Come the Revolution

Archive for February, 2010

I’m not just of Irish heritage, I’m of Irish Catholic heritage. Also Italian Catholic heritage. That means that even though I haven’t been a practicing Catholic in over a decade, I still think about Lent. And Lent, as anyone reading will likely not know, started last Wednesday after a night of meat eating for most and debauchery for a few. It continues until after the Easter vigil on April 3rd if you’re anxious to get back to what you’ve given up, or when you wake up on April 4th if you’re like my family (“No, you are not allowed to eat a creme egg. You have to wait until tomorrow!”).

For what would now be considered a traditional Lenten Fast is also a simplified meal plan started and ended with a day of true fasting. What is usually done is to have a small breakfast, a small lunch, and a sensible dinner, with no snacks between. There were at least some years where my father drank only water during Lent.

What I’m encouraging my family and friends to engage this year is not just to eat less food, but also to eat better food. Give up high fructose corn syrup (especially if you’re already giving up soda). Give up canned goods if you can afford to do so. Bake your own bread for the 7 weeks or eat whole wheat. Use the time you spend in the kitchen contemplating history, contemplating simplicity, contemplating the body and soul that you have and are choosing to nurture by filling it with natural foods.

And then after what, at least within my family, will be a ridiculous amount of chocolate and cursing (the two big things they abstain from) on Easter Sunday, this diet, or some semblance thereof, will likely no longer feel like abstention. It might just feel like good, real food.

We received a copy of this book — an original edition, no less — as a gift from friends last week. I found this passage especially lovely:

There is no home like the farm home. And with the incomparable charm of rural home life comes the infinite pleasure of creative effort and the exhilaration of contending with nature and winning bread from the bare ground. There are a constancy and a stability about it all. There is something to build on, something to look forward to in the years to come. [. . . ] Some people in the cities have an idea that farm work is not an “elevating” occupation, but I want to say to you, my friends, with all the earnestness of which I am capable, that agriculture is one of the most dignified employments in which a man can engage.

-Edward Owen Dean, Opportunities in Farming

The federal animal-tracking program NAIS would have been a disaster for small-scale farmers and homesteaders; the grassroots No-NAIS movement turned it into a PR nightmare for the USDA. Last week, Ag Sec’y Tom Vilsack proposed a new, more flexible program. Read on for details.

A NAIS history lesson

Way back in the day, some people at USDA dreamed up NAIS — a National Animal Identification System. While the intention — track disease, protect farms with good practices and hold others accountable– may have been noble, NAIS was the farming equivalent of “using a hatchet where you need a scalpel” (as a certain President might put it). NAIS would have required farmers, homesteaders and even pet owners to register their animals with the government, tag them, track and report their movements (across state borders, not around the farm), and submit yearly paperwork and fees.

The expense of the fees and tagging equipment would have driven many small farmers out of business. Others would have chosen to operate illegally under the radar. Beyond the expense, there was a principle at stake: Small producers were being punished for Big Ag’s bad behavior, and the effect would be to drive what little competition feedlot farms have out of business.

And there’s also that whole government-oversight thing. I bet you can guess how most farmers feel about that.

NAIS first came on the scene in Spring of 2005 and was supposed to be fully implemented by now, but USDA began backing off (thanks to major grassroots opposition) as early as April, 2006. Last week, USDA announced that NAIS is dead in the water, and a new program is slated to take its place.

Animal Disease Traceability Framework

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack proposed a new program to replace NAIS. Here are some basics of the proposal:

• After the Feds work with states to create a minimum standard, the details and administration of the program will be left to individual states. Records will also be owned and maintained at the state, rather than the federal, level.
• Only producers whose animals will be moved in “interstate commerce” will be subject to the new framework. Homesteaders and most small farmers will be exempt, including those selling live animals at local markets.
• Whereas NAIS required the use of expensive and excessive electronic chip identifiers, states will decide what forms of ID are officially required under the new framework. Visual tags and brands will be an acceptable possibility.
• Much of the $120 million already spent on NAIS paid for elements that will be useful under the new framework as well — IT infrastructure, for example, and NAIS electronic tags that have already been implemented under the voluntary program.

You can read more details at USDA’s Animal Disease Traceability site. USDA hopes to issue a proposed rule for the federal minimum requirements next winter, at which time they’ll offer a 90-day comment period. No need to wait until then to make your opinion heard, though — get in touch with your state veterinarian [pdf] to let them know what you think of the new proposed framework.

In college the first big snowfall was when I decided to put my bicycle into hibernation. It’s not that I didn’t want to ride, but having tried to ride the bike across campus (to an indoor, caged location) was a comedic event. The tires just couldn’t cut through the snow and find any asphalt. Besides, I thought, no one else was out on their bicycles anymore.

After college I lived in a city, a real city, where it didn’t snow too much too often and the asphalt held the sun’s warmth for weeks of cloudy weather. Where it was safer, or at least it seemed so, to bike in the winter than to walk. The first time it snowed I realized how safe it was for me to be able to feel the control the tires had through my feet. If I started slipping, I could feel it.

Now I’m in a town that is not particularly bike friendly, where the snow doesn’t disappear the day after it falls. And I’ve decided to stay on the bicycle during the winter. The difference is that here, where the windchill on the way home from work can dip below 0°F, I need to be wearing a facemask and goggles.

There are a few important things to remember about winter biking, aside from the proper attire. Believe me, if you don’t wear enough clothes, you’ll know it. The other things have to do with caring for your bike. The salt and grime that end up on the underside of your car also end up on your bike. It’s important to frequently clean off your bike. A damp cloth is usually enough. Also, it’s important to have the right kind of lubricant- one that can handle cold and wet conditions- and to use it liberally and frequently. That salt and grime? Yeah, definitely not something that you want mucking up your gears.

If it’s icy or you’re concerned about traction, it’s ok to let a little air out of your treaded mountain bike tires. This will give you more surface contact, which is better for icy conditions. If you’re in an area that’s always got ice during the winter months, invest in one (for your front tire) or two studded tires.

If you have a road bike, the thin tires may help you more during snow than my mountain bike tires do. They can cut through, rather than floating on top of, the white fluffy stuff. This will likely work to your benefit provided there isn’t an ice skating rink below the layer of powder. So if you’re riding on 700c’s be careful in spring as the thawing and freezing often leaves a layer of ice behind.

You’ll end up going pretty slow in fresh snow, but being able to experience the snowfall and the crunching beneath your wheels will more than make up for the extended commute. Biking is the most beautiful way to experience a snowy night.