Little did I know that farmlife can be chaotic as well.

Two years around this time, I found an organic farm in the mountains of northern Georgia which looked for volunteers through a great group called WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms). You can find farms everywhere, from New Zealand to Canada.

So I packed a suitcase, several pairs of overalls, left the City, and found myself waiting at a bus “station” for my ride to the farm.

No, your eyes do not deceive. There are no buses nor people. But there’s my little suitcase in red with a pillow waiting. I was no longer in New York City.

Someone finally came by to pick me up and we drove to Wal-Mart to buy me some good rubber boots (for stepping in…stuff). After driving through winding mountain roads, we arrived at the Farm, which turned out to be also a RV camp. They had incredible water falls

and a 3-acre farm with some of the best organic soil in the state of Georgia. With three horses, many goats, three cows, rabbits and chickens, our days were full.

Every morning, I made myself a breakfast sandwich with the fresh eggs gathered the day before and a glass of raw cow’s milk milked the day before. Deliciousness. (FYI: most people who are “lactose-intolerant” can digest raw milk).

Then I’d hit the garden, picking chard, mustard greens, kale…planting strawberries…weeding, harvesting mushrooms…getting everything prepared for the farm/RV guests that day. Everything was organic and sustainably-grown. The picking was hot, sweaty, dirty, and simply lovely.

Once the sun was high in the sky, I went up to the main kitchen (I lived down at the “Farm” with the “Boys” without indoor plumbing. Yes, this meant no bathrooms, so the trees by the outhouse did the trick late at night) to help chop all the veggies I picked. I’d head back out to the garden in the afternoon to weed or plant.

On other days, I got milk duty. Here’s where chaos can happen in a hot Georgia minute. I got one lesson and the next day, it was just me, five goats and two cows.

The goat were great – like big dogs. But I gotta admit, poor Flo got handled not as gently as I wanted because her udders were…HUGE…and I couldn’t figure out to get them into the little pump. She was what we would consider a 38DD…and the pump was like a 32A bra. I guess just like humans, a goat’s mammary comes in all shapes and sizes.

After the goats came the cows. I learned to back a cow out of the tiny milking shed: you put one hand on its hip and push it out like you’re moving a stalled Chevy truck. I can’t move a stalled Chevy truck.

The milking shed was a tiny little wooden structure that could fit ONE cow or maybe 4-5 goats if you can manage them. If you bring it more than one goat, you have to tether them to the wall or they’ll go find wherever you stash that sweet feed. Sweet feed is some sort of crunchy, molasses treat that makes cows and goats go bananas.

I mean BANANAS.

The milking started out okay. Cow Number 1 was happily situated and tethered her to the post so she couldn’t move (not that there was room to move). However, before I could hook her up and close the door, Cow Number 2 comes storming in looking for some sweet feed. Mind you, the milking shed is SMALL. See this? Cow Number’s 2 butt was hanging out the door because there is no room for two cows…or shouldn’t be any room.

I tried to put my hand on Cow Number 2′s hip and push her out like I was taught, but it might as well been a brick wall because Cow Number 2 was not going anywhere.

Before I knew it, one goat jumps in the shed. Then another. Then another. Soon, there were five goats and 1 and ½ cows in this tiny place. Seven animals were scrambling for the sweet feed located in large metal trash bins. The milking shed was shaking. SHAKING.

Great, I just broke the milking shed, I thought.

I quickly latched all seven animals in the shaking little milkshed, hopped in the farmtruck (with no door and the steering wheel needed to pop out to drive), and raced up to find some help.

Help came. Soon, all seven animals were out of the shed, which was still standing. There was zero sweet feed left. They ate it all.

Long story short, I learned that because I have no ability to push a cow, I could back a cow out of a milk shed with a tap with a leather strap on the hindparts, wave my hand in front of a cow’s face, or make really deep sounds.

That was my peace and quiet on the Farm.

Gorgeous golden fresh farmers eggs from Dubai, UAE from guest photographer, Cambria.

I had the fortune to visit and eat my way through Vancouver last year, and truly, it is an eating destination for all the athletes, families and visitors from around the world.

Location: The Water Street Cafe, Vancouver, BC

From the “Snow Leopard,” Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, the first skier from Ghana to Samir Azzimani, the lone athlete from Morocco, the Winter Olympics is the time when athletes from all over get to showcase and represent their respective nations. The Olympics allows the world come together and see how similar we are: who didn’t want to hug Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette after her bronze-winning performance after her mother’s sudden death or feel for the Dutch speedskater Sven Kramer who was on his way to the gold only to be mistakenly sidetracked by his coach?

Yet despite sugar-coated messages about an increasingly shrinking and equal global society, regional inequities seem to be deepening further. From falling water tables to rising temperatures, we’re in deep, deep trouble, particularly as food demand increases. However, while the troublemakers are global, the consequences seem to fall heavier in certain regions. For example, while China is reducing malnutrition (although urbanizing to a degree that hurts grain reserves and the environment), the percentage of malnourished children in India is astonishingly high. I have written a bit on inequity in India and the issue of hunger and malnutrition.

So is there a solution? GMOs?

Pankaj Mishra pointed out the hypocrisy of a ‘modern’ India heading on the path towards Modernity, while children and farmers live in increasing debt and dependence on a growing bureaucratic food system. India’s “successful” Green Revolution in the 1970s when staple food production increased as a result of “aid” and “advanced” crop techniques are now seeing more dire consequences, including farmer debt, food insecurity, widening urban-rural gap, and rural income inequality, not to mention malnutrition, dependence on foreign oil. Between 1993 and 2003, 100,000 farmers committed suicide in rural areas, clear signs of desperation.

Food aid?

Development aid seems to be determined by the invisible hand of foreign policy and domestic agribusiness, rather than by goodwill, at least in the U.S. For example, according to journalist Celia Duggar who focuses on food aid, the U.S. requires all donated food to be grown in the U.S., driving up cost and delaying delivery of needed food. What does this mean? That middlemen, including Archer Daniels Midlandand Cargill, made over $700 million in 2004 by selling food commodities through USAID.

Meanwhile, those in Haiti coming out the devastating earthquake has to keep waiting for food while counterfeiters create fake food coupons. Take a look at this chart from 2007 that follows food aid.

Source: New York Times

In whose interest do these policies lie?

CARE turned down $45 million in federal food aid, citing that some of these policies hurt the people they are supposed to help. Instead of donating tons to middlemen, then, how about finding and supporting the indigenous programs that work directly with those in need, such as a revolutionary community kitchen scheme in India to combat malnutrition? Or giving cash donations to support the World Food Programme, which has gotten 75% more food for countries such as Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia by buying corn grown IN those countries rather than shipping them from the U.S. (novel idea?). After all, it doesn’t seem fair that only SOME of us get to eat food like this.

Location: Kirin, Vancouver, BC

For those of us working in the do-gooding world of development and relief aid: it’s time to stop patting ourselves on the back about our wonderful intentions and seriously take a look at our results. When it comes to food security, there shouldn’t be a Gold medalist or Silver medalist.

We should all be standing on the podium together.

This is definitely a dilemma for me. I love animals. I love dogs. I think pigs are really smart animals. I care about the environment. I recycle. I reuse bags. I pay extra for the recycled business cards.

Am I a hypocrite?

For those of you who eat meat, I’m sure you understand. For those of you who don’t, please don’t prejudge me yet. I have tried to go vegetarian, but I really like meat and my body doesn’t really do well with only vegetables (or only grains).

A few weeks ago, we joined Blog Action Day on the issue of climate change. BTW, I thought I was so clever today and made up the word “carbon fooDprint.” Turns out, there’s a neat organization – Cool Foods Campaign –  where you can learn more about how to reduce your carbon “foodprint” via your food!

ANYWAYS, this issue just gets more interesting…let’s see a run-down just the last couple weeks…

Lord Stern of the UK (not a vegetarian himself) warned the public they need to turn vegetarian in the Times October 27, 2009. You’re probably familiar with the argument that cattle and pig emissions (i.e. farts and stuff) are more dangerous than carbon dioxide to global warming.

The first country to take this connection seriously is Sweden. In Elisabeth Rosenthal’s October 22, 2009 article, she reports that the Swedish  government is taking steps to literally track their food by labeling the carbon dioxide emissions on food products and menus, from pastas to burgers.

Has this changed anything? Well, it seems that restaurants have found up to 75% of their carbon footprint attributable to meat. But even when they put these labels on their menu items and the more “climate-friendly items” have seen an increase in sales, some people just want a burger. They may feel a bit guilty ordering it, but they do anyways.

Moreover, she notes that the environmental cost is not just because of meat. Rosenthal notes that there are other factors like the type of soil used to grow the cattle’s food. So if we cannot cut meat entirely out of the human diet (which I don’t anticipate happening), then as Michael Pollan and others argue, we really should be paying more attention to where the meat comes from and how the animals are raised.

Rancher Nicolette Hahn Niman wrote in the New York Times on October 30, 2009 about this exact dilemma and raises some provoking points, affirming Rosenthal’s contention that it’s not as simple as meat/no meat, but how the land and surroundings are cared for in the raising of said meat. She points out that smaller, traditional, local farms don’t really have these carbon emissions that lead to global warming whether it is because of distance to market or little reliance on machinery (which sucks up energy).

And can vegetarians eat completely guiltless? Niman points out the reliance on soy for protein…and the most common soy and tofu found in supermarkets are from deforested lands overseas. Between large agribusiness emitting carbons to ship soy from overseas to large agribusiness companies like Monsanto destroying entire ecosystems in the Midwest to grow soybeans, we might have to think again whether meat is the only culprit to massive carbon “foodprints”.

Photo Source: Ecolitics Now

So what does this all mean? As Michael Pollan says, eat less meat. Eat more locally. By buying organic and local meat (which is also more expensive), I naturally buy and eat less. If I can’t get to the farmer’s market, I buy my meat at Whole Foods, where I know they have actually walked the walk with their involvement with the Animal Compassion Fund and Animal Welfare Standards.

I’m not sure I can ever fully resolve this dilemma. I sleep on organic cotton sheets, but my towels are not. I bike or walk where I can, but my car still gets lots of usage. But if Elisabeth Rosenthal is right that “”changing one’s diet can be as effective in reducing emissions of climate-changing gases as changing the car one drives or doing away with the clothes dryer,” then is it possible for me to care about the planet and animals, but still eat a little locally-, organically-, humanely-raised meat once in a while?

Starting today, I’ll start by cutting out meat 3 days a week.

This time I volunteered at SEEDS in Durham, NC, a wonderful non-profit that focuses on teaching the young people of the city to “care for the earth, themselves and each other through a variety of garden-based programs.” About 12 high school students from the Durham Public Schools receive small stipends to work after school, learning to farm, run a food business, and participate in leadership development. They learn about issues of social and economic justice, food safety and security, and environmental sustainability.

On this day, they served as impressive tour guides for visitors from around the state.

SEEDS is more than a urban garden for youth, however; they actually sell their produce at the Durham Farmer’s Market every week. From giant peppers to luscious lettuces to succulent eggplants, these youngsters grow, harvest, and sell their produce grown from their own Durham Inner City Garden located right across from their educational garden space. The students even manage their own bee apiaries to make their honey.

Every Friday evening, instead of hanging out at the mall or watching TV, these young gardeners also share their week’s lessons and discuss issues of relevance at the fire pit. A program called SEEDlings reaches out to even younger children with an afterschool program that teaches them how to care for the earth, grow and enjoy food. There is even an outdoor clay oven where the youngsters make their own pizza with fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, and herbs grown with their own hard work.

In a time when we hear about the terrible, horrible state of our youth, it is so heartening to know that if the young people of SEEDS are the stewards of our Earth, we might be OK after all.

Grown by the young men and women of SEEDS, a non-profit organization focused on developing youth leadership and urban gardens.

The coolest Airstream around run and managed by the pastry chef of the Washington Duke Inn…Daisy Cakes sits on the corner near the Durham Farmer’s Market every Saturday and changes up their sweet selection from ginger cupcakes to homemade pop-tarts for a warm smile and a “handful of happiness.”

Nine pounds of “cosmetically challenged” tomatoes getting ready to become tomato sauce for the fall. They look darn pretty to me.

Source: CNN

Ah, yes, the outburst heard ’round the world. What is it about health care that leads our politicians, who are supposed to be erudite, well-behaved, and level-headed (stop laughing), to act like 3-year olds in the sandbox? Make that 2-year olds.

Unless you haven’t turned on the news or been traveling, you probably cannot ignore the recent debates/fights/nasty fights over our health care system. I don’t think anyone – Republican, Democrat, Alien – can argue with a straight face that our health care system doesn’t need some overhauling. But what and how are other questions.

I don’t purport to know all the details, but I have been reading some of the op-eds and comments. One of the most popular articles that have been circulating is by one of my favorite heroes, Michael Pollan.  In his piece, he writes that we are arguing on the the wrong premise: while we fight about health care reform, we continue to promote a food system that encourages fast food and poor diets, “probably because reforming the food system is politically even more difficult than reforming the health care system.”

My interpretation of his essential argument is that without bringing into the national debate FOOD SYSTEM reform, health care reform is like putting on a bandaid over a scab you just keep picking at. Bigger scab, bigger bandaid. Scab is still there.

But not everyone agrees with this interpretation. The Center for Consumer Freedom posted a short response accusing Pollan of “fuzzy math” that misleads readers, raising alarm where alarm is not warranted.   Others, such as Don Hoyt Gorman, argue that pesticide issues aside, there is no nutritional difference between organic and conventional foods.

So who is telling the truth? Is Pollan just a fanatic who is freaking us out to sell books? Is there really no linkage between the American diet and food system and our health care system?

Well, while the debate on organic versus conventional and what our health care reform should look like rages on, my little brain reminds me of the adage, “You are what you eat.” Intuitively, I strongly believe that eating healthier, having more accessibility to organic foods, and living more actively can prevent many conditions, such as diabetes or hypertension. Granted, much of this is hereditary, but I’m not so sure I want to think that the guy-who-eats-a-Big-Mac-a-day-and-has-a-cholesterol-level-of-a-20-year-old is the rule and not the exception.

Not to mention, I would rather have my funny-looking, juicy tomatoes that taste like tomatoes from my local farmer than to eat a perfectly round, red, tomato-like tomato from who-knows-where.

While the country is mired in angry lies and arguements born out of fear of the unknown, I hope that my own little mission to eat productively, locally, and healthily (most of the time) will help me to be less of a burden to our health care system – however it will end up looking like. Inshallah.

Like many of you who support eating and living healthier while supporting community, shopping farmer’s markets or looking for that “local” stamp in supermarkets on a bushel of cherries or tomatoes have become necessary habits. For me, one of the people who played a role in instilling this habit was Michael Pollan. Pollan’s famous The Omnivore’s Dilemma changed my life and the way I eat and the way I shop; the way I engage with food.

While I have since read his other books, this one still remains a turning point for me. Now many of you may have read it, and may have or have not had a similar reaction to it as I did. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend it. His observations and stories about farming underscores the reliance we have on oil…and on corn…corn in everything, and not always good for your health. When he talks about how distant we have gotten from our food, I’m ready to get up, and rally and protest against all big, industrial farms.

But are they all really awful examples of corporate greed?

This interesting article by Blake Hurst, a farmer in Missouri, was recently published in The American (supported by the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute). His article, The Omnivore’s Delusion: Against the Agri-intellectuals, gives a stern admonition to people like me (I suppose) who spew about the big bad farms but don’t farm for a living. As a farmer, he discusses the realities he has had to face, from economic factors to animal nature (i.e. the stupidity of turkeys). He argues that many parts of industrial farming are owned by family farmers. He also argues that:

“Pollan thinks farmers use commercial fertilizer because it’s easier, and because it’s cheap. Pollan is right. But those are perfectly defensible reasons.”

Source: The American

While I am not wholly convinced, I do think Hurst raises some critical questions (i.e. how do you feed the world non-industrially?) and about the need to listen to all sides and perspectives, lest we all run around like stupid turkeys (I happen to love turkeys).

In the meantime, I’ll continue to ponder these questions as I shop at the farmer’s market, support my local farmers, and look out for unnecessary pesticides in my food.