• Animal Tracks •              Barred Owl ,,,I think can you see it??

The migratory birds are back in force. We have seen some really large passing flocks of grackles, redwing blackbirds, and lots of mixed flocks of smaller birds. The swallows and bluebirds are back and as always I love to watch the swallows fly. I can't explain why they captivate my interest so but it is magic to me to watch as they dart and wheel and do the most amazing flying effortlessly it seems. There has been a pair of swans hanging around the meadow pond to the south of our lane and just watching them fly in and out at low altitude is impressive. As exciting as I find watching the swallows fly, I really like seeing the swans fly because they are huge. OF course, the passing eagle makes most other birds look small and they just wheel and glide as they laze their way up or down river. Makes me wish,,,oh well, back to earth. There has been what I think is a barred owl hanging around the gateway into R1 and it is comfortable enough with me coming and going that it flies to a nearby tree and waits for me to pass. You might just be able to pick it out in the photo above. Now there is no shortage of deer and skunks, opossums, groundhogs,squirrels, and the bears are up and about. I saw one very busy in R12 the other afternoon but didn't stop to see what it was doing any closer than about 1000'. I have seen a bunch of hawks and we had a falcon breeze by to inspect the chickens but not stop in for a meal. I am setting a kestrel box up on the farm as a cooperator in the kestrel nesting project. I have been working towards getting more bird houses up in general and have started getting them set on fence posts. My goal is to have a bird house on every fence post sometime within the next two years. OF course,,,we'll see.

Read More

Top

• Common Ground •              

Navigating Life's' Waters

Tapping into my memory,the greatest recollections are of the tough choices and dramatic turning points in my life. With such insight and years of lengthy intra personal conversation, I now understand and see life as a winding river. Floating on your raft are your constants; family & friends (community), knowledge and skills (ability). For the most part though we are traveling by the seat of our pants. Just as in farming, you can see and visualize your destination and ultimate goal, but there is little you can do besides stay afloat and act the best you know whether during rocky and desperate times or smooth sailing. As we are on the verge of this CSA season my mind is filled with "ifs." The best I can do in such a situation is to navigate the course as thoughtfully as possible, moving forward one stroke at a time. This is when those constants really count.

Mahina (Mahinaohokulani ) has been working here as a part time employee (and friend) for over a year. Apart from residing in Morris county and having worked in NYC for several years she is working to establish an Organic Bakery in Morristown. The trip she is writing about below was begun the day after her cousin was married in Hawaii and so Mahina traveled from Hawaii directly to South Africa. Here are some of her thoughts.

South Africa
Of all the places I’ve been in this great, big world, I’ve never been anywhere like South Africa. My list of places to go is very extensive and South Africa was not high on that list. But, when the Peace Corps called my best friend to duty two years ago, I promised to fulfill my duty to her and bring a piece of home and comfort to her while she was away. So off I went, flying 18 hours to this most mysterious continent.
South Africa is a country full of a million, absolutely stunning surprises. I’m not the type of traveler to read guidebooks before I depart on my journey; traveling is spontaneous by nature and I try to keep it that way. But in all truth, even if I researched the Lonely Planet guide, nothing would have prepared me for my two and a half week African journey. From the moment I arrived, I wasn’t sure if I’d been taken back in human history or eerily pushed into our inevitable future. South Africa’s social, economic, and political history looms over their horizon and its effects are still seen in daily life. In the wake of their apartheid government, the country’s scars run deep and I saw the harsh realities of humans’ capabilities. More daunting, however, is that their mistakes are being repeated. Inflicted with extreme economic injustice, a rampant epidemic of HIV/AIDs, a dissociated and crumbling education infrastructure, and all too typical corrupt politicians, the country seems only to be working against itself. And yet it seemed that all these issues that are not being dealt with are blamed on, in my opinion, the most overused, obvious scapegoat of them all: race. It all goes back to what shade your skin shines, one of the few things we don’t have control over (minus a tan here and there). Though the governmental enforcement of separated communities ended, people still live segregated from other races and account most issues to your classification: black, white, or colored. With 11 official national languages, race isn’t the only separating factor when neighboring towns can’t communicate with each other. Oh, and to put icing on the cake, the crime is unbelievable. South Africa holds the trophy for the second highest crime rate out of all African nations – second only to Sudan.
More importantly though, within their tense reality lies something wonderfully hidden. Thankfully, because I was lucky enough to visit a friend who’s been living there for two years, I had the opportunity to talk to so many different South Africans and hear their stories. Ironically, after sitting with them, whether they were Afrikaans or Zulu or Ndebele, and hearing some of the most horrific stories, all the beauty began to peak through. Landscape wise, the beauty was instantaneously overwhelming. There are zero questions when it comes to the beauty of the natural wonders of South Africa. From Cape Town to KwaZulu Natal, I saw some of the most picturesque African landscapes and wildlife I could have hoped for. But it took more time with the people and more effort to understand why so many people are drawn to that nation. I’m not really sure if I could begin to articulate their passion for Africa, but I can say, that within my quick 20 days there, I felt it, too. Maybe it’s an awareness people have for daily life that is so lost in American culture, maybe it’s their slower pace, maybe it is the history, but there is an undeniable force that runs through. So much so that I didn’t want to leave and can’t wait to go back.
T.I.A.

If you are interested in seeing for yourself how your food is produced, I invite you to spend some or all of your volunteering time in our fields! If you are interested in doing so you can email me at: volunteer@uppermeadowsfarm.com
You may find yourself right in the middle of our managed holistic system (fields) that provides us with top quality nutrition.

If you are interested in volunteering on the farm, send Matt an email at volunteer@uppermeadowsfarm.com. I look forward to working alongside all of you, to better the farm and strengthen our Community by Supporting Agriculture.

Read More

Top

• On The Farm •      Busy Bees cleaning house

As in all things there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that our efforts to make maple syrup this year have proven fruitless. Although I did tap trees and we gathered some sap it wasn't enough to justify cooking down and so there will be none. In my experience we have a year like this once in four, more or less. In the sweet thing department I have entered into a relationship with Ron Papa who is a local bee keeper and we are going to once again have bee hives and that means honey! Also, on the positive side of the equation we are planting aggressively in the greenhouse and have quite a few flats growing in anticipation of planting in the field. Some of the seed potatoes are in and we have begun cutting them to begin planting hopefully in the next week or so. Field cleaning and prep are ongoing although the ground is too wet to work yet. WE are mostly cleaning up debris from last fall and clearing the field margins. I have done some fruit tree pruning but I have not finished. I'm planning on pruning some of the trees in the summer which is done to control the rate of growth. I'm in the middle of building a new mobile chicken coop for the layers and hope to have them out in the field by the middle of next week. The chickens are ranging around but it is time to contain them as a flock and move them into the fields. The geese are already on pasture. I'm juggling schedules until our crew can work into a routine. I think that we'll be in the next two weeks. I am looking for another full time worker and at least two more part time workers. We are on target, if this year is consistent with the registration pattern of the first 7 years, to hit 300 CSA memberships! That means finally getting to financial sustainability! In accordance with my usual practice, I am planting for 450. This gives us the best chance to have abundant veggies of those types that do well this year and at least some of those types that do not excel. I can't begin to predict what kind of a season this one will be. Join us and we'll find out together! Having set the share prices this past fall, and given the increase in energy prices we are seeing now and the jump in food prices I expect that the share value will surpass previous years. I have always distributed more food than the dollar value of the share if it were bought at a store. It looks like this is not only going to be our usual great food but a really great value!!

Read More
Top

•This Week's Shares • 

Subscriptions remain open for 2008. Just follow the above links or contact us for more information.

Thank you all!

Read More

Top

• In Good Health •

"All that mankind needs for good health and healing is provided by God in nature... the challenge to science is to find it." -Paracelsus

From the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine

Effects of Fast Food Branding on Young Children's Taste Preferences

Food and beverage industries spend more than $10 billion each year to market their products to children in the United States. In this study, researchers presented identical food, either in McDonald's or nondescript packaging, to 63 children aged 3 to 5 years. Children preferred the taste of food and drinks if they thought the food was from McDonald’s. Children with more television sets in their homes and those who ate at McDonald's more often were more likely to prefer the food or drink's taste if they thought they were from McDonald’s. These results add evidence to support recommendations to further regulate marketing to very young children and for the fast food industry to change their product offerings.

Figure 1. Number of television sets in the household as a moderator of taste preferences. Total preference scores may range from – 1 (preferred the unbranded food in all comparisons) to + 1 (preferred the McDonald's branded food in all comparisons).

Figure 2. Frequency of eating at McDonald's as a moderator of taste preferences. Total preference scores may range from – 1 (preferred the unbranded food in all comparisons) to + 1 (preferred the McDonald's branded food in all comparisons).

By the early age of 3 to 5 years, low-income preschool children preferred the tastes of foods and drinks if they thought they were from McDonald’s, demonstrating that brand identity can influence young children's taste perceptions. This was true even for carrots, a food that was not marketed by or available from McDonald’s. These taste preferences emerged despite the fact that 3 of the foods were from McDonald's and only the branding was changed, indicating that the effects were not due to familiarity with the taste or smell of McDonald's food. Even the children with the lowest frequency of eating food from McDonald's had average positive total preference scores, indicating they preferred more of the branded foods (Figure 2).
We used McDonald's branding in this experiment because of its leadership position in fast food advertising and marketing. Although the participating children ranged in age from only 3 through 5 years, about a third of the parents reported their children were eating food from McDonald's weekly or more, and just 2 of 63 reported never eating food from McDonald’s. McDonald's food was eaten more frequently than food from all other fast food restaurants combined, and about three-quarters of parents reported that they had a toy from McDonald's in their homes. Although it was not possible to objectively measure total past exposure to McDonald's marketing, these reports indicate the children were receiving substantial exposure to the McDonald's brand.
Only the number of television sets at home and frequency of eating food from McDonald's were found to be statistically significant moderators of the branding effect (Figure 1 and Figure 2). Frequency of eating McDonald's food indicates greater opportunities for brand exposure and prior taste experiences and potentially represents familiarity, trust of the source, safe provenance, and implicit approval by parents. Number of televisions in the home might indicate greater exposure to McDonald's advertising or be associated with other mechanisms leading to greater responsiveness to branding.
This was a real-world study addressing a straightforward, real-world question: do children prefer the taste of food and drinks if they think they are from McDonald’s? Instead of testing the effects of only advertising, as in past research, this study was designed to try to capture the influences of the entirety of McDonald's brand exposure, including direct and indirect marketing, that young children had already experienced by 3 to 5 years of age. This study included a number of design features to enhance the ability to draw causal inferences. It was a true experiment in which only the branding was manipulated. Pairs of food and beverage samples were taken from the same original servings and packaging was matched in color, material, shape, and design. Only basic McDonald's packaging was used with no images of Ronald McDonald or other markings that could potentially influence the children's preferences, and only previously unused packaging was used to avoid residual smells or tastes.
Our findings also suggest a need for research on marketing in general, and branding in particular, as strategies to promote more healthful taste preferences and food and beverage choices in young children. In this experiment, children preferred the taste of carrots and milk if they thought they were from McDonald’s. This is an opportunity for heavily marketed brands to respond to rising rates of childhood obesity by changing their product offerings. However, although McDonald's was an appropriate brand to use in this experiment, the results may not generalize to less recognizable brands or public health campaigns if they are not marketed as extensively and comprehensively. Future research might examine the effects of less recognizable brands or contrast different brands and packaging with variable levels of recognition and natural exposure.

Read More

Top

• Grist For The Mill •

"the genius of industrial capitalism ---(is) to take its failings and turn them into exciting new business opportunities." Michael Pollan"

"The soul of business is to inspire people to buy that which they neither want nor need." Louis L'Amour

"Legislation won't change the heart, but it will restrain the heartless." Martin Luther King Jr.

Published on Friday, April 18, 2008 by Foreign Policy In Focus
Food Safety on the Butcher’s Block
By Christine Ahn and GRAIN

On April 11, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) released a report that found that of the national efforts to improve U.S. food safety, “none of the targets were reached in 2007.” According to the CDC, 76 million Americans - one in four - come down with food poisoning every year. Among the most common is E. coli, a byproduct of the system of industrialized animal agribusiness. Americans have a common perception that the problem stems from food coming from outside the country - from China, say, or Mexico. Instead, it’s our food that’s the problem.
Instead of cleaning up its own act, the American meat industry has shifted responsibility to the consumer - not just in the United States, but also in countries where U.S. meat is exported. The United States is using bilateral trade agreements to arm-twist weaker countries into accepting its food safety standards as a tool to expand the market control of U.S. corporations.

Please click the read more link below for the full article.

The Bush administration’s attack on Korea’s food safety standards through the FTA was not limited to beef. In a reported swap for Seoul easing its rules of origin for U.S. textile exports, Korea agreed to lower its domestic biosafety standards. The deal, signed on the sidelines of the final round of U.S.-Korea FTA negotiations in late March 2007, is called the U.S.-Korea “Memorandum of Understanding on Agricultural Biotechnology.” Immediately hailed as a great breakthrough by the Washington-based Biotechnology Industry Organization, the agreement took Koreans by surprise, generating angry reactions in the formal political arena, in the mass media, and on the streets..
The U.S.-Korea ag-biotech agreement obliges Korea to restrict its risk assessment of imported GM products for food, feed, or processing to their “intended” use. In other words, if local farmers sow GM maize kernels from the United States that were meant for cooking, the U.S. companies responsible for the transfer of the kernels are free of any liability.

Read More

•Upcoming Events •

Registration for renewal and new members is now open! Join us in 2008. We will be announcing member meeting dates and other dates of interest in the next newsletter.

Winter Member meeting dates:

Hell's Kitchen Distribution group. Meetings are held at Hartley House at 413West 46 Street ( Between Ninth and Tenth Avenues)  All meetings are 7:00pm to 9:00 pm

April 21
May 6, 22 (May 22 is optional)
If you have any questions, please feel free to call
Hell's Kitchen Distribution Coordinator
(212) 265-5469

UPPER MEADOWS FARM   on farm distribution group. Meetings are held on farm

April 19 (2pm)
May 1 (7:30pm), 11 (2pm)

ASHLEY FARM  Meetings are held at Ashely Farm located at 25 Hillside Ave in Flanders NJ

April 16(7pm)
May 19 (7pm)

Verona (formerly Pleasantdale) Meetings are held at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit located at 36 Gould Street  in Verona NJ

April 26 (10:00am)
May 13 (7:30pm)

Sparta Meetings are held at 205 Springbrook Trail in Sparta NJ

May 17 (2pm)

IF you would like an event posted please submit it and I'll gladly include it here.

Read More

Top

• Produce Profile •

In our fast paced digitized lives we are flooded with choices. Many coffee shops have hundreds of combinations to choose from to tailor that flavor we desire. Internet shopping offers a vast selection of items with far more latitude than any local store. Eating out means conferring with an atlas to choose the cuisine for the night.
Now lets juxtapose this with what I find in a good 70% of the fridges that I open. I will always find iceberg lettuce (or a bagged salad mix), white onions, hot-house tomatoes and waxed cucumbers. Among hundreds of thousands of food varieties, it seems most people stick with a constant 4-5 vegetables and stick with them for life.
Adding to the already numerous choices comes a new way of sourcing produce: the CSA! Sure, you will find most of your “comfort” veggies, but we introduce you to a whole new palate of produce to not only enrich your taste buds but your health as well.
Only eating the same few fruits and vegetables day in and out is like taking a multivitamin that provides a quarter-dose every day. Opening your arms to new vegetables is opening your body natures ‘new’ and diverse nutrition.
Speaking of nutrition, the food from our farm is fresh. We make that commitment on your behalf! No more flipping through expiration dates and vegetable racks to find the produce that is the “least dead.” As a CSA member, the energy you would spend searching for fresh food can be re-directed in your quest for new, nutritious and tasty flavors to add to the choices of life.

Read More

Top

• The Chef's Corner •

Looking forward to a flavorful and exciting season!

Read More

Top