Farm Talk

When you buy organic products, there is this expectancy attached—this feeling that the product is supposed to be safe, effective, and good for you. The fact that it costs more and is harder to find (for many people, anyway) makes the idea even further ingrained into our psyches. After all, when you pay more, you get more, right?

But the number of exposes run on the dairy industry, from California to New York, simply keep increasing and increasing, and we’re slowly realizing that truly organic milk simply isn’t being made on many of the farms claiming to produce it. In fact, nearly half of the nation’s milk is made on big factory farms. And of these, the biggest organic producers corral their bovine beauties in little dirt pens where they don’t get to eat grass and can barely turn around. Many don’t even come into contact with grass at all, which is unnatural for a cow.

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Go bananas in September!

That's right! Almost slipped past you, didn't it? Not to forget! September is the month in which we all plant banana trees. September and banana trees are practically synonymous, and considering the banana's many subtle varieties, let us deliberate wisley on which banana(s) to plant this month.

I found a wonderful resource today, in the Maas Nursery newsletter. I have decided on the Ice Cream (Blue Java) tree because its leaves are an enchanted silvery green, with delicate blue fruit that tastes like fresh Mexican flan.

If you live on the east coast, midwest, north, northeast, or northwest part of the country, remember, all it takes is growing your banana tree in a grow bag/burlap sack so that you can alternate between indoor and outdoor growing on a seasonal rotation! Inside fall and winter and outside in the summer!!

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All I can say is, “You go, Gap.”

I remember being impressed with Gap Inc. launched their Red campaign (I was totally in love with “Inspi(red)”), and though I still had issues with the company’s ethical practices overall, I thought it was great that they were trying to make a difference.

I still don’t shop brand names; call me an anti-conformist, a nerd or simply broke, but I still can’t wrap my head around spending that much for a name when you can get secondhand clothing much, much more cheaply. Besides, who wants to look like everyone else?

That said, it’s a freaking huge company that sells a freaking huge amount of clothes, so what they do is still important. Behold their newest effort to be good—using cage-free eggs!

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The scientist who developed Mirai® was attempting to create a disease resistant corn hybrid. Instead, he ended up with Mirai®, a mirai cornstrikingly sweet and tender corn that has been available in Japan since the 1990s and is slowly becoming available here. Mirai® is so delicate that the ears must be harvested by hand—hence the Japanese market. In Japan the farmers are quite willing to grow small patches of the intensely flavorful corn and harvest it carefully by hand, then charge a premium mark-up of as much as 50%.

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