This is a guest post from KVCC Culinary Arts & Sustainable Food Systems student Katie Jacobs.
This past semester, I
had the very distinct pleasure of a couple of guest lectures by Mariel Borgman,
a Community Food Systems Educator with MSU Extension. She spoke about many things, from food safety
on the farm to pesticides to writing SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) for
the Food Innovation Center. The lecture
that stood out most to me, though, was one where she defined a bunch of food
and farming terms. Did you know that
‘free range’ chickens aren’t actually allowed to roam in the barnyard and forage
for their food outdoors all day? Me
either. To be sold under the label ‘free
range’, the USDA has deemed that those chickens must have access to the
outdoors for just 5 minutes a day. And this doesn’t mean that they actually
make their way outside. The huge
buildings holding the tens of thousands of chickens may have a single door that
gets open for that 5 minutes a day, but if you are one of the unlucky birds on
the other side of the space, you probably won’t make it outside at all… don’t get this vegetarian started!
The point I am trying
to make is that though we may think we know what certain terms mean, we need to
do a better job at educating ourselves if we really care where our food comes
from. Mariel encouraged our class to not
be shy about asking farmers about their practices—this is their livelihood and she
noted that they probably would love to share their stories! So ask a farmer what s/he means when they say
they are ‘local’ or use ‘sustainable’ practices. These terms aren’t necessarily defined by a
common standard, so what they mean to one grower may not be what they mean to
another. And if you have some specific
desires about where you put your consumer dollars, asking is the best way to
make sure that you are supporting practices that are on par with your own
beliefs.
I had never really had
a conversation like this with my favorite farmer’s market growers, so I went to
the Winter Market a few Saturdays ago and decided I would try it! I was admittedly nervous at first, but become
more emboldened as the morning went on.
I channeled my inner Mariel and began by talking with a farmer about the
huge panoply of root vegetables that he was displaying. Turns out that these were all grown on his
farm last summer, and had been in dry storage since the end of the season. He shared that this was a way to continue to
have an income even when the farm was put to bed. I bravely asked him about a few of the tubers
that were unknown to me, and ended up buying something I had never tried (or
even heard of) before! We then chatted
about all of the beautiful greens that he had, and I learned that these were
grown in greenhouses on his farm during the winter months. As I was reaching for the same ol’ same ol’
kale that I typically buy, I was encouraged to try one of the other varieties
instead. Turned out it was delicious!
I then went in search
of eggs, which was actually my main mission for the morning. I want to find a local source of eggs from a
farm that treats their chickens humanely and doesn’t kill them after their
laying days are over. I will be honest
that I don’t know if such a chicken utopia exists, but I am determined to find
out. Thus began my quest to chat with
all of the growers that had eggs for sale.
After a few conversations (including one where I was told the chickens
go to the ‘quiet room’ when their laying days are over…yikes), I finally found
a farmer that did not kill his laying chickens.
He offered that he had hundreds of chickens, and my mind immediately saw
happy fowl, running around in a huge yard, soaking up the sun and living out
their days. So I bought his eggs and
felt great about it. It didn’t dawn on
me until later that I should have asked how his 500 chickens were being
housed. Or how big their cages were. Or whether they were allowed to roam free in
the yard. Or whether he clipped their
beaks to avoid pecking fights… Guess I
still have some learning to do on this whole ‘conversation with a farmer
thing’. But it feels good that I broke
the seal and I will definitely keep trying!
I encourage you to do the same.
