Arkansas folks speak up.........

[gritsar]

Quote:
SittinPretty, why not post some pics of your little mysteries and let us see if we can identify them for you? "Guess that chicken" is a favorite game here @ BYC.

 

[SittinPretty]

I will. They are cute little chickens. Someone told me they were used for chicken fighting, but I have trouble believing that. I will try to post in the next few days. Thanks.

 

[SittinPretty]

Quote:
SittinPretty, why not post some pics of your little mysteries and let us see if we can identify them for you? "Guess that chicken" is a favorite game here @ BYC.

I posted pics under the what breed/gender.

Lindsey

 

[mizauntcathy'shenhouse]

Go Bisons! We are Texans through and through, but our son attends Harding U in Searcy and my husband's sister-in-law is from Bald Knob. What a beautiful state....we always arrive and depart the state a different way each time...to see more of it. Our son loves it there!

 

[Jarhead]

Bad news on organic feed in Ar. I went to the certified organic farmer's market in NLR this morning. I talked to the guy who sells eggs. I asked where he got his feed. He told me he buys whole grains and beans and such. Grinds them himself and adds supplements. He said there was an organic feed mill in NW AR, but they went out of business. Nobody was buying the feed they produced at the feed store level. They had to charge more for feed than non organic since the organic grains cost them more. People who went to the feed stores said it's too expensive. I am very frustrated by people in our state. We have such a tradition of agriculture here, and now it is seems it is just big business. However you look at it, it really boils down to people at the consumer level. People just want to go to a store and buy what is the cheapest. Even the "organic grocery" (now whole foods) does not carry locally produced items (when it was wild oats they did carry some local stuff). The organic dairy in Marshall went out of business, because it was a dollar higher a gallon than the stuff at Kroger. No matter it was, fresher, tasted better, and was better for you. Why is it that people in our state as a whole, do not support locally produced food stuffs, organic or not? It works other places I have lived (California, Texas, Florida), why not here??? Very frustrating!

 

[ninjapoodles]

There is a fairly strong, if small, movement of people getting back to basics, food wise. I think that what it all boils down to is the bottom line. This is a VERY poor state, and this has caused most farmers to produce what pays, which usually means contracting for big agribusiness. Battery eggs, industrial dairy & meat, and corn & soybeans for Cargill and ADM. I honestly believe that the market is HERE for these products, but that it's very hard or impossible for growers to make a living supplying them, and getting them to the people who want them.

I was in Argenta at the market this morning, too! I went to get a bunch of apples from Val (the Russian farmer) to make applesauce. I'm glad to see the Falling Sky Farms kids come out--it's a heck of a trip for them.

Stay involved with the CSA program through Foodshed (Jody Hardin) if you can--the more we support efforts like this, the more farmers will be able to stay involved and supply that demand. And maybe if enough of us get together once in a while, we can have some buying power as a group that we wouldn't have as individuals. I think that there are over 300 Basket-A-Month subscribers, and that's promising.

Everything we can do to educate, inform, and support is crucial.

ETA: Just FYI, the CAFM is not "certified organic;" it's "certified LOCAL." This came about as a result of the huge River Market in LR becoming less of a farmer's market and more of an outdoor grocery store or bazaar, with very little locally-produced product. Most of the sellers at the CAFM *do* use chemical-free growing methods whenever possible, though they may not be able to afford USDA "organic" certification. I believe Hardin Farms' stuff is always organic, though, and Val's produce is chemical-free but not certified organic. The guy with the great grapes the last few weeks doesn't use pesticides, but he does use fungicide early in the growing season. They're all really good about telling you exactly how things are grown.

Did you get some Beefalo?

 

[Jarhead]

I love the market in NLR. I bought 2 whole chickens and 4 ribeyes from them this morning. Plus I got some of that good cheese from the folks in Rosebud. We just decided to sign up for the basket program today, we talked about it on the way home, and decided to for the reasons you laid out. Mainly supporting local farmers. I loved the grapes that had been there a couple of weeks ago. Have you gotten any of the honey from the guy in Sherwood? I did not see him there today, the was another guy with honey, but I did not get any since we bought a gallon from the other guy 2 weeks ago.

I really do think it boils down to income and population levels like you stated. Just for comparison, we moved here from Florida 2 years ago. The county we lived in in Florida had more population than the state of Arkansas. I think that the average income level was about the same. However the sheer number of people allowed the items that seem not to make it here thrive there. In business it's a numbers game I know. It's just really frustrating for me to see it here. There are so many good people here. I keep seeing things open, then go out of business, because people don't support these local start up businesses.

I have a great love for Arkansas, I was born here, and spent every summer as a kid on my Grandparents farm. I worked hard with my Papaw on the farm from the time I was a kid until I went into the USMC. I saw how hard it was for him to make a living as an independent farmer. As a matter of fact he couldn't make it just as a farmer. He got up in the morning before dawn, fed the cows, fed the pigs and chickens, and worked the fields until dinner time. Then he went home ate dinner, and went to work an 8 hour shift at Alcoa. He loved the land so he kept doing it, right up until he passed away. So it really makes my blood boil when I see people not supporting locally produced items from hard working neighbors. The lessons he taught me are why I have an organic garden, and grow most of the produce we eat. It's also his teachings that ultimately led to me getting chickens of my own.

I know there are enough people here with enough income to eat locally all the time, support our farmers, and support local businesses. They just don't. I think the big problem is the Walmartization of America. It is no longer convenient for people to go to local markets, and local businesses so they don't. Walmart and other Big Box and grocery stores won't carry the stuff because they can't get it cheap enough to sell in the stores and make a gazillon dollars profit. End result is the local growers and businesses suffer. I go out of my way to try and make a difference, but we are one family. It's a sad cycle. Maybe with enough of us forward thinkers we can make a difference. It's nice to know there are others out there that feel the same. It just get's frustrating sometimes. Thanks for listening to my rant

 

[ninjapoodles]

That's all right--you're preaching to the choir!

I have one tip on the raw cheese (did you get Colby?). For whatever reason, when you first open it, there is a slightly bitter bite to it, but if you let it breathe for a bit before that first serving, it mellows. The Colby is milder in that regard than their cheddars, but even the sharp cheddar mellows with air.

And yes, we have eaten TONS of those grapes. I don't know what variety they are, but he sold me with the free samples. WOW. Treated with fungicide, but still local and better than conventionally-grown. My daughter is a grape freak. None of us are fans of the muscadines that are everywhere right now, though.

We have bought honey from EVERY seller, I think, and if you go to the market every week, there will pretty much be a different seller every time. They all taste different, and we use them for different things. I like the Chudy Apiary honey for light flavor as a topping, but I'm cooking with the darker honey from Sherwood.

Something else I am making a point of doing when I'm in Kroger is to deliberately choose organic anytime there is a choice among the products I buy--even sandwich bread. I figure that every single purchase like that makes a small statement, and that cumulatively they can affect the market.

 

[Jarhead]

I did get the colby today. I was really hoping for the jalapeno cheddar. That is the best stuff!

The guy with the grapes (can't remember his name) told me the grapes are a concord hybrid that was developed by the University of Arkansas in the mid 80s.

We try to do the organic thing at Kroger too. For more local stuff (veggies primarily) Terry's Finer Foods usually has lots of stuff. We make a point of trying to shop there even though it is more $$$.

 

[ninjapoodles]

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That makes sense. There is a U of A highbush blueberry that I really would like to try growing sometime. It's supposed to like rocky, acidic soil. HELLO!

We're closer to Cabot than Jacksonville, so rarely make it across the river, unless we have a doctor's appointment or something (in which case I usually make a run to Wild Oats for their Gingersnap Granola in bulk bags--I have GOT to learn to make that stuff myself).

Hey, next time I go to Rosebud, want me to holler at you and pick you up some cheese? They have it all in stock at the farm.

Some of us in this area should really get together and have some kind of a potluck-style luncheon or dinner together, with fresh local foods--our own "Ark of Taste" festival! I'm totally serious. We have plenty of room for that kind of thing at our house. Not a lot of furniture, but plenty of space!