Patrona's Profile

Keeping everything cold is important, yes. Lately I've been adding a step between mixing the dough and rolling it into balls--something called fraisage, where basically you take little bits of the dough and sort of smear them across your work surface. This creates alternating layers of butter and flour in the dough, which during baking creates that flaky structure that's so desirable. By using this method, I've actually been able to get nice tender whole wheat crusts for quiche, so they feel a little more guilt-free, despite the butter.

The first 3 minutes or so of this video shows what pastry dough should look like as it's coming together, and explains a little of the chemistry of pasty dough as well. It's better to show than to tell, after all, ha. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWDGAxaBPz8

@Mirabella, there are good and bad ways to wean calves, obviously. But it's necessary at a certain point, because cows need time to recover from the toll that lactation takes on their bodies before they have another calf. The way my parents do it is to separate the calves and cows into separate but adjacent paddocks, so they can see and hear each other for a few days until they get over the separation. I've heard of some people even leaving a few cows or heifers without nursing calves in with the weaning calves as "babysitters", so they don't feel so cut off from the herd. Then, we let them back in with the rest of the herd, and they go back to grazing together. We don't typically sell calves until they're quite a bit older. Honestly, it's all a bit like weaning baby humans, ha. Animal husbandry doesn't always have to be cruel.

Sort of echoing the user who mentioned making a Skype call after dinner, I often would plan to eat a meal over Skype with my family. I even Skyped in for Thanksgiving last year. The two hour time difference isn't so bad that I can't eat a couple hours early, so usually I'll let my folks know in advance that I'd like to have a Skype dinner, and then we each put our laptops on the dinner table. It's not quite a family dinner, but it's close.

I grew up in Kansas and went to KU for undergrad. Lawrence is a great town and they have a really vibrant local foods movement. I grew up on a farm, so of course I have to list my family's farm, although we don't market our produce or beef. Parideaza Farm (outside of Wamego) is owned by a friend and is fantastic; MJ Ranch is great for grass-fed beef. I miss Central Soy Tofu like crazy, and Local Burger is wonderful--and has the best veggie burgers I've ever eaten.

There are a few nonprofits that do good work in ag around northeastern Kansas. The Kansas Rural Center comes to mind. Also, the Kaw River Valley Our Local Foods project: http://www.kawrivervalley.org/. Kansas Organic Producers is a grain cooperative, so not what most consumers are looking for, but it you need to source organic grain or you just have some questions about getting started with organic farming, they're good people to call.

@Leilaeliz

I'm guessing when you say that pesticides can reduce soil erosion, you're referring to no-till farming? The tradeoff is that increased pesticide application typically manifests itself later in degraded water quality due to run-off. Plus, it's much more expensive for the farmer.

Another tradeoff is that application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides can contribute to soil-sterility--basically, help to wipe out good bacteria in the soil over time. It's a really delicate biochemical balance to strike, and the less farmers tamper with it, the better off the soil tends to be.

As far as organic's reduced yields are concerned, I've read a couple articles that suggest that reduced yields typically occur during the transition period between conventional and organic farming. I wish I had a citation to send you, but I don't. One key point, though, is that organic farming does require a lot less economic input--it can be more labor intensive, but it does not require increasingly expensive petroleum-based chemicals.

The combination of declining soil viability, oil scarcity, and degraded water quality will eventually raise the price of conventional agriculture to match its cost. It will quite simply become extremely difficult for anyone to raise food without increasing application of chemicals to compensate for the damage that chemical application causes.

It's good to point out a distinction between organic and sustainable agriculture. As you noted, Big Organic may not necessarily be sustainable. So yeah, it probably is better to buy food raised on small farms close by, even if they do use chemicals. But there are programs designed to help farmers incorporate more sustainable practices on their farms, including some government funding. This is why more people should pay attention to the Farm Bill every few years; it affects how the government treats agriculture. So if we want to see more small sustainable organic farms, we should probably be voting for the people most likely to support spending our tax money on support for those farmers.

Full disclosure: I grew up on a sustainable organic farm, and both my parents work for non-profits that offer financial and educational support for farmers looking to address specific sustainability concerns on their farms. So while I'm biased, I've also witnessed firsthand that small organic farmers really aren't disadvantaged compared to their conventional neighbors, at least when it comes to grain and livestock production. The truth is most small farmers have to supplement their livelihoods with off-farm income; I know one family that I think basically incorporated their farming operation between brothers (I want to say five of them?). A lot of conventional farmers are in huge debt, paying for both chemicals and the implements to apply them--not to mention the start-up costs for large-scale conventional livestock operations. The last time my parents went into debt for a farm purchase like that, it was $11,000 for a new tractor, which was paid off within a year. As far as I can tell, Dad's never had problems with low yields before, and because the soil quality on our farm is superior to those of our neighbors, we tend to do better in drought years.

*These* are all good reasons to support sustainable/organic agriculture. I'm not so sure about spurious claims about flavor, though. :)