In the previous issue of Harvest Haven Happenings, Martin commented on the film, What The Health. Thanks to all who expressed appreciation for his insights.
Growing out of that review came a discussion about veganism. We have customers who are vegans, who have tried to be vegans, and who are recovering vegans.
Eating IS for sure an agricultural act and you can't isolate any one aspect of farming. From where we stand, we see that there is a decision people can make about their diet. They can either live life in fullness where food is concerned, which is what has been the case for thousands of years, or they can live on life support systems, dependent on supplements and other measures that were not applied or even known in the past millennia.
Back to basics is what we believe is not only good, but needful and most certainly achievable. We've been proving it to ourselves and are committed to help all those who want vibrant health the natural way as God always intended.
Martin's Facebook Conversation about Veganism
Harvest Haven: When it comes down to it, the cost of clean food is like the price of clean fuel for your car; it's a lot cheaper in the long run than the cost of engine repairs, or failure.
I can't speak for everyone's diet or body type but I can tell you our experience. We've had to help a lot of ex-vegans recover from the damage they've done to their bodies. You can't just eliminate meat from your diet without a proper understanding of vitamin and amino acid necessities.
I can also tell you that eliminating animals from the agricultural scene would be a disaster. If you think food is expensive now, try eliminating all the animals that allow farmers to profit on perennial fallow for their land. And while you're at it, eliminate good compost that comes as a welcome by-product. Have any of the vegans considered what will happen when everyone in the world sources their protein from annual tillage?
Now I'd like to address this comment that was up on this thread for a while before it was deleted. It said, "I hope you're not crapping on all vegans, cause that's what it sounds like" (May not be verbatim but it's close).
I can honestly tell you this. I've never met a vegan who didn't crap on me. You see, vegans believe that what I do for a living is pure evil. When it gets down to it, they think I'm a monster. How fair is that? And yet if I so much as poke a couple holes in their logic, I'm somehow risking "sounding like I'm crapping on them."
I have no desire to walk on glass for the sake of people who have no problem falsely accusing us of all kinds of evil. If a person wants to go vegan because they think it will improve their health, I don't mind a bit to help them find the most nourishing vegetables around, but Veganism isn't just about health. Veganism is a religious doctrine that fancies itself on the moral high ground above all meat-eating folks.
So, here's where I'm at.
Veganism as a diet is risky.
Veganism as an ethical stance is morally reprehensible.
I will not, as a responsible, clean, and God-fearing farmer, submit or even be considerate of a doctrine that condemns the good we've been given to do for so many people.
Respondent: I'd just like to put it out there that the comment mentioned was of my own. It was a little more than that but it was a simple question. I absolutely HATE the vegan community even though I am a part of it. I agree that they are vindictive and act entitled just because they eat differently. I am really sorry if that comment sounded rude and uncalled for, in fact, that's why I deleted it, because like how I read this post, I think it wasn't taken the way I intended.
The vegan lifestyle is a something that can be healthy IF DONE RIGHT like you said. It's like any eating habits. Any diet has the potential to be risky because of the variety of unhealthy products out there.
The point of this comment though is to really say sorry; sorry for the comment that probably wasn't worded the best, as well sorry for the experience you've had with other vegans. I swear there is, even if a small batch, of us who are normal people who don't act like we are better than everyone :).
Harvest Haven: Thank you for your reply. Very much appreciated!
Let me expand on my point above, with some examples. Perhaps you've already considered these things, in which case it will still benefit others.
As a vegan, many of the vegetable farmers you purchase your produce from, particularly organic ones, use legume cover crops like alfalfa to fallow their fields and renew the nitrogen bank for the next crop. This alfalfa is sold to farmers like me to raise cattle for meat and dairy. And in many cases the cattle compost is returned to the vegetable fields. In these ways, the death of animals is still intertwined in the production of vegetables. I'm not saying there aren't other animal-free models of productions, but they aren't the norm.
Then there is the fact that chickens make such wonderful use of food waste, magically converting it into eggs and meat, but vegans forbid me from doing that as well.
Vegans also pay very little mind to incredible volume of worms and insects that are killed with annual tillage for their veggie crops, whereas grazing livestock on perennial pasture increases the amount of those organisms. Organisms will die in the production of food, no matter how you slice it. And as this What the Health movie proves, the vegan religion won't even stand in solidarity against conventional agriculture. In other words, you can pollute streams and lakes and wipe out the bees, deer, rabbits and countless other creatures that depend on a clean environment, just as long as you don't put the honey or the deer meat in your mouth. It is such gross hypocrisy it makes my spirit burn.
And while the vegans slice worms in half (I'm not suggesting they shouldn't), they tell me it's evil to cooperate with bees and harvest their honey. They pay no mind to the fact that I partner with pest control companies to rescue bee swarms from homeowners and businesses who want to kill them with Raid. No mention that we take in swarms destined for death and give them a safe home on an organic farm and plant flowers for them. Nevertheless, we're still evil for taking their honey. They speak in ignorance not knowing that if I didn't take their honey and manage their living space, they would likely swarm again and would risk dying if they didn't find a new safe home again.
Another interesting point is that many of the supplements vegans take are synthesized by bacteria.... that die. While psychologically it may seem more justifiable, it still demonstrates the need for death in the animal kingdom for human health. Vitamin B12 supplements are still an animal kingdom by-product.
So while some may eat macro-animal products and others may not, we all need to come to terms with the fact that life is always at the expense of death. There's no way of wiping your hands clean of that. There is always a sacrifice. As farmers, we make life and death decisions everyday and that is our life until we die.
Thank you again for expressing yourself. This is a needful dialogue for a lot of people. I can see that you're not really a vegan. You just don't eat animal products .
Respondent: I could not agree more with your points! I am what they call a "bad" vegan in the community. I don't eat dairy but only because my stomach doesn't do to well to it, but i choose to eat eggs and honey. As strange as this sounds 'Im not 'vegan' for the animals. The only reason I do not eat meat is for the mass consumption and production that creates a bunch of environmental problems.
I used to live in a bigger city where buying local, and truly local meat was slim to known, but since moving to Lethbridge has been easier. I choose smaller, local farms to get my produce and eggs from like you guys at the farmers market! And when I do cook meat, which my fiancé and sister who I live with do, I choose to source locally instead of larger big box stores.
I love what you guys stand for which is looking out for the environment. I agree that What The Health is very one sided and only depicts a single way to eat better, which is a load of crap.
Harvest Haven: I have good news for you if bad farming is your reason for not eating meat. Did you know that properly managed grass-fed beef pulls carbon emissions back out of the air and turns them into rich black earth? In fact, it's estimated that if everyone in North America replaced all their factory beef with grass fed beef, we could recapture all the CO2 emissions released since the beginning of the industrial revolution within twenty years!
You see, feedlot animals eat nothing but grain which requires millions of liters of diesel fuel for cultivation - seeding, fertilizing, spraying, harvesting, hauling, and then the cleaning up and spreading of manure.
Grass fed animals, on the other hand, are the reverse of a feedlot. Every time a cow bites a portion of grass, an equal portion of roots dies under the ground and turns into rich earth. Then if that plant is permitted to rest without being regrazed immediately (hence properly managed grazing), the roots regrow. Then after the plant reaches maturity again, the process starts over again. None of this requires fossil fuels. Grassland is perennial so it doesn't need to be cultivated or reseeded and the cows do the fertilizing. Ruminating herbivores are the only mechanisms by which people can source complete proteins from the land while building soil and healing the land at the same time. It's a beautiful thing!
This notion that raising animals is bad for the planet needs to be abolished. There is good farming and bad farming. All good farming is good for everyone and everything. All bad farming is bad for everyone and everything. It's that simple.
The only thing better than boycotting the problem is supporting the solution. Good farming is the antidote to pollution and destruction and good farmers need your help!
Respondent: I didn't know that but it definitely seems logical! That's why I buy local grass-fed meat when I do. I most likely won't start eating meat again but I agree that people who do need to understand the importance of good vs bad farming.
