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Credits: Live Earth Farm thanks –

• Taylor Brady
• Constance Broz
• Elisa Broz
• Tom Broz
• Tana Butler
• Molly Culver
• Ken Eklund
• David Evershed
• Debbie Palmer
• Jessica Ridgeway
• and you!

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The title of the book "Tending the Wild" by M. Kat Anderson caught my attention during a visit to the Bookshop, an almost ritual stop when I have time to go to Santa Cruz. The book describes in great detail the productive and sustainable land management techniques California's native people practiced.  What for many years was dismissed as "primitive" subsistance hunting and gathering practices turned out to be well adapted and managed horticultural techniques, the same used in early and modern agriculture. Pruning to increase fruit production in shrubs and trees, saving and sowing seeds, and many tribes used fire to enhance both yield and quality of important food plants such as grasses, leafy greens, acorns, "Indian potatoes," brambles and berries. 

I'm inspired by the principles shared between native food systems and the emerging local food movement. Most native Californians had a direct relationship with every morsel that filled his or her belly. Since each person was aware of their dependence on nature, they not only knew where their food came from, but also knew what was required to gather, process and store, and how the plant or animal had to be treated or tended to ensure a healthy and continuous supply. Today we have probably reached the other extreme where most of the population now buys their food in the supermarket, much of it processed showing little evidence of its source. The knowledge required to procure food in today's society is no more complicated than knowing the location of a food store and being able to count change. With the emerging organic and local food movement well on its way there is hope that our fast food mentality is starting to crumble and we are again making the conscious link between nutrition of our bodies to the health of the land.

We are at a crossroads where our decisions will determine what kind of landscape our children will inherit and what kind of food they will be able to procure from that landscape.  As CSA members we are pioneering a new vision of our future food landscape. Our concerns are different than of our California ancestors, our necessity is marked by environmental, economic and social realities, but once again food is becoming the catalyst whereby we recognize how much we are marked by similar fates. I probably still prefer potatoes over native lily bulbs or acorn mush, or spinach and chard over minor lettuce and pigweed, carrots and beets over soaproot or rootstocks of cattails. We can find inspiration in the respect and intimate connection native people have for their natural environment, and learn how to tend the land instead of exploiting it.

My dream is that one day monoculture fields which now blanket the countryside will be restored to a tapestry of diverse food sytems with areas of grasslands, covercrops, hedgerows and wooded field margins which transect rowcrops and orchard operations, and where organic farming methods are the norm. These food landscapes will produce enough food to meet the demands of our urban centers. Everyone will be growing food in their gardens and locally produced food will once again be the foundation of a preventive healthcare strategy.  Of coarse, imagining is the easy part. Getting there may require moving mountains. - Tom

Erin Justus says: "We at Companion Bakers bake with intention and integrity. We seek and use only organic ingredients and source our herbs and seeds from local businesses to support our local community of farmers and our local economy. We strive to use efficient baking methods and simple packaging techniques. We rely on our immediate community to sustain our business; we sell directly at farmers markets here in Santa Cruz, and we offer our bread to Live Earth Farm’s CSA members!

"Our sourdough loaves are rustic, European style, stone baked breads. We use seasonal organic ingredients, hand-mix all of our batches, and hand-shaped our traditional sourdough loaves. We use Giusto’s Organic Flour for all of our products. (To find out more about Giusto’s grains and wheat please visit their website: www.giustos.com.) We are members of SLOW food, CAFF (Community Alliance with Family Farmers) and Friends of the UCSC Farm and Garden.

"In 2006 we created our own 'Santa Cruz' sourdough that we have been cultivating and using in every batch since.  For those of you that may be wondering, this means that we use a sourdough starter instead of commercial yeast in our products. Our bread batches get a 15-24 hour fermentation to allow for the entire process to mature into a "sour" tasting loaf. After hand-shaping our loaves we proof them in baskets, which is a traditional method that gives our bread the round shape. The final stage for this multi-step product is to bake the loaves on hot tiles inside the oven. We use manual steam to create a moist rising environment, and hand rotate the loaves throughout their baking process to ensure a beautiful golden crusted loaf!

"Our dream of a small rustic and traditional style bakery started amongst friends and family and has now grown to a larger group of community members! We currently bake our breads at Feel Good Foods kitchen, located at 306 Potrero Street in downtown Santa Cruz. We love providing people with fresh local products and appreciate the way it brings us all together. We strive to keep it simple! 'Simple bread, baked simply' for our community!"

Pastured Eggs from TLC Ranch

Think when you go to the grocery store and select eggs labeled as being from 'free range' chickens that you're getting a healthier alternative to factory farmed? Think again. What does "Free Range" mean? By definition of the USDA under 'Meat and Poultry Labeling Terms' it merely says, "Producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside." I.e. there has to be a door, and it has to be open some of the time. The chickens may never actually set foot outside; this does not matter to the USDA. And as it turns out, this definition only applies to meat chickens – the agency has no such requirement (weak as it is) for chickens raised for their eggs.

And "organic" eggs? What about that? We are all for organic on this farm, but the National Organic Standards definitions are not what you would imagine. Again, by definition (for labeling purposes), 'organic,' though still better than conventional, simply means that they are fed organic feed (and cannot be given hormones or antibiotics). There is no requirement under the National Organic Program that they must be allowed sunshine and access to pasture, or to the space necessary to express their natural behaviors. The sad truth is, birds can still be crowded into a warehouse, and still made to endure “forced molting,” the practice of denying hens food and water to “shock” their bodies into a new egg-laying cycle... and be labeled 'organic.'

Eggs from grass-fed or 'pastured' chickens (the only kind we offer) are healthier on four counts: healthier for the chickens, the farmers, the environment AND the consumer – that's you! [See www.eatwild.com - the clearinghouse for pasture-based farming - for extensive detail on this matter if you wish to delve further.]

The bottom line is, get to know the farmer that grows your food!

So here's the scoop. Although Live Earth Farm has some of its own chickens (come visit any time to meet them!), these are only enough to supply a very small number of eggs. This year Farmer Tom is continuing his relationship with local 'pastured poultry' farmer Jim Dunlop of TLC Ranch, who supplies us with sufficient eggs to meet the demand.

Jim Dunlop and his wife Rebecca Thistlethwaite are TLC Ranch. Tom has met with them and visited their ranch, seen their happy chickens in action, and feels they meet the high standards you would come to expect from Live Earth Farm. Here is Jim and Rebecca's farming philosophy:

"TLC Ranch was founded by a couple former vegetarians who believe that animals should be raised in a way that complements the earth, rather than destroys it. A belief that animals should live the fullest, most pleasurable lives, eating the best organic feed, and rotating around succulent pasture.

"On 10 acres of organic land, we raise a flock of large brown egg layers. Since our animals are raised on a diet of organic grains, pasture grasses & forbs, our eggs have very high levels of Omega 3s and CLAs, high Vitamin A & E, and lower saturated fat than conventional eggs.

"Our eggs are unlike anything you can find at your grocery store. Certified organic eggs in the store are produced by hens that are packed with 10,000 other birds in a large warehouse, and have little access to outdoors - only a small dirt yard. These hens will probably never eat a blade of grass or a clump of clover in their lives. At TLC Ranch, our birds spend their entire adult lives outdoors, as nature intended. They are raised exclusively on organic pasture, with all organic feed, and rotated weekly so that their manure is spread out over a large area, eliminating pollution. Being free to run around, they can scratch and take dust baths and eat bugs, seeds and greens as much as they'd like."

Jim and Rebecca collect eggs daily, sometimes twice a day (especially in the warmer weather, when the hens lay more frequently). From there, Jim says, the eggs go into an antique 'egg washer,' where they roll past brushes and water [no soap] and are dried. The eggs are then hand packed into cartons and refrigerated. Jim delivers his eggs to Live Earth Farm weekly, so they are always very fresh. [In conventional egg operations, there is a 'packing date' which has no bearing on when the eggs were actually laid. Packing can be weeks, if not months apart from the time they are actually laid, according to Jim.] – Debbie

If you wish to contact Jim or Rebecca, you can email them at
tasteslikechickenranch@yahoo.com

Preserves Option
We are thrilled to announce the addition of a Preserves Option to go with our Winter Share, beginning 2009! This new option will consist of goodies from Live Earth Farm's summer bounties preserved for our winter pleasure by Jordan Champagne of Happy Girl Kitchen.

Each week the Preserve Option will receive three items: one tomato preserve (crushed heirlooms, pickled dry-farms with basil, salsa... or catsup!!), one fruit preserve (strawberry jam, apricot jam, preserved pears, applesauce), and one veggie preserve or fruit juice (kimchi, sauerkraut, cumin green beans [these are fab!], bread-and-butter squash, apple juice, grape juice). The cost is a very reasonable $16/wk; you can't beat that with a stick!!

(We're limiting it to 200 Preserve Options in 2009, to see how it goes. If popular, we can increase it next year.)

All of Lynn's goats are Nubian, not only a beautiful breed of animal, but also known for the rich butterfat content of their milk. "Their milk is so healthy," Lynn says. "Dairy sensitive babies and lactose intolerant people can drink this milk without problem. The size of the fat molecules in goat's milk is the closest to human mothers' milk of any other milk. People and their children with health problems have been drinking this milk and doing so much better in no time. I am so thankful to hear these people's stories, people getting healed from my (goats') milk. This makes me so happy!"

Here's how it works. Lynn Selness of Summer Meadow's Farm will be offering shares in her milking goats. Lynn and her family milk your goat and deliver the milk raw, or prepare it as fresh, natural kefir, yogurt or cheese. Your goat milk share is then delivered in a cooler to your CSA pick-up location.

Because the goat milk shares are not a part of Live Earth Farm's CSA shares, they are not identified on our checklist at your pick-up site; you need to remember to check the cooler for it. Lynn labels all the milk and cheese with your name so it is very clear.

Lynn says her supply is limited, so orders will be filled first come, first served. Call Lynn at 831.786.8966 to order. – Debbie

Sixteen years ago my wife Constance and I with our then 13-month-old son David in tow came to Santa Cruz where for 7 months I enrolled in the Farm & Garden apprenticeship offered by UC Santa Cruz. I remember then how much organic farming was still an emerging movement, composed of brilliant, idealistic, and hardworking individuals, who carried the vision of building wholesome sustainable farming systems to supply nourishing and healing foods for everyone. At that time the concept of Community Supported Agriculture was just starting to be explored by a handful of farmers and caught my attention as we started Live Earth Farm on a 1.5 acre previously overgrazed horsepasture.

An article titled "On Tiny Plots, a New Generation of Farmers Emerges" in USA TODAY, brought to our attention by a CSA member, made me think of Margaret Mead's quote: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever does." - Tom

All the Morris Grassfed beef cattle are born and raised on the Morris ranch in San Juan Bautista; the Morrises do not purchase calves and then just finish them on grass. The animals are under Joe and Julie's care from birth to the time the meat is delivered to you. As Julie will tell you,

"Our cattle enjoy a completely organic diet of fresh grass, forbs and legumes, clean water, and better views than most of us do! We use neither synthetic hormones nor fed antibiotics: our animals grow only as fast as their genetics and the range will allow. Their range, of course, serves also as watersheds and habitat for us as well as other biological communities. We manage our animals so that they enhance the diversity of life on the range, as well as the quality of the water that falls on the range and flows to the towns and sea. We believe this web of relationships we are stewarding is an integral whole, depending for its health upon all its members: damaging the health of any member of the "whole" community, therefore, damages the rest. Our desire is to produce health with all we do. Only when this is done are we satisfied that Morris Grassfed Beef is all it can be-the best there is for all of us."

Here are a few factoids about eating meat from pastured animals, as gleaned from Michael Pollan's book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma":

A growing body of scientific research suggests that many of the health problems associated with eating beef are really problems with corn-fed beef. Cattle are ruminants, not designed to eat grain (organic or not). It makes them sick. This is why most of the antibiotics sold in America today end up in animal feed.

The research further indicates that pasture substantially changes the nutritional profile of chicken, eggs, beef and milk. [As an aside: this is why we offer TLC Ranch eggs -- Jim's chickens are raised on pasture.]

The large quantities of beta-carotene, vitamin E, and folic acid present in green grass find their way into the flesh of the animals that eat that grass. The fats created in the flesh of grass eaters are the best kind for us to eat. Grass-fed meat, milk, and eggs contain less total fat and less saturated fats than the same foods from grain-fed animals.

Pastured animals also contain conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a fatty acid that some recent studies indicate may help reduce weight and prevent cancer, and which is absent from feedlot animals.

But perhaps most important, meat, eggs, and milk from pastured animals also contain higher levels of omega 3s, essential fatty acids created in the cells of green plants and algae that play an indispensable role in human health, and especially in the growth and health of neurons – brain cells.

In a nutshell, the species of animal you eat may matter less than what the animal you're eating has itself eaten! - Debbie