Increasing numbers of Americans are hungry...

This says it all IMO.

"O"

I've seen so many people defrauding the system it's sickening.

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To a certain extent, I have to disaggree with this. This thread started as a rant against factory agriculture, with Loquisimo complaining about pesticides on crops, hormones in beef, and low quality foods. That was not about asking for help.

In later posts we read that Loquismo can't cook, eats a lot processed foods, and lives on microwavable foods. I still don't think that is about asking for help. Why is it so out of line to tell Loquisimo that he/she needs to change their cooking/eating habits?

I'm going to stand firm on the idea that Loquisimo needs to learn how to cook so his or her family can eat quality foods rather than live off of frozen pizza, and I stand by the idea that promoting a trip to the public library is being positive.

One thing I think has been forgotten in this thread was this was originally about bashing America's food system. I have to say though that there is a lot that is good about Amerca's system, as long as you stay away from industrial foods like pop tarts and frozen pizza.

America can and does produce massive amounts of high quality foods if you want to buy them. In this country you can buy fresh produce every single month of the year, even if it is below freezing and snowing outside. We can also buy many tropical foods, like bananas or pineapple without even giving it any thought. Yes, some of it is sprayed with stuff we need to wash off, and yes some of that food was picked by workers that aren't always treated as well as we'd like. BUT, nobody in this country has to live eating frozen pizza.

Not to mention moving on foot. and you STILL would have no food as you walked along.

Are there no poorhouses? Then maybe they should die, and reduce the surplus population!

Well gee, thanks.

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True, I just took the first two that came up; there are thousands, for example:

2006

http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agric...eality-of.html

http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/feed/

2007

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1867957/

http://www.jhsph.edu/clf/PDF_Files/What_Do_We_Feed.pdf

2009

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,1227725.story

The LA Times article is kind of gross and it is hard to imagine this is still going on but it is.

My question is why the hostility towards the OP? Seems like lots of folks here want to deny there are problems at the factory farms and with big AG but thats not really what he or she was posting about was it?

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www.salmonslayer-simplelife.blogspot.com

I'm amazed at the things people will parrot and believe, and then get defensive when thinking folks challenge them. Thanks public schools and television for churning out a nation of helpless twits. A special thanks to the biological baby factories that churn them out but don't take the time to teach or raise them.

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"Only the rocks [and really embarassing moments] live forever"

"When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands..." tick-tick-tick

I am a registered dietitian. I like this site because most of the folks seem to know how to help themselves. I started gardening in earnest when my mom died and Im still learning.

We cook a lot from scratch, buy meat from a small local farm, compost, have had chickens, are raising rabbits, and will get bantam chickens again in the spring. I was volunteering at a community cupboard that gave out box and can food for the most part. made me sad. the lady running it says if they give out ingredients, few use them.

Food is really the first thing, then shelter and utilities, but I have seen folks in expensive clothes getting food aid. Our consumer/tv/movie society has driven millions to go into debt to get things, and dissuaded them from getting skills.

the Feeding America commercial says 1 in 8 Americans has food insecurity. It means they dont have access to the quantity or type of food they eat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_security looks like a neat read. Dont have the time right now myself....

I really respect people who are homesteading and truly self sufficient. I am in a city, working and starting to save, so we can have a bit more land and build a passive solar house some day.

Sadly, we are generations away from when many people had to actually work to eat, and we have less "easy" things like day labor or barter so many get trapped below the ability to sustain themselves.

I adore Dave Ramsey and feel excited to hear about helping others once you get set yourself, and I read about a dietitian in Malawi who has taught a few houses to compost and garden and have increased their food security.

cooking from a few cans or bags of basic ingredients is really easy once you know how. but if your culture doesnt support it, its foreign. someone on a Survival and Preparedness thread were talking about holding basic classes. If you want to change the culture, you have to live out loud the skills and lessons.

packaged food consumes resources, is usually fattier, saltier, or sweeter so robs us of our foods wholesomeness. we get apples all year because they live in controled storage conditions, berries in the winter flown from out of country, and developing countries ARE deforesting to grow corn and soy for beef.

America has some of the largest safest food supplies, but because they are so centralized like the peanut plant that was dirty, one failure could sicken thousands.

Bless you all for being inspirations and teaching and learning.

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Practice makes... well, better.
Gardening, seed saving, sewing, cooking, raising Cal x NZW rabbits, RIR chickens, thrift store shopping

The poor houses went down the tubes when Johnson implemented his "Great Society" program. A proven workable program that helped the true needy in this country was trashed by the social workers of this "Great Society".

"O"

Those that wait till that point deserve the dish served via Darwin.

Ok, I'll try.

Let's say homesteaders are kinda backwards people. They cling to old customs & outdated ways. They try to keep their kids at home rather than sending them to school - continuing the backwardsness and no education. They waste resources by spreading out on large acreages to live. The don't use sanitary means to keep their foods healthy; in many cases they have sold food to others that has poisoned people. And on and on.


How do you like that? Is any of it _true_?

In isolated cases, in some ways, there is a bit or 2 of truth in what I just typed.

But does that _represent_ homesteaders?

No you say???

Well, then think a little.

Does anything the original message, or a few that followed, actually _represent_ farming in the USA?

How would you like to be a farmer & be portrayed _that_ way?

Probably feel about the same way any homesteader would feel who reads my message.

Grrrr. Person just doesn't understand. It's all lies based on misunderstanding and misusing some far-out 'facts' they came across.....

So, why are people hostile to the original message?

Give that some thought.

Does it really feel good to smear farmers?

That's the most surprising thing about this site when I found it years ago. I always thought homesteaders & farmers would have a lot in common, support each other. I've been pretty surprised by the lack of knowledge many of the homesteaders have, and the outright hatred they have for farmers. Not everyone, but - there sure is a lot of it.

--->Paul

The thing is according to them my children would have food "insecurity"... They would prefer to eat just
mac and cheese
Tube Steaks and chicken nuggets.

They only get that stuff about once a week. The rest of the time they get those nasty home cooked meals that were much lauded in this thread.


In reading this post to the DW the DD(6) shouts out "Hey I'll eat kielbasa too".

"Are there no poorhouses?....................................... ." was from Ebeneezer Scrooge............... This post today has generated enough heat to cook a meal. So,,,,,,here's the food challenge for you...... just WHAT did YOU eat for supper tonight? Be honest..... I'll start: I had a baked pork chop(from the store, but not enhanced with the 12% solution of salt and other stuff...) over a casserole I concocted from a microwaveable tray of Bob Evans mac n' cheese, but I did stir in a package of my own frozen garden brocolli --and 2 parsnips,(from the store), and Lipton iced tea.

Time to put your money where your mouth is....any takers?

For tomorrow night, I'm deciding to use up the rest of the kale out in the garden over a crock pot of my own home grown Yellow Eye beans(with purchased ham)--or maybe some bluegill from the lake and fried potatoes and squash from the garden. But come to think of it, tomorrow night is shrimp and clam strip night at OCB where all the fat people hang out.....

If you're that interested start reading the What's For Supper thread.

Me tonight?

Pork chop (uninjected, no antibiotics, combined a coupon with a sale and got it really cheap)

Cascadian Farm organic veggies (combined a coupon with a sale and got it cheap).

Organic stuffing (after Christmas clearance sale, 50 cents for the bag, 2 meals per bag). This was prepared with homemade chicken broth from uninjected, antibiotic free chicken, which also had been purchased by combining a coupon with a sale).

Yummy.

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And THAT is one of the many reasons why we raise our own beef, and eat it as well. Yes, we name them. Sometimes, the steers (when we have them) get names like Sir Loin, or T Bone.

I don't buy meat (well, beef or pork anyways) at the store anymore. I like knowing what went into the meat I am putting on my family's plates.

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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons...for you are crunchy and good with ketchup!

I mighta mentioned this here before, but a relative of mine who had Thanksgiving dinner for the family a lot would raise a turkey, goose, or duck in summer, and would name it after the current president. So we would feast on Carter, Nixon, etc. Depending on persuasion, some at the table would enjoy the bird a bit more than others.

--->Paul

I am not dense but I dont understand what you mean? I went back and looked at his post and saw where he was lamenting the importation of fruits and veggies from out of the country, the use of pesticides and the use of Anti-biotics and animal by-products in feed but I took that to be a concern against large corporate farms and policies that discourage small farms and the eat local movement. Maybe I missed the smearing of farmers and hatred content but it sure didnt come across to me that way.

Oh and for dinner tonight, we are also having porkchops (seems to be a trend eh?), bought from COSTCO, along with minute rice and a salad. We cant be so discriminating about where our food comes from up here because there are no farms or any agriculture here in my area other than our own gardens (currently under snow and ice). Next year at our FARM in Missouri...we start to have a choice.

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www.salmonslayer-simplelife.blogspot.com

I dont know that there is one definition of food insecurity that makes everyone happy, but it is an imprecise concept for sure. The wikipedia article defined it a bit differently. I learned it as sufficient, safe, and culturally appropriate.

I knew kids in college who would dumpster dive the pizza joints and grocery stores, made out pretty well.

I am sorry there has been strife and misunderstanding between people on this forum, I think there are at least 4-5 levels of producers and processors- there are great small farms like where we buy our meat near me, and there are the miles of stinky factory farms, and there are lousy unclean processors like the dirty peanut factory- its hard to know where the problem starts.

I think we need more farmers, less chemical inputs, and to create more food related jobs. I am sure its hard work, and when so few people know how to cook anything much less grow anything, it compounds the problem.

__________________
Practice makes... well, better.
Gardening, seed saving, sewing, cooking, raising Cal x NZW rabbits, RIR chickens, thrift store shopping

I'm not doubting that there are, unfortunately, people that go to bed hungry in our nation. I just refuse to believe a lot of the reported numbers and think that much of the "food insecurity" is bunk. Another portion of the "Food, Inc." movie profiled some inner city area where the food stores left and all that was left were convenience stores. They were lamenting the lack of options for residents. The way I see it, it's not like the "normal" food stores were never there - they were and left!!! They left b/c of a lack of business - the people were not shopping at these places. Too bad folks - econ 101 in action. If there's a demand, there will be a supply. No demand = lost options.

As for dinner - we had ... leftovers!!! A plate of a terrific pasta/meat/veggie cassarole my wife made. Let's see - I'm certain it cost under $10 to make and we got two complete dinners out of it and I've gotten two lunches out of it. There's one more lunch portion left. The cassarole was made with 100% grass fed beef (we buy in bulk from a local farmer), organic wheat pasta noodles, and veggies from our garden - mostly peppers that we harvested, diced, and tossed into freezer bags - very convenient. Tommorrow evening my wife promised quiche (spelling?) - my sons love it b/c of the bacon content - everything is better with bacon, right?

As for all of the other talk - we have NEVER gone hungry and thank the Lord every night for that. We try to instill into our kids how fortunate we are.