Egg Industry Exposed

I am not a vegetarian, nor will I ever be. (Though sometimes I want to be.) I read this and wanted to post it, I have read many horrific scenarios about the chicken industry. As a result I try to make better decisions as to where my food comes from, but this I was unaware of. Please read and form your own opinions. Mine are that I am so thankful I can buy eggs from local farms, that we as a human race are the most cruel creatures on earth, and that there are people dying from starvation around the world and we grind up chicks like unwanted yard waste because when pumped with artificial growth hormones they don't grow fast enough. Oh, and these ground up chicks are probably then fed to their own species. Nice. (Note: I did not watch video)

Video shows unwanted male chicks ground up alive at Iowa egg hatchery
By FREDERIC J. FROMMER
Associated Press Writer
(AP) 03:19:14 PM (ET), Tuesday, September 1, 2009 (WASHINGTON)
An animal rights group is calling on the nation's largest grocery story chains to post warnings on egg cartons that unwanted male chicks are ground up alive, after videotaping the common industry practice at an Iowa egg hatchery.

In letters sent to the companies this week, Chicago-based Mercy for Animals says its undercover videotape at Hy-Line North America's hatchery in Spencer, Iowa, "exposes one of the industry's best kept secrets _ that the egg industry tears male chicks' bodies apart in grinding machines while they are still alive."

The group wants the chains to include a label on egg cartons that says, "Warning: Male chicks are ground-up alive by the egg industry." The letters were sent to 50 chains, including Walmart, Whole Foods, Safeway, Harris Teeter and Trader Joe's.

"The violence that you will see is standard and acceptable within the egg industry, and consumers have a right to know about this cruelty so that they can make informed and compassionate purchasing decisions," wrote Mercy for Animals' executive director, Nathan Runkle.

A spokesman for United Egg Producers, a trade group for U.S. egg farmers, called the proposal "almost a joke." Spokesman Mitch Head said Mercy for Animals had no credible authority, as well as questionable motives. "This is a group which espouses no egg consumption by anyone _ so that is clearly their motive." The video does in fact end with a call for people to adopt a vegan diet, which eliminates all animal products _ meat, eggs or dairy.

Hy-Line said in a statement it has started an investigation "of the entire situation," adding that it would have helped their investigation "had we been aware of the potential violation immediately after it occurred."

The video, shot with a hidden camera and microphone by a Mercy for Animals employee who got a job at the plant in May and June, shows a Hy-Line worker sorting through a conveyor belt of chirping chicks, flipping some of them into a chute like a poker dealer flips cards.

These chicks, which a narrator says are males, are then shown being dropped alive into a grinding machine.

In other parts of the video, a chick is shown dying on the factory floor amid a heap of egg shells after falling through a sorting machine. Another chick, also still alive, is seen lying on the floor after getting scalded by a wash cycle, according to the video narrator.

Hy-Line said the video "appears to show an inappropriate action and violation of our animal welfare policies," referring to chicks on the factory floor.

But the company also noted that "instantaneous euthanasia" _ a reference to killing of male chicks by the grinder _ is a standard practice supported by the animal veterinary and scientific community.

According to Mercy for Animals, male chicks are of no use to the industry because they can't lay eggs and don't grow large or quickly enough to be raised profitably for meat. That results in the killing of 200 million male chicks a year.

The United Egg Producers confirmed that figure and the practice behind it.

"There is, unfortunately, no way to breed eggs that only produce female hens," said spokesman Head. "If someone has a need for 200 million male chicks, we're happy to provide them to anyone who wants them. But we can find no market, no need."

Using a grinder, Head said, "is the most instantaneous way to euthanize chicks."

There is no federal law that ensures the humane euthanasia of animals on farms or hatcheries, according to Jonathan Lovvorn, vice president and chief counsel of the Humane Society of the United States.

Hy-Line says on its Web site that its Iowa facility produces 33.4 million chicks. Based on that figure, Mercy for Animals estimates a similar number of male chicks are killed at the facility each year. Hy-Line did not comment on that estimate.

Runkle, of Mercy for Animals, said most people would be shocked to learn that 200 million chicks are killed a year.

"Is this justifiable just for cheap eggs?" he said.

As to more humane alternatives to disposing of male chicks, Runkle said the whole system is inherently flawed.

"The entire industrial hatchery system subjects these birds to stress, fear and pain from the first day," he said.

___

On the Web:

Mercy for Animals video: http://www.mercyforanimals.org/hatchery

The Summer That Never Was

June, July, and August 2009: 'The summer that never was'. At least that is what they are calling it over on Cape Cod. Today marks the last day of the Meteorological Summer. Officially there a few weeks left, but after a couple of evenings with temps in the 50's the final day of August certainly is feeling Autumn-like.

I went out to the garden this morning to find evidence of chores left unfinished....

This what happens when your weekends are over scheduled and you get behind on the lawn mowing and weeding thanks to all the rain (and the perfect beach day), and suddenly you realize you are already an hour late for a birthday party.

The Late Blight is really taking it's toll now, I expect this will be my last week of tomatoes. The fruit and stems are beginning to show evidence of the powdery spores. While picking the ripe fruit this morning I actually was OK with knowing these plants will be going soon, many people I know didn't get a single tomato out of their gardens, even the farmer's markets are scarce in some towns. I am thankful for the three months of home grown tomatoes I have enjoyed this summer. Below is picture of today's infected trimmings, another of the tomato harvest.

Here are my surviving winter squash plants, fighting to hold on despite the borer damage. If the buggers are done for the season then they may make it, but another attack would do them in. Two of them have formed new fruit, I am doing my best to not count my chickens before they hatch. I slit open the plastic mulch and covered a stem portion with soil, followed by a fish fertilizer cocktail to encourage new root growth. C'mon squash babies, GROW, GROW, GROW!

Speaking of growing, look at all these muskmelon vines growing madly in the compost pile and up the dog kennel....

And here is my single melon. Can I even call it that, lol? Should it instead be called "The Blossom That Never Died"?

A Little Garden Housekeeping

Today has been a great day out in the garden. After the many inches of rain we received yesterday courtesy of Danny, it was a perfect time to rip out the weeds and the less than stellar performers. But most importantly I was a SVB serial killer, and proud of it! I squished at least twelve of these suckers. They had finally taken up residence in my zucchini. The plants are now destroyed, but I was happy to sacrifice a few developing squash for the pleasure of hunting those borers down. YUCK!


Today's sowings:

1. Sugar Ann Peas - 55 days; I sowed these in the cucurbit bed where I had ripped out cukes and marigolds, mostly for their nitrogen fixing services. If I get peas out of it even better!
2. Bright Lights Swiss Chard - Chard can be harvested at 'baby' size about 5 weeks after germination and is somewhat cold tolerant.
3. Napoli Carrot - 58 days; A cold tolerant, early carrot variety. These will hopefully overwinter under a thick layer of hay and plastic or row cover.
4. Red Russian Kale - Overwinters easily, hardy to 14 degrees F; These should have ideally been sown in early August but I just didn't have the room. I will cover the seedlings with row cover before any frost is predicted, and keep them that way through the winter. May be harvested as early as 60 days after sowing; frosts improve flavor.
5. Rouge D'Hiver Lettuce - 28-58 days; Cold tolerant red romaine type lettuce, should germinate in soil temps as low as 40 degrees F.
6. Renegade Spinach - I have had no luck with direct sowing spinach all season, but since spinach seeds should used the same year they were purchased I figured I would give it another go!

(edit: Almost forgot, I took seeds from the nasturtiums and marigolds for next year. It was a rediculously easy thing to do (and free), so I hope they will germinate!)

Chip-oh-LEE-nee Onions

These little discs of onion heaven were available as part of my CSA share this week, YAY! I have always wanted to try them, thought about trying to grow them, but decided on the familiar sweet and red globe onions instead. Well here they are, right in my very own kitchen. Roasting seems to be just about all you can (or should) do with them, but I can't help but thinking they would make a nice Onion Soup for two! If only I had more than half a pound....

Dr. Gourmet.com says this about Cipollini Onions:

"Pronounced chip-oh-LEE-nee this is a smaller, flat, pale onion. The flesh is a slight yellowish color and the skins are thin and papery. The color of the skin ranges from pale yellow to the light brown color of Spanish onions. These are sweeter onions, having more residual sugar than garden-variety white or yellow onions, but not as much as shallots.

The advantage to cipollinis is that they are small and flat and the shape lends them well to roasting. This combined with their sweetness makes for a lovely addition to recipes where you might want to use whole caramelized onions.

These can be a little more difficult to find as they are not as popular. Specialty markets and grocery stores will have them but even my Whole Foods has spotty availability. They are harvested in autumn and may not be easily available year round (or may be quite expensive in other seasons). "

Maybe I will roast them and do a BBQ Chicken Pizza, substituting them for the usual caramelized red onions........when all else fails put it in a pizza, thats my motto!

Put Away For Another Day Zucchini Cakes with Gingered Cream Cheese Frosting

This is a recipe I have been using for some time to make zuke bread, but after Erin's catchy 'Put Away For Another Day' gadget over at Garden Now- Think Later, I officially coined the name 'Put Away For Another Day Zucchini Bread', thank-you Erin. It begins by freezing your portioned, grated, zucchini and oil in a quart size freezer bag.

Another Day it can be thawed and made into tasty bread (2 loaves), from which one can be wrapped and frozen to be enjoyed yet another day. The fat from the oil helps prevent freezer burn. This last recipe was made into giant cakes and topped with luscious Gingered Cream Cheese Frosting. (That recipe can be found here.) We like it only mildly sweet (2 C powdered sugar), and with a hint of ginger. I did maybe four sweeps over the zester, but more would be just as good if you love that ginger zing.

We normally enjoy this bread lightly toasted with a dab of butter. Feel free to add in some grated carrots or nuts to change things up a bit. Somebody is very happy that these little cakes are finished and ready to be sampled, and insisted on being in the picture!

PUT AWAY FOR ANOTHER DAY ZUCCHINI BREAD

2 C grated zucchini
1 C oil

Portion above amounts into 1 quart freezer bags or other storage container. Put away (in freezer) for another day.

Another day remove bag from freezer and thaw. Continue with recipe below:

Yield: 1 bunt pan, 4 mini, or 2 8x4 loaf pans

3 eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 C whole wheat flour
1 T cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 C raisins
1 C walnuts
approx. ½ C applesauce (optional)
2 T diced candied ginger (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease and flour bunt (or 2 8x4 pans).

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Mix in oil and zucchini, then sugar and vanilla. Add applesauce and candied ginger if using.

Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt, whisk to combine. Add raisins to flour mixture and stir in.

Stir dry into wet and pour batter into pans.

Bake loaves for approximately 45 min. - 1 hour. Check often, bake until toothpick/cake tester comes out clean. Cool.

Divide bunt loaf into quarters, keeping one for fresh eating, and freezer wrapping the other 3 to be put away for another day. (Or put away 1 8x4 loaf.)

Enjoy!

*Edit* Yet again Blogger is posting things all wrong and I am unable to correct the spacing, sorry! What is up with that anyway??

Bulbils

Yes, bulbils I say. Did you know that bulbils are the economic way to grow those garlic cloves? Turns out if you leave a garlic scape be it will stretch out and grow a flower-like top made up of all these bulbil things. Then, one can save and plant these bulbils in the fall and patiently wait....

If you planted bulbils, they will not form any stalks. Instead they will have several grass-like leaves up to a foot long, which will die back in July. This is the time to harvest the rounds! What you will find is marble- to golfball-sized rounds that resemble small onions in that they are not divided into cloves. These rounds may be eaten like garlic cloves or saved to plant again in the fall. If planted, they will then give you regular garlic bulbs the following year - WHO KNEW!?!?

Click here for a beautiful slide show of bulbils, you really don't want to miss it!http://henrycaron.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=3283874&AlbumKey=XQ3Nc

Too Many Choices

While on the subject of potatoes I thought I would go back and take a look at all that is offered from Moose Tubers/Fedco. There are a million and one choices, it is all so overwhelming! I have a great opportunity to order these potatoes at a discount, with out shipping charges through my local NOFA (North East Organic Farming Association) office.

After digging my first Yukon Gold this summer I knew I wanted to up the potato ante next year. They are after all one of those foods I hate eating when not organically grown, and organic potatoes are not readily available in the major grocers around here. So, after hours of reading about starch content, maturity dates, disease resistance and color I have narrowed it down to the following:

2.5 #'s Caribe (very early)

• good mashed or baked
• purple skin, white flesh
• high yield, good storage
• resistant to scab and storage rot

5 #'s Yukon Gold (very early)

• yellow-buff skin, yellow flesh
• dry, mealy
• low yield, excellent storage
• my favorite potato!

2.5 #'s Cheiftan (early)

• bright red skin, white flesh
• good flavor with excellent culinary qualities
• moist, firm
• resistant to late blight, scab, stem end browning, and net necrosis
• high yield, fair storage

2.5 #'s Huckleberry (mid)

• good for roasting, boiling or steaming
• beet-red skin, mottled red and white flesh
• moist, firm
• high yield, good storage

2.5 #'s Kennebec (mid)

• all purpose potato
• buff skin, white flesh
• high yield, excellent storage
• known for it's most excellent fries
• susceptible to rizoctonia (a.k.a. black scurf) and verticulum. This could be a problem.

5 #'s Red Pontiac* (late/storage)

• good mashed or boiled, no baking
• prone to scab
• do well in heavy soils or cage/box growing
• dark red skin, white sweet flesh
• high yield, excellent storage
• require close planting

* Or Red Cloud which I grew this year and described in the previous post.

Here it is in black and white where I can not lose it or forget all that I have read. Ten pounds of early, five pounds of mid, and five pounds late. Boy, that is a lot of potatoes!

Potato Scurf; CSA Share

I think I have the above pictured diseases (courtesy of Michigan Potato Diseases)on my potatoes. The Yukon Gold tubers had some occasional Black Surf for sure. (Otherwise known as Rizoctonia Canker.) A couple of the Red Cloud spuds that were pulled up yesterday have both Black and Silver Scurf.

This is a bit frustrating since it is the first time potatoes have been grown in the soil (at least in my garden), and I purchased certified seed potatoes. The good news is that it is generally a cosmetic problem only, though yields can be reduced. I am thinking the rest of the potatoes may need to be dug and stored as frozen mashers to limit any further disease spread. I think the disease will unfortunately remain in the soil for years to come which is problematic in my otherwise shallow square foot gardening beds.

Is it time to try making some of those frozen chunks of mashed taters? Mm Hm I think it is!

(B.T.W., those Red Clouds are as good as Moose Tubers claimed them to be: Red Cloud red skin, white flesh What a joy to dig Red Cloud as lots of intensely red tubers emerge! Snow-white flesh, a little drier than most reds, makes the most marvelous fluffy mashed potatoes. Named after the great Oglala Sioux chief who lived in Nebraska and South Dakota. Highly resistant to scab, resists early blight and hollow heart, heat stress and drought. Very long dormancy for exceptional storage. Medium-sized spreading plant with dark violet flowers. Very limited supply; order early. 7390 Red Cloud organic, 21/2# $8.00; 5# $13.00; 20# $45.00)

***

Yesterday's CSA 1/2 Share from Silverbrook Farm:

• 2 zucchini (small)
• 2 apples
• 1 lb potatoes (3 large)
• 1/2 lb onions
• 3 tomatoes
• 3 ears of corn
• 1/3 lb pursulane (we left that one behind)

Not even close to $17.00 worth of produce in my opinion. Yet another pet peeve of mine, when I ask what variety something is ( for example, potatoes) they don't know the answer 80% of the time. AARRGG!! Once again, the fruit is the best part. I don't even want to eat the apples, then I won't be able to smell them anymore!!! (Me singing)....Apple season is coming, apple season is coming. 8)

Graden Buzz, Today's Harvest

It is hard to believe my gardening season is coming to an end, since the melons and winter squash won't be producing things should start winding down soon . Time to start thinking about where to put the cold frame, and what to plant in it. I am thinking Chard and carrots. Speaking of carrots, check out the photos below:

This is the potato/carrot bed back in late June. Going from left to right we have some herbs and a few measly carrots coming up; potatoes; sweet potatoes and my son's sunflower from school in the corner.

Wow have the carrots grown in! Anyone remember how frustrated I was by carrots earlier in the season? LOL, no more! (These photos were taken from inside the garden unlike the one above.)

And here is the gargantuan sunflower and the sweet potato vines, which are reaching over into the now foliage free potato bed. I still have some potatoes in the ground, maybe just over half have been harvested to date. What a change compared to the first photo huh? I find it funny to see the formerly full section empty, and the other two full of green.

***

The onions are done. Quite a bit smaller than I was expecting, nothing close to those grocery store sweet onions. Better luck next year I hope! (That is if I decide they are worthy of their garden space.)

***

I pulled 4 carrots up- here they are below in order. Finally, a winner!!!

I found a few more lovely carrots in the 'carrot jungle', along with lots of tomatoes, a large zuke, a couple cukes, some chili peppers and another super-tasty Carmen sweet pepper, and a handful of beans the beetles didn't beat me to. Oh, and some basil,.........

....and the first Red Cloud potato harvest!

Very exciting stuff here folks!

***

On to the garden buzz:

The Orb spiders have taken over my garden. It is getting tricky to pick around their webs.

I always have the urge to rub their cute, fuzzy, bumble buts, however after doing this once as a kid I now resist said urge.

My little man's sunflower is in full bloom, it's gorgeous!

***

Lastly, some pictures of what Late Blight looks like on a tomato plant:

These are two affected leaves from the top.

The tell-tale powdery underside of the water stained looking lesions:

I ultimately decided not to spray for blight since removing affected leaves by hand seems to be keeping it in check. It is of coarse continuing to spread, but at a controllable rate. Eventually this will change and the whole lot will require immediate disposal.

The SVB are slowly destroying my precious squash. The fruit is shriveling and rotting right off the vine. Very sad. I took some pictures but find it too depressing to look at. Also very sad is the fact that my female muskmelon flowers continue to rot instead of forming fruit. The bumble bee pictured above was on a blossom, so lack of pollination shouldn't be the culprit. Maybe there is some disease that causes this that I am unaware of??

I ripped out most of the cucumber plants and bolting lettuce today. The beets I sowed along with the carrots many weeks back have failed to germinate. That or I pulled them thinking they were weeds. Anything is possible. 8) I am very curious to see what comes home with me from the CSA today, last week was pathetic once again. I brought only a plastic grocery bag with me, and it wasn't even full when I left. I will greatly miss the blueberries though, I am figuring last week was their finale.

Edit: The Farmer's Almanac is showing 27 days until Autumn. (Me frowning.) Also,Today in History:
The Nineteenth Amendment was adopted, granting women the right to vote. It was nicknamed the "Anthony" amendment in recognition of the lobbying efforts of suffragette Susan B. Anthony, 1920.

Thanks to Susan B. Anthony and all others in securing me the right to vote!

Kindergarten Has Come

This post has absolutely nothing to do with gardening, just thought I'd warn you. This post is about the blubbering mess I have become over my eldest starting kindergarten come September. Today we learned who his teacher will be and received the Kindergarten Supply List. Sent me right over the edge! When this boy was a baby I would spend time staring at him, knowing he would grow into a little boy in the blink of an eye, knowing he would one day wave good-bye and leave our little world at home to start his big adventure as a full-time student. I am not ready- we know that for sure, I just hope he is.

This little boy is special (they all are), he is always in a pretend place- usually at work on a construction site or a tugboat. He hates crowds, new things, any noise that isn't being made by him, and being told what to do. He has no idea how to write his name, sing the alphabet or count to 20, (or to differentiate between letters and numbers if we are getting technical), but he can tell you how to pave a road from start to finish and what stick does what on a backhoe. He has the vocabulary of an adult and speaks with a lisp. I have always been his protector, his advocate. My little guy has always had a hard time facing the world, it often overwhelms him. He has come such a long way from where he began, but as his Mom I worry so much about how he will adjust to this kindergarten thing. He worries "about how he will get his energy out". I worry about how he will pay attention.

I know, I know, I need to let it go. LOL, the good news is in a couple more weeks he will "no longer be my problem" and my daughter will get the attention her brother enjoyed for so many years. I told hubby to take the tenth of September off and have a bottle of vodka on hand so I can begin self-medicating after the school bus drives away with my baby on it (and finish when the boy arrives home 9 hours later, gulp. See, I am practicing in my head already!) Of coarse, this is assuming he actually gets on the school bus, feel free to make wagers on this one!

Ok, I am done now. For those of you that stayed with me thanks, and if you have any stories of 'your' first day of kindergarten please share them here.