Sunday, March 23, 2008

American Politics

Disclaimer: This blog entry does not reflect the views of World Hunger Relief as an organization, just one of it's "liberal" interns.

Was anyone paying attention to Obama's speech addressing race and politics last week? I was. And I was impressed. It's refreshing to hear a politician speak with eloquence, intelligence, and courage on an issue as volatile as race relations in America, and frankly, it's about time someone did. Obama spoke of the justified anger and bitterness of black Americans, specifically the ones who have memories of the pain and humiliation of segregated life in America before the Civil Rights Movements of the 1960's. He also spoke of an anger and resentment festering and growing among white Americans as a response to affirmative action programs and false allegations of racism. Obviously this issue is incredibly complex and these last two sentences I have written carry baggage that I'm not willing to unpack in a blog. But, I agree with Obama: Americans of every color experience anger under society's current structure, and our nation needs to heal. And after listening to his speech, I am beginning to think that Obama is someone who can quicken the healing process in America.

My primary criticism of Obama is that he is not radical enough (hey, I already told you I was "a liberal," didn't I?). And I understand that radicalism is almost impossible for any legitimate candidate for the United States presidency because of the necessity to appeal to enough people to actually get elected. But maybe Obama is radical. It's well documented that he doesn't accept funding from federal lobbying groups, right? And if you compare the funding of Obama, Clinton, and McCain, you see that the amount of money he receives from "idealogical/single issue" funder compared to "business" funding is inversely proportional to those of his opponents. If you're not into website links as verification for radicalism, then just go to the source. During his speech the man said some radical stuff. For example:

"We want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit."

Is Obama ready to stand up to the corporate domination system that exists in the United States? Or how about:

"Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students. "

Did Obama just implicate the public education system run by the United States government as a contributer to the educational-racial divide in America?

Maybe Obama is a supporter of radical change. And while I remain skeptical, mostly because every President in my lifetime has participated in international injustice in one way or another, it seems like Obama has the potential to lead America in a better direction. At least, as Jon Stewart recently put it, he "talks to us like we are adults." Click on this link if you want to watch/listen/read Obama's speech for yourself.

Footnote: This is not an endorsement; it's a blog.


And if anyone is interested in what happened on the farm this weekend, I'll tell you that, too.
  1. Rasputin, our two-week-old buckling, is still really cute. He climbed up on a picnic table for the first time on Saturday evening.
  2. Big Mama, our 10 year-old goat, has been quarantined for an abscess and is out of the milking rotation. But Peter, Kristine, and I have continued to milk her and that milk tastes as good as ever.
  3. Elliana Cole turned one year old on Saturday and her mom and dad threw her a classic birthday party with grilled hamburgers, blankets spread out under our giant cottonwood tree, frisbee throwing, and cupcakes.
  4. Multiple people bought seed packets from us on Saturday which means people are gardening! I'm so stoked that people are gardening.
That's it. Thanks for reading.
Love,
Will


Friday, March 21, 2008

Farm grown beef on its way!

Hey, for all you meat-lovers out there, here is some great news for you! Coming this next week we will have our very own beef to sell from our freezer. After she enjoyed several months of grazing on our lush winter pasture we took our first heifer to the butcher. She weighed in at over 1,000 pounds! So, if you are interested in some really great beef, you should come by the farm and check out what we have in our freezer.

Along with that we will also have goat from our farm including goat sausage. The sausage was a really big hit last time and so we are bringing it in again.

Thanks for stopping by our website and I hope to see you out at the farm this weekend!

Friday, March 7, 2008

How You Gonna Keep Em Down on the Farm?


Its not that often that The New York Times runs an op/ed by a farmer, so in the spirit of agricultural camaraderie we thought we should give him some dap.  You probably haven't seen much in the news lately about the Farm Bill, there must be something else going on I guess, but it is still an ongoing issue.  You can catch up on the latest news at Bread for the World.  However, this letter by Minnesota farmer Jack Hedin, who operates a CSA at Featherstone Farms, is a good reminder to all of us who care about local food production (and a myriad other important issues) as to why we shouldn't allow the Farm Bill to recede so quickly into that dark night.  Here's an excerpt:  

. . . . The federal farm program is making it next to impossible for farmers to rent land to me to grow fresh organic vegetables. . . . Why? Because national fruit and vegetable growers based in California, Florida and Texas fear competition from regional producers like myself. Through their control of Congressional delegations from those states, they have been able to virtually monopolize the country’s fresh produce markets.

Give it a read and since the current state of things in the local food production/small farm world is maudlin at best here is a wonderfully melancholy version of the titular song by Andrew Bird to put you in the mood as you read the whole piece in the NYT - just push the play button.




You can help your local farmers out by going here or here.

*Picture:  just some of the locally produced, organically grown little sprouts that have now made their way out of the greenhouse and into the garden and are growing like gangbusters.