Have you seen the movie Food Inc.?

[Candy]

Last week I had recorded "Oprah" and watched it a few days ago. It was about the food that we eat and where it comes from in this country of ours. She was talking about the movie Food Inc. so I decided to get it and this morning since I'm sick with a little cold decided to watch it with my husband. I was wondering if anyone else has seen it and what you thought about it if you have?

http://www.foodincmovie.com/[hr]
I was able to post the site and it has a trailor of the movie for you to watch. It is well worth it. I only want the best for me and my children and watching this movie opens your eyes to what they are doing. It sure opened mine. Please watch it.

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I was able to get my copy of the movie for $9.99 at Amazon.com and am going to pass it on to my friends and relatives.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Oh man, what a Pandora's box that looks like!

It's funny, because at the grocery store today I was looking at the Little Debbie box of cupcakes and thinking how processed that stuff is to allow it to stay "fresh" on the shelf for so long, and unlike when I was young, I have NO desire to buy that crap anymore.

The average American diet has changed dramatically in the last 50 years (as the trailer said) and most of us have lived that change so we know that many of our food "choices" are not optimal but it is hard to spend hours researching every item that you buy...

I'd like to keep chickens in my back yard, but even though I know I'd eat the eggs, the thought of killing one of those chickens to eat is beyond my capacity to enact. My mom grew up on a farm and she has told us that chicken used to have so much more flavor than the bland, high yield critters we buy in packages today.

What to do? How much, how often, and when? It's a mind-boggler!

 

[Candy]

This has been my main interest for many years now and I have read a lot about what we're feeding ourselves and our kids and it's sad really that more people don't research what is going into there bodies or their childrens bodies. My grandmother used to kill chickens too and she would tell us about ringing their necks. She said that was what they had to do if they wanted to eat. There's a lot of information in this movie, but what it mainly comes down to is money of course and how much can be made and the cost will ultimately be our health. Do you know how many items that they put corn into? And this is Genetically modified corn seed that is. Here's just a few......Chicken nuggets and soft drinks. Since the 1980's almost all sodas and most of the fruit drinks sold in the supermarket are sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup.
Non-dairy creamer, Cheez Whiz, frozen yogurt, canned fruit and surprisely enough even ketchup has corn in it. Candy and cake mixes, mayonnaise, mustard, hot dogs and bologna, salad dressings and even vitamins and yes your twinkie has corn in it too. Some forty-five thousand items in the average American supermarket and more than a quarter of them now contain corn. Right now me and my kids are reading a book about the secrets behind what you eat so they can be aware. I know there's a lot to read, but one step at a time should take care of that.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

I also wonder about the possible connection to food additives and preservatives, and cancer.

I think that even though no one particular chemical is to blame, when you add up all those little bits in our food, our drinks, our air, our containers, etc, especially when we are babies or even in utero, that multiple-layered exposure may be the final straw overwhelmimg our cellular DNA, which then mutates and causes tumors and malignancies.

Obviously, this is just my own theory. I have seen no science to support or deny it. Yet.

 

[chadk]

That's one of the reasons we have our little farm. Fruit trees, veggie garden, berries, corn, etc. Then the chickens. We do them for eggs mostly. But in the spring when we get the chicks, a few turn out to be roosters (about 1 in 5 in our experience so far). So they become dinner since roosters just don't work well in out situation. But the chickens are awesome - free range, low fat, awesome eggs, good lean meat. We have ducks for eggs and geese as our flock protectors from raccoons.

We tried rabbits, but I was the only one who could eat them. May keep trying. Good healthy lean meat - no worry about hormones and things...

The goats are milk goats. These goats have great tasting milk that we won't worry about having our kids drink. We can also make butter and cheese and things like that.

But I don't stress too much about it. When I look back at my childhood growning up in the 70s-90s... Eating twinkies, wonderbread, hot dogs, tang, koolaide, soda, and so forth. I didn't eat anything grean. TV dinners... No whole foods - maybe corn and potatoes. Then the microwave age where we heated things in plactic bowls all the time... High fructose corn syrup, margarine, trans fats, partially hydrated oils, yada yada. Yet I survived So I feel good knowing my kids are growing up with a much better foundation than I did.

 

[Tom]

I'm with Chad on this one. We did a taste test on my chicken's eggs from the ranch and some store bought ones. Wow! What a difference. Not to mention they are chemical free and just laid that morning. Doesn't get any fresher.

I can't believe the stuff my mother fed me and allowed me to eat. I would say that sugar was about half my diet growing up. Fat would make up the majority of the rest. Almost no veggies or fruits.

We need to do better as a society. I'm looking forward to the movie. My wife has already been trying to get me to watch it.

Coincidentally, we just bought a bunch of veggie seeds at Wal-Mart today. Reading all of the posts here on the forum has made me decide to start planting more of my own stuff. There. You all did your good deed for the day.

 

[chadk]

I just came in from planting some kale, collard greens, mustard greens, romaine, carrots, and spinach

I think there is a good sized movement in America starting up where more people of my generation are growing their own foods. I'd love to see that really take off. Even with a tiny yard you can still grow quite a bit. I think it would be great to see local community farmers markets really grow as well. People who live in rural areas and grow their own + extra... selling some of their excess to those in the city, apartments, condos... Maybe even renting out garden space to them. Then one day, the local McDonalds gets torn down and the lot becomes a community garden

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Our yard unfortunately does not get enough light for me to grow vegetables, but last summer our lovely back fence neighbors (both in their 90s) offered to let me use some of their yard to have a garden. I am seriously considering taking on another bed, so we can have some lettuce, carrots, radishes, and of course my favorite: cherry tomatoes!

Though I too survived growing up on Pop-tarts and chocolate milk, I wonder if we will see higher rates of nutrition-related health problems as our generation ages--remember, we are still (relatively) young, and YOU are younger still (so show some respect for your elders, like Candy and me.)

 

[Candy]

Chad, when you milk your goats do you just drink the milk as is or do you have to do something to it first? The food that we grew up with probably was much better still then it is now (at least for us near 50). The movie opens up your eyes as to how they raise chickens in 45 days instead of the natural 3 month period that it takes. The farmers say that it's money in their pockets so why not do it. Tyson is the biggest producer of chickens and when the farmers where asked to be filmed for the movie they said yes at first and then Tyson got involved and convinced all but one (woman farmer) not to let them film their chicken houses. It was very interesting to see her chicken house though. The chickens grow so fast that they can't hold their own weight and fall within a few steps. They are also so crowded together that they can't move too much. And one of the farmers said that his chickens never see daylight. What is the price that we put on our own health and the price of our childrens because we don't research our food before we feed it to them. So many of the kids at my school come to school without breakfast that I just don't understand it. Is it that hard for people to get up early in the morning and fix breakfast for their kids?

 

[chadk]

Well, we homeschool most of our kids (except the two teen girls, who are asking to homeschool next year, so we'll see). So our kids never go to school hungry

The goat milk just needs to go from stainless steel pail into a glass jar that sits in an ice bath to quickly cool it. Then it goes in the fridge and is ready to go.

We haven't actually started milking yet. That will come late this spring. We got our goats this past spring as tiny little bottle babies and now they are both pregnant with their own babies.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Baby goats--what a thrilling prospect!

So, you've got a great set-up with lots of healthy, homegrown food...I don't mean to pry, but how the heck do you manage your mini-farm and petting zoo while holding down a job?

Does all this "farm living" leave you so invigorated that you don't need sleep anymore?

I just wonder if the average family could adopt some of these methods for a healthier lifestyle without creating more stress with all the chores...

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

What do duck eggs taste like?

 

[chadk]

It isn't hard really. About the only thing I've given up is watching TV... We do watch movies and have netflix and stuff - but no just veg'n in front of the TV... Oh, and I do go fishing a lot less than I use to. But I don't mind having a slight shift in priorities and making this lifestyle part of my new hobby.

Before I leave for work, I feed and water the outdoor critters. 10mins is all it takes. 5 if I'm in a hurry.

Then my wife and kids do another feeding and check water mid-day.

Then when I get home, in the winter it is already dark by the time I get home, so I usually skip outdoor stuff (maybe peak on everything, but as long as they had a mid-day feed, they are fine). Then I come in and check on the indoor critters. 10mins tops for that. Unless I just sit down and interact with them and watch them eat. Usually with the company of a kid or 2 or 3...

My wife handles the indoor house chores - between her and the kids. But i do most of the cooking when I'm home (dinner mostly). She has her hands full with homeschooling the 5 younger kids.

The kids are very helpful. They have mostly indoor chores, but I'm getting them to where they can handle lots of the outdoor stuff - just prefer that I'm with them so we end up doing it together.

I also get to work from home on Wednesdays, so that really helps. I call in to my meetings, and take time in the morning and afternoon to do a little more with the animal care and help with homeschooling.

By spring\summer\fall, the days are longer and when I get home, I have more time to focus on the gardening. Watering before work and after if needed. But with raised beds (square foot gardening), there isn't a lot of work once you have things planted. Just a few minutes a day of watering and maintenance.

Really anyone can do something like this if they really wanted. So you lose some time watching reality TV... and spend less time on some other hobbies... but gardening, backyard farming, mini-zoo keeping, and all that is so much fun and with real results (healthy food!), that you feel so rewarded for all the effort. And the whole family gets to take part in both the fun work, and the fruits of our labor

And just to be clear, the percentage of our grocery bill that this has impacted in the few short years we've been at this has not been impacted to greatly yet. But bit by bit we chip away. We started with small baby steps and each year just add and refine as we see fit.

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Honestly, duck eggs freak me out little. I've had a few mixed in to omlettes and scrambled eggs, but I'm not brave enough to have one fried or hard boiled. They are great for baking though. They are bigger and cook up more firm than chicken eggs - but some folks would not be able to tell them apart. I give my kids hard boild duck eggs and don't tell them and they don't even notice. And when i do tell them, they don't care. My wife likes them too. They eat pretty much the same things my chickens do. So the free range duck meat and the duck eggs are going to be much better than store bought where they have a reputation of having more of a greesiness or something. This year we may get to try goose eggs. But i'm hoping to hatch some out, so we won't mess with them too much.

 

[terryo]

I've always had a vegetable garden, and my kids all grew up with fresh veggies. We never had can or frozen. We always had at least two chickens for eggs too. Where I live you are allowed to have what they consider "farm animals", as long as your property is fenced in.
I still have my vegetable garden, but the chickens are long gone now.
I did see Oprah that day, but I haven't seen the movie Food Inc.

 

[Candy]

Now I have to ask you Chad what made you buy the goats and who told you about the milk and that it was alright to milk and drink it. I'm asking because I read different things about raw food. Especially cow's milk and how it's processed. I have a nurse friend and along time ago she came her from Mexico and she tells me that they used to have a cow and that's how they got milk. That they drank it right after they milked it and it never hurt her, but all of the information these days scares you half to death to even think about doing that so if you could give me some information about this.

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Terry I'm so glad someone else had watched Oprah that day. I loved the man on her show that she was interviewing he had a way about him that was not defensive at all and I liked that. I hope you get to watch the movie and maybe then you could pass it on to your grandchildren and so on. My husband is going to take it to school and show it in Economics class (because he can use it as a lesson) and that way we can pass the word to our children and then let them make up their own minds. I'm sure most of them don't know what they're eating and maybe don't care either. We'll try to change that by giving them the information.

 

[chadk]

Well, I know this is a shocker, but commercial interests can't do raw, so they push heavily to make everyone THINK they their milk is the same or better. And or course big money influences big govt... So the FDA for example isn't a fan of raw milk products in THIS country...

In the old day,before we really understood sanitation, it was much more risky.

Try this site for more info:
http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Wah! You make it sound so "do-able"; I am jealous!

Fred has always been a farmer at heart and used to love helping out my uncle when they had a 2000 acre wheat-and-cattle operation in eastern Colorado--my mom grew up there and my earliest memories are of being out at the farm, bouncing in the back of the pickup to check the cattle and the wheat...riding the horse...playing in the barn...helping Grandma weed the garden...splashing around in a cow tank.

I do enjoy the conveniences of living in the suburbs, and I love our schools and our neighborhood...there's a huge park with a creek running through it where we used to take the kids wading and a pond where my kids would catch crawdads for us to boil and eat...there's just that farming instinct in my blood (and Fred's), which is why we both love to work outside on the gardens and yard all summer...the only TV I watch is soccer, and I will be glued to World Cup this summer but that's only once every four years!

You are lucky, in the sense my dad defines it--"luck is the combination of design and desire"--and I can't help envying you a little.