July 2008 Blog Posts (15)

Mobile poultry processing unit

This past weekend I got to see a mobile poultry processing unit in action. It wasn't what I expected! I thought I'd be seeing a very small but otherwise traditional slaughterhouse on wheels, probably something inside an RV. Instead the unit is on a flatbed trailer, with a shade but no substantial roof, and definitely no walls of any kind. Excess organs were composted on the spot. Open-air processing -- it was very cool.

The unit was manned by some farmers who were involved with… Continue

Added by Jessica Hekman on July 29, 2008 at 2:30pm — 1 Comment

Vermont's Meat Bill

Apparently Vermonters have pushed through a Meat Bill which allows farmers to sell their poultry directly to local restaurants and at farmers markets, uninspected. (They can also sell to consumers on the farm, but they could always do that.) I wonder if this could possibly pass in other states, or if it could be used as a model for the sale of other kinds of meat (if the USDA were to make exemptions for small farmers).

The bill… Continue

Added by Jessica Hekman on July 24, 2008 at 9:12pm — 4 Comments

Pew report on industrial farming

I just finished reading the Pew report. The first half of the report is a description of factory farming and how it affects communities, peoples' health, animal welfare, etc, and I spent most of that section of the report nodding in agreement. It's a good place to go to get quotes if you're writing about factory farming and want some references.

The second half is the commission's recommendations about how to deal with all the evils they've just… Continue

Added by Jessica Hekman on July 24, 2008 at 9:01pm — No Comments

Cooperative Capital

The life blood of any cooperative is its capital. Capital comes into the business in three primary ways – debt capital, equity capital, or retained earnings. (On rare occasions, a business might receive a grant or donation that is not debt, equity or from earnings.) In nearly all cases, the capital is in the form of dollars or money.

Debt capital is borrowed and must be paid back according to the terms of the loan. Debt can be short term or long term. Longer term (15+ years) debt… Continue

Added by Kate Smith on July 24, 2008 at 9:00pm — No Comments

Belfast Community Supported Fisheries subscriptions available!

Want delicious, fresh seafood this summer?

Sign up for a weekly share of wild-caught fish harvested by the Midcoast Fishermen’s Cooperative of Port Clyde, Maine!

Your weekly share of our fishermen’s fresh catch will consist of a variety of haddock, cod, flounder, hake, dabs, grey sole, monkfish, Pollock and redfish

Shares are of whole fish, dressed (gutted) and packed on ice.

Free Demonstration of the Art of Filleting Your Fish at the Start of the… Continue

Added by Laura Kramar on July 22, 2008 at 1:45pm — No Comments

Video of First Live Demo

Here's video of my live "chef" demo last weekend at the Litchfield Hills Farm Fresh Market. I'll be back at the market on August 9th and August…

Added by Alicia Ghio on July 18, 2008 at 5:56pm — No Comments

Cooperatives: feasibility studies versus business plans

Feasibility Studies versus Business Plans

In this post, I would like to write briefly about the difference between a feasibility study and a business plan. In the cooperative start–up, the feasibility study is done before the business plan. If at all possible, it should be done by an “arms length” entity or person. This increases the objectivity and reliability of the study. A feasibility study asks the question, “can this business be viable?” It will also identify… Continue

Added by Kate Smith on July 16, 2008 at 10:13am — No Comments

Live Demo - A Success

I guess my first live demo at the Litchfield Hills Farm Fresh Market was a success, because they asked me to come back! The vendors and volunteers were great to work with and really made me feel at ease. I send out a big THANK YOU to them all!

Here's what was on the menu:

Vegetable Carpaccio

Serves 4-6

Ingredients: 1 yellow squash, 1 zucchini, 2… Continue

Added by Alicia Ghio on July 15, 2008 at 2:16pm — No Comments

Co-op Board of Directors

Where do I even start to talk about the Board of Directors of a cooperative business?

At the beginning of the business, the first Board is often nearly identical to the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee (SC) oversees the feasibility and initial business-planning process. When the business is ready to move into start-up, the SC will file incorporate papers to establish a legal entity. This acts as a legal “firewall” around the activities of the business and helps protect the… Continue

Added by Kate Smith on July 8, 2008 at 11:11am — No Comments

Rethinking meat regulations, part 4

My original proposal involved new state regulations; Massachusetts, for example, might allow in-state meat inspection under different rules than USDA/federal inspection. Since I made that post, I've done some more reading.

The law says that state inspection must be "at least equal to" federal inspection. At first I hoped that we could argue that, since the consumer would be required to cook the meat prior to eating, the new system would in fact be "safer than and therefore at least… Continue

Added by Jessica Hekman on July 7, 2008 at 3:11pm — No Comments

Squash Flowers

This weekend I not only celebrated July 4th; I also paid homage to my Italian heritage. My cousin and his wife came over for dinner and brought a special treat - squash and zucchini flowers, fresh from their garden. My cousin whipped up a simple batter and fried them up in no time. They were delicious! Most importantly, they brought back childhood memories of our grandmother. For me, food is a wonderful way to connect with my family and my heritage.… Continue

Added by Alicia Ghio on July 7, 2008 at 10:18am — No Comments

Rethinking meat regulations, part 3

"Just cook the meat and it will be safe." I like this idea in essence, but know there are a lot of problems with it.

I haven't really addressed the legal issues yet; I'm trying to get in touch with some students at the Animals and Public Policy program at my school, to see if they have ideas about how to make farmers who sell meat this way safe from rampant litigation by people who failed to properly cook their meat. The program's department chair is a lawyer, so I'm hoping to talk… Continue

Added by Jessica Hekman on July 6, 2008 at 9:56am — No Comments

Rethinking meat regulations, part 2

In "Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal," Salatin tells the story of two college students who wanted to compare bacteria levels in chickens from different sources. They compared chicken meat purchased at a grocery store with meat from Salatin's farm, and found the local chicken to be much lower in CFUs (colony-forming units; he does not say what kind of bacteria they looked at). Why, Salatin wonders, can't we simply regulate based on CFUs? Who cares exactly how a slaughterhouse is run, if the… Continue

Added by Jessica Hekman on July 3, 2008 at 4:12pm — No Comments

Rethinking meat regulations, part 1

So I had decided that for the summer, my personal project would be to think through the questions, What can we do to help local farmers sell their meat locally? Is there an alternative to the huge overhead of USDA inspections?

In MA, the nearest USDA-inspected slaughterhouse is eight hours away (so I am told). I don't like the idea of cows being transported that far, when they've never been off their farm before. I don't like that the transport adds a hefty overhead to the price of… Continue

Added by Jessica Hekman on July 2, 2008 at 4:15pm — No Comments

Me ... A Guest Chef ... Who'd Have Ever Thought It?

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I will be be doing a live cooking demo at the Litchfield Hills Farm-Fresh Market on Saturday, July 12th. I admit that I am a tad bit nervous, but also very excited. Right now, I am working to finalize what I'll be making for the demo, there are just so many choices ...

Added by Alicia Ghio on July 2, 2008 at 2:45pm — No Comments