We Made the Top 50

I found an email in my in box that announced that this blog has made the top 50 on the Seametrics farm blog list Woo Hoo which you can view here! or by clicking on the badge in the side bar that says this is a top 50 blog.

Boulder Belt to go High Speed

after 19 years of accessing the internet via dial up modem I have finally decided to go with DSL. At some point around 7pm this evening my service will kick in and I will be able to surf the web comfortably. No more waiting up to 10 minutes for a page to load (I have literally vacuumed the living room floor in less time than it has taken for some things to load . No more hour+ hangs on the email because someone has sent me a 5mb attachment (that won't open too often) I can now watch suggested videos without the up to 20 hour download time (and the vast majority of these I delete). The photos on my website will now load all the way with no refreshing. I will be able to upload videos to this blog.

I am stoked about this upgrade in my life.

Hoop House redux

Robin over at Seasons Eating Farm has a post about her hoop house/green house and notes that hoop house/season extension/green house posts tend to drive traffic to farm blogs that post about them and have pictures. no pictures on this post but if you look at the links below (in order) you will not only see pictures of our hoop houses but also how to put one together for under $750US. We have put up 3 hoop houses this season. 2 are 15' x 100' and one is 15' x 50'.

http://boulderbelt.blogspot.com/2006/02/hoophouse-how-to-part-1-what-you-need.html
http://boulderbelt.blogspot.com/2006/02/hoophouse-how-to-part-2.html
http://boulderbelt.blogspot.com/2006/02/hoophouse-how-to-part-3.html

Women Who Farm

Women Who Farm.

This is a forum I found because I was reading Shari's Blog, Shari's Gone Country, and there was a link to this forum. Since I love Internet forums, especially ones about small farming/organics/local foods I clicked on over and saw there were many women farmers I already knew from email lists and gardening forums in which I participate. So I registered and have become a part of this growing community of women who farm (or want to farm). If that is you check out the site.

New URL; Update your Bookmarks and links!

After two years of having the wrong spelling in the URL for this blog I finally corrected that spelling from "boulerbelt" to "boulderbelt" (note the addition of the letter "D"). If you have this blog linked to your blog or website please update the URL. Time to update bookmarks too.

Having changed the URL (which I cannot undo as a spam site has taken over my old URL-that took under 24 hours) may have been a bone head move in the short run as a lot of people cannot find this blog via their links and bookmarks but in the long run it should be a brilliant move as now this blog will show up in search engines when "Boulder belt" is typed into the search box.

It has been fun trying to remember where I put up the URL to this site and changing them all (over 20 links so far and I am sure there are others), especially in light of the fact I am using a brand new computer that I have not been able to transfer anything from my old computer (because it died 36 hours before I got the wonderful and beautiful new iMac) to so I do not have many of my old bookmarks and only 10% of my email list

Links, Links and More Links

I was over at Small Meadow Farm's blog and found all sorts of interesting things to read and links to surf. I especially like the rant "Food for Thought". There is also an entry about The Rodale Institute's challenge to the NBC biased reporting on organic foods last month which you can read here. It's nice that an entity with a lot of clout is going after NBC. Maybe NBC will be courageous enough to do a segment using the Rodale take on organics vs conventional. We can only hope.

In my email inbox I found this interesting set of links from the OEFFA list serv:
1. THE MYTH:
Industrial food is safe, healthy, and nutritious.
http://www.keepmainefree.org/myth1.html
2. THE MYTH:
Industrial food is cheap.
http://www.keepmainefree.org/myth2.html
3. THE MYTH:
Industrial agriculture is efficient.
http://www.keepmainefree.org/myth3.html
4. THE MYTH:
Biotechnology will solve the problems of industrial agriculture.
http://www.keepmainefree.org/myth4.html
5. THE MYTH:
Industrial agriculture benefits the environment and wildlife.
http://www.keepmainefree.org/myth5.html
6. THE MYTH:
Industrial agriculture will feed the world.
http://www.keepmainefree.org/myth6.html
7. THE MYTH:
Industrial food offers more choices.
http://www.keepmainefree.org/myth7.html

Lucy & Eugene get a DVD Player (finally)

I got package full of interesting DVD's from my brother for the Christmas/solstice season, 5 in all.

But we did not have a DVD player with which to view them so we went to Richmond and got a Coby™ DVD player from REX for under $31 (including tax).

Long time readers of this blog may remember that in November 2005 we had a visit from my brother Scott and during that visit, among other things, we bought a DVD player from the local Wal-Mart box store. It turned out to be a very evil DVD player (See My weekend... & Purging the Evil for the story about the last DVD player and all the ensued) so it was returned (partly because the TV we had at the time was too old for DVD players, partly because the damned thing seemed to be cursed).

now that we have a much newer TV we can now use DVD player technology and we had been discussing buying a DVD player for a couple of months (since we got Fran's TV). When we got the package of DVD's in the mail we figured it was a sign to go out and purchase one.

And so we did.

We decided to buy at REX because it is a local company (based out of Dayton, OH) and also because it had cheap players whereas Wal-Mart had them for about $90 and HH Gregg was not much cheaper. All we wanted was the most basic unit we could find and REX had that unit. It was so basic we opted to pay five bucks more for one with an LED display. The sales guy answered all our questions but warned us that this unit played on DVD-/RW disks and DVD+/RW disks. But he also assured us that the DVD+/RW disks are almost never used.

So we drove home happy with our new purchase.

We get home and I find the DVD's my brother sent and damn it to hell, all but one was a DVD+/RW. So without reading the specs on the DVD player box we start planning the return of yet another DVD player. At least this time no pets were dead on the road or furnishings stuck where they ought not to be. but before we get too far in our return the DVD player plans I wander over to the box and read the specs and find out the unit will play DVD+/RW disks-Yay!

While I cook dinner, Eugene hooks up the player to the TV set and by 8pm we are watching one of the DVD my brother sent. we put in man on the Moon, about Andy Kauffman. We get the menu screen with sound and color and everything so we know we have the thing hooked up correctly. press play and get the movie itself but no sound. I figure out how to get English subtitles so for a while we can read along. but it ain't the same as listening. So we try this is Spinal Tap and with that we get a strange voice over of the band in recent years describing the "documentary", strange. I am curious to see what other surprises await us with the DVD's. Still have Heathers, the History of Violence (which I have not seen) and American Splendor (another one I have not seen and I hope is watchable because I have wanted to see this since it came oout about 18/24 months ago. It's about a guy named Harvey Pekar and I have a friend named Pekar but I do not believe they are any relation).

That is our most recent adventure involving electronics.

A New Look

I decided to try out NEW Look for the blog today.

Too brown? Does this mean I'm in a brown mood (wot ever that means)?

I do like the side bar being on the left and I think it is more readable. But I also think the posts are too close together. not enough space or other things separating different posts. perhaps having fewer post showing up in the page will help this out.

What do you think?

Nice Farm Blog

I was surfin' the web and found this really great farm blog written by a woman in rural GA who started out life in Urban Minnesota. Well written and entertaining (at least to me) I suggest you check out this farm blog

Check Out this Farm Blog

I have known these guys virtually via several small farm based email lists/groups for going on a decade and now they have a swell blog. Good writing and good pictures. A farmers' story is always facinating so check them out. Glen Eco-Farm

Another AdSense Post

I was given some good advise about filtering my Adsense Ads . Now there will not be any more Miracle Gro™ ads displayed on this Eco-Farm blog.

Today I noticed a Murray Mc Murray ad we used to get our chickens from there but decided to get ours more locally at Mt Healthy Hatcheries. That said, Murray McMurray has one of the best catalogues on the planet, I don't care what the product is. It is the best poultry catalogue around, hands down.

Nice to have some semblance of control over this ad thing so this blog can generate some guilt free revenues to keep the farm going. You can support this small sustainable farm by clicking on our sponsors if you cannot actually come to the farm to buy our wonderful food.

CSA Blogs

I was just cruising Technocrati and decided to see what was listed under CSA. There are a lot of french blogs using the acronym as well as a lot of blogs devoted to Confederate state of America but what I was looking for are the Community Supported agriculture blogs and there are quite a few out there and below are links to several I found surfing this morning.

Beets
Adjective Noun
Anna & David Love the Dog
Alice Q. Foodie Love the name
Peak Oil Blues
The Holistic Kitchen
JAM*intake
CSA Cycle Tour This is a blog done by a group in Michigan touring Michigan CSA's this summer. Facinating. Really shows the individuality of each CSA farm.
Buy Local...

If you got here because I linked to your site please put up a link on your blog to this site (than we all get more traffic and more people get to learn about the wonders of local food and CSA's).

If you want to join a CSA after reading so many good things about them click on the local harvest link on the side bar and you will get listings of CSA's near you.

If you thought this was about civil war stuff, sorry...

NAIS Agriculture Facism

NAIS is a system the USDA will be implementing sometime in 2008. Over the past 3 or 4 months I have been reading more and more about this on the web. I have seen a couple of dynamite posts about this issue over on the Cauldron Ridge Blog and the slow food website has a lot of information and good discussion going on in their forum (the two items below are from that website). Personally I am opposed to this idea for many of the reasons stated in the article by Mr Lamb and the response to Mr lamb's article.

Remember eating is indeed a political act.

Henry Lamb is the founding Chairman of Sovereignty International
(1996), and the founding ECO of the Environmental Conservation
Organization (1988). He is publisher of eco-logic Powerhouse, a widely
read on-line, and print magazine. His columns are frequently translated
into Spanish and published throughout Central and South America, Spain,
Portugal, and Italy. He has attended United Nations meetings around the
world, is a frequent speaker at conferences and workshops across the
country, and is a regular guest on dozens of talk radio programs. He
has provided testimony for the U.S. Congress, as well as State
Legislatures, and has served as a consultant to FOX News on U.N.
affairs.

For eight years, he was CEO of a national trade association for
contractors, headquartered in Chicago, coming to that position from CEO
of a private construction company specializing in erosion control and
water management structures. His background includes teaching at the
secondary school level, and serving four years as a legislative analyst
for a county government in Florida. E-Mail: h...@freedom.org

The mark on the beast
By Henry Lamb
http://www.eco.freedom.org/el/20060102/lamb.shtml

January 15, 2006

The stated purpose of the program (NAIS) is to enable government to
trace, within 48 hours, the source of a faulty animal food product. The
effect of the program is the transfer of the control of private
property to the government - while forcing the property owner to pay
the cost of the transfer.

Last week's column asked: "What do you call it when government takes
away the use of private property, but leaves the title in the name of
the property owner?" Dozens of letter writers correctly responded:
"Fascism." Last week's column was about government controlling the use
of land; this week, the government is controlling the use of animals.

The program is not limited to commercial producers; it includes the
half-dozen chickens at Grandma's house. Her "premises" and each chicken
must be registered with the government, as the program now stands. In
fact, the pet parakeet in a cage on the 20th floor of a condo in Miami
Beach must also be registered, along with the premises. As the program
now stands, there are no exceptions.

Surely some of the stupidity will be squeezed out of the program as
more people become aware of it, and insist that government has gone too
far. The question, however, is not how far is too far, but whether
government should go there at all.

Nothing among the enumerated powers granted to the federal government
by the U.S. Constitution can be construed to include the power to
control the use of private property. The federal government is
empowered to regulate interstate commerce, but Grandma's chickens and
Aunt Jane's parakeet do not constitute interstate commerce.

Everyone wants a safe, abundant, and affordable food supply, which
America has enjoyed for years - without a National Animal
Identification System. Why is it necessary now? The increased terrorist
threat certainly justifies tightening up security in the food chain.
But, the NAIS does little or nothing to tighten security, while
imposing ridiculous burdens upon the small producer.

The NAIS was initiated by the National Institute of Animal Agriculture,
a non-government organization consisting of the leaders of
agribusiness. The program they designed tends to shift the burden,
cost, and ultimate responsibility for food safety from the agribusiness
giants to the small producer.

Interstate commerce conjures up images of businesses such as Tyson
Foods, which has mastered the art of vertically integrated marketing.
Tyson controls the production of its chickens from birth to market,
using farmers only to provide space and labor to get their product to
slaughter. Here is where government should focus its regulatory concern
- and leave Grandma's chickens alone.

Suppliers of beef, pork, and lamb, often buy their animals from small
producers, who work hard to raise healthy, marketable animals. The
agribusiness suppliers are free to buy, or not buy, from any producer.
Here, at the point where the product enters the food chain, is where
responsibility, security, and regulatory control should be focused -
not on the already overburdened small producer.

But, no. The NAIS requires the small producer to not only bear the cost
of the program, but also to be the ultimate scapegoat in the event that
an agribusiness supplier's product is found to be faulty, for whatever
reason. Should little Johnny get sick after eating a hamburger made
with beef supplied by BigAgri Packing Company, BigAgri simply points
the finger to the producer, or producers, whose cows were in the batch
from which Johnny's hamburger was made. Agribusiness shifts its
responsibility for buying only healthy product to the farmer, who must
guarantee his animals to be healthy.

The NAIS is an industry-designed program, which will drive small
producers out of business, reduce competition, and ultimately put both
supply and price in the hands of industry giants - unless opponents
of this program get organized.

And here's a reader response to Henry's article from a small farmer...

NAIS: Fascism is what we should call it
By Edward H. Ey
http://www.eco.freedom.org/el/20060102/edwardhey.shtml

January 15, 2006

Henry,

Congratulations on grabbing the tip of the NAIS iceberg. You clearly
understand the essence of the major issues facing small agricultural
producers, and the general public. But - there is a much broader set
of implications that you might want to look into.

The incestuous relationship between agribusiness and the USDA is well
recognized by many farmers and livestock producers. The USDA is no
longer a useful agency for American agriculture. The USDA has become
the conscript of agribusiness. All key positions at the USDA are now
held by former agribusiness people, or their minions.

The NAIS scheme currently has little or no support, among small and
independent farmers and livestock producers. Few to none of my friends
and neighbors have bought into the NAIS Ponzi scheme. We recognize the
sleaze, the illicit design, the unnecessary cost, and the political
intentions of this latest useless offering from Washington, D.C.

Beyond the overt display of tracking animals, the NAIS plan is to be
used by the IRS to verify farmer and producer incomes, and the system
will also become a tool used by agribusiness. The USDA has backed away
from direct implementation of the system, and will use contractors and
private organizations to do the dirty work of installing the system and
collecting the data. The Secretary of Agricultural knows when to back
away from a smelly pig.

So, why is the collection of agricultural livestock data important
beyond the control of private property? The answer is because the
agribusiness giants will then have access to all of the information on
the database. They will have knowledge about all sources and supplies
of commodity animals. They will use such information to improve their
ongoing practice of captive supply and market price manipulation. The
USDA has promised protection of my private producer information, once
its on the database. Right! If anyone believes that, they can see me
about some swamp land I have for sale in Florida.

To gain a better understanding of this menace, you might be interested
in the actions and writings of Mike Callicrate, the actions of the OCM
outfit in Nebraska, plus some of the issues defined by R-CALF other
than BSE imports, and the increasing national trend of small farmers
and producers to form more independent co-op outfits to counter the
threat of agribusiness.

Agribusiness killed the independent chicken and pork industries, and
they are now attempting to do the same thing to independent cattle
producers. Agribusiness and the USDA are successfully depopulating the
Great Plains, but a national range war has begun in the cattle
business, and it's liable to get very nasty, very soon.

Fascism is what we call it, when private property is controlled by
government. Clearly, there is no issue more important for the Supreme
Court to fix than private property rights.

But, what do you call it when multi-national corporations (e.g.
Monsanto, ADM) control all grain seeds, via patents, GMOs, and chemical
controls? I still haven't figured out how a corporation can be allowed
to patent a life form.

What do you call it when all beef is controlled by the likes of Tyson,
Cargill, et al, and imported meat receives the coveted USDA stamp of
approval? What do you call it when all pork is controlled and imported
from overseas by Smithfield?

What do you call it when imported agricultural products grown with
illegal chemicals in foreign countries (Mexico), and imported beef
products contain life threatening contaminants, packing house residuals
(Brazil), and potential disease (Brazil and Japan's BSE threat), and
the government will not implement Country Of Origin Labeling
legislation? Why doesn't the U.S. government want me to know where this
food comes from?

I do not mean to belabor the obvious, with these ongoing real events
now taking place in our country, but you must agree that if one thinks
oil dependency on the Middle East is a major problem, just wait until
our food supply system is controlled by agribusiness, their USDA
puppets, Wall Street, and foreign governments.

The current lobbyist scandals in Congress pale by comparison to what is
taking place in our national agricultural system. Actions now underway
by agribusiness and the USDA will seal the fate of the American family
farm and the American consumer. The NAIS is but one step in the overall
strategy.

Henry, you can render a great service to the citizens of this country
by looking into the rest of the USDA/Agribusiness greasy iceberg, and
reporting on it. I promise that you will find the overall strategy of
agribusiness, and its future plans to control your foodstuffs beyond
belief, and very scary.

No plant diversity, no variations, everything monoculture hybrids, and
no controls on quality, origins, or nutrition should raise major
concerns. But, Americans will likely continue to buy from the "Lowest
Prices Always" businesses that feed on the bottom, right next to
agribusiness and the USDA.

Edward H. Ey
East Branch Farm