Good Grass

I know you can see it coming but I have to do it anyway. In MY DAY...talk about grass quality never involved a cow and often involved a glad bag and a boy in Mokena with a Blue Chevy Van. The amount of time we were "on grass" was debatable as no records were kept and the Will County Police Department was anything but computerized. Thanking God for big favors on that one.

So, irony as it is, here I am decades later trying to decide which grass regulation agency is best and does it mater ? Maybe. Probably. Depends.

Earlier today our organic certifier, MOSA, notified us that all our paperwork from last falls organic inspection had been approved as well as our USDA Grass Fed Certification. 2011 was the first year that producers like us could opt to be inspected on both the USDA Organic Standards and USDA Grass Fed Standards at the same time.

It made fantastic sense. Our government using ONE inspector to survey two sets of USDA standards. The whole process went very well and the info we had to submit for the Grass Fed Certification was minimal. Imagine, our government working hard to condense paperwork and costs of such. I was and still am, impressed.

But, of course, I am not satisfied. What did "USDA Grass Fed Certified" really mean ? And what about the American Grassfed Association ? They certify producers as well. I've seen both labels on beef packages in the store. Were the standards the same.?

They are not, although they do have a similar starting place. To date, it is VOLUNTARY to be certified as a Grass Fed  Beef Producer. This means there is no law to prevent you from calling your beef Grass Fed even if Miss Udder Delight is fed corn morning, noon and night,  This differs widely from the National Organic standards which make it ILLEGAL ( and punishable by fines) if you label your product as Organic when it has not been certified as such. Hmmmm. Wonder if my computer skills are such that I might insert a table into my blog?

Grass Fed Standard Comparisons

	USDA Grass Fed	American Grass Fed Association	National Organic Standards
Certification Requirements	Voluntary. Anyone can label their beef :Grass Fed”	Voluntary  Anyone can label their beef “Grass Fed”	Illegal to use “Organic” label unless you are certified*
Amount of time on grass	Access to grass and pasture during entire life. May be confined when growing season is over.	Lifetime Forage. No confinement at any time.	120 days per year must be on pasture
Nutrient Source	Majority to come from grass	All nutrients to come from forage or pasture	All feed must be certified organic
Anitibiotic Use	Allowed	Prohibited	Prohibited unless animals life in danger. After use animal must be removed from the farms organic herd
Hormone Use	Allowed	Prohibited	Prohibited
Pesticides	Allowed	Prohibited	Prohibited
Inspection or Audit Fee	None. Certification based on documentation only.	$250	Varies , Ave is $1000

Well, well, well, will wonders ever crease? Earlier today I finally learned how to substitute a single word for a whole stupid long link . For example, to read more about the American Grass Fed Standards you can go here. Cool huh?

And yet, can't seem to get the font back to original size, Criminy. Note to self. No more beer before blogging no matter how hot you get mowing.

Final thoughts (don't you wish) Seems the USDA standards for Grass Fed might look nice on your Porterhouse Steak but don't mean all that much. Your steak could still be filled with antibiotics. The Certified Organic Label is better but animals can still be confined large parts of the year. The AGF label seems to mean more, especially when COMBINED with the Organic label.

Bottom line. Labels are cute, can be meaningful,  but nothing beats a visit to the farm where your meat is raised.

         "Person-to-Person Certification" is always best

Breaking News

I wanted to wait until after my birthday for this very major announcement. Oh yeah, you WISH the announcement had to do with my quitting my blog.You're out of luck Chuck,better make a new plan, Stan, because I am doing exactly the opposite.

I'm expanding.

Yup, more of me, more of the time. Lord help YOU. For many months I have been feeling pulled towards doing more with my cyber time. By "more" I mean something of more value. For the last two years I have been all over the blog boogie board. A little bit of family, a little bit of farm, a little bit of grand kid talk, a little political (THERE ! Another grand band name. Little Political How do I do that ?!") and lately more than a little about soap, of all things.

 By the way last night I made a horrible batch of brown soap so I rebatched it, added superfat and great blue colors and new smell and now it is the most fabulous midnight blue soap bar that I will call NIGHT SHIFT in honor of all the night shift workers in all the world especially my friends at Gibson Area Hospital, my daughter Raven, son Colton,  and my newest night nurse stalker, John  in North Wales . Wait ! You got it wrong. He's not a stalker of night nurses, he is a night nurse who stalks my blog as I do his, But I digress.

Air  R  E ?

Oh yeah. My new blogs.

This one, the Midlife FarmKook will remain right here. But the focus will be slightly right of center. I will speak of the usual family and daily farm life stuff. The real great farm life stuff. The fun stuff. Stuff that makes my heart SING. OK you get it.

Farmer Keith and GK Wes ,window shopping
in Chicago after making pork deliveries last week.

Blog number two, already up and running but in a very secret way until now, is called The Seanachai's Daughter. I started it several months ago in a different  "venue" (I hate that word, weddings used to held at the VFW club house, now they are held in "Venues," what a load of donkey ripeness.) I'm using WordPress to produce it. That blog will focus on my fledgling writing including excerpts from my Novel in Progress, some poetry (you said it I didn't) and short stories. You can visit my new blog here: http://seanachaidaughter.wordpress.com/

Blog number three will be made public very soon. It is at this moment unnamed but its focus will be strong and clear; farmer rights and struggles in a time of government suffocation. I am a renegade farmer and I have reached my boiling point. Farm after farm after farm has been being raided, shut down, and destroyed over ridiculous things like the sales of raw milk and yogurt. Other champions have risen to this calling and its now my turn to put up or shut up. This new blog will focus specifically on events occurring here in Central Illinois to champion farmers and generally on actions being taken nationally. Congressman Ron Paul has gone out on a political limb through his support of raw milk sales and he needs farmer support in this work.

So there you have it. Announcement over. Please go back to your regular programming, but don't forget to come back. Put it on a Post-It Note.  Works for me...sometimes.

In your face

When we decided to go public with our farm venture our Marketing President (moi) struggled with the appropriate slogan. She discussed it with the General Farm Manager (Keith) who ran it by the Ways and Means Committee. (That was Jason saying "what do you mean ?" and Kyle saying "No Way!" when I suggested our slogan.

Seems some of the higher ups (they are all taller than me) thought the slogan  I was suggesting was a little rude.  Like the slogan "Where's the Beef ?" of the Wendy's company from the early 80's wasn't rude.  Not only did their slogan become famous, the little old lady who yelled it recieved all kinds of awards.

So the Marketing President cooked a great meal for the General Farm Manager , including homemade baking soda biscuits, and got her way. And it wasn't even a Thursday. The Ways and Mean Committe never really had a say since they don't bunk here anymore. And thus our farm slogan was born.

But for those of you who are the softer, gentler type of human being, we also have these

T-shirts (short sleeved) are available in our store or by mail. $20  for the black slogan shirt and $15 for the white shirt with the pig pictures, plus $4 for S&H. They come in adult sizes S, M, L,XL and 2X. I do not yet have kids sizes. Would Make THE MOST EXCELLENT Christmas Gift. Please email me you order at   opies99@gmail.com 
And thanks so much for helping support the small family farm.

Four chefs and a side of beef

Now THAT would be a great title for a new book. Mystery ? Horror ? Romance ? Too creepy. Cookbook ? Too predictable. Sci-fi ? Maybe.

For now four chefs and a side of beef is exactly what it says. Look to the left and you will see the beef, to the right is our hog. Well, it was our hog . Now it belongs to Jared Van Camp and Yoni Levi at Old Town Social to be turned into something truly tasty.  .www.oldtownsocial.com  Jared is on the far right and Yoni is next to him. Then you have Ray , then Sam. Or was it Sam then Ray ? Sorry guys. My Aricept had not yet kicked in when we met you at the crack of noon. But I do remember how sharp you 4 looked in your black and whites.

Twas a cold cold day for deliveries in Chicago  but the sun was out and the traffic was good. My morning started at 4:30. I woke, splashed some coffee down my throat, (ow and OW !) then picked up youngest son Kyle in Fairbury. He traveled with me to the Bittners Eureka Locker 60 miles away to help load the 400 plus pounds of beef. Half for us and half for Jared. This is the first beef we've processed at Eureka and they were grrreat ! I'm sure we'll use them again in the future.Then we back tracked to Chenoa to pick up the hog. Since the freezer was already full of beef we wrapped the hog very nicely in a brand new tarp tied with a pretty little rope bow. Kinda like a big bacon bouquet..Onto Fairbury again where I pushed Kyle out of the truck with our share of the beef and chore instructions back at the farm. I then met Keith in Forrest and we headed up Route 47 to the big city.

Halfway up Ashland Ave., a cop, who was traveling to the left of me, suddenly swooped in behind me. I suspected he noticed the nicely wrapped body bag in the back of the truck "Here we go"  I thought. I looked for his flashing lights. Never happened. Guess I finally reached the age where I and my actions no longer look suspicious. Probably that ridiculous cow brooch I was wearing on my lapel. It made me a little sad.