let the hens out of the hen houses!

As you may or may not know about our current industrial food system, there exists a plethora of inhumane practices, environmentally--if I may be a bit cheeky--rude practices as well. That's a whole 'nother topic or post (or maybe it's a flowing topic connected with many other posts...).

Like so many other parts of this country’s conventional food system, the practice keeps prices low and profits up by not accounting for its hidden costs to human health and the environment.

Anywho, straight to today's topic at hand which is chicken farming. Grist posted a really nice article about more and more chicken farmers getting away from the conventional coop and attempting, with the help of a successful organic chicken farmer, a truly free range approach. As a bonus farmers who've switched to a pasture-raised method can downsize their previous operation while making a better profit. What a win-win. You don't have to just take my word for it, however, please check out the article for yourself!

“There’s so many people willing to pay a fair price for eggs if they know the birds are being treated well and the farmer is actually making a living,” Cox says.

I know that I am. And this may sound really crazy or bizarre, so feel free to ignore this little brain gem, but I feel like an egg laid by an unhappy, sick, and dirty hen will be a gross egg. I think happy eggs taste better, just saying...

Also, I mentioned in a recent post a website I've come to really enjoy, Heritage Radio Network, and I've dug into the archives a bit and found a fantastic episode with a chicken farmer, Jesse LaFlamme from Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs. "Jesse goes in depth about why big agriculture has gone the way it has with sometimes over 600,000 hens being stuffed in cages in a single barn and why he chooses to keep his chickens cage-free and certified humane." -- HRN.org

So here it is: The Farm Report Ep. 107 -- Jesse LaFlamme Pt. 2

Update on Prop 37

Whatever happened to California's Proposition 37, you ask? Will we, the consumers of food stuffs and such, now be able to see GMOs labeled? Well, short answer: no.

The good-food movement appears to have suffered a big loss in California. It looks like voters have rejected Prop 37, which would have required genetically modified foods to be labeled as such. You might think such an initiative sounds like good common sense, and so did most California voters — until Monsanto, Dupont, Pepsi, and their Big Food pals poured $46 million into the anti-37 campaign and swamped the airwaves with fearmongering ads. Because labels are scary, and GMOs are not — right?

From Grist.org's post, "Beyond Obama: Here are green ballot measures that won and lost".