Keri, Earl's and the Beef Rant

Ok! Here's my take on the ‪#‎earls‬ beef issue. 

Earl's Restaurants LTD wants to use 'Certified Humane' beef. Great! Good for them! It's what consumers want. They want to know their meat is treated in a humane way while it was alive and slaughtered in a Humane way, with no antibiotics or hormones. 

While Alberta beef is definitely some of the best beef in the world. Alberta cannot provide a supply of 2 million pounds of beef per year due to a lack of paperwork. That's it! It's a lack of having the piece of paper and following along with bookkeeping, record keeping, and the logistical parts that are required with it. It's one of the cheaper certifications one can get. Alberta beef is raised in compliance with most, if not all of the regulations. Yet, not certified. So if the Alberta Cattle Producers want to make a change go through the process of getting certified! Then you can be a supplier of 'Certified Humane' beef. Here's the 53 pages of regulations that cover everything from records to feed to space to everything. So all you cattle producers that want to supply Earl's and any other company that will be switching over to 'Certified Humane' GET CERTIFIED! It's going to happen. You can't get on the train without the ticket! 

http://certifiedhumane.org/…/2014/02/Std14.BeefCattle.1J.pdf

Here is also the slaughter regulations: http://certifiedhumane.org/…/20…/04/2013.AMI_.Guidelines.pdf for it to be Certified Humane it has to comply with all the standards set forth. 

This isn't going away. It's in fact getting bigger. It's gaining momentum if you will. This is the way the world is turning! People don't want their meat to come from a feed lot where the animals are crammed into a tight space with a bunch of other animals, knee deep in mud and feces, getting rounds of antibiotics as 'preventative' (I have been there I have witnessed it with my own eyes. Don't tell me it doesn't happen). People want to know their food had a good life out on 'the Open Range', fresh air sunshine, grass, doing their animal things, being treated with respect and kindness.

Here's my advice: find your local farmer who raises animals in a way that's in line with how you want your meat to be treated. Raise your own animals. Source from reputable farmers. Go to the slaughter house or butcher shop and see how your meat is going to be handled and processed. Stop shopping at Walmart, Costco and other big name retailers who's meat comes from anywhere and you don't know how it's handled. 

As a consumer your biggest boycott can be just by knowing who your farmer is and how your food is handled. Wouldn't it be AMAZING if EVERYTHING everyone ate in Alberta came from ALBERTA? We don't boycott the fact our lettuce comes from Mexico, our peppers from California or Argentina, our garlic comes from China. So get on that boycott train! Actually support Alberta with YOUR money! 

Join a CSA, find a small Market Garden, Grow your OWN. Just do something that will actually benefit your province! Stop jumping on the stupid train of boycotts because some company you didn't actually know used an Alberta supplier and switched because that's what consumers want and you still buy your meat from the cheap bin or because it's on sale and it very well could have come from Mars. Use your head and shop with it! 

DO IT!

Economic Struggles and Encouragment From the Past!

Once Upon a Time, The Government Encouraged Self-Sufficiency ......

Now, they require our dependency, through GMO crops, GMO seed patent laws, fast foods, regulations on raw milk/eggs/meats, taxation, flu shots - and the list goes on.

With the economy, especially in Alberta, being extremely tight and most of us balancing a budget tighter than bankers fist, we need hope. Hope that even though things are tough, they weren't as tough as Wartimes - and even THAT wasn't s bad as the Dirty 30's depression.

So what did folks do? They grew. And they shared. Then they survived. So too shall we!

I came across these War Time posters from the US, and suddenly realized - holy crap - in just over 50 years we've come full circle in our mindset ... and that is ALL it is: a mindset!

Living Right, Living in Balance, takes patience and hard work.

Top 5 Seed Companies

 

 

It's Spring, Now What?

Well spring actually kicks off in 10 days (but who’s counting), spring is definitely in the air here in Didsbury. The snow is almost all gone, weather has been above 5 degrees for almost 2 weeks, the gophers are out scampering across the road, bears are coming out of hibernation in Banff National Park, and I have busted out my Birkenstocks. So I would say spring is here!

This year we have spent 25+ hours planning our gardens, and then scrapping the first round and re-planning it all over again. So now with our minds set of what we want to grow. We are on the big kick of we want to know what we eat and grow what we love. I have found a few pre planning websites if you need them www.almanac.com/vegetable-garden-planning-for-beginners, and of course the lady who knows everything (or so it seems) http://www.marthastewart.com/275017/planning-your-vegetable-garden. If you are a go big or go home kinda person (we won’t judge) here’s a great resource which is the one we are using this year. Be prepared to lose days or weeks to planning the massive amount you want to grow (you’ll thank us come fall and you’ve harvested the last of your 900 bed feet of squash, pumpkins and root veggies) http://cog-shop.myshopify.com/products/crop-planning-for-vegetable-growers.

So with your info in hand here’s our TOP 5 Seed Companies to get you GROWING. I’ll do a count down to leave you in suspense: 

Ron Finley: "Growing your own food is like printing your own money."

Ron Finley is a man of substance, fixing the problems around him through a strong inner motivation to help others.

 

 

" Ron Finley is a man who will not sit still and watch a problem take root. Having grown up in the South Los Angeles food desert, Ron is familiar with the area’s lack of fresh produce. He knew what it’s like to drive 45 minutes just to get a fresh tomato.

In 2010, he set out to fix the problem. Outside his front door, that is. Ron planted vegetables in the curbside dirt strip next to his home. And quietly, carefully, tenderly started a revolution.
“I wanted a carrot without toxic ingredients I didn’t know how to spell,” says Ron."