Food for thought

It's raining. We have gone without rain for so long that the plants are responding with utter joy. The struggling potted plants I took in for winter protection are outside soaking up rain tonight. The temperature is mild and this afternoon there were thunderstorms. I almost have forgotten how thunder sounds.

Here and there, I see plants sending out testing tips of new growth. It reminds me that within a month tiny yellow agarita blossoms will be perfuming the air.

Several farmers and ranchers in the area have been discussing the contents of animal feed. It is distressing that the disgusting problem we thought had been eliminated several years ago only amounted to lip service. After telling us animal parts had been removed we are discovering they have not been taken out of all feed. A diseased cow was identified, the feed story is still the same, and now the price of beef is on the floor. The small rancher and farmer take the hit again. The prices for beef in our grocery stores haven't decreased a bit, however.

I'm somewhat mollified to read that the contents of the cattle cubes we feed do not include animal protein, but that is not the case for the chicken laying mash. There it is: "animal protein." This morning a report on National Public Radio mentioned this very chicken feed thing. My hens are on scratch (and what is in it?) and green until I can provide organic feed. The owners of the feed store we frequent are looking into organic feeds, and several of us have told them we want it. Why has the food industry taken such chances and played this dangerous game? Oh yeah, profit, the name of the game . . . but maybe not this time. Will there be any real questioning of food? I'm not going to eat without thinking of the source and I hope others plan to also.

It might seem hard to raise your own food in a city but if there is a yard, it can be done. Organic seeds are available from many seed sources. We already know home-raised vegetables taste better than mass production vegetables. Grown organically, they are even better for us. We need to get creative and consider how our grand-, no, great-grandparents provided for the family. Carbohydrates will be easier to provide than protein. Finding protein will be quite interesting. The other day a neighbor reminded me about the old beef clubs. These groups would cooperate to slaughter and distribute a beef animal among the group. The clubs were very important in the days before easy refrigeration but perhaps they will come back. To provide clean meat, to know its source and how it was fed, the club idea may return.

At the Boerne chapter meeting of the Native Plant Society we heard an interesting speaker, Bill Neiman of Native American Seed. His company harvests and sells native prairie seeds of Texas. Very carefully he assesses the plants he distributes, and he has studied prairie restoration and advises clients. Neiman feels the big problem in the Hill Country of Texas is soil erosion due to historic overgrazing, rapid runoff, and tremendous urbanization/loss of native habitat. Well, we are all conscious of the devastation, but when he was asked how to begin to restore, he suggested we probably need to plant early successional grasses first in order to begin to rebuild soil. It makes no point to plant climax grasses when the soil they require is gone. Plant the little short native grasses first; then as the years pass and the soil deepens, the bigger grasses can survive. He was of the opinion that the soil in the Hill Country was two feet deep in many places before white settlement. I enjoyed one comment of his. He held that capitalism came about when humans found food could be put under lock and key. Capitalism began back when the world was thought to be flat and it's profit premised on natural resource extraction. There was no concern about running out of anything on the limitless horizon. It was no problem in those linear days to foul the place you were in and move on; the world was infinite. However, when the world was found to be round, there was no adjustment based on the new findings. Capitalism continued as it was with no retooling. The world now being round means the natural resources are finite but we live as if the world was still flat. He gave us much to think about.

 

Bebe Fenstermaker

 

Bebe and I joined neighbors for lunch at a new eating spot called the River Rock Café. Located off Ralph Fair Road east of IH-10, the view as you drive up is of tall silos, an old rock home, rock out-buildings, and a barn. The café is in a new structure located between the old home and a pretty little creek bed. We placed our orders at the counter and wandered around the place until our food appeared on the table. Everyone enjoyed the meal. A few days later the Chainsaw Garden Ladies found themselves there. They, too, had high praise for their meal.

I realized how much I had forgotten when taking an enameling workshop recently at the Southwest School of Art and Craft. Many years ago, I accomplished the feat of learning techniques that actually turned out well. However, I was appalled to find how clumsy I was and no longer remembered those techniques. Obviously if you don't use it, you lose it! The workshop was fast-paced and we covered a world of territory. New enameling media such as crayons, pencils, and watercolors are now being used, resulting in a “painterly” finished look. Our instructor showed slides of her work and that of other well-known enameling artists from around the country.

 

Sissy Fenstermaker