HOW WE SHORTEN THE FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN

written by

Sue King

posted on

May 8, 2020

Spring has finally arrived in northern Alberta making our days very busy. The last of the snow piles disappeared this week, and a day of showers brought any remaining frost out of the ground.

I don’t know if I would consider our family preppers in the apocalyptic sense of the word. But, it has always been really important to my family to keep our food supply chain really short. I am pretty sure that my grandparents and mother instilled this mentality in me.

My grandparents both lived through two world wars, experiencing first hand the scarcity that these upheavals create. They always raised and preserved most of their food.

Twenty seven trays of seedlings outside the kitchen door. We move these trays in and out of the house morning and evening.

Twenty seven trays of seedlings outside the kitchen door. We move these trays in and out of the house morning and evening.

My mother, as a single working mother raising three children always had a large garden too. When the stresses of life came, she always knew that she had enough food to keep her family well nourished even if we had to live without in other areas.

So, when Larry and I were married it was naturally important for me to raise our own food. Now, let me tell you though; just because a person grows up in a gardening family doesn’t mean that it is easy to have the success they had. It took a few years to figure it out on my own. I am thankful that we have access to such wonderful organic gardening literature and that my mother and grandmother were always there so I could ask questions.

Most of the animals have been moved to pasture, but still require hay to supplement the carryover grass until the new grass is ready for them. The calves and lambs have started to arrive. The meat chicks are already four weeks old. Next week they will be moved out to pasture. The laying hens are on their way to the new garden area to help us prep it for planting. They will lightly till the ground while searching for seeds and bugs.

My new greenhouse! It is just a little drafty at this point.

My new greenhouse! It is just a little drafty at this point.

Beside the everyday chores of tending to the needs of the animals, gardening season is upon us. Technically it actually started indoors way back in March. We only have a ninety day frost-free growing season. This means that we have to start many of our seeds indoors.

I find it a blessing to be able to start the plants indoors because in March we are still in the dead of winter. When the tiny plants peek out of their trays it reminds me that winter will not last forever. It doesn’t take these tiny little plants long to take over your house. We have just about thirty trays of plants waiting to be planted outside. They consist of cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, herbs and flowers. The brassicas will be going into the garden next week with a floating row cover over them. All the rest have to wait until June 1st to be planted out. We have been carrying all these tray outside in the morning and bringing them all back in the house in the evening. This activity gets old really fast, but our weather is just too unpredictable at this time of year.


We are going to fill this little greenhouse to capacity.

We are going to fill this little greenhouse to capacity.

So, this is the year that I am getting my little greenhouse to put all these tender babies into so we don’t have to move them in and out of the house (I might even be able to see my kitchen floor again). It is a simple structure made from salvaged material and lumber from a local mill. This coming week we will be moving it to its permanent location and putting the plastic on it.

Come June when all the plants can be put in the garden, I will not be abandoning the greenhouse for the season. We will be building permanent in-ground beds that will house some of the tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers for the summer. I have never grown in a greenhouse, so I am hoping for success.

I am looking forward to experimenting with a few different methods of growing the garden this year. We will be using more plastic mulches for the transplants. Last year saw an explosion of Canada Thistle, so we are hoping that the mulch will help control this annoying weed. We will once again be using natural mulches as well. We have been using compost that we carefully make as a mulch. We have tried straw, but have found that it keeps the soil too cool and hinders the growth of the plants. The compost is dark and rich so we get the benefits of its fertility and the dark colour that helps warm up the soil.

Does life get busy for you in the spring? What activities are on your to-do list?



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June

June

June Farm News and Updates!Where has June gone?  It feels like just yesterday we were rushing around trying to get the gardens planted, baby calves and lambs were being born and the grass was slow to start growing.  Now all that has passed and we have settled into summer routines.   At the beginning of June, we were concerned that we might face drought again this year.  But thankfully God opened the heavens and sent much-needed rain.  The cows and sheep are not able to keep up with the explosion of lush grass growth at this time of year. But that's ok.  We will be able to stockpile the extra grass for next winter. Our days on the farm are full.  We head out to the pasture every morning after breakfast to move the electric wire so the cows can have a fresh salad bar pasture for the next twenty-four hours. Then it's back to the barn to milk Gail, our Jersey Canadienne cow and feed the pigs before changing clothes and heading into the butcher shop or doing projects around the farm.  There are lots of fences to fix, machines to get ready for haying and daily upkeep of the farm and yard. Have you had a chance to try our NEW Bacon Infused Patties yet?  We love them and so do our customers who have tried them.  Be sure to order yours today at the link below.And, as a side note.  I will not be posting as much over the summer, but you can come on down to the Grande Prairie Farmers Market and we can have a little visit there.See you soon.FROM OUR FARM TO YOUR FAMILY,thank you for caring where your food comes from.  

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Why  Do We Raise Our Animals on Grass? I want to start to answer this question.  It all begins with our family's journey to regaining our health. In the late 1980's we started to experience varying degrees of health issues.  We sought medical help to no avail.  The doctors could not pinpoint the causes of persistent rashes, digestive problems and persistent weight gain to name a few of the difficulties we were experiencing.  It was during these challenging times that we were introduced to the concept of organic food.  We were very skeptical that switching to organic food would help these issues.  Part of our skepticism was because it would require us to spend additional money on groceries.  Another issue was that we were in a community of conventional farmers who thought there was no basis for organic claims. 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(Fat has 9 calories per gram, compared with only 4 calories for protein and carbohydrates. The greater the fat content, the greater the number of calories.) As an example, a 6-ounce steak from a grass-finished steer can have 100 fewer calories than a 6-ounce steak from a grain-fed steer. If you eat a typical amount of beef (66.5 pounds a year), switching to lean grassfed beef will save you 17,733 calories a year—without requiring any willpower or change in your eating habits. If everything else in your diet remains constant, you'll lose about six pounds a year. If all Americans switched to grassfed meat, our national epidemic of obesity might diminish. In the past few years, producers of grass-fed beef have been looking for ways to increase the amount of marbling in the meat so that consumers will have a more familiar product. But even these fatter cuts of grass-fed beef are lower in fat and calories than beef from grain-fed cattle. Extra Omega-3s. Meat from grass-fed animals has two to four times more omega-3 fatty acids than meat from grain- fed animals. Omega-3s are called "good fats" because they play a vital role in every cell and system in your body. For example, of all the fats, they are the most heart-friendly. People who have ample amounts of omega-3s in their diet are less likely to have high blood pressure or an irregular heartbeat. Remarkably, they are 50 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack.[3] Omega-3s are essential for your brain as well. People with a diet rich in omega-3s are less likely to suffer from depression, schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder (hyperactivity), or Alzheimer's disease.[4] Another benefit of omega-3s is that they may reduce your risk of cancer. In animal studies, these essential fats have slowed the growth of a wide array of cancers and also kept them from spreading.[5] Although the human research is in its infancy, researchers have shown that omega-3s can slow or even reverse the extreme weight loss that accompanies advanced cancer and also hasten recovery from surgery.[6,7] Omega-3s are most abundant in seafood and certain nuts and seeds such as flaxseeds and walnuts, but they are also found in animals raised on pasture. The reason is simple. Omega-3s are formed in the chloroplasts of green leaves and algae. Sixty percent of the fatty acids in grass are omega-3s. When cattle are taken off omega-3 rich grass and shipped to a feedlot to be fattened on omega-3 poor grain, they begin losing their store of this beneficial fat. Each day that an animal spends in the feedlot, its supply of omega-3s is diminished.[8] The graph below illustrates this steady decline. Data from: J Animal Sci (1993) 71(8):2079-88. 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Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1171" Grab your copy of our free booklet, 6 SUPER SIMPLE COOKING METHODS TO ACHIEVE PERFECTION EVERY TIME FROM YOUR PASTURE-RAISED MEATS.  It is a great resource that you will turn to time after time.Join me next week to learn what "grass-fed" means to me.

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 Approximately thirty years ago many ranchers realized the adverse health effects that CAFOs were creating in their animals and the people who consumed the meat.  So instead of sending them away to a CAFO, they started keeping them on pasture until it was time to process them for food.  When animals are raised on pasture the animals grow at a natural pace, consuming only foods that were designed for their bodies.  This low-stress life came with the added benefit of virtually eliminating the use of antibiotics and many other routinely used drugs.  Pasture-based farming allows the animals to express their naturally design characteristics while being naturally healthy.  This means that the people who consume the meat benefit from the animal's health.  How can a sickly animal help us to stay healthy?  We don’t believe that it can.    There have been numerous studies done that compared CAFO meat to grass-fed and grass-finished meat.  They all found that the meat from grass-fed and grass-finished beef, lamb, bison and goats has less total fat including saturated fat, cholesterol and calories.  It also has more vitamin E, beta-carotene, vitamin C, and other health-promoting fats, including omega-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid.  Raising animals on pasture for meat also requires more intimate knowledge of your animal' needs than sending them away when they are weaned from their mothers.  Pastures must be managed so that the plants are always at their optimal growth stage.  This provides nutrient-dense forage.  The attention to pasture management details results in succulent and tender meat for you and our family. Well-stewarded animals raised on high-quality pasture provide the opportunity for us to consume the healthiest meat possible without being concerned about what they were fed and how they have been treated.  In 1998 we made the switch from raising our animals conventionally to raising them following organic principles.  In the coming weeks, we will explore the differences in more detail.  Plus I will have some tried and tested recipes you will be sure to love. If you have been searching for locally raised and processed grass-fed and grass-finished meat raised by caring farmers whom you can talk to in person, you have come to the right place.  Every day our family puts great effort into ensuring our animals are well taken care of.   It is simple to order our grass-fed/grass-finished beef and lamb or pasture-raised pork.   Visit our online store where you can browse our large selection of farm-raised products.  When you are ready to order create your very own personal account, fill your cart, and select your preferred pickup location.  We will notify you when your order is ready to pick up.  It is that easy.  What are you waiting for? To help you get started successfully cooking with our grass-fed, pasture-raised meat you can download our 6 SUPER SIMPLE COOKING METHODS TO ACHIEVE PERFECTION EVERY TIME FROM YOUR PASTURE-RAISED MEATS booklet absolutely free. It is a great resource that you will turn to time-after-time. I know I sure do!

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