Eating Animals

Many of us at Sand Holler Farm are vegetarian. We all have a different story on how we came to this dietary state. I just recently finished a book by Jonathan Safran Foer (author of Everything is Illuminated) about his journey to committing to this diet after waffling back and forth for much of his life. It was an interesting and entertaining read - if not somewhat gruesome at times. Eating Animals does not provide any earth shattering revelations or even much information that is not currently available to anyone who cares to do a bit of research about their food. But I still think it's an important book for people to read - people of all dietary persuasions.

The book's main focus is the horrendous treatment of animals in factory farmed situations - I feel that this fact cannot be repeated too often. Consumers should be demanding a product that does not force animals into this kind of situation. It is hard for me to imagine that people are willing to continue to support this industry...ah, but I forget! The Almighty Dollar rules our lives. But it rules the lives of corporations too. Vote with your dollars - send them to sustainably raised meat!

Foer, on the other hand, advocates a vegetarian diet as the answer. He does not even believe that being an "ethical carnivore" is even a possibility. I disagree however. When raising food animals, there will always be compromises to be made (causing pain by disbudding in order to prevent future injuries, or castrating to prevent unwanted breeding) but I think that there are plenty of small farms that are doing the best possible. With more support for them, that industry can grow and hopefully again replace the factory farms that are currently dominating meat production.

His views, and the views of some he portrays in the book, can be a bit extreme for my tastes, but it's worth hearing their opinion. Go ahead, check it out!

Hello Again from Sand Holler!

While there has been a long absence of blog posts, there has certainly been no shortage of news at Sand Holler Farm! Between baby Willa, a full-time job, the holidays, and the constant demands of the farm, Marissa was in need of some reinforcements to keep the blog updated. That’s where I come in! My name is Jessica and my husband, Alex, and I moved out to the farm this past October. We were brought in to relieve Dale of the animal chores on the weekends (I guess he deserves SOME time off) and to make CSA deliveries. We’re excited to be a part of Sand Holler and I’m happy to be taking on some new responsibilities, including this blog!

Here is a brief update of farm happenings from the past few months:

We got one new four-legged addition this fall. Kitten, a lamb, was born on Alex and I’s first night here. Talk about a good omen! You can hardly call her a lamb anymore, although she is still very attached to Cat, her mama.

Harvest House and "Pre-Freeze" Garden

The biggest change on the farm has to be the completion of the “Harvest House”, the charming new focal point of the garden. This multi-purpose building has a generous area to wash and sort produce, storage for garden tools, and a small apartment for interns and WWOOF volunteers. With the winter providing limited produce, however, the work space has largely been used for sewing row covers to protect our crops during freezes. Our latest WWOOF volunteers, August and Marion, have proved themselves to be masters of the sewing machine and all of our rows are now sporting new, easily-deployed covers. The design is a vast improvement from last year’s and we are all very grateful to be able to “button up” the garden in a matter of minutes!

The garden is all tucked in and ready to brave another cold night!

Envelopes of seeds have been steadily arriving in the mail, bringing with them excitement for spring planting. While the garden has an abundance of kale, collards, and mustard, I think we are all ready for something besides greens! The garden is looking great thanks to the many helping hands we’ve had over the past few months, including Evan, Nicole, Austin, Keely, (another) Jessica, and, as always, Dale. Talk about Community Supported Agriculture! Cold hardy crops, such as beets, carrots, and lettuces have already been planted and should be ready for harvest soon.

Two of the goats have found new homes. Dandelion and Miranda have both been sold to families that have started home dairies. Five of the six remaining does have been bred and will start kidding in April. Here’s hoping for a less eventful kidding than last year!

Egg Recall

While sitting down to my eggful breakfast this morning, my ears perked up when I heard something about the wonderful food on the radio. They were talking about making sure your yolks are cooked COMPLETELY through and even about pasteurizing eggs. Pffft. I took a bit of my ooey gooey fried egg on toast (ciabatta from Texas French Bread!). But then the story went on and I realized this wasn't just a 'food safety expert' scaring everyone. There's an egg recall!!! (yes, I do typically live under a rock...remember I have a 4 month old!)

While some experts say that small-producer, free range eggs aren't any safer from salmonella contamination, I have to wonder. Perhaps statistically, the eggs from a small farmer are just as likely to be contaminated, but the fact is, there simply can't be a HUGE outbreak because of their size. Our centralized food system is what causes these devastating outbreaks that has people all over the country (or at least in 16 states this time), dumping food for fear it's going to make them sick!

The two farms that are indicated in the outbreak aren't selling their recently laid eggs in the carton. Instead, they are being shipped to a "breaking plant" where the eggs will be pasteurized and sold as liquid eggs. That's great that not all that food will go to waste, but it seems more like a band-aid than a true fix to the problem. How do we stop massive outbreaks in the first place?

Take that Monsanto!

I won't expound too much on my issues with Monsanto, but this piece speaks for itself.

Monsanto has developed plants that are resistant to one of their herbicides - Roundup. The vast majority of soybeans, corn and cotton grown in the US are these 'Roundup-Ready' varieties. Farmers can then douse the fields in the herbicide without fear of harming their drop. However, Mother Nature is fighting back. There are now weeds that have become immune to the herbicide and farmers are being forced into the fields with hoes. Monsanto is even paying farmers for the purchase of other herbicides!

Roundup Resistant Weeds Pose Environmental Threat

Here at Sand Holler, we never have to fear such an outcome. We don't use herbicides - we are already out there with hoes in hand! We strive towards a system that is as sustainable as possible. We improve the health of the soil and plant vegetable varieties appropriate for our conditions. If everyone took this approach, we could greatly reduce the amount of chemicals - organic or not - that are sprayed on crops and end up in other parts of our environment.

Ripening Tomatoes: grown without 'benefit' of concentrated chemicals

Bring on the peppers!

Our pepper plants are really taking off. It's great to see the summer veggies continue to roll in. Unfortunately our squash is still suffering. Now that we have finally gotten the squash bugs and borers under control, we have mosaic virus! I'm not sure we will get any at all...

No goat emergencies this week. In fact, everyone is doing much better. Shelli is completely over the infection and we finally think Savannah is on the road to recovery. Whew!

Full Baskets

Celebrity Tomatoes
Big Rainbow Tomatoes
Bell Peppers
Hungarian Wax Peppers
Slicing Cucumbers
Garlic
Red Norland Potatoes
Cantaloupe

Half Baskets

Yellow Pear Tomatoes
Big Rainbow Tomatoes
Ichiban Eggplant
Poblano Peppers
Hungarian Wax Peppers
Slicing Cucumbers
Cantaloupe
Clemson Spineless Okra

Caprine Calamaties

Our trouble with goats continues. Last year the worst problems we had were the girls knocking heads and getting cut on their scurs. This year the problems seem nearly endless.

Savannah has an infection in her udder - mastitis. We are currently treating it very aggressively. Many times we treat a goat that isn't feeling well with a more holistic and supportive approach and they are able to get back on their feet by the next day like nothing happened. But we are going full Western medicine on Savannah since she has been so sick. She has gotten shots of antibiotics and a different antibiotic infused in her udder. She has had a fever for almost a week but it looks like it might finally have broken...just in time for her twin Shelli to come down with similar symptoms. This time we aren't waiting the lengthy 4 days to get the lab results back and are treating it as if it's the same infection. Shelli's fever is already down. I think we caught it very early. But a sick goat is truly a sad thing to see - their normally perky ears hang limply on the side of their head, they mope around and their rumen becomes less active making them look like they've lost 20 pounds overnight.

(by the way, we never use the milk of a goat that appears to be sick or is on medication)

But that's not all. The two boys who were castrated last week still at like they are in terrible pain and won't come anywhere near me - though they frolic right up to Dale. Guess they recall exactly who put those rubber bands around their 'equipment' (and they've apparently been gossiping - the other two intact boys are also afraid of me now!). But they will get over it eventually.

And then on Saturday 3 of the kids got the runs. This can be very serious in goats. We quickly gave them the medication for the worst of the causes since we'd rather be safe than sorry. They do appear to be getting better now. But it was rough for awhile. And let me tell you, trying to squirt bad tasting medicine in the mouths of 9 kid goats that don't want it, can be quite difficult!

Little Lily was spared the intestinal upset.


Lastly there was a freak accident on Sunday. Dale was taking some people to see the kids when he noticed that Lark looked to be stuck in the hay manager. Thistle, arguably the stupidest goat in Texas, gets his head "stuck" regularly. It's not really stuck - there's plenty of room for him to get his head out. He just doesn't know that. We have to help guide his head back so he can be free. But Lark hadn't done this before. He suddenly pulled back and was free....but there was a wire sticking out of his eye!!! By the time Dale caught him, Pops had come to fetch me to help. The wire had fallen out on its own but it was obvious that it had gone through both his upper and lower eyelid. Somehow his eye completely avoided damage. And when I say "wire" I don't mean something thin like a coat hanger - think more like USB cable (hey, it's the only thing in my field of view that fits!). We cleaned the wound and gave him an anti-inflammatory and painkiller...and hoped. It did swell, but it was already reduced by the next day and he is acting perfectly fine. Whew.

But what's in store for us next week?!?! I can't even imagine...

It's truly summer!

Happy Summer everyone! In case the hot weather hadn't clued you in to the season change yet, the longest day of the year occurred yesterday, marking the official start of the summer. And with the new season comes new vegetables!

And for the start of the hottest time of the year, we now have the cheese kitchen AIR CONDITIONED!!! Yes, I have made all the cheeses in a small metal building with no AC or windows and the stove on full blast last summer and this year. Not fun. And as mentioned previously, air temperature can effect the cheese making process. So now we have one more variable under control - and it will allow me to make some cheeses that require longer incubation times at temperatures less than 100F (seriously, we have a thermometer in there and it regularly gets over 100F...). Yeah!


Full Baskets

Cardinal Basil
Roma Tomatoes
Purple Cherokee Tomatoes
Clemson Spineless Okra
Kirby cucumbers
Country Gentlemen Sweet Corn
Purple Beans
Ichicban Eggplants
Poblano Peppers

Half Baskets

Cardinal Basil
Roma Tomatoes
Purple Cherokee Tomato
Clemson Spineless Okra
Kirby cucumbers
Red Norland Potatoes
Butter Beans
Jalapeno Peppers
Garlic


Roasted Okra

This is a delicious way to cook okra that I only recently discovered. If you think you don't like the vegetable, try it this way!

Preheat the oven to 450F. Coat a baking sheet with olive oil and drizzle a little on the okra. Sprinkle with salt. Bake for 15 minutes, turning them every 5 minutes. They should be browned in a few places and slightly crisp. Excellent!