We'll reprint most anything we feel is noteworthy. If we like you,
we may correct your typos, misspellings etc. We may also edit for brevity. You don't have to
write something we agree with for us to publish your letter, but you do
have to be coherent.
More Letters: Pages
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Butter'n'Eggs Redux
July 12, 2004
Editor,
Since I wrote the article for Homestead about "Butter'n'Eggs (Without the
Manure) I've gotten lots of great response and orders for my pamphlet.
Thanks!
A lot of readers, and potential small business people, have asked me about
reviewing books, something I touched on in the Butter'nEggs pamphlet. So
for the benefit of new profiteers in the used book business, I've written
a thorough addition to the pamphlet covering that aspect of the market.
Most people who have books and buy books can sell books, and because they
like to read books, they can also review them. It increases the profits of
the used book business because review copies are most often brand new and
current, so the re-sale value is high. Not to mention the giftability
factor.
So maybe you'd care to let your faithful readers know about this new
addition to my pamphlet - the price for the pamphlet is the same, $8.00
(cheep!). If someone wants just the review portion, I'll send it for a
buck.
Contact me at butrneggss@yahoo.com for details.
Many thanks for your help -- best of luck with Homstead.org!
Barbara Bamberger Scott
Kudos
May 30, 2004
I just discovered your site, and I'm never
leaving!
My husband and I have a dream of homesteading when he retires from the
military (8 years from now) so we're trying to garner as much information
as we can now in order to hone our homesteading skills in preparation for
this move. Your site is not only the most informative one I've come
across, but the most entertaining too! I loved the 'Easter chicks gone
bad' article and found the book review most helpful. I have no doubt that
both my hubby and I will be regular visitors here...thank you for
providing this place, it's
absolutely wonderful!
Karen Frederick
Organic Standards: An Opinion
March 31, 2004
We've often been asked by outsiders as well as
customers if we are an organic operation, or if we have plans to "go
organic" with our small, grass-fed livestock operation. Our response
has always been, "why?" With the new Federal standards, I
think this is an even more important question.
It's our experience that the agri-business community will create meanings
for words that serve their sole purpose of making money. That's
what's happening with the label "Natural" or "All-natural." Does
this mean the animals are raised in a natural, sunshine and green grass
environment? No. Does it mean they are not fed growth hormones
so they grow at normal rates? No. Does it mean they are
treated with natural medications for sicknesses instead of regular
treatments of synthetic antibiotics in their feed? No.
That's what natural means to us and that's what natural means on our farm
label, but as we've told our customers over and over, to really know what
you are eating, you need to know who produced it. Do you really know
who Tyson Foods is? Can you go visit their farm and see their
chickens scratching bugs in the field? When they say they're feeding
you like
family, do you really know what their family eats, and that it comes from
the same field as the food they sell you? Does it even come from a
field, or did it come out of a muddy feed lot or a dust-filled chicken
house. And how would them being "Certified Organic" truly answer any of
these questions for the consumer?
Farming isn't about a word on a label that Legislators can make mean
anything they want depending on how they write the law. Organic
still doesn't mean that the cows eat grass or the chickens eat bugs.
It doesn't mean that their hogs spend every day, all day out in the fresh
air and sunshine instead of in hog barns from birth to butcher. We
don't use chemicals. We don't feed animal by products. We
track each and every one of our animals from birth to butcher and know
them all by name too, and being Certified Organic has nothing to do with
the reasons why. We do it because that's the way farming should be
done, and our customers know that when they buy from us, which is why they
pay as much as they would for
something "Certified Organic" without us paying fees and inspection costs
to the government for the privilege of raising healthy food.
Jamie Oliver
