100 degree days here in LA. whew. i went for a dip in a pool of hexagons.
and octagons!
i can always count on geometry to soothe my hot savage self.
in other news… i started reading this book:
which led to poking around and doing some research on the organic milk industry and finding some disturbing facts. here is where you change the channel if you're a vegan. many so-called, "organic" brands run their giant factory farms as inhumanely and unethically as non-organic industrial milk operations.
i thought i would share THIS excellent resource that keeps scorecards on tons of organic milk operations. i was looking for a dairy that either IS a small family run operation, or one that gets its milk from these type of small family farms with pastured free-roaming cows. i'm super excited to find i have several good brands to choose from here in California. Stremick Heritage, Clover Organic, Whole Foods (365 Organic), and Organic Valley. just passing the information along if you're a milk drinker and interested in this sort of thing.
and if you're not. well…MOO.
image from harding college of ed
now i'm off to find scorecards on organic free-range chicken & egg operations. will report my findings!
I feel bad for dairy cows. Constantly breastfeeding the world. Drink Almond milk.
From Moo to Meow. . .I am not sure if you have shared any of the Maru videos with us yet Mary Ann but if not here is a link to one of them. Maru seems like your kind of cat. Hysterical. This reminded me of my cat who once crawled into an empty open (female protection item) box (a super small one)!
Life was once so simple. We are fortunate to be able to get our eggs from a friend and we use almond milk ( problems there?) for smoothies, etc. We do get some milk and the closest place to find truly organic is probably 20 miles down the Interstate. That means more gas, more pollution, more time, etc. Sometimes it is a hard call to make. Thanks for your info.
Thank you so much, Mary Ann, for giving vegans the heads-up to choose, or not to choose, to continue reading. I so appreciate that in you!
Moooooooo. Milk doesn’t like me and I don’t like it….so there you go. Love your art pages. It is 100 here today ….and probably will be the same tomorrow”……sick of the heat and having to run the AC….
You definitely want to avoid Horizon and Safeway Organic. You left out Straus Family Creamery which is a small family owned organic dairy in Marin County, pretty easy to find in northern California. They may not go as far south as you. There have been complaints filed with the USDA National Organic Program that some of these farms are not following the letter of the regulations (or twisting them to their own point of view which is not what was meant when the regs were compiled). Like keeping cows indoors for their entire lactating life (3-4 years) with no pasture access at all during that time. Moo indeed. Especially considering that grass is the nature food for bovines. Anything else gives them digestion troubles. And then they need medical care so it is really not OK to be claiming these animals have pasture access when they don’t.
free range chickens and cows this brings to my over active imagination, cows and chidkens every where, roaming, normal to see a cow or two walking down the street, with the chickens running along side them, no boundaries to worry about, and they’d be everywhere…any of you ever read Far Side comics…he was fond of giving animals human attributes..any way I had a giggle reading this but seriously, what I really like the thought of is all us free range humans who get to have a choice. We live in an area where we can get our dairy and eggs from a local farm, no hormones to worry about. I can’t say we eat all that properly but when I can I cook from scratch, buy local as much as possible, but I’m not gonna lie, I like the occasional potoato chip, someone gotta liberate potatoes and love to make home made fresh french fries from time to time…no Mc’anything’ here, or out and about we try and balance any munchies with lots of fresh fruits…love berries of all kinds when I can get them. Anyhoo, glad you are doing all this research for us and sharing it…after all, nothing can beat a ‘free range’ blog post from time to time. 🙂
Thanks for posting this info, Mary Ann! Whole Foods has irritated me in the past, but it looks like that’s where I’ll be getting milk from now on.
Now I’m really wondering about the organic chicken and eggs I’ve been buying.
Thanks for delving deeper. I also want to buy organic AND humane.
Oh, how I have missed you, and this wonderful place you have created.
Leave it to you to have the perfect post upon my return. After school I plan to spend the evening catching up on everything I have missed (Mum, if you’re reading this please note I obviously mean after homework).
We get our raw, organic milk straight from the farm. Love love it! We will not go back to the other.
thank you so much for your “reports” – i am very interested in getting the best food products from humane vendors. love your hexagons!
LJ i watched that. thanks! afterwards i found this about CLOVER
I love Clo the cow, “spokescow” for Clover. There are billboards all over the county that say things like “Tip Clo through your two lips”. Most ideas are sent in by customers.
Here’s a sampling of “Clo”:
Good for you! There’s obviously an ethical dilemma that one faces as a person who loves animals, but is not vegetarian either. I am this, and I frequently wrestle with it. The best solution I can come up with is to be as responsible and conscious as one can be in one’s habits – trying to eat foods from people who do have their animal’s well being at the foremost. It’s very hard though, as one assumes that if you buy at the farmer’s market, or you are buying from ‘green’ producers that they are doing the right thing. Disturbing to find out that this is not always the case – Investigative Journalist MAM is on the beat!
Thanks for posting this! I usually buy Organic Valley milk but today I grabbed a gallon of Horizon–NO MORE! (or Trader J’s for that matter). I look forward to the chicken report! 😉
xo Hope you have a beautiful week, S