Protecting us from dangerous criminals...

On December first a swat team entered a private home in rural north east Ohio and held the occupants of the home (adults and children) at gun point for nine hours. During this time they executed a search warrant and tore apart the family's house looking for contra ban. At the end of the day they left with about $10,000 worth of "evidence."

The Lorain county swat team assisted the State department of agriculture in this raid. Department of AGRICULTURE!?!?! Yes.

The search was not for drugs or guns or even counterfeit purses. No it was for food. The Manna Storehouse a local co-op in LaGrange, Ohio. The charge, as near as any seems to be able to figure out has to do with some meat that was found in a freezer at Oberlin college which was not properly labeled (meaning it did not come through a USDA licenced facility.) Although they are not charged it seems likely they will be with operating a retail establishment without a licence, a third degree misdemeanor. For that a Swat team?

I would point you to the following link for more information. The Bovine. Be sure to click on the links at the bottom for more information, there are four posts on this and links to other blogs.

In the end, I fear that this may be a case of the government protecting us from non-industrialized food. And that scares me. Our right to decide what we eat is under attack. Already raw milk, unpasteurized cider, farm processed meat. What is next? Veggies?

I will keep on top of this for everyone and post updates. Things like this send shivers up my farmer's spine.

Downy mildew...

Why is it that I have not been able to grow cucumbers this year? We have planted twice this year, early (in June) and late (in late July.) Both times we planted a couple hundred feet in each of our two fields. They all died.

Out of the June plants we got a handful of fruit, maybe 80 total, before the plants succumbed. We did our best to keep them alive, we sprayed them with organic fungicide a couple times (options for these products are limited and expensive) but without success.

I fear the culprit is downy mildew, to which cucumbers are particularly susceptible and which thrive in cooler wet weather, like the weather we had this spring and early summer. Unfortunately, conventional wisdom says once you see the outbreak it is to late. The cure is spraying fungicides on your crops regularly, before an outbreak. But one of the hallmarks of natural production is that you do not treat a problem that does not exist. Scout and treat. Don't use fungicides and pesticides you don't need!

As our CSA members know this has not been a year for either squash or cucumbers. Most of our summer squash was also infected, which has limited our harvest to very small amounts of all but one very hearty heirloom zucchini (which our CSA members know well by now!) And unfortunately, our winter squash is also not doing well and the melons all had to be tilled under (no fruits at all!)

The Ohio State extension confirms that this disease which will not overwinter in our climate and was once considered only a late summer problem in Ohio, when some of the spores made their way up this far born on winds from hurricanes was spotted in Ohio (Medina, Erie, Summit, and other northern counties) as early as June this year. The theory, I gather, is that it is overwintering in Canadian greenhouses, which is why it is seen so much in Northern Ohio and not as much in southern Ohio.

So what can we do? First, we can take a little solace in the knowledge that it cannot overwinter, so future contamination will be from the wind and not our soil, even in areas which have been previously infected. Secondly, next year we will have to start a preventive spraying program on all our cucumbers, melons, winter squash, summer squash, and pumpkins. This will be expensive (as organic options for fungal control are limited.) It also goes a little against what we try to do, however we have had severe losses this year and while risk is part of being a CSA member, it's our responsibility as CSA farmers to do whatever in our power to reduce that risk.

So a sprayer for the tractor is defiantly on the list of purchases for next year.

Lake Erie Creamery...

I just started a new page on our website: Ohio Locals. This page will be dedicated to posting information about people who provide local food with local sourcing of ingredients within 100 mile radius of my house, which is about halfway between Akron and Cleveland, so the list should be good for most of North east Ohio. If you have any suggestions please email us! I hope the list will grow over time to be helpful for those like us who are trying to source local food!

My first entry is Lake Erie Creamery. If anyone has their website please post it in comments.

I found them first at Peninsula Farmers Market. I was instantly impressed with the sample they gave. And I am not typically a big fan of goat cheeses. Since then they have become one of my favorite local cheeses. They make their cheese on Fulton Ave and source their milk from Portage County (Cherry Lane Farm.)

My stand by appetizer of choice for last minute events where we need to bring something is to take a jar of PeppaDews (not local I know! I am going to play with growing peppers and making something similar this year) and an 8 oz container of their Chèvre. Let the cheese soften a little, put it in a piping bag and pipe a couple teaspoons of cheese into each pepper. So nice!

I found this article about them...

Remember if you like this type of post and want ones like it to continue, and the page on the website to expand, then email me suggestions!

Back to milk...

I know I have not posted on the milk labeling issue recently. Basically because there was nothing I could say new! But I just recieved this email, so I thought I would bring the issue up again...

Copied from a Farm Sancturary Action Alert

"Stop the rBST Cover-up in Ohio

The dairy industry’s use of synthetic growth hormone (rBST) to boost milk production in cows has been under controversy since the FDA caved in to the lobbying efforts of Monsanto—a reckless and powerful agricultural biotechnology company—and rushed approval of the practice 15 years ago. State by state, the industry continues to lean on agriculture departments to silence debate on the issue, keeping consumers in the dark about the blatant cruelty and hazards of rBST’s use in animals. The latest battleground is Ohio, where lawmakers are preparing to decide whether or not to allow product labels that could expose industry’s use of rBST. Don’t let agribusiness dictate the fate of animals or deny the public’s right to know. Take action now!"