A Taste of Tradition

The second farm/ranch I visited for the Central Coast Grown website was Nick Ranch, a multi-generational cattle ranch. They do everything organically. From start to finish. And that means not just being good caretakers for their cattle, but for their land and all the wildlife on it.

They are all about coexistence. And if you were worried about the karmic effects of eating meat, this is about as good as it gets.

At $30/lb, their beef seemed expensive to me...until I thought about what beef costs in Japan. It costs this much to raise cattle the proper way, but it doesn't have to. Right now, the corporate farms and ranches get all the subsidies. To do things right shouldn't cost this much more than doing it wrong, but today, that's the way it is. Organic farmers and ranchers have to go through extra steps, not just in their operation but paperwork. Meanwhile, those who raise cows in massive feedlots, feeding them GMO corn and shooting them with growth hormones get to flood the market with cheaper meat and still get rich.

But we get what we deserve. We have what we value. If we value good honest food over CHEAP, we will be able to keep these businesses alive and thriving. And preserve a piece of tradition.

All wildlife welcome!

June is Hotter than July

Arrived back at the ranch a few weeks ago to find most of my plants all heat stressed. Seedlings were stunted. Residents tell me it was unusually hot so the plants were not getting enough water. Now, it's even hotter. What is with this heatwave? Even the squirrels are hiding.