Tag: choices

Are We Becoming High Maintenance? Thoughts While Making Supper…

I love the movie, “When Harry Met Sally”.  In it, there is a scene where Harry is describing low maintenance and high maintenance women..

Harry Burns: There are two kinds of women: high maintenance and low maintenance.

Sally Albright: Which one am I?

Harry Burns: You’re the worst kind; you’re high maintenance but you think you’re low maintenance.

Sally Albright: I don’t see that.

Harry Burns: You don’t see that? Waiter, I’ll begin with a house salad, but I don’t want the regular dressing. I’ll have the balsamic vinegar and oil, but on the side. And then the salmon with the mustard sauce, but I want the mustard sauce on the side. “On the side” is a very big thing for you.

Sally Albright: Well, I just want it the way I want it.

Harry Burns: I know; high maintenance.
I was catching up on a few blogs while making supper tonight, and they really made me think. One was talking about really listening to those who are asking questions. If we do not listen to what it is they are asking, have we already created a wall that will prevent effective communication?  Is the consumer the Sally Albright in this situation? They just want it the way they want it?  Or are we? I just want to farm it the way I want to farm it.  

When we are the worst kind of listener – high maintenance, but think we’re low maintenance – do people stop trying to participate in conversations with us? Is that when we lose the consumer’s interest, like Sally does to the waiter when ordering a sandwich?  How do we ensure that we are low maintenance, like the cool character Ingrid Bergman played?

As I paused to assemble the ingredients for supper, another thought hit me…

Supper tonight was semi-homemade pizza. The crust was a frozen ready to bake crust from Schwan’s. The tomato sauce was made with fresh tomatoes from the farmer’s market in our hometown and from my uncle’s garden. Since the sauce was a bit watery, even while reducing it on the stove, I added a can of organic tomato paste from my pantry. When the sauce was cooking, I diced some of our thick cut bacon that was left over from our dinner of BLT’s. I then sliced up some fresh mozzarella that was on sale at the grocery store. I’m not sure if that was the one I got free, or if it is the one that is still in the fridge. Anyway, it was a good deal on a food I don’t normally cook with. To top off the pizza, I picked a few basil leaves off of the herb planter just outside my back door, diced them up, and sprinkled them over the top.  The pizza was now ready to go in the oven.

Just by looking at it, it looks like a gourmet pizza…sort of.  If you look at the ingredient list, there is an interesting mix. Store bought (or delivered by the Schwan’s man in this case), organic, farmer’s market, garden fresh from a relative, one item I only bought because it was on sale, and something I grew myself.  When I added the heat, all those varied ingredients became one delicious pizza.


This pizza is kinda how I hope all farmers and agriculture professionals can be. We may be representing all types, but when we add heat (like participating in social media discussions), we can become one awesome pizza.  We need to be careful not to burn one part, or the whole pie will be ruined.

United We Stand…Resisting the Attempts to Divide Agriculture

To be upfront with any new readers, my husband and I are organic crop farmers. We walk the line of organic and conventional agriculture every day – we raise 2400 hogs in climate controlled curtain sided barns, meaning our animals are raised conventionally. We do this for a few reasons, but the main one is so that we are able to capture the manure to use as our fertilizer on our fields. In our opinion, it is the ultimate recycling program.

Much has been said about a newly published report by two doctors at Stanford University about nutritional differences in organic and conventional foods.  I am a little sad that friends who choose to farm differently than I do are touting this report as a “see I told you so” kind of deal.  I have avoided my Facebook account for most of the day because of some comments. So, here is my take on this.

Ever since advertising and marketing started – and all I know about that timeline is it started before I was ever thought about – people have been touting their products in such a way as to sway people into buying what they are selling. Who can forget the slogans “Tastes Great, Less Filling”, “Finger Lickin’ Good”, Good To The Last Drop”, or “Breakfast of Champions”?

Land O’ Lakes will tell you that their milk will stay fresher, longer because of their opaque packaging. Chevy Trucks will tell you that their trucks have a better payload than their competitors. Are they being deceptive, or are they trying to appeal to their target audience? How are the advertising practices of milk brands or truck brands any different than how conventional or organic produce are advertised?

The Stanford study looked at nutrition – mostly vitamins A, C, and E. It also looked at detectable pesticide residue. My first response to the study of the vitamins was “duh”.  I don’t buy organic produce because I think it has better nutrients.  I buy according to taste, and what my family will eat. Many times we can find different varieties of vegetables in the organic section that have a taste we prefer. Look at the surge in heirloom tomatoes being grown in back yard gardens, the the varieties of small tomatoes available at your local supermarket. People are enjoying the food experience, and are demanding foods that fit in with their developing tastes.

I have talked with people at different events that appreciate the way we grow our crops. They believe that a minimal three crop rotation is the best for the soil and the environment. They will buy organic as a way of supporting those who farm in ways they believe in. Nothing was said about nutritional value. There is more to the organic equation than just nutrients, I think.

We should all be celebrating that fact that there was only 38% of conventional produce that had detectable pesticide residue. That means our pesticide residue monitoring systems are working. I understand that there are those who have very little tolerance for pesticide residues due to allergies and illness, which is why you buy organic. I am happy you have that choice, and that it is becoming more readily available for you.

I will never make anyone feel bad for the food choices they make. We all have different taste in clothes, shoes, cars, TV’s, computers, orange juice, cereal, etc. We don’t tear each other apart for those differences, why do so many feel it is okay to condemn food choices? I see no need to have an us vs them attitude in agriculture. What benefit is that to anyone? I would encourage everyone to have a mixed, balanced diet filled with color…and the occasional deep fried Milky Way on a stick.

I am just thankful I live in a time where I do have the choice to buy what I like.  I am thankful for those who gave their lives so that we are able to express our opinions in a public forum, and not be jailed for it. I am thankful for those who are still serving who are sacrificing time with their families, and for those who are eating mess hall meals so we are able to walk into a grocery store and buy whatever I feel like buying that day. I am thankful for all of the families that are farming, doing the best they can to raise crops and livestock for those who are unable to.  As you can tell, I think there are many other issues that are a little more important than this study.

My younger brother, saluting the American Flag at a Twins game in July…a few weeks before being deployed for 12 months. I thank him for defending my freedom, and pray for his safe return.

Organic Certification Inspection Day

We had our annual Organic Certification Inspection today.   We take pride in raising quality crops, and enjoy the working relationships that we have with our buyers.   The certification process helps our buyers know that what we are selling them has been raised according to the standards that have been set.

In May, we mailed in our 100+ page application and documentation forms.  It contained field history maps, cropping plans for the next 3-5 years for each field, lot numbers for each variety of seed, and our bin numbers along with what crop will be in each bin this fall.   Then we send in a check which basically pays them to come and inspect us.  We have about twice as much paperwork at home, compared to what we mail in.  Some of the paperwork comes naturally after farming organically since 1998.  Some things still have to be located before the inspection, which is where it can get a little nerve wracking.  Even though the annual inspection is once a summer, we usually get dropped in on 2 or 3 other times during the cropping season.

The inspector comes to the farm, and goes through all of our paperwork. Some of the things he checks are:

  • If you planted  all non-GMO seeds that were free from seed treatments and fungicides
  • If you sourced organically raised seeds
  • What steps you take to protect the organic crop from GMO cross pollination and spray drift; buffers between your crops and neighboring fields (including planting dates)
  • If your equipment has been used on any conventional crops or ground, and the steps taken to clean it for organic crops
  • Anything that you put on your fields was approved for organics by the certifying agency
  • Check soil tests to ensure you are building soil quality
  • Checking your 3-5 year cropping plans for each field
  • Checking your methods of weed control, and looking to see if you have things under control
  • How the crops are handled after harvest.  Was it placed in clean bins, were the buffer strips harvested separately and not co-mingled with organic crops
  • What cover crops are being used
  • Checking to see if each load of grain leaving the farm was accompanied by a clean truck affidavit signed by the owner (us) and the driver
  • Checking to see if the final fees based on percent of gross organic sales has been paid to the certifying agency
  • Reviewing daily log of field activities
  •  Reviewing each field history sheet, which includes any products applied to that field
  • Walking crop fields

There are other things they look for, but these are some of the bigger items.

Our family does not feel that organic farming is the only way to farm.  We are offering one of the choices that consumers are asking for.  We realize that organic farming is not for everyone, and we do not think less of our conventional neighbors.   We enjoy what we do, especially after a successful inspection!

The kitchen table, papers ready for inspection: