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Modern Chicken Coops

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 10:08:14 -0700

There is probably no need for this level of design in a chicken coop, but I love them anyway:
http://www.dwell.com/articles/modern-chicken-coop.html
http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/09/27/the-nogg-is-a-modern-prefab-pod-pad-for-your-chicken/
http://design-milk.com/handcrafted-chicken-coops-by-drew-waters/
http://design-milk.com/breed-retreat-by-frederik-roije/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+design-milk+%28Design+Milk%29

Genetically Modified Salmon are not cool

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 10:43:34 -0700

Not only are we going to have genetically modified salmon in our stores, which is basically going to be approved through shady political maneuverings and shoddy science, we won’t even be able to tell if the salmon we’re looking at has been genetically modified or not. This is so messed up. Check out Civil Eat’s article for a more eloquent summary.

Meat Ethics Articles & Commentators Drive Me Crazy

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:09:38 -0700

My husband gave me an article to read several months ago called “Eat No Evil” by Alan Richman, from GQ’s July 2010 magazine. I just read it today and loved it. I thought it was an honest account from a man who loves the taste of food and tries to enter the world of more ethical eating while maintaining his primary love, that of great tasting food. His attempt includes pondering what’s considered ethical to him and the people he chooses to interview to help him on his journey. At the end of the article, it seems like his future will involve more vegetables. That, I consider, is a good thing. He wants our food system to be better, but he doesn’t see how to create that seismic shift. That, I think, is really honest.
Then I went online to locate the article and perhaps leave Mr. Richman a comment saying much I enjoyed his article. That’s when I found a link to this article, on The Discerning Brute website, written by Joshua Catcher, which deconstructs Mr. Richman’s article. I was slayed. This stuff makes me want to stick a pencil in my eye. I would like to support people who promote planet-saving things that are also beautiful. That’s what this guy is trying to do. He’s a blogger who writes about fashion, eating, gorgeous green gifts, and so forth. According to him, “He founded “The Discerning Brute” in 2008 as a resource for intelligent men who want to make ethical, informed decisions concerning their lifestyles.” Great. I am totally for that. Except then Mr. Catcher illustrates point number one that makes me hate what I call “media militant vegans,” meaning all the vegans who spend their lives lecturing others about how their non-vegan eating habits make them uncivilized, uncaring morons. He makes an inane argument about a statement in Mr. Richman’s article that isn’t meant to be taken as a life truism. Mr. Catcher’s second paragraph is as follows:
“For example, he [referring to Mr. Richman] says ‘Only your doctor or your mother should tell you what to eat, and these days I’m not so sure about Mom,’ not realizing how dangerous a doctor’s nutritional advice may be. Richman has no idea that most doctors have a shameful, mere few hours of nutritional training – and that only one-fourth of medical schools even require med students to take a course in nutrition!”
I would bet $1,000 that Mr. Richman has never gone to a doctor and asked him what to eat and then just eaten what the doctor said. He used that line to illustrate a point about taking eating advice from ones mom and for reflective humor purposes. When I read it, I smiled. I did not think, “Holy holidays batman, this guy thinks doctors know things about nutrition and that’s a total lie! Now I can’t believe anything Mr. Richman writes in this article!”
Even if doctors have a “mere few hours of nutritional training” those doctors probably still tell people to eat more vegetables and less meat. It’s not like everyone in America doesn’t already know that. What kind of “dangerous” nutritional advice am I going to get from my doctor? If I ask my doctor what to eat, is she going to say, “You need to start packing away the fatty meats ASAP. Salt everything you eat, even your cereal. I’m serious, take that salted stick of butter, salt it some more, smear it on a baby Ortolan and then just go at it!” No, there is no way she’s going to say that even if she didn’t take one nutrition course in medical school. I am a lawyer, but I didn’t take a course on intellectual property while in law school. Regardless, if someone came to me asking for advice about intellectual property I wouldn’t tell them, “Screw it, just send that product into the marketplace sans investigating your IP rights. I’ll be fine!” I would research the issue or refer them to someone who practices IP law. I’m sure if I needed serious nutritional guidance, my doctor would do the same. But maybe that’s because I’m a fool who believes that people still have common sense. At this point, Mr. Catcher lost me with his entire argument because his second paragraph, the paragraph where blog readers decide to whether or not to keep reading, is completely ridiculous.
But I kept reading, and essentially Mr. Catcher thinks that Mr. Richman’s article is worthless because he insults vegans. Here are the insults:
“I don't romanticize vegetables. I don't believe in their nobility, nor have I been convinced by those who claim plants have feelings and scream silently when tossed into a hot pan. (I wouldn't mind if that were true, since it would require vegans to starve themselves to death.)
“Consider vegans a warning sign of ethical eating run amok.”
It’s clear Mr. Richman doesn’t like vegans. Maybe it’s because they write ludicrous things about doctors knowing squat diddly about nutrition. But guess what Mr. Richman also says:
“Ethics in eating, throughout history, have primarily been the purview of a fringe class, including vegans, vegetarians, the religious, and just about anyone else who feels that abstention and restraint constitute an ideal.”
“Yet not even vegans, our ultimate culinary ideologues, can match the commitment of those who dedicate themselves to the land.”
Dude, Mr. Richman called you, Mr. Catcher, the “ultimate culinary ideologue” and said that vegans have long been at the forefront of ethical eating. He doesn’t like vegans, but he does not write: Consider veganism ethical eating run amok. If read in the context of the entire article, it seems Mr. Richman is saying, try to find balance while doing better and be aware that sometimes vegans get really crazed about ethical eating, which can be overwhelming.
In the end, Mr. Catcher seems upset simply because the article isn’t one giant advertisement for becoming a vegan. You know why it’s not? Because vegans write blogs that misguidedly pounce all over lighthearted lines about doctors and eating advice and that makes people think that vegans are in fact running amok.
At the end of the day, you’re right Mr. Catcher, Mr. Richman will never be as food-related ethical as you. Congrats, I hope you feel special. But don’t celebrate too long, because your press page reveals you make a living selling the joys of vegan fashion, which essentially encourages people to buy more things. Yet, given all the clothes in America’s thrift stores, the most ethical thing would be to only purchase used clothing. Plus, you advertise athletes that are vegans. Do you know the environmental destruction of building professional sports stadiums every five years? Not good my friend, not good. I get what you’re trying to do and I’m for it. But pissing on other people who are trying to better themselves in their own way is destroying your cause. In this fight, I’m 100% in Mr. Richman’s corner.

Streetwalker

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 12:50:55 -0700

In Friday’s post I forgot to reveal that the fly I caught my first steelhead on is called a Streetwalker. No joke. It’s because of the sparkly tackle on the back of the fly. Don’t worry, you don’t have to imagine it, just take a look:

Catching a Steelhead

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 18:04:21 -0700

Last week I went steelheading with my Father. If you follow the blog, you know I was practicing my casting for about a month in anticipation of the trip. I grew up trout fishing with my Dad. If you’re a decent fisherperson, you can catch fish during a day of trout fishing. But steelheading is a totally different matter. Even great fisherpeople can fish for a week and catch nothing. Apparently, steelheading is so cool that catching a steelhead is listed as number 10 on Outside Magazine’s The Life List 2010, which is in the current September 2010 issue. Although to be specific, the exact goal is to: Catch a Steelhead on a Spey Rod
I was convinced that I wouldn’t catch a thing. But I was wrong. After waking up at 4 am (the fishing happens early in the morning and late in the evening) and fishing for about five hours without any hits, we had lunch with a friend of my Father’s. Afterward, together we all fished a few other holes in the area that might be productive. In one of those holes, I hooked two fish. But the take, i.e. when the fish bites, wasn’t exactly what I had anticipated based on my Dad’s description and, unfortunately, I broke both fish off quickly. The first jumped twice after I broke it off. It was huge. My Dad’s friend decided there was no way the run would produce any more hits, so he packed up his rod and went home. But I wanted to try one more time. It turns out the third time can in fact be the charm. Furthermore, I caught my steelhead on a regular rod, not a spey rod, which frankly, no offense Outside Magazine, seems like it might make things a little too easy. No, I’m kidding, it’s always hard no matter the rod used.

I was so shocked that I’d caught one, that when my Dad said, “What do we do next?” all I could think was, “I have no idea.” But then reality kicked in and I had to take care of the unpleasant side of killing ones food. The next day, for lunch, the staff at the hotel where we were staying let us cook it on their grill. I invited my Dad’s friend and we had a feast. I was so glad that the first fish I’d hooked got away because it was much larger than the fish I ended up catching, and we couldn’t have eaten that much fish. It tasted so good and I am really excited to be able to eat anadromous fish again! This means that now I’ve caught fish that live only in freshwater, fish that live only in saltwater, and fish that migrate between the two. Essentially, the wide world of water living creatures is back in my diet. But, given over-fishing concerns (check out Civil Eats’ review of the film The End of the Line), I’m going to continue to be cautious about how much fish I consume and where my fish comes from.

Also, in case you’re wondering, we fished for several more days with no real bites. Flyfishing for steelheading is truly the ultimate waiting game. I did get pretty good (ok, maybe more like pretty decent) at casting though and I learned the single-hand spay cast. Maybe one of these days I’ll properly knock Outside’s #10 goal off my list. But for now, perhaps to the chagrin of my husband, I’m going to work full force on fulfilling the list’s goal #16: Make a Man Cave. It’s going to be filled with rods, reels, waders, whiskey, champagne, incredibly expensive/staggeringly tall shoes, Christian Lacroix scarves, frilly dresses, not so frilly dresses, knives, legal registered hunting guns, and lots of pictures of really, really fun times. And maybe the dead rattlesnake that was gifted to me on the trip, but more about that next week. It’s going to be so much better than a Man Cave. It’s going to be an Awesome Cave.