new skills . . . there are so many benefits to learning skills our grandparents took for granted.

But many of these things are becoming a lost art and I think we as a nation are losing something as well as we grow increasingly dependent on others for our daily needs. Hence the concept for this column was born. Each week, I’ll share a little about the back-to-the land movement along with simple things you can do as well.

Dana Hanley is a homeschooling mother of five, living out her dreams on a small acreage in the country. You can learn more of her family’s adventure at Roscommon Acres.