Wowed by WV, Part 1b

Posted on January 16, 2012 by hautepasture

After wandering the cute, artsy downtown area of Berkeley Springs, WV, we headed to the local Food Lion to pick up some supplies. Food Lion is not known for local, organic food, so I headed straight to the egg shelf to how bad a Food Lion in WV would be. I was surprised to see Cool Thing #5:

Happier-than-average eggs! And organic eggs! Farmhouse Eggs and Eggland’s Best eggs come from hens who are free roaming indoors (it’s unclear how much room they get for their roaming), and fed vegetarian diets without hormones or antibiotics. Of course, local pastured eggs would be ideal, but nice job Food Lion.

Cool Thing #6 is a menu for a restaurant that was sadly closed while I was in town:

Panorama at the Peak is an environmentally-conscious restaurant a few miles from Berkeley Springs offering local, seasonal food with an amazing view. Most of their partner farms are within 65 miles, and most of the food they serve is organic. They are careful recyclers and composters, and closely monitor their power and water use. I hope when I go back the stuffed acorn squash is still on the menu!

ASPCA Reports Hope for Laying Hens

Posted on December 8, 2011 by hautepasture

The Fall 2011 issue of ASPCA Action describes a July agreement between United Egg Producers (UEP), representing the owners of 80% of the US laying hen population, and animal welfare groups, in which the UEP pledged to support (yet-to-be introduced) legislation phasing-out of battery cages for hens.

A battery cage, according to the ASPCA Farm Animal Cruelty glossary, is:

A wire cage, measuring no more than 16 inches wide, in which four or five hens are housed. These cages are lined up in rows and stacked several levels high on factory farms. This system of production has been outlawed by countries in the European Union.

Hens in these cages are so cramped that they can’t extend their wings, and the discomfort can lead them to attempt stress relief by fighting. Factory farmers often use debeaking to curb the damage done by these miserable birds. Again, from the ASPCA glossary:

Debeaking [is] a process that involves cutting through bone, cartilage and soft tissue with a blade to remove the top half and the bottom third of a chicken’s, turkey’s or duck’s beak. This measure is taken to reduce the excessive feather pecking and cannibalism seen among stressed, overcrowded birds in factory farms.

Let’s hope the ASPCA and other farm animal welfare groups can push Congress to enact legislation quickly to improve conditions for laying hens and other factory farm animals.

How do you say “happy chickens” in Chinese?

Posted on October 18, 2011 by hautepasture

These people know!

Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden

Everybody can help to make a difference, every day, through small choices and lifestyle changes that can have big impacts to the general health and well-being of the planet.

While wandering around Hong Kong, looking for a Pret in Central, Mr. HP and I came upon a woman selling eggs and displaying this:

She didn’t understand my questions, but gave me a flyer for Kadoorie Farm. It’s too far from downtown to visit on this trip, like the Singapore goat farm, but it’s a great educational resource for the city-folk, and I hope it gets many visitors.

From the poultry section of their site:

Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden (KFBG) raises chickens in a healthy living environment. In 2004, we adopted “natural” poultry farming practices. We care about animal welfare and treat our chickens with dignity. They are free to roam, enjoy fresh air in their living area and can stay outdoors. We do not use antibiotics or growth hormones. This is different from ‘factory-farms’ where large numbers of animals are tightly packed, crowded together. We believe a healthy environment is critical for bringing up strong and healthy animals. We have also set up a waste management system to recycle organic resources generated from our poultry into compost for use in organic farming of vegetables and fruits.

For the past 50 years, KFBG has worked to improve livestock farming. In the early history of the Farm, one of our main goals was to help local farmers by raising and supplying quality livestock, namely, chickens and pigs. Today, we still keep a family of 11 pigs as a heritage display and maintain a natural poultry farming system with about 2,000 chickens.

The farm has walking trails, educational displays, a cafe, flower and vegetable gardens, an aviary, and a pig sty, in addition to the chicken farm. Sounds like a lovely place for locals to spend a few hours enjoying the environment and learning about responsible consumerism.

(Bonus: while researching this post, I learned there’s a Pret only 2 blocks from my hotel!)

HP in HK

Posted on October 16, 2011 by hautepasture

Greetings from smoggy Hong Kong!

In my wanderings, I stumbled upon ThreeSixty, Hong Kong’s largest organic/natural foods store. I headed straight for the egg section to see the egg choices available to responsible Chinese consumers (and zillions of ex-pats, and many tourists, from the looks of the clientele). The eggs were all free-range, pastured, happy eggs, from Washington State and New Zealand. (Too bad they have to be shipped in from so far away.)

Interesting that the New Zealand eggs are sold in 10-packs!

From ThreeSixty’s site:

We are committed to sustainable consumption. We believe in relationships based on trust, honesty and integrity. We will partner with organisations that share our vision and demonstrate a similar commitment to our planet and its inhabitants.

Prices weren’t bad, and there was a food court upstairs with many different types of cuisines on offer. Cheers to ThreeSixty!

Charlottesville Community Food Awards

Posted on September 24, 2011 by hautepasture

How do I score an invite to the Local Food Hub’s Community Food Awards next year?

The Local Food Hub is a Charlottesville non-profit that helps connect consumers with locally produced food. They run a warehouse where they purchase food directly from farmers, then sell it to local restaurants, markets, hospitals, and schools. In three years, the organization has purchased $750,000 worth of produce from local farms. They also operate an educational farm to teach community members how to grow their own food, and donate 25% of the food grown there to local food banks.

Congrats to the award winners:
Agricultural Endurance Award: Whitney Critzer, Critzer Family Farm
Community Mentor Award: Richard Bean, Double H Farm
Partner Producer of the Year: Jose and Adolfo Calixto, Singing Earth Produce
Institutional Leader Award: UVA Health System
Small Business Big Impact Award: Integral Yoga Natural Foods
Trailblazer Award: Alicia Cost and Sandra Vasquez, Nutrition Services Charlottesville City Schools

Maybe next year they’ll have a blog award! 🙂

Cheers! (i.e., British kudos)

Posted on July 17, 2011 by hautepasture

A couple shout-outs from HP’s recent trip to London…

Marks and Spencer’s Forever Fish campaign:

M&S has had a sustainable fishing policy for 12 years and 84% of the wild fish sold at M&S is now independently certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) or undergoing MSC certification. But now M&S wants to take it further – and that is where Forever Fish comes in. Through partnerships with WWF and Marine Conservation Society, education programmes in primary schools and Fish of the Month promotions, the plan is to take the lead to make sure our sea life is protected for future generations to enjoy.

and Chop’d, which uses local ingredients where possible:

Wherever possible we work with the seasons. Every September we take the van down to Kent to pile it full of heirloom apples from Brogdale Farm, home of the National Fruit Collection. Every spring we gather bagfuls of wild garlic from the woods of West Sussex.

All our chicken comes from a single farm on the Essex/Suffolk border, is barn reared and meets farm-assured and ‘red tractor’ standards.

Happy Friday, egg factory hens!

Posted on July 8, 2011 by hautepasture

United Egg Producers and the Humane Society, working together?

From the New York Times:

Egg Producers and Humane Society Urging Federal Standard on Hen Cages

The groups said they would ask Congress to pass a law enacting the new standards, which they said would be the first federal law addressing the treatment of farm animals and would pre-empt efforts in several states to set their own standards.

The proposed federal standards would include cages that give hens up to 144 square inches of space each, compared with the 67 square inches that most hens have today. They would also include so-called habitat enrichments, like perches, scratching areas and nesting areas, that allow the birds to express natural behavior.

The two groups met in the middle: HSUS was pushing for a complete ban on cages, and United Egg Producers has been trying to boost its image after secretly-taped footage showing sub-par farm conditions went public, and last year’s egg-related salmonella outbreaks. Also, now that individual states are passing differing hen welfare laws, it’s becoming more appealing to egg producers to have a single federal law to follow.

Note that this is just an agreement to work together to try to get a federal hen protection law created; and if the law is enacted, its timeline for full adoption is a whopping 18 years. There are still possible roadblocks: buy-in from UEP members is required; other livestock groups may fight the law to protect their own industries from regulation; and even if the law makes it to Congress, it may not pass. But the first step in changing a situation is awareness that the situation needs to change, and by partnering with HSUS, the UEP has admitted that it is aware that its chickens should be treated more humanely. And hopefully the commotion around this effort will increase consumer awareness of the plight of other factory farm animals, in addition to laying hens. Sure, they are baby steps, but at least they are steps forward!

Chipotle does more, again

Posted on June 22, 2011 by hautepasture

In the news today:

Chipotle to double its use of local produce

Chipotle says it will increase use of local produce

Chipotle expects to use more than 10 million pounds of locally-grown produce this year, instead of the previously-forecast 5 million pounds. The restaurant is already the leading restaurant company in serving naturally-raised meat.

Brookville Restaurant

Posted on June 12, 2011 by hautepasture

Last night we had a fantastic dinner at Brookville Restaurant in downtown Charlottesville. Brookville is dedicated to using local (within 100 miles of the restaurant), seasonal food, and the resulting dishes are delicious. One thing we particularly appreciate is the indication on the menu of foods that are not local–and there aren’t many. See the (poorly-lit, taken with a no-flash iPhone) photo below for the “Not a Local Product” note:

Highlights from Brookville’s blog:

“So I believe that there are many responsibilities that come along with owning a small business. The two most important are supporting your local community and giving money to those who are doing research to make the world a better place.”
“I strongly believe that the animals we eat must be cared for and live in the best possible conditions. That means chickens should be required to have pasture grazing time and not kept in huge houses that become a breeding pool for animal disease.”

Support local farmers by patronizing the restaurants who buy from them!

Whole Foods Meat