Veganic farmers practice organic farming by eschewing synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, but take it a step further by eliminating animal-derived farming products as well. Most organic farmers use bone meal, blood meal and animal waste fertilizer to make their plants productive, but veganic farmers and their customers see a number of problems with using animal biproducts around the plants.

E. Coli and Other Outbreaks

All animal biproducts carry pathogens. E. coli has a healthy presence in the intestines of mammals and birds as a digestive aid, but makes humans sick when ingested orally. Recent E. coli outbreaks have centered on produce like spinach, alfalfa, and tomatoes. While no one knows exactly how the E. coli got into the fields (wild pigs and contaminated water have been suggested), another possibility is the animal biproducts that were used as fertilizers for the plants.

But E. Coli isn’t the only cause of disease outbreak related to livestock pathogens. Salmonella, cyclospora and others have also mysteriously made their way to our produce supply. Veganic farmers believe they can lessen the chance of such outbreaks by avoiding manure and animal by-products to begin with.

Organic Plants, Not So Organic Fertilizer

While there is strict testing of the seeds, plants and soil to achieve organic certification, the animals that supply bone meal, blood meal and manure do not require such testing. They are generally from factory farms, raised on low-grade feed and antibiotics and hormones. There are two issues here: the synthetic compounds from the feed and supplements are present in manure, bending organic standards. But most of all, many farmers do not want to continue supporting the factory farming industry, where animals live and die in inhumane conditions.

Ethical Considerations

This brings us to the ethics of using animal bi-products as growing aids. There is the issue of supporting factory farms, mentioned above, but this can be resolved by sourcing bone meal and manure locally from trusted farmers. More, many vegetable farmers and their customer base eat a vegetarian or vegan diet. They view animal fertilizers as incongruous with their animal-free lifestyles and want to avail another option.

There are many reasons to support veganic farming beyond a vegan lifestyle. To find a veganic grower near you, visit the Veganic Agricultural Network or Vegan Organic Network.

More Vegan Articles:

Sharon’s Excellent Vegan Recipes

Vegan Kids

Image Credit: Chailey under a Creative Commons License

Guess I’ve always been an unconventional American patriot. No red, white and blue holiday t-shirts for yours truly. I haven’t seen a parade in years. But I do put a lot of thought into the picnic menu. The Fourth of July reminds me to remember and rekindle Thomas Jefferson’s vision of our democracy as citizens’ everyday participation in the political system – in my case, through conscious food choices.

Make a democratic statement with your food choices this weekend. Here are the criteria that resulted in my patriotic choices:

* Protect the Homeland through Homegrown Fare
Everything needs to be as local as possible, showcasing in my case the flavors of Wisconsin. The Leopold Center now estimates average American food travels over 1,700 miles, the majority shipped by airplane, producing ten to thirty times the carbon per mile. Ain’t nothing American in decorating the picnic table with fossil fuel dependencies.

Why the brat? If you’re going to eat meat, choose wisely and eat in moderation. Grass-fed, pasture raised livestock do not eat grain and, low and behold, require significantly less oil over their lifetime than needed for feedlot animals.

I’m a flexitarian when it comes to eating. Ninety-five percent of my diet is vegetarian, eager to eat lower on the food chain and mostly from my own gardens. On the Fourth of July, though, I splurge on brats, which I just picked up from Carrie and Eric at Jordandal Farm, a few miles north from our farm.

* Deliver Nutritional Fireworks
Make sure the food delivers a nutritional punch, bringing high doses of quality nutrients to the (non-Styrofoam) picnic plate. In July you can’t beat a homegrown mixed green salad for fresh nutrition, focusing on dark green and red leaf lettuce leaves with a hefty dose of spinach greens mixed in.

* Build Community
In his book, Fermenting Revolution: How to Drink Beer and Save the World from New Society Publishers, Chris O’Brien shares how local breweries increasingly embrace ecologically sustainable production and use of local ingredients, prompting a renaissance of thoughtful discussion and debate over a shared pint. Benjamin Franklin would be proud.

My community of Monroe, Wisconsin, is home to the Midwest’s oldest brewery, Minhas Craft Brewery. On a good day you can smell the spent grains wafting over Monroe’s downtown square.

* “Give Me Flavor, or Give me Death”
If it doesn’t taste great, the above three criteria wash away. Brats need a dose of preparation to truly bring out their taste potential. Especially if you, like me, eat meat in extreme moderation – make sure you do it right.

In Wisconsin, you’ll find various schools of cooking thought on how to cook up brats. Fortunately, my neighbor farmer, Anna Zettle, tutored me in the art of brat preparation when I established Wisconsin roots a dozen years ago:

Authentic Wisconsin Brats Recipe

1. Slowly simmer defrosted, uncooked brats for several hours in beer with some chunks of onions, garlic and a dash of lemon juice. This time of year, consider adding chopped garlic scapes. An energy-efficient crock-pot works well for the simmering.

2. When cooked through, throw brat on a hot grill till nicely brown.

3. Here’s the secret step: After grilling, throw brats back into the hot beer mixture for a couple minutes before serving. This vital last step adds a dose of juicy flavor.

Related Posts:

Firing Up the Grill? Think Honey

Seven Tips for Greening Your Barbecue This Summer

How to Green Your Summer Camping and BBQ

However, there are things we can do at home to help promote honeybees and their way of life.

Plant Sunflowers

Sunflowers are hardy and quick growing and bees are attracted to their bright colors. By growing them, we can create a reliable food source. Additionally, initiatives such as The Great Sunflower Project send sunflower seeds to designated growers who then observe honeybee activities around their grown flowers and report back. Other plants that bees like: dandelions, lavender, blueberry, clover and echinacea.

Stop Spraying Pesticides

We all hate the bugs that make our gardens ugly and our skin itch, but these toxic brews are indiscriminate in the kinds of insects they affect. While we don’t know what is causing honeybee disappearance, surely the noxious chemicals that cloud our backyards aren’t helping.

Help Bees Find A Home

If you notice bees swarming, it means a colony is looking for a new hive. Call a local beekeeper who can come and give the community some new digs. If you’d like to ensure a productive garden, you can even keep them for yourself. There are many guides to amateur beekeeping, but The Backyard Beekeeper is a good bet.

Let Your Garden Go to Seed

When you harvest your produce - be it cherry tomatoes and lavender or an elaborate orchard - leave some fruits and vegetables on the plant to go to seed. This allows the bees to stockpile food for the long winter, when they stay in their hives.

And of course, the most important thing you can do is help support honeybee research by donating to a charity or calling up your congressional representatives. Now that we know, it’s time to solve the problem.

Related Posts:

Honey-Herb Sauce

Ayurvedic Honey Cures

Honey Week

Colony Collapse Syndrome

Image Credit: Todd Huffman under a Creative Commons License

Just in time for the holiday, the Honey Board has a few recipes to recommend — for the grill. Honey is a pretty common ingredient for marinades and sauces. These recipes capture that sweet-spicy combination of flavors I personally love.

Before you go for the tongs, the Honey Board has a few pointers on why this food is sustainable AND an eco-friendly choice:

• Honey is an all-natural food that leaves a small eco-footprint.
• Purchasing local honey encourages growth of the local economy and reduces production waste.
• Many farmers have hives on their land, in part because bees are responsible for one out of every three bites we consume.
• If it weren’t for honey bees, we would suffer from a limited supply of oranges, apples, blueberries, cucumbers and strawberries.

Recipes for your holiday cook out include Grilled Tofu Kabobs with a Honey-Chipotle Glaze.

Grilled Tofu Kabobs
Chipotle Marinade:
1 cup vegetable broth
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup tamari soy sauce
1 chipotle en adobo, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons adobo sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons granulated onion powder
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro

Tofu Kabobs:
2 14-oz. pkgs. extra-firm tofu
3 medium zucchini, cut into 1-inch circles
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 medium red onion, cut into 1-inch wedges
12 cherry tomatoes
1 cup pineapple cubes

To make Chipotle Marinade: Whisk together broth, garlic, honey, soy sauce, and chipotle and adobo sauce in 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Add onion powder, mustard and cilantro; mix well.

To make Tofu Kabobs: Slice each block of tofu in half horizontally, and, in cross-hatch pattern, make two slices vertically and two slices horizontally for total of 36 tofu cubes. Place tofu in nonreactive 9×13-inch baking dish. Pour marinade over tofu, cover and refrigerate for 1 to 24 hours.

Set and light fire using coals or mesquite about 30 minutes before cooking time. Soak bamboo skewers in hot water for 20 minutes. Alternating ingredients, thread tofu, vegetables and pineapple cubes on skewers. Place kabobs over hot coals on well-oiled grill rack. Cook about 10 minutes, or until done, turning once and taking care that vegetables don’t burn.

Grilled Tofu and Sautéed Asian Greens
1 (14-oz) block firm tofu, drained
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon peeled, finely grated, fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco or dried hot red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 (5-oz) bags Asian greens or baby spinach

Cut tofu crosswise into 6 slices. Arrange in 1 layer on a triple layer of paper towels and top with another triple layer of towels. Weight with a shallow baking pan or baking sheet and let stand 2 minutes. Repeat weighting with dry paper towels 2 more times.

Stir together soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, ginger, garlic, and Tabasco in a glass pie plate. Add tofu slices in 1 layer and marinate, turning over every couple of minutes, for 10 minutes total.

Spray grill rack or pan with nonstick cooking spray. Heat grill or grill pan to medium heat. Remove tofu slices from baking dish, reserving marinade. Grill tofu slices 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until browned and crisp on the outside.

While tofu grills, heat vegetable oil in a 12-inch skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté greens, tossing with tongs, until beginning to wilt. Add reserved marinade and sauté, tossing, until greens are just wilted, about 1 minute. Lift greens from skillet with tongs, letting excess marinade drip off, and divide between 2 plates.

Serve greens with tofu slices.

Honey on the Grill Recipes for Omnivores:
Barbecued Pork Sate
Baby Back Ribs with Cranberry Barbecue Sauce

Related Posts
Green Diva’s Honey-Herb Sauce
Honey Curried Cauliflower
Seven Tips for Greening Your Barbecue

Landi, pictured here in her ‘bee bikini’, got together with fellow, bee buddy, Joe Treimel to show off their live bee apparel and accessories. Joe sported a bee beard. This all took place last weekend at the Essex County Environmental Center.

Read more about Landi and what is happening to honey bees in one of my earlier posts. Here’s a crazy story I saw yesterday morning on CNN.com about 12 MILLION honey bees that swarmed a Canadian highway after a truck carrying them flipped over!

My favorite honey & herb sauce . . .

We usually put this on grilled tuna, but it could go on a variety of things, including grilled tofu. It is a wonderful sauce that I can never make enough of! It is great this time of year because I have most of the ingredients in my garden, and of course I get the best honey from my local bee lady . . .

Ingredients

1 c. parsley
1/4 c. dill
1/4 c. olive oil (I usually mix 1/2 flax seed oil)
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
3 T. honey
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground blacks pepper

your favorite capers

Wash and pat dry the herbs and throw everything but the capers in a blender or food processor. Voila! Spoon it onto your favorite fish or veggie protein and add capers.

NOTE: you can adjust any of the seasonings AND the oil and vinegar to your own taste. I’ve actually done this with cilantro, parsley and used lime juice.

Check out these other sweet GO posts
Oh Honey. Eat. Drink. Better Series This Week
Honey - The Cure for Just about Everything
Pollen - The Bees Knees?

I’ve not posted much yet on the Iowa floods. I think, perhaps, I was holding my breath, waiting to exhale. The exhale is likely to come out more like a long sigh.

While the floods have peaked, Iowans are now dealing with the aftermath. Many of the 36,000-plus who were evacuated have still not returned home. I imagine, when they get there, the real work will begin.

It’s devastating for the state. And, in the wider picture, devastating for all of us. Even if your home was high, dry, and several states away, you, too, will feel the impacts.

Details after the jump.

Water Contamination and Pollution
Iowa has a rather large number of CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) and agricultural land. When the flood waters rose, nitrate and bacteria including E. coli leached into the watershed, contaminating wells, drinking water, and the waters of the Mississippi in Iowa and states southward, such as northern Missouri, along the river. Contaminants also include agricultural chemicals like pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer.
Ultimately, this will all end up in the already stressed Gulf of Mexico. In Iowa, citizens in the affected areas have no safe drinking water. (http://www.ethicurean.com/2008/06/19/underinformed-and-underwater/)

Food Prices
The floods in Iowa, just as the drought in Australia, will impact food prices. How much and how soon is yet to be seen. Currently, it is thought that about 3.5 million acres of cropland were affected in Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Projected grain yields for this year are about nine percent less than 2007. The losses would have been heavier except that more acreage was planted, including planting on marginal lands. Despite the situation not being as bad as expected, we can all expect higher food and fuel prices ahead.

The issue certainly raises the question of risks when you are betting on the weather for food and fuel production both. This panel discussion by hosted by the Environmental Working Group is worth listening to.

Panel members included Keith Collins, who served for 15 years as Chief Economist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economist Bill Lapp, a member of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service Advisory Board, Al Dutcher, state climatologist for Nebraska and Elwynn Taylor, a professor of Agronomy and an Extension Climatologist for Iowa State University.

Certainly, all of us in areas not impacted by the floods are far more fortunate than residents of Iowa and other flooded areas. But we are not isolated from it either. Just as surely as the contaminated waters run into the Mississippi, southward through our nation and then to the ocean beyond, we, too are in the flow, connected, and part of it all.

Related Posts
News and Images from Iowa
Understanding the Impacts of Weather, Food and Biofuel
Farm Aid Donations to Help Flood Victims (How You Can Help)

So what’s a couple trying to eat well to do?  Here are five tips for eating out if you are a “mixed-eating” couple like my husband and me, after the jump.

1.  Ethnic, ethnic, ethnic.  This one is tricky–my husband wants to stay close to the holy trifecta of Americanized ethnic foods: Italian, Chinese, and Tex-Mex.  Those choices are fine, and usually very accommodating, but I can make pasta at home, and many Tex-Mex joints use lard in their cooking.  I’ve found Thai to be close enough to Chinese for my husband to find something he likes, but provides several out-of-the ordinary options.  Most Asian cuisines are very veg-friendly, and Indian cuisine is largely meat-free.  Many African cuisines, such as Ethiopian, have just as many meat-free menu items as meat-based.  An adventurous palate can help find a much wider variety of promising restaurants than if you were to stay with the same old places.

2. PIzza.  Half-and-half pizzas may have just saved my marriage.  Widely-available, the endless varieties and styles make pizza crucial to our eating out (and eating in) rotation.  One of the best restaurants I’ve been to in terms of equal eating opportunities for vegetarians, Pizza Luce in Minneapolis, not only has plenty of meat-free pizzas and pastas, but almost everything on the menus has a vegetarian, if not vegan, alternative.  Multiple vegan options, clearly marked as such, let you know that a restaurant knows what it is talking about.

3.  Don’t be afraid to ask. Although some chefs might stick their noses in the air at the thought of vegetarian or vegan cuisine, quite a few others are glad to create a meat-free, off-the-menu dish.  You just have to ask.  Sometimes, particularly if I’ve made reservations, I’ll even call ahead to let the chef know that there’s a vegetarian in the party.  I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the creative, thoughtful dishes chefs have made just for me.  In addition…

4.  Become a regular. When you find a place that you both like, visit often and spread the word to your friends.  Let the restaurant know they are doing  good job.  A restaurant is much more likely to cater to your needs if you routinely patronize their business and you won’t get stuck with the same old veggie pasta while everyone else enjoys something more creative.

5. Go where the farmers grow. Now is the perfect time to ask your favorite farmers market vendor to which restaurants they sell.  Chances are that a restaurant who takes the time to buy local will want to showcase that local produce, hence menu items that showcase veggies, not just meat.  I often see the owner/chef of one of my favorite St Louis restaurants at our farmers markets, so I know he’s going to have meatless entrees, and, as a bonus, is trying to patronize as many local growers as possible.

For those mixed-diet couples out there, what are your favorite types of cuisine or restaurants that make it easy to dine out together?

We’ve got some sweet posts for the week ahead. This week is Honey Week at Eat. Drink. Better. in tribute to bees and all they do for us, including that delicious honey. To kick it off, I want to share a cool bee fact and a recipe.

Did you know?

1. California’s almond orchards are the location of the largest pollination event annually. Nearly one million hives (about 50 percent) of the US honey bees are brought to the almond orchards each spring.
2. The apple crop in just New York requires about 30,000 hives.
3. 50,000 hives each year are needed for Maine’s blueberry crop.
4. According to the USDA, one-third of our diets rely on insect-pollinated plants. 80 percent of this pollination is done by bees.

Recipe for Honey Curried Cauliflower follows the jump.

Honey Curried Cauliflower
1 large head of cauliflower, cut into fourths
1/2 cup honey
2 ts. olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp. sweet curry blend
1/2 tsp. salt
black pepper to taste
1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place the cauliflower into a 9×9 baking dish. Mix the honey, oil, and spices together. Pour over the top of the cauliflower. Add 1/4 cup water to the bottom of the baking dish. Cover with foil. Bake for one hour in lower third of the oven. Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes to get the tops of the cauliflower deep golden brown. Pour the sauce in the bottom of the baking dish over the cauliflower to serve.

Related Posts
What’s the Buzz with Honey Bees?
Pollen: The Bee’s Knees?
Organic isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be: Try Going Local
Vanilla-Honey Ice Cream

“I have been thinking a lot this week about growing things and how lucky we are to live in a place where it is possible to see nature in all its forms. As pissed off as I get about the deer eating produce, it still takes my breath away to see a doe and her baby standing by the side of the road. I love to watch the dragon flies dive boming over the plants in the field and just have to search for the nest of a quail who is frantically trying to call me in the opposite direction. It never ceases to amaze me that a seed no bigger than a pinhead can create a plant that is over 12 feet tall and will produce a two-pound tomato. What a wondrous world we live in.

Post for this week follow the jump.

Ametrine presents Gardening For A Sustainable Planet posted at Ways To Simplify.

Maria presents Shop Sustainable at the Farmers Market posted at Green This Town.

Lane Wright presents Favorite Quinoa Recipes posted at Vegan Bits.

Ilana, the Hip Hostess, presents Mango Rhubarb Cobbler.

Jen Carlile presents Lamb’s Quarter Filo Pie posted at Modern Beet.

Walter Jessen presents The Upside of High Food Prices posted at Highlight HEALTH.

Related Posts
Farmers Market Fare 10
Farmers Market Fare 9
Farmers Market Fare 8