Indicators

23 11 2009

 

big C as a li'l guy

I was listening to someone recently talking, as is my usual conversation, about the long list of terrible contaminants of our food supply.  Then, the person reminded us of how we often are signaled of wrongs to our environment, and we fail to notice.  It did not used to be that so many pets had so many ailments.  As the speaker mentioned, pets are “indicators.”

 

My #1, yes I said it, #1 in order of appearance, pooch Clark has suffered a number of illnesses, now the big C that’s bigger than him, the BIG C.  From the get-go, he’s been pampered – great food, lots of love, exercise, baths, much as I could think.  Still, the streets and industries that make the ‘good’ food got their way.

Clark is chipper now, but his mast cell tumors have invaded, and upped the ante of what is a good mother.  Perhaps I should have done more sooner, but I’m hopeful the mushroom powder, baked squash, blueberries, seaweed and chinese tea pills he’s getting now help him fight a good fight, live a good life, eat many good meals.

Do what you can for your pets, inside and out… no chemicals, great exercise (consider rubber booties, kidding), food you can trust.  Wait, doesn’t that sound exactly like what we’re telling people these days?  Yes, pay attention to the indicator.  In fact, I hope you’re spared.





Safety First?

22 05 2009

Never when I got my food handler’s permit did I ever imagine using that to write the President.  2 days ago I appealed to Obama and the Secretary of Agriculture to make a solid choice for the Undersecretary of Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS).  Feel free to also get a word in and send something yourself!



AgSec@usda.govcomments@whitehouse.gov

My email 2 days ago…

Dear President Obama and Secretary Vilsack,
 
Initially, I had my doubts that the USDA would be as high a priority for the Obama Administration as I feel necessary.  I have been pleasantly surprised by some of the early developments, and sincerely aniticipate this will continue.
 
My career is deeply involved in food and support of regional producers everywhere who truly care about their products and the health of the underlying resources that make it possible.  I work first-hand with consumers and producers every day.  And I commit considerable volunteer service on behalf of the organic community, as well as nationally for Slow Food USA.  I am a balanced believer that there are a multitude of solutions for feeding our nation’s citizens and those to whom we ship food.  That said, I don’t see room for practices of food production that are not restorative… of our resources, of our own bodies and of the foods themselves (using natural seeds vs. single-life GE alternatives).
 
It has come to my attention that there is a candidate being considered for Under Secretary for FSIS that could jeopardize an approach to food safety based in science and common sense.  The best practices are those that are transparent.  Let me first say that food safely is a direct result of safe food production.  Farms and ranches that need protection from the Federal government for their production practices probably should not be in existence.  Every food producer should have a policy of public availability, farm tours and shared information… not patents, facilities shielded from public interaction and laws that grant them special allowances.  Proposition 2 and the work done by Waterkeepers is a hint of what’s to come as our 40-50 year cloak of darkness becomes penetrable by increasing public interest and concern, and the expired need to find alternative uses for the excesses of wars past.  A basic tenet of the USDA should be a simple question… “If we’re being asked to hide information, protect business vs. people, animals and land or bend the rules, what’s the better option?”  The simple fact that we are where we are with the bulk of this Nation’s food production does not in any way justify continuing it. 
 
Please leave no stone unturned to find a qualified candiate for FSIS that also has the courage to recommend the right thing, to work with your team to take us slowly but surely out of this scary quagmire of unknown ingredients, unknown producers, unknown practices and unknown consequences.  I have to believe talented, committed professionals exist that are not potentially compromised by their past and present connections to unhealthy agricultural operations.  We need someone who really practices what the HACCP backbone of food safety in this country preaches… reduce the number of potential “critcal control points.”  Not by masking them with  feed supplements, antibiotics, irradiation, and questionable animal husbandry practices.  Instead, shrink the number of times it is handled, abused, manipulated and reconstituted.  Band-aid approaches like almond irradiation only served to eliminate organic almond production in our own country.
 
Promote transparency and accountability, and the injustices that exist will quickly be exposed and replaced by practices we can boast, here and abroad.  I do not assert that the answer is only organic, but that it definitely reward good stewards, promote small and medium in equal measure to large, and provide appropriate labeling information to allow consumers to vote with their minds, hearts, health and dollars… simultaneously. 
 
Thank you for your time and attention, and for your commitment to serve the farmers, ranchers and ultimately consumers of this country.
Jennifer M. Hall
Spokane, Washington





hold the garnish please

29 04 2009

The other day, I’m thinking about the economy, eating out, and the survival of good and sometimes great restaurants.   Many a good chef and producer friend of mine rely on the continued success of these venues staying in business.

A # of tricks might be pulled out of the hat about this time.  Downgrading the quality of the food purchased, higher prices, smaller portions, live music, rotating art on the walls, cutting staff, coupon specials, etc.  You’ve seen the moves, just like I have.  The one I cannot tolerate is lower quality – feed me less, but do NOT feed me worse. 

Anyway, I thought about other ways to trim costs with really little impact on the whole experience.  I arrived at garnish.

Shortly, and I do mean shortly thereafter, I went on an unspoken tirade in my mind about the variety of evils garnish represents… excess, waste and ultimately disrespect.  How can you look a producer in the eye and say “yes, I want your great produce on my plate, though I know and you should know 90% of it will end up in the garbage. That’s just it, buyers don’t look the producer in the eye, nor do they typically have a sense of what it really takes to put food on our tables.

Garnish – fine if it’s meant to be eaten, and presented in a way that is accessible, even inviting, to do so.  Outside of that, I question the place that has so little relationship with its business.  You’re not selling food; you’re supporting farmers, ranchers, fishermen and the environment.  Think about that next time you fling a piece of lettuce, a clump of curly parsley on the plate… destined for the garbage.  Most growers are less concerned with selling more, if they know it’s going to end up on the floor.

nothing on this plate goes ANYWHERE!

nothing on this plate goes ANYWHERE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

My “can you do this special thing” request at restaurants for the remainder of 2009… “please hold the garnish.”  Can you join me in this crusade?





Stunning Pace

29 04 2009

Those who know me will think I’m off on a auto-biographical post, but hold on. It’s more than that.

If you’re even kindly still checking in to see if I’ll return from my blog vaca, thank you! After awhile, what kept me away was less my own schedule, and more my own fear (not to mention the reality that wordpress has not been all that compatible to my mac, which is portable and hence much more convenient!). Yup, FEAR. With all the updates on this site that had occurred in the past 3 months before my last post, I knew to be more than a little scared that I may not be able to even get in this site to post, much less understand how to navigate and use it. Truth be told, I don’t know if this very post will go anywhere.

Sure enough, I signed on tonight and like a bad picture, the blur of changes was unsettling. Now there’s a completely different layout for creating posts. I’ll tell ya WAAAY later if the changes actually added any value.

Meantime, enjoy Spring and plant your gardens and look forward to farmers’ markets opening across the country, offering great local foods!





Few Precious Heroes

13 01 2009
Sometimes our paths cross people who change us.  Were you to meet Arie McFarlen, you’d reflexively see the same feminine, beautiful, little bit quirky woman with a soft voice I did a year and a half ago.

While I heard everything she did at Maveric Ranch, it got buried a little bit under everyone’s stories, stories I get only one chance a year to really hear with this group.  I admit, I failed to hear it all.  By the end of the meeting where I met Arie, I began to understand a bit more and definitely got more curious, as her husband passed through town with a trailer load of hogs – unique, in all ways colorful, RARE to EXTINCT and honestly almost ambitious hogs.  They ate, they snorted, you could tell that despite a long, hard ride in a trailer across many hard miles, they were delighted.  So much so, this rainbow of hogs

 not only attracted, but swam in the affection of our group and anonymous passers-by enthralled with their presence, their energy, their capacity for consumption.

Headed to Maveric Ranch

Headed to Maveric Ranch

 Arie on the left
              Arie on the left

 

I left that day, warm, sincerely affected.

And now, I’m sharing this story at a great time of need for Maveric Ranch.  In November, they lost many animals a a significant barn to a terrible fire.  What does that mean?  It means one of the most talented, one of the most compassionate, one of the most dedicated breeders and preservers of heritage swine experienced a devastating loss.  They need our help.

Please c0nsider donating to help them rebuild and to remind them of the unspoken voices in our midst who care immensely about their commitment to biodiversity, their special penchant for hogs (every piece of a pig is useable!), and their vast capacity to keep going against the odds.

You can make a difference for Maveric, for all of us, by making a contribution.





First Snow – BALL!

29 11 2008

Clark & Lewis look forward to the snow almost as much as some of my other friends.  Some of the same reasons – they don’t ski, but they do love to play in the white stuff.  We know it’s really here when there’s enough to make snowballs to catch in their mouths.  Lewis has struggled to contain his excitement in year’s past and misses the snowball as he jumps the gun, however today proved his maturity – waited AND caught the first toss! 

First Tracks

First Tracks

Clark Leads the Way

Clark Leads the Way

Happy Lewis

Happy Lewis

 

 

 

 

 

Clark's Snowline

Clark's 'Ridge'line

Back to Home

Back to Home

 

 

 

 

 

Thank goodness for these kids – my love of food is kindly countered by getting out with them in the woods nearly every day.





The Good ‘F’ Words

29 11 2008

I adore Thanksgiving… everything good… no pressure, just pleasure.

Friends,  Family,  Farm,  Food

Amy @ Turkey Trot

Amy @ Turkey Trot

Annual Rider Reunion

Annual Rider Reunion

Meet Tex

Meet Tex

 

 

 

 

Turkey Pre-Funk

Turkey Pre-Funk

Tasty App!
Tasty App!

 My tradition of the past several years is all this in order.  No photo here to share of the last stop – actual big bird meal – something to improve next year!





The Perfect Day

12 11 2008

24 hours, that is.  My visit to Eaton Natural Beef Ranch provided just the fresh wind I needed in my sails.  I arrived to their guest cabin (you can rent it too!) about 5pm to the inviting smell of pot roast, prepared and ready on the counter for my dinner.  The boys & I unpacked, adjusted to our new surroundings (no cell, no email), took a quick bio-break, and hunkered in for the evening.  Me, the pot roast, the NY Times (I must have been in a mood, because Al Gore’s Op-Ed piece got me riled up enough to draft a response!);  the boys, some chow and a good snooze.

The morning was mellow and easy in our cozy one-room abode.  Then, I hopped in the van with my fabulous host Nikki and toured the Ranch and some of the surrounding Wawawai Canyon (she tells me you say it like Hawaii, but with a ‘W’ at the beginning).  Happy cattle for the most part, except for the moms and babes that were recently separated :(   Fed some, cleaned up after some, and listened to stories about how they raise their animals.

For the afternoon, they had plans and showed me where to take a great hike with Clark & Lewis.  We lucked out and had a rainless sky and took full advantage, huffin’ and puffin’ straight up one side of the canyon.  It was awesome, a 360 degree view of the canyon and the Snake River.  Every direction I turned I saw Kathrine Nelson charcoals.

Wawawai Canyon

Wawawai Canyon

starting up

starting up

coming down
coming down
autumn sunflower

autumn sunflower

 Returned to the cabin for leftover pot roast, mixed up a nice cup of cocoa and read all of Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.  Loved it! 

Cleaned up, packed up, enjoyed one more conversation with Nikki (and let me tell you… what a cool woman… I could talk to her for a lifetime) and put the boys and myself in the Outback.  A dark clear sky out in the Palouse, the Big Dipper hung right on the horizon straight in front of me all the way home.





Beef You Can Trust

11 11 2008

Raised in the Palouse country of WA, Eaton Natural Beef is a hidden gem.  Let’s change that.  They have 250 head of cattle, only 60 of which do they have enough demand for to raise them naturally and guarantee a healthy, satisfying life.  And guarantee a healthy, satisfying product.  The remainder unfortunately find themselves in feedlots of the West, victims of industrialized agriculture.  Most of the American public wants to pay less, so they make a choice too, to care less, turn a blind eye to the suffering that provides their pleasure.

Eaton Family

Eaton Family

Fortunately, ranchers like Nikki & Joe Eaton carve out a different life for the ones they can raise and successfully sell as natural.  I went to the main ranch, I met the family, I trust the beef.

Where can you find it?  Oddly, mainly in Moscow, ID right now.  Nikki hasn’t had the best luck finding buyers in Spokane, the most likely, close, large market for this pastured, grass fed, no antibiotic, no hormone beef.  What?!?!

With the rave on-the-spot reviews I heard at our recent Main Market Co-op fundraising dinner where we featured the ground beef, and Nikki, it just doesn’t add up.  At a $55.00 per person dinner, when the burger is the part of the meal people can’t stop complimenting, we should all pay attention.  I can promise you we’ll have it at the co-op when we open.  But I’ll be working on some restaurants before then.

Why?  These people raise beef cattle the right way.  They care immensely about these animals.  They know these animals.  I’m incredibly grateful for that commitment and it’s important we make it rewarding enough for them to continue.  It’s not easy work, yet they do it.

Cattle View

Cattle View

Why?  It’s the closest medium size ranch to Spokane that raises beef this way.  Local is important.  At this size, they actually can provide a regular retail supply.  These cattle help keep the beautiful Wawawai Canyon out of the hands of development – the views could command a price.

Why?  I enjoy eating beef… a lot.  But, it’s increasingly rare that I do unless I can trust it’s life was respected, healthy, natural and good.  That it’s good for me.  That life was good for the animal.  What that means now is it’s a real exception that I can eat out and eat beef.  I’m hopeful and confident others in this community would pay $1.00 more a burger to dine without guilt and worry.  If at least one restaurant in this town can step up to an Eaton Natural Beef burger, I’ll make sure it pays off for them.





Make a Reservation!

6 11 2008
Looking South from Downtown

Looking South from Downtown

If you are in, around, or can make plans to be in Seattle 11/23, clear your evening, clear your stomach, bring friends and call now to enjoy one of the best dinners of your life!

Taste Restaurant at the Seattle Art Museum stands as one of my proudest accomplishments in my work with Bon Appetit Management Company.  Not because I created the menu or the space that is its current beautiful incarnation, but because a little creativity and trust go a long way.  Due to the fortunate combination of both when I was on the sales team to earn the right to run the food there, I earned the chance to make beautiful things

My recent delicious visit!
My recent delicious visit!

happen. 

Then, hired some incredibly talented people I had no right to entertain the idea of hiring with a “you build it, they will come” pitch, and I’ve never been more pleased to go back and experience the past, which is now the future.

Even more folks I knew then work there now and it shows; actually I should say and it Tastes! 

I’ve mentioned some of these producers here before.  If I haven’t, it probably wouldn’t take me much longer.  All fabulous at securing/producing great, sustainable food, but also all amazingly active in the food community.

Go TASTE!  And bring me back a doggie-bag.  I PROMISE I won’t actually give it to my dogs.