Monthly Archives: March 2009

Antibiotics in food animals and PAMTA

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This is a blog post encouraging you to be undecided.  For now.

And in your indecision, I hope you will seek new and current information from many sides of an issue that has potential to be a significant food issue both legislatively and morally.  The stakes are high, regardless of the attitude or beliefs you have now or may take on.

March 17, United States Representative from New York, Louise Slaughter introduced the “Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act” (PAMTA) in the House of Representatives.  According to her office press release,

“The practice of over-using antibiotics in animal feed is certainly contributing to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” Rep. Slaughter added. “This legislation will play a critical role in protecting the integrity of our antibiotics and the health of all Americans.”

The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act would:

  • Phase out the non-therapeutic use in livestock of medically important antibiotics;
  • Require this same tough standard of new applications for approval of animal antibiotics;
  • Does not restrict use of antibiotics to treat sick animals or to treat pets and other animals not used for food.

I encourage you to read the bill when it is formally introduced.  As a comparison, similar bills were introduced last year and are located at the Library of Congress Website , as introduced in the House and also in the Senate.

The Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming is joining the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, and countless others in working to protect human health by eliminating the misuse of antibiotics in food animals.

via Human Health and Industrial Farming.

Choosing the Right Chicken Breeds

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Frederick J. Dunn offers advice and links on choosing chicken breeds as spring approaches, courtesy of Mother Earth News:

I keep both ornamental and dual-purpose poultry. Ornamental birds are just that, nice to look at and be entertained by — or even to show in competition for those interested in the “poultry fancy.” My recommendations for dual-purpose (meat and eggs) are traditional breeds: the Rhode Island red and barred Plymouth rock. Both (rocks and reds) are independent on open range, forage well, produce eggs in abundance and (if you choose) will make flavorful table fare. In fact, the ALBC hosted Renewing America’s Food Traditions blind taste test, and the barred Plymouth rock was most preferred.

Choosing the Right Chicken Breeds.

The duck house

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I don’t know where this is going to end up.

"Gilbert" stands next to the duck wading poolI first thought the ducks, once grown, would live on the pond.  My concern about possible predators and the ducks becoming midnight snacks for coyotes had me thinking of a floating duck house.  Then the option of building or perhaps buying a dog house kit — and starting the ducks in the pen, and moving them to the pond.

So in the middle of this thinking, the ducks finally received their official and final names:  The largest duck is Gilbert.  The two middle ducks who tend to stick to gether are Duck Vadar and Indiana Quackers.  Quackers is the nosiest of the group and often runs with his bill open.  The most independent — but also — most human friendly, is Mocha

The duck house idea was easily resolved by my friend, Jerry O’Rourke, and his sons during a recent visit to help me find scraps and boards in the wood piles to build our own:

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The ducks moved into the pheasant pen and into the duck house for a few nights before the tempreatures dropped back into the low 30′s and high 20′s.  They dont have all their feathers yet, so to keep warm, I moved them back into the heated box in the barn.  After this week, they may be able to move back out.

Earth Hour

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VOTE EARTH

In December 2009 world leaders meet in Copenhagen to agree on a post-Kyoto policy for tackling climate change. One billion people voting with their light switch during Earth Hour will create a powerful mandate for our leaders to take strong and decisive action on climate change in Copenhagen.

Earth Hour is asking bloggers to help spread the word about the importance of turning your lights out for one hour at 8.30pm on March 28.

Gene Logsdon’s All Flesh is Grass

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booksPage 137: on pasture raised poultry

I can’t resist an aside.  The mindset that leads to consolidation in agriculture, so evident in the chicken business, has also taken place in an alarming degree in human culture, especially in consolidated schooling. Just as we herd more animals into confinement buildings, we herd more children into classrooms.  Then we have no choice but to follow the rule of the chicken factory: One size fits all.  And we justify both kinds of concentration camps with that all-American article of faith:  It’s cheaper per unit; we can’t afford to do otherwise. Then we wonder why we must de-beak chickens and frisk schoolchildren for firearms.

Support Small Farm Life and buy it here: All Flesh Is Grass: Pleasures & Promises Of Pasture Farming

Obamas Prepare to Plant White House Vegetable Garden – NYTimes.com

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WASHINGTON — On Friday, Michelle Obama will begin digging up a patch of White House lawn to plant a vegetable garden, the first since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden in World War II. There will be no beets (the president doesn’t like them) but arugula will make the cut.

via Obamas Prepare to Plant White House Vegetable Garden – NYTimes.com.

Hanging Game Birds – How to Hang a Pheasant | Hunter Angler Gardener Cook

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Hank Shaw, at Hunter Angler Gardener Cook offers a look into the world of “honest food” as he describes it. A well versed writer, sportsman, and site editor about About.com’s  Fish and Seafood Cooking site, he bios  himself:

I am especially interested in those meats and veggies that people don’t eat much any more, like venison or cardoons. I have nothing against good grass-fed beef or a head of lettuce, it’s just that others are doing just fine writing about those foods. I’m trying to walk a less-traveled path.

For those who enjoy eating pheasant, his blog post offers terrific insight into the pros and cons of hanging the birds first.

Enter the pheasant. A pheasant really is a “ditch chicken.” It is a close cousin of the domestic chicken and when eaten fresh has, as Brillat-Savarin puts it in his The Physiology of Taste, ”nothing distinguishing about it. It is neither as delicate as a pullet, nor as savorous as a quail.” Those who have eaten fresh pheasant — and by fresh I mean un-hung — can’t help but thinking: “So what? This just seems like a slightly tough and slightly gamy chicken.” They’re correct, especially with farm-raised birds or those shot at a game preserve.

Hanging Game Birds – How to Hang a Pheasant | Hunter Angler Gardener Cook.

Simple pleasures gain ground | csmonitor.com

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Simple pleasures gain ground | csmonitor.com

a growing group of Americans who are finding it cathartic to unplug from the digital grid, at least temporarily. While there is no exact data to track how many people are forming knitting groups, hosting house concerts, or organizing family game nights, it is possible to connect the dots between the rising price of entertainment and the rising sales of board games and craft supplies.

watchthehousegrow: house from field, vice versa

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John Letourneau’s blog at watchthehousegrow shares his  cabin on his rural land in the Catskills.  He writes:

After 20 years of various homes and renovations, it’s time to grow my first one from scratch.

via watchthehousegrow: house from field, vice versa.

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