Rebuild from Depression Blog

All milk comes from a farm, but a recent study uses the term "farm milk" to distinguish between milk bought at the grocery store and that obtained from a farm directly.

A large-scale study in Europe has collected detailed food intake data from families along with medical histories. What is different about this data collection compared to that done in the United States by the USDA is that researchers made a distinction in where consumers are getting their milk and dairy products.

They examined "farm kids" and their rural counterparts not on a farm and they examined children in Steiner Schools compared to other suburban children. Steiner School families apparently tend to have a holistic approach to health and medicine.

Diet news always gets my attention. Not because I'm on a diet. Not because I do such things as weigh myself. I don't do those things anymore. But I do still read about them. :)

A specific beneficial fatty acid called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is associated with weight loss, according to the May 2007 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of CLA-weight loss studies and found that with 3.2 grams a day of CLA, people lost about one fifth of a pound a week compared to the control group. With 52 weeks in a year, that's just over ten pounds in a year. At just under $15 a month, that is $200 for ten pounds. It's the best deal in town if it works in your case.

"I ate tarantula legs."

"And crickets," Frederick added.

We shocked the preschool staff with our account of the Bug Festival.

The Bug Festival had many hands-on exhibits - silk worms, giant millipedes, and butterflies. But Frederick kept saying, "I want to see the man who eats bugs."

So did I.

The term "bird brain" comes from somewhere, but in reference to a couple of hens on our property, it is not entirely fitting.

Three years ago the Easter Bunny brought fifteen chicks to Frederick. We slowly lost over half in the following two-and-a-half years. In late October, a predator took out an additional four.

The hens are locked up in a hen house at night and the house has an attached, fully enclosed yard. But on occasion the house has not been locked or an animal has gotten into the yard otherwise.

We noticed on the mornings after the predator attacks that one of the Araucana hens had found her way to the roof of our main house, about 100 yards from the hen house. That's pretty smart - get far away from the others and fly to a high spot.

I am a big believer in using heirloom varieties to grow our food. They tend to be higher in nutritional value and it is cool to be able to save your seed. I am also a big fan and member of the "Eat Local" movement that is sweeping the country. It's a crazy thing when something as simple as a strawberry gets shipped all over the place and I end up buying an import to California when other local strawberries were exported. But that's a whole other story.

My desire to eat heirloom produce and my desire to eat local came into conflict this week when I passed a fruit stand with this sign:

It appears that the Vander Eyk Dairy is no longer an organic dairy reports the San Francisco Chronicle in breaking news.

It certainly never deserved to be certified, so I can't say I'm surprised. But it has taken some time to get de-certified.

You may know I've been intrigued by these cows since February. In the post "Almost Organic" I talk about these heifers that are living much like the Vander Eyks heifers. And I talk a bit about my travel to the dairy itself.

Actually, I found the Vander Eyk cattle just days after writing the "Almost Organic" post and have been collecting video footage since that time.

Later today you will see a video here on this blog with some of the footage I've collected. The footage includes exclusive pictures of the pastured part of the herd and the cows at the dairy.

I live in the dairy capital of the world, Tulare County, California. I have become obsessed with all things dairy as you can see from my Milk Shenanigans posts.

In my obsession, I have spent many hours this spring taking photos and video footage of an organic dairy so mammoth that it is mind boggling. Even though I see dairies around here all the time and though I was a member of the Future Farmers of America in my youth, I was still shocked by this particular dairy. The shock fed my obsession.

The Vander Eyk Dairy is not the only 10,000 cow dairy in the area, but it is the only one that sold part of its milk as "organic."

Organic standards require lactating cows to have access to pasture unless the ground is frosty. The Vander Eyk cows apparently got trucked to 10,000 acres of pasture land "near Ducor" for their grass fix. I happened upon that reference in an old local newspaper and it was that phrase that began my obsession.

I live near Ducor too.

In the book Rebuild from Depression, I highlight about seventy-five foods that I call "depression busters." These are foods high in our depression fighting nutrients and fats: B-12, B-6, folate, iron, magnesium, zinc, and Omega-3 fatty acids.

While that may seem like a lot of different foods to make a "best of" list, you may already know from the "Pest or Dinner?" Contest that not all foods on the list are considered "food" by all people. Some people, somewhere, eat the foods on the list, but most of middle America has never tasted a majority of the foods.

Donna nominates the 1970s/80s performer Meat Loaf as the first official entry in our Rock Group and Depression Buster? Contest.

Taking me back to high school, Michael Lee Aday aka "Meatloaf," was probably best known in this country for the song "Bat out of Hell" and his role in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I attempted to join the online fan club yesterday, but due to technical difficulties, I am still just a member of the general public.

Meatloaf also happens to be a depression buster food.

Food is always on my mind. The taste of food is on my mind when I am hungry and the health effect of food is on my mind when I'm not. I wrote a couple in the spring that "food is not our primary source of toxins, but it is our only source of nutrients." I felt somewhat convicted by my own statement and thought it would be good to start thinking about what food is.

Americans are increasingly scared of food. We fear pathogenic bacteria. We fear pesticides. We fear antibiotics. It is difficult to enjoy dinner these days and yet dinner is our sole path to nourishing our bodies.

I always look at the price of old pickle crocks when I'm in antique stores and yard sales. A large antique pickle crock in good condition sells for about $75 in Central California. They are probably over $100 in other parts of the state.

One problem with a 5 gallon crock is that it is a 5 gallon crock. They are beautiful, but they are heavy and take a lot of storage space. They could certainly keep me in pickles all winter and one crock may have just that opportunity some day.

But I found something even better and more useful all year round -- these small crocks. I paid $20 for the two crocks and can use them on small projects.

If I have a few pieces of fruit I want to turn into a fermented fruit compote, I put them in the small crock, cover with water keifer, and weight them with a saucer. Some people will use a bit of whey to start the fermentation instead.

For a small batch of vegetables, I add a few sprinkles of salt, mix and stir around, cover with water, and weight with a plate.

In both cases, I cover the whole business with a dish towel and check it every day or so. I let fruit go for at least two days and vegetables go for longer (more like a week). But I'm not a slave to the calendar. If the batch turns, my nose tells me. Yours will too -- if it smells like it's rotting, it is.

After posting my video eulogy to Youtube last week, I poked around Youtube for the first time. Apparently they just introduced a feature whereby videos on similar topics come up after you watch whatever it is you just watched. So I watched my own video for about the 700th time (though it's too bad they only count it as one unique view) and continue to struggle getting the Ave Maria to stop playing in my head, and YouTube suggested I watch a video discussing the difference between organic and non-organic milk. So I did.

Despite what looks like a radical video of mine on YouTube, I agree with the dairy industry that the labeling used on organic dairy products is misleading.

"Black Eyed Peas," she said.

"First of all, the band is pretty popular right now. Second, didn't Grandma Emery used to cook those all the time? And you know, all of her kids, nephews, and nieces smoked, drank, and fought like wild animals. The black eyed peas might have been part of how they did it."

My sister Kimberly is my go-to expert on all things related to hair styles and rock-and-roll. She would laugh because she really isn't a rock-and-roll expert, but she was always my opinion leader back in the 1970s and she continues to be today. I know nothing about music, except that Ella Fitzgerald is the best that ever was and ever will be (and it is amazing that I discovered that fact without Kimberly).

I called her the other day about the Rock Group and Depression Buster Contest.

Kefir is a great cultured dairy product. It is easier to make than yogurt, particularly because you do not have to heat the milk first. If you are a raw milk drinker, then you preserve the enzymes in that milk by not heating it.

There are actually kefir starters available in health food stores that allow you to use a yogurt-like approach to making kefir. The starter just contains some bacteria strains different from yogurt. This is not the cheapest way to make kefir, nor the traditional approach.

Kefir is cultured from a substance called kefir grains. These grains are not anything like comes to your mind when you hear the word "grain." Kefir grains are a symbiotic mass of bacteria and yeasts that will culture your milk for you. You can find kefir grains on the kefir yahoo group and then follow these instructions. (I may also sell them from this site at some point should I become organized enough.)

Milk kefir instructions

In light of the entry on making your own kefir, I asked my mom to write a bit about smoothies. Here's what she says:

~~~~

When summer comes and the sun beats down, I think of ice cream. The cold and the sweet of it are so refreshing. Refreshing, but gosh, that's a lot of cream. So, I've found an alternative that is almost as satisfying: kefir smoothies.

There is an increasing amount of research on the potential dangers of indoor air in our homes. It is widely accepted that indoor air is more toxic than outdoor air, even in areas with smog problems. Inside our homes we have so many manufactured items that emit fumes regularly: plywood furniture, vinyl flooring, carpet, and others. They may have no odor and we may never notice them, but our body still inhales them and has to detoxify them. What is not yet known is the health impact of the proliferation of these chemicals.

Indoor Air Matters
Studies of air toxins have rigged participants up with various toxin meters that they carry around with them throughout the day. They also place a meter in the participant's home and outside in the geographic area that defines the participant's environment, such as various locations in a city. In this way, they can distinguish between the participant's exposure to toxins inside and outside as well as any specific exposure a participant may have had over the course of a day in another venue. What these studies have found is fascinating:

Samuel Fromartz, author or Organic Inc., reports at the Chewswise Blog that our favorite former organic dairy is seeking recertification.

This is really the problem with eulogies. You write a eulogy and it turns out the thing wasn't dead after all. Perhaps the sequel to "A Eulogy Written on A Country Pasture" will be modeled after a 1970s B-movie and called "Return of the Zombie Cows."

(Actually, the videographer is about to have his sinuses detailed. He's out of the game for a few weeks. Then again, he is having the detailing done near The Cow Palace. Maybe that is significant somehow.)

Results of a consumer survey were released last month by the International Food Information Council (IFIC). Survey researchers asked consumers question such as "How concerned are you with the amount of fat you are eating?"

72% of Americans are concerned with the amount of fat they consume.

Compared to one year ago, Americans are concerned that they are consuming too much saturated fat and they are actually seeking to consume more vegetable oil.

There is very little reason to consume more vegetable oil. In fact, to fight depression, research suggests we should be consuming less.

It is probably not a big surprise to people who have been following the Vander Eyk Dairy news that the local rumors are that the dairy lost its certification because its cows did not have access to pasture as required under organic standards.

The Cornucopia Institute has questioned its compliance for years. Last month it lost its certification. I created a video eulogy to the dairy and since that time I've gotten emails suggesting that the dairy was seeking recertification. A Capital Press story earlier this week reported that they were in the certification process, but Samuel Fromartz now reports that they will not be recertifying the dairy, just the pasture.

Here in Tulare County, the nation's leader in milk production, confinement dairy systems are the rule where land values are high. Herds are counted in the thousands. The number of cows approaches half a million. A 2006 population estimate puts the county's human population at just over 400,000. It is very likely that we have more dairy cows than people here. If you throw in the beef cattle, the human population would have to do a lot of procreating to catch up. With these dairy systems, Tulare County does produce an impressive amount of milk for American consumers.

Dairy news is big news in this county and the local aggies are buzzing with Vander Eyk news since the Capital Press article. Locals do tend to notice that something is different about the Vander Eyk Dairy and local talk is supportive.

In light of my recent obsession with milk and my planned trip to Chicago for the 50th anniversary of the La Leche League, I have been thinking about the kind of milk that doesn't get sold at the corner store.

New moms worry a lot about their baby's health. They wonder if their milk is all it's cut out to be. Maybe they should give a little formula. Maybe some goat's milk. The options that we have today only add to the worry because we wonder if we are making the right choice.

Study after study tells us that our own milk is the best for our baby. Common sense does a pretty good job of telling us that as well. The problem is that when we are caring for our own newborn baby, we do not necessarily go through a rational thought process.

My good friend had a beautiful baby girl about a month ago and has called a number of times genuinely worried about her baby. Her baby is doing very well. But it's my friend's job to worry because she's the baby's mother. That's totally normal. I assured her that baby was fine and we reviewed the resources that she had in case something should go wrong. Days have passed and baby continues to thrive.

Vitamin D and Iron

In about two months my friend will call and wonder if she should give baby a vitamin and mineral supplement.

Frederick is learning to be very gentle with animals particularly after our new rule:

If you kill it, you eat it.

It is only a matter of time before this rule will be used against my mother who tries to control the local mouse population.

You would think that when Ruth nominated "The Beastie Boys" as both a rock group and a potential depression fighting food in the current contest, that she would have in mind a beast such as this:

Smokey the Bear is, in fact, a depression-fighting food and a beast to some of us.

But I laughed when I got Ruth's email because Ruth probably suffered from some problems with thrush (or other yeast-related ailments) as I did postpartum.

People who read this blog know that I think liver is the new black and the food most likely to keep our energy up and keep us on an even keel. I eat it as much as possible. As it turns out, I do get sick of it pretty quickly and then take some in a freeze dried form. It is like a miracle in my skillet and just short of a miracle in freeze dried form.

Liver is known for its B vitamin content. It is so loaded with vitamin B-12 that it challenged my graphics program to display it. It is one of the best sources of folate - a critical depression-fighting nutrient that is difficult to get enough of in our diet.

Samantha should be in marketing because she has made a great pitch for Hall and Oates in the Rock Group and Depression Buster? Contest.

She writes:

Not only are *Oates* low in phytic acid so they don't have to be soaked, they are chock full of protein and a few B vitamins! Start your morning off right with a bowl of Hall and Oates!

We have had some excellent babysitters in our day, but lately I have discovered the most economical. They will entertain and provide plenty of exercise to a youngster for about two hours. If only they could be trained to give the child a bath at the end of the session and do more than run away if the child gets hurt, these hens might just be perfect.

We all want our skin to stay healthy and cleaning it effectively and gently is part of skin health. I have tried quite a few facial care systems with a range of price tags. What I find works best for me is very simple, inexpensive, and probably sitting in your kitchen.