Practical solutions for people + planet

How far has your beef traveled today?

One of the projects I have been working on is the localization of our food supply. A friend of mine sent me this information.

Kinda made me think -is there a local supply for folks who eat meat to get their beef, pork or chicken from? Being a vegetarian myself does not allow me any soap box to stand on - the wheat used in a lot of products travel just as far.

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6 Comments

Comment by Afriendof B on April 3, 2008 at 2:29pm: Great Question!!!!
I'd look first at sites like http://www.localharvest.org/ and http://www.eatwild.com/index.html. Also look for local organic or innovative farming orgs in your area. They can hook you up with small producers in your area who, with the help of a local slaughter house, can put a whole, half, or quarter beef in your freezer. You do have to change your mindset. I raise a couple of beef calves every year. One for us if we need it, and one for someone who buys it, pays for my care, and pays the slaughter house for their services. Other folks raise them and sell wholes, halves, or even some cuts. All local. You do have to be prepared. A whole beef can be more than 700 lbs of meat. That will more than fill a 21 cubic foot freezer (happened to me the first time, we had to give a bunch away.) Beef isn't the only thing that travels either. Take a look at where the rest of your food comes from and how many trips to various processing centers and warehouses it makes before you get it. A truckers strike would cripple the nation.

Comment by TC on April 3, 2008 at 3:13pm: isn't it just nuts?

Comment by Gingeroo on April 3, 2008 at 4:35pm: TC,
It's really ridiculous for sure, the distance it travels. The impact with the amount of petro chemicals used to ship, process, refrigerate...etc. My suggestion for people who don't buy whole cows (for sure it's a whole lot of meat!) is to go to your farmers market to see if they sell it by the steak, or the pound of ground meat. I love the taste of grass fed beef...you can taste the grass. My personal favorite here in Santa Fe is Lamont's Wild West Buffalo :) He raises his bison out on Hwy 14, they roam free, he doesn't use implants or growth hormones (they're big enough too!). He also uses all of the animal, also selling throws and blankets made from the hides.
It's a little harder to source locally when you go out to eat, but two places I know around town that get their buffalo for burgers are the cowgirl, and harry's. Cowgirl also has a game burger with locally hunted venison, and other meats. And Harry's provides local farm fresh organic eggs (you should let me know if you want to sell yours!).

Personally for me, local and organic, happy and healthy meat is the way to go. I went the first 23 years of my life without meat...and my body wants the nutrition now b/c of how active I am. It frustrates me when vegetarians don't consider the impact their tofu has...the gmo soybeans being harvested by farm machinery that uses petro-chemicals (and big machines killing bunny rabbits, squirrels, birds, etc in the process), the plastic packaging it gets put into, then shipped from the midwest down to here (I don't see soybeans growing in NM!).
Not all vegetarians make me angry...just tofu eating ones :) Although I know my meat eating doesn't make everyone happy either.

It's just scary that a burger is people's "easy" or "quick" or "cheap" option, and there's a real price you don't see!

Comment by Afriendof B on April 3, 2008 at 6:17pm: They grow soybeans here in Ohio (in some kind of chemical soup) but they ship them somewhere else to get made into meal, and then elsewhere to be processed further into various "food" products. Can't actually eat the beans that come from the fields here until they are taken apart and put back together several times.

Comment by TC on April 3, 2008 at 8:22pm: I know I feel like such a hypocrite! - I'm trying to figure out how many soybean plants I have to put in the grow dome to make soy milk and tofu. Maybe there are other plants besides soybeans that provide protein levels that could be equal or close to? I'll have to check it out.

Comment by Catherine Stifter on April 27, 2008 at 2:07pm: Through my radio documentary work on ranching in the Sierra, I've found several local beef producers, all of whom need community support. I'm an opportunivore, so beef occasionally crosses my lips. I'd like to find other local meats and fish, too. Here in Nevada City, there are plenty of organic options, but I was recently informed by my local meat market that many co-ops get their organic meat from Argentina where little veals might actually live an organic life in a small pen while local "natural" and "grass-fed" beef may have roamed the around the meadows and mountains here. if not properly fenced away from streams, the natural beef could cause stream damage. The organic veal from far away is just a dishonest interpretation of the definition of organic if you ask me. So, this idea of living local has great appeal to me.

Salmon fishing was just closed in CA because of dismal fish returns last fall. For a year there will be no legal salmon fishing in the ocean off the West coast. I've only been eating ocean salmon for many years now. So, I will surely miss this fish in my diet. I (and many other local non-Indians) have been participating with my local Indians (Tsi Akim Maidu) who for the past 3 years have revived an old ceremony, Calling Back the Salmon. I fear we are too late. But, we are building community around these losses and the possibility of taking down a local dam that has contributed to salmon decline.

I grew up in a Midwestern farming community where most of the town participated in making and growing food. It's still completely amazing to me how many people have no idea where food comes from or how to make it themselves. I welcome these discussions and sharing of resources.

Eat well!