Thursday, October 11, 2007, 18:47
Snow Birds
The slate colored juncoes are back up around the yard again -- small, dark-gray birds with a little white on their tails that like to peck around the lawn in small flocks. All summer long, we do not see any of the juncoes.
But when fall arrives, specifically in early October, the juncoes return to the yard. They like to hang out in groups, so it is rare to see just one junco. They eat together, perch together, fly together.
The juncoes are sometimes referred to as "snow birds" because they congregate around buildings in the winter. It's fun to watch them eat bird seed because they chase each other and peck and scratch and remind me of tiny dark-colored chickens.
The chickadees are around the yard in larger numbers now, too. I hear chickadees all summer, but they tend to hang out more in the big pines across the road. When the days grow shorter and cooler, then they also return to the yard to dine on the birdseed I have put out in the feeders.
Cat!
The chickadees like to perch in the lilacs and then fly across the yard to the birdfeeder. This morning I watched my orange tom cat, Gilligan, casually strolling across the yard when the chickadees started fluttering in the lilacs.
Gilligan went into an instant crouch and began creeping toward the bush. Of course the chickadees saw him and just flew up higher into the lilac bush. It only took Gilligan a few seconds to realize the birds were out of his reach, and then he returned to casually sauntering across the yard.
Weather change
Last weekend when the temperature was sweltering in the mid-80s and very humid, snow was the farthest thing from my mind.
But Monday morning it rained quite hard for several hours (we got 7/10 of an inch out of it), and then the wind picked up. Monday morning the temperature was 65 degrees Fahrenheit, and then by afternoon, it had fallen to the low 50s. Since then it has been cloudy with highs in the 40s and a strong cold wind out of the west/northwest.
Suddenly, it feels like fall and snow seems like much more of a possibility.
Colored leaves
The maples turned red two weeks ago and the aspens turned bright yellow. It was early for the trees to turn colors because usually the peak in this part of Wisconsin comes the second week in October. For a short time we had bright spots of color up in the hills around Rural Route 2. Then it rained and was windy and all of the bright red and yellow leaves fell off the trees.
Instead of bright spots of color in the hills, now we can see the green leaves of some of the oaks and the russet colored leaves of the oaks that have started to turn. As I recall, the maples and aspens did the same thing last year. Turned bright colors early. And then immediately fell off the trees so that the remainder of the fall color was russet and brown and rather drab.
The maples and aspens tried to give us their best with a few touches of fall color. But the three-year drought was just too much for them, and their leaves fell early.
Muck
I spent about an hour Thursday morning trying to clean up some of the muck around the gates in the horse pastures. After six wheelbarrows of mud and manure that I took out to the hayfield, I was drenched with sweat and felt very weak and shaky. Well, actually, I felt weak even *before* I started hauling out manure. So now I am wondering how long it is going to take to get my strength back. Can't be soon enough for me!
LeAnn R. Ralph
Tuesday, October 09, 2007, 20:49
Fraud Alert: Wal-Mart and Dean Foods Organic Dairy
Do you buy organic dairy products from Wal-Mart under a variety of labels? Do you buy organic dairy products with the Horizon label (Dean Foods)?
If so, you should be aware that those products are not organic.
I learned about this on Thursday when I covered an event for the newspaper where the featured speaker was Will Fantle, the research director of the Cornucopia Institute based out of Cornucopia, Wisconsin. The institute is a watch-dog group devoted to promoting economic justice for family farmers.
Horizon Organics and Aurora Organics, which provides private-label dairy products for stores such as Wal-Mart, Target and Safeway, produce the milk on factory farms where the cows are kept in feedlots.
USDA regulations, among other things, state that in organic operations, the cows must have access to pasture -- not be kept in feedlots.
The Cornucopia Institute filed complaints with the USDA about Horizon and Aurora. The institute investigated, took pictures and interviewed people. And then they waited. The USDA initially dismissed the complaints because the department was in the process of redefining "pasture" and "grazing."
Doesn't really make a lot of sense, does it.
That's a little like not fining someone for driving 120 mph in a 20 mph zone because the Dept. of Transportation is considering changing the speed limit to 25 mph.
Build a Gate . . .
In one instance, one of the factory farms contracted with a rancher in Colorado to raise the calves and heifers from the "organic" factory farm.
Neither the rancher nor the ranch were certified as organic. The rancher thought that some of the things he was told to do did not fit with organic. So he called the Cornucopia Institute.
Sure enough, the calves and heifers were in feedlots and did not have access to pasture. The rancher said he was told, however, to build a gate between the feedlot and the field next door, so that "if someone comes" -- he could run out and open the gate and say, "See? The calves and heifers have access to pasture."
None of it
The USDA finally sanctioned Aurora and ruled that none of milk (NONE) produced between 2003 and the present time was organic and was not fit to be sold under an organic label.
*None* of the milk.
In other words, if you have purchased organic milk at Wal-Mart since 2003 -- it wasn't organic.
Aurora was told by the USDA not to do it anymore and that their farms "might" be subject to surprise inspections.
That's it?
"Don't do it anymore." And maybe some "surprise inspections?"
Consumers bought something they thought was the "real deal" when it wasn't real at all and the company perpetrating the fraud is told -- don't do it anymore?
But I guess that's the American way, isn't it. People who pass bad checks trying to buy food for their families or to get medicine for themselves or their children are thrown in jail. A company, on the other hand, can fraudulently deceive people for years and get no more than a verbal warning. Seems perfectly fair, doesn't it.
Wal-Mart too
The Cornucopia Institute also discovered that Wal-Mart was selling products under organic labels that were not organic in a number of states. Wal-Mart has a "test store" in Texas for Organics, and on Cornucopia's website, you can see pictures of all kinds of items under large signs declaring -- "Organic!" Even though those items are only the ordinary product the company has always produced.
Since Wal-Mart stores in Wisconsin also were selling items that were claimed to be organic but were not, the Cornucopia institute filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Wisconsin took the complaints more seriously, and three months later had reached an agreement with Wal-Mart not to sell those products anymore.
Will Fantle said he would like to see these large companies fined heavily for their wrong-doing, although so far, none of the companies have been fined.
You Can Help
Apparently it isn't enough in this country that small family farmers were driven out of business by policies favoring large corporations and factory farms. Now the corporations and factory farms are moving into the organic area and claiming their milk is organic when it is not.
Legitimate organic farmers, and there are many of them, worked long and hard to make a name for themselves. They farm with integrity, and they make sure that the products they produce, whether it's milk or fruits or vegetables, are truly organic.
One way that consumers can help the real organic farmers is to question retailers about the organic products they are stocking and to make sure they are actually organic products before buying them.
You can also ask your retailer why the store is not using the "five-cow" rating system for organics that has been developed by the Cornucopia Institute.
In addition, you can help organic farmers in your area by buying produce at local farmers' markets or food cooperatives.
If you would like to learn more about the Cornucopia Institute, visit the website
here. Unfortunately, the links to the articles and editorials do not work in some instances. I have e-mailed the contact link on the website and was told they were in the process of re-designing the website. You can still see the pictures, though.
One thing I find upsetting is the cows standing hock-deep in soupy manure. You can bet that those cows will be suffering from foot problems (hoof rot and whatnot) and that they will suffer some lameness for whatever remains of their short lives at the factory farms.
LeAnn R. Ralph