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| Dinner Randy Renfro http://www.flickr.com/photos/frosworld/2608648165/ |
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Chicken Farmers
I found a like to this article on the New York Times website. It's about some chicken farmers in Arkansas who are immigrants from Loas, and the BS they were fed in regards to becoming chicken farmers for Tyson. What a suprise!! The masterminds behind the factory farm companies are exploiting! There isn't a blog group dedicated to revealing the plight of the workers involved in factory farming so I thought these humans (also animals so I guess you could say it has to do with animal welfare) deserved at least a post. Check it out.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Riverview Farms
Riverview Farm is one of the many grassfed farms in Georgia.
They have pigs and cows, in addition to growing produce. Riverview farms has a Farm Mobile which is "a mobile farmers market on wheels. Inside, shoppers choose from shelves stocked with organic locally grown produce, free-range eggs, breads from H&F Bread Co., our own grits, polenta, and cornmeal, and sustainable meats. Other regular items on board include cheese from local food artisans like Sequatchie Cove Farm, and pesto from Hope's Gardens. Farm Mobile has everything you need for an all-local dinner!" Farm Mobile's freezer includes grassfed beef and Berkshire pork, all from Riverview Farms. They also stock whole pasture-raised chickens raised by White Oak Pastures.
It's located in Ranger, GA.
http://www.grassfedcow.com/
They have pigs and cows, in addition to growing produce. Riverview farms has a Farm Mobile which is "a mobile farmers market on wheels. Inside, shoppers choose from shelves stocked with organic locally grown produce, free-range eggs, breads from H&F Bread Co., our own grits, polenta, and cornmeal, and sustainable meats. Other regular items on board include cheese from local food artisans like Sequatchie Cove Farm, and pesto from Hope's Gardens. Farm Mobile has everything you need for an all-local dinner!" Farm Mobile's freezer includes grassfed beef and Berkshire pork, all from Riverview Farms. They also stock whole pasture-raised chickens raised by White Oak Pastures.
It's located in Ranger, GA.
http://www.grassfedcow.com/
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Chapter 8 and Overall Review of Eating Animals
Eating Animals has affected me more than any other nonfiction book I have ever read. It is a story that lays down all the facts about eating animals in the 21st century. It is not a book dedicated to changing all its readers to vegetarians, but it is not a book without a purpose. Jonathon Foer wrote Eating Animals as a way to let the American public know the opinions of everyone involved and the common happenings in the "farming" industry of today so that people can hopefully come to the conclusion that, without a doubt, something is wrong.
In Chapter 8, Foer intertwines all of the information of the previous chapters and makes his conclusion clear: the way we are eating animals today is NOT RIGHT. The factory farm was not started to be what it is today. "When Celia Steele raised that first flock of confined chicks...When Charles Vantress crosses a red-feathered Cornish and a New Hampshire to produce the 1946 'Chicken of Tomorrow,'...[they] could not have comprehended what [they were] contributing to" (Foer 248). The greed for money over the well-being of the environment, the workers, and the animals being farmed has turned the vast majority of the farming industry into a monster. Foer revealed the most shocking atrocities in this last chapter. Here is an overview:
"After reported improvement in slaughterhouse conditions...using poles like baseball bats to hit baby turkey, stomping on chickens to watch them 'pop,' beating lame pigs with metal pipes, and knowingly dismembering fully conscious cattle" (Foer 428).
"Today's turkeys are natural insectivores fed a grossly unnatural diet, which can include "meat, sawdust, leather tannery by-products" (Foer 262).
"'deliberate acts of cruelty occurring on a regular basis' at 32 percent of the plants she surveyed during announced visits in the United States" (Foer 251). (What happens when visits are unannounced?)
These next two stories hit me really fast, and I was crying. I've never cried about something like this before. I really don't cry that much for a teenage girl, but these stories just really freaked me out. They are worker testimonials.
"One time the knocking gun was broke all day, they were taking a knife and cutting the back of the cow's neck open while he's still standing up. They would just fall down and be ashaking. And they stab cows in the butt to make 'em move. Break their tails. They beat them so bad...And the cow be crying with its tongue stuck out" (Foer 249).
"One time I took my knife -- it's sharp enough -- and I sliced off the end of a hog's nose, just like a piece of bologna. The hog went crazy for a few seconds. Then it just sat there looking kind of stupid. So I took a handful of salt brine and ground it into his nose. Now that hog really went nuts, pushing its nose all over the place. I still had a bunch of salt left on my hand -- I was wearing a rubber glove -- and I stuck the salt right up the hog's a**. The poor hog didn't know whether to s*** or go blind" (Foer 249). (I don't know if profanity is allowed on here, so I bleeped.)
After reading this I decided to be a vegetarian. I'm embarrassed to say that I changed my mind after about four minutes. I came up with some excuses and decided I couldn't do it. I feel awful about this because I have learned that not eating meat is really the only way to destroy the factory farm, and it needs to be destroyed. Eating old-fashioned farmed meat is really not a plausible option because of the miniscule amount of farmers that are able to have completely humane and natural farms.
"Responding to the factory farmed calls for a capacity to care that dwells beyond information, and beyond the oppositions of desire and reason, fact and myth, and even human and animal." (Foer 259).
"Food matters and animals matter and eating animals matters even more" (Foer 260).
Most of my excuses for continuing to eat meat have to do with the fact that it would put a big strain on my family. Hopefully one day, when I'm on my own and have a family of my own, I can make the right decision.
I encourage everyone to read this book. If you are unsure about your feelings on "farming," this book will help you form a strong opinion and maybe even convince you to stop eating meat.
In Chapter 8, Foer intertwines all of the information of the previous chapters and makes his conclusion clear: the way we are eating animals today is NOT RIGHT. The factory farm was not started to be what it is today. "When Celia Steele raised that first flock of confined chicks...When Charles Vantress crosses a red-feathered Cornish and a New Hampshire to produce the 1946 'Chicken of Tomorrow,'...[they] could not have comprehended what [they were] contributing to" (Foer 248). The greed for money over the well-being of the environment, the workers, and the animals being farmed has turned the vast majority of the farming industry into a monster. Foer revealed the most shocking atrocities in this last chapter. Here is an overview:
"After reported improvement in slaughterhouse conditions...using poles like baseball bats to hit baby turkey, stomping on chickens to watch them 'pop,' beating lame pigs with metal pipes, and knowingly dismembering fully conscious cattle" (Foer 428).
"Today's turkeys are natural insectivores fed a grossly unnatural diet, which can include "meat, sawdust, leather tannery by-products" (Foer 262).
"'deliberate acts of cruelty occurring on a regular basis' at 32 percent of the plants she surveyed during announced visits in the United States" (Foer 251). (What happens when visits are unannounced?)
These next two stories hit me really fast, and I was crying. I've never cried about something like this before. I really don't cry that much for a teenage girl, but these stories just really freaked me out. They are worker testimonials.
"One time the knocking gun was broke all day, they were taking a knife and cutting the back of the cow's neck open while he's still standing up. They would just fall down and be ashaking. And they stab cows in the butt to make 'em move. Break their tails. They beat them so bad...And the cow be crying with its tongue stuck out" (Foer 249).
"One time I took my knife -- it's sharp enough -- and I sliced off the end of a hog's nose, just like a piece of bologna. The hog went crazy for a few seconds. Then it just sat there looking kind of stupid. So I took a handful of salt brine and ground it into his nose. Now that hog really went nuts, pushing its nose all over the place. I still had a bunch of salt left on my hand -- I was wearing a rubber glove -- and I stuck the salt right up the hog's a**. The poor hog didn't know whether to s*** or go blind" (Foer 249). (I don't know if profanity is allowed on here, so I bleeped.)
After reading this I decided to be a vegetarian. I'm embarrassed to say that I changed my mind after about four minutes. I came up with some excuses and decided I couldn't do it. I feel awful about this because I have learned that not eating meat is really the only way to destroy the factory farm, and it needs to be destroyed. Eating old-fashioned farmed meat is really not a plausible option because of the miniscule amount of farmers that are able to have completely humane and natural farms.
"Responding to the factory farmed calls for a capacity to care that dwells beyond information, and beyond the oppositions of desire and reason, fact and myth, and even human and animal." (Foer 259).
"Food matters and animals matter and eating animals matters even more" (Foer 260).
Most of my excuses for continuing to eat meat have to do with the fact that it would put a big strain on my family. Hopefully one day, when I'm on my own and have a family of my own, I can make the right decision.
I encourage everyone to read this book. If you are unsure about your feelings on "farming," this book will help you form a strong opinion and maybe even convince you to stop eating meat.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Sea Lions In DANGERRRR!
http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/4688
Interesting stuff. Sea Lions need our protection and support. Please comment on their plight.
Interesting stuff. Sea Lions need our protection and support. Please comment on their plight.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Eating Animals: Influence/Speechlessness
Chapter 5 discusses plagues that have drastically affected entire generations. These diseases such as the 1918 Pandemic (also known as the Spanish Flu) as well as the potential pandemic based on the H5N1 virus strand all share something in common, they have found their way from animals to humans. Another unsettling topic mentioned in this chapter is that WHO (World Health Organization) is expecting a devastating pandemic to occur. In fact, they believe it is "overdue". With the prediction of 2 to 7.4 million deaths if the bird flu is passed onto humans, WHO expects great casulties to all countries as well as economic and social disturbances worldwide. So why are humans so susceptible to this possible bird flu? The answer lies in industrial animal-processing techiniques. And again we are led back to factory farms and their harmful and now possibly deadly effects on our lives.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Ch. 3 Eating Animals
In this chapter, Foer defines and discusses many words one might hear involving animal welfare. Some of the ones that stood out were: battery cage, broiler chicken, bycatch, CAFO&CFE, downer, KFC, and PETA
battery cage: is the cage in which a layer(the chickens whose purpose is to produce eggs) stays in. they are about the size of a sheet of paper or less! can you imagine?
broiler chicken: are the meat chickens-what we eat. get this- broiler chickens use to have a lifespan of 15-20yrs now it is only six weeks because their growing rate has increased 400%!!!
-what if they arent either type? well....over 250 million chicks are killed every year because in factory farms they serve no purpose
bycatch: sea creatures caught by accident. here's an interesting fact "26 pounds of other sea animals were killed and tossed back into the ocean for 1 pound of shrimp"
CAFO&CFE: CAFO stands for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation a.k.a. factory farm-CAFO's harm animals illegally says Foer even though the CAFO was created by the Environmental Protection Agency. What's up with that? Also, the CFE makes it ok to raise animals in any way as long as the method is commonly practiced within the industry
downer: an animal that collapses from poor health and is unable to stand back up. Foer visited Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York http://www.farmsanctuary.org/ nothing is grown or raised, rescued animals are just kept here until they die because they are usually genetically mutated
KFC: it buys nearly 1 billion chickens a year! It claims to treat their chicks well but workers were caught on video doing terrible things.
PETA: PETA stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and is the largest animals rights organization in the world. One time they distributed "unhappy meals" with bloodied, cleaver-weilding ronald mcdonald! hahahaha. and tossed a dead raccoon at Vogue's, the fashion magazine, editor!
battery cage: is the cage in which a layer(the chickens whose purpose is to produce eggs) stays in. they are about the size of a sheet of paper or less! can you imagine?
broiler chicken: are the meat chickens-what we eat. get this- broiler chickens use to have a lifespan of 15-20yrs now it is only six weeks because their growing rate has increased 400%!!!
-what if they arent either type? well....over 250 million chicks are killed every year because in factory farms they serve no purpose
bycatch: sea creatures caught by accident. here's an interesting fact "26 pounds of other sea animals were killed and tossed back into the ocean for 1 pound of shrimp"
CAFO&CFE: CAFO stands for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation a.k.a. factory farm-CAFO's harm animals illegally says Foer even though the CAFO was created by the Environmental Protection Agency. What's up with that? Also, the CFE makes it ok to raise animals in any way as long as the method is commonly practiced within the industry
downer: an animal that collapses from poor health and is unable to stand back up. Foer visited Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York http://www.farmsanctuary.org/ nothing is grown or raised, rescued animals are just kept here until they die because they are usually genetically mutated
KFC: it buys nearly 1 billion chickens a year! It claims to treat their chicks well but workers were caught on video doing terrible things.
PETA: PETA stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and is the largest animals rights organization in the world. One time they distributed "unhappy meals" with bloodied, cleaver-weilding ronald mcdonald! hahahaha. and tossed a dead raccoon at Vogue's, the fashion magazine, editor!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Nature's Harmony Farm
This is a local farm in Elberton, GA. it is owned and operated by Tim and Liz Young. Tim and Liz started farming once they learned the terrible realities of how animals were treated in factory farm settings. They tried to put animals back into their natural habitats where they could live. "The sustainable farm offers raw milk cheese, woodlot rare-breed pork, rare-breed pasture raised rabbits, heritage turkeys, true free-range hens, grass-fed beef, grass-fed lamb, organic honey and pasture raised ducks."
http://www.naturesharmonyfarm.com/natures-harmony-story/
Check out their blog also
http://www.naturesharmonyfarm.com/grass-fed-meat-farm-blog/
http://www.naturesharmonyfarm.com/natures-harmony-story/
http://www.naturesharmonyfarm.com/grass-fed-meat-farm-blog/
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