February 22, 2006 – Warmth Returns

Was able to get outside and get a few more things moving along. Warmed back into the 40’s today. Almost completed building the new household composter – just need to insert a few more eye bolts and make the center partition.

February 21, 2006 – On the Olympic Podium

Not many people know that I have stood on the Olympic podium!

Here I am with daughter Claire and mother-in-law Joanne in Park City, UT, which hosted the downhill, bobsled, and ski jumping for the 2002 Olympics. Our medals were stripped once it was discovered we did not train, nor did we appear in any events. Evidently our ties to the governing body were not strong enough to maintain the medals.

I did live in Park City for a very fun summer back in the 80’s when it was still a sleepy little ski town. It was at a very upscale (cough, cough) ski lodge called “Chateau Apres“. I cannot, believe it is still standing on the high-priced real estate that surrounds it. I was there for geology summer field camp and we started mapping the ground around there, starting in the Heber Valley and up to the tops of Alta and Snowbird by the end of the summer.

February 20, 2006 – Trying to Make it all Work

The last few days I’ve been working on a high hopes newsletter and order form for the upcoming season. Today I called the locker where we take chickens to find out the minimum number we could sell to individuals and let them pick it up. They wouldn’t do it period. So something that was inconvenient for our customers becomes impossible.

Out options are to butcher the chickens on the farm or go to a locker licensed to sell retail – that would add about $3.50 to the price of the already expensive chickens without much of a margin for us. This is one enterprise where economies of scale sure help – driving 100 chickens to the locker plant vs driving 1000 would drive a lot of the costs significantly down, but growing 1,000 chickens does not fit into the balance of our farm at this point.

The chickens are such a wonderful product – but we can’t do it for free or little profit with all the risk that goes along with it. We NEED a plant closer to make it more economical.

So until we decide what to do – the newsletter is on hold.

February 19, 2006 – All Things Not Created Equal

It makes complete sense to us that animals raised eating and acting the way they traditionally have been treated make better food. Evidence is sometimes hard to come by since these producers are for the most part, small family operations and lack multi-million dollar lobbying and industry organizations.

We strongly believe that the husbandry and diverse food choices, in addition to exercise makes all animals healthier, including livestock. Just think how healthy you would be if you were confined to a cage just slightly larger than you were (how most chickens and pork are raised).

For example, the following chart shows a comparison between conventional cage-raised grocery store eggs and free-range eggs.

For more information about eggs, see information from the University of Michigan.

Likewise, there is mounting evidence of a connection between mental health and diet. A number of recent studies have indicated a link between a healthy diet and mental health (depression ADHD, Alzheimers).

For example the report said chickens reach their slaughter weight twice as fast as they did 30 years ago, increasing the fat content from 2% to 22%.
Industrial chicken culture has also altered the balance of vital fatty acids omega-3 and omega-6 in chickens which the brain needs to ensure it functions properly. Pastured poultry has been found to have elevated levels of omega-3. See a story about the study from the BBC.