Our Daily Bread: A movie review

"Our Daily Bread" had been staring me at the DVD rental shop for months, and I kept rejecting in favor of something else, because I had a feeling I knew what would come, a full on indictment of industrial food production. I rented it Friday, and that is what I got. A kind of Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance experience completely about the industry that manufactures much of the food we eat without the cool Philip Glass music. In fact there is no music at all; the only speaking one can hear is the very quiet speech of workers from a distance, and there is little other background noise other than machine or animal sounds.

The blurb for the movie says:

OUR DAILY BREAD is a wide-screen tableau of a feast which isn’t always easy to digest - and in which we all take part. A pure, meticulous and high-end film experience that enables the audience to form their own ideas.

We may have been enabled to form our own ideas, but the images left me with very little wiggle room. My conclusion is that if the results of the industry portrayed in this film were my only source of nutrition, there would be no need for my continued existence. Fortunately I have other sources, and am struggling to create my own, so I still have a place here.

The food industry degrades the existence of everyone that comes in touch with it. There is often a disclaimer at the end of movies, something to the effect of "No animals were harmed in the making of this movie." My son chuckled that the disclaimer at the end of this one should read something like, "No animals were unharmed in the making of this movie." From birth the babies were raised to live the most miserable lives imaginable, only to be killed in the end so their bodies could be consumed by humans. The humans involved faired only slightly better, the odds being good that their lives would not end at the hands of another person, and less likely that their bodies would be consumed by canibals. Thier working lives were either as drones serving the mutant plant food, or right out of the first ring of circle 7 of Hell in the river of blood to which we are all doomed if Dante was right. This Hell in Phlegethon is Dante's name for the river of hot blood that serves as the first ring where spillers of blood themselves, violent offenders are submerged to a level corresponding to their guilt.

My convictions about the food industry and my choises were reenforced, and it was ironic that today a friend questioned my decision not to feed my children meat, as they ate spaghetti with "meat sauce," whatever that may be. I wanted to tell them about the film, but didn't think it would be a good idea to ruin their meals. I just said that I don't want to feed my kids the industrial food products any more than I want to eat it myself. 

roof and roost from front

roof and roost from front
Originally uploaded by touzanka

This is a shot of the roost and roof from the front. It is getting heavier all the time, so I hope it is still mobile in the end.

roost

roost
Originally uploaded by touzanka

The roost. Hoping it will be long enough for three birds to hang out on.

coop roof

coop roof
Originally uploaded by touzanka

This is a shot of the roof. I made it a kind of lid that will fit neatly on top so as not to blow away in the early spring winds, and to allow it to be lifted off for added ventilation in the hot summer.

LancasterOnline.com:Lifestyle:Pint-sized 'guerilla gardeners' sow seeds

Great! Kids using seed balls, ala Masanobu Fukuoka to grow flowers in empty lots.
LancasterOnline.com:Lifestyle:Pint-sized 'guerilla gardeners' sow seeds

Assembled frame front

frame1
Originally uploaded by touzanka

This is a photo of the assembled frame from the front.

This is all I could do with the time that I had today. Gotta work sometime. I will continue to photograph the progress here and keep updating this project.

Assembled frame 2

frame2
Originally uploaded by touzanka

This is a photo of the assembled frame, with triangular supports on the front end of the play area.

coop parts 2

parts2
Originally uploaded by touzanka

These are the two sides of the coop with the lateral supports in the middle.

coop parts 1

coopparts1
Originally uploaded by touzanka

This is a photo of one of the sides fitted loosely.

Mobile chicken coop plan

plan
Originally uploaded by touzanka

This is the plan for the chicken coop we are working on. In the upper left corner, you can see the measurements and the numbers of the main beams for the main frame. We used 4.5x4.5cmx4m lumber for the main frame, and put it together with wood screws. Guess it may save some time in maintenance.

The newest swine flu isn't as new as you might think, and is a direct result of the way we grow food

According to an article in The Charleston Gazette, a newspaper from my home state of West Virginia, the new strain of swine flu is not new, and came as a direct result of the way we grow our food.

From a link in the paper, one can read at The News and Observer site

"This virus was found in pigs here in the United States," Rabadan said in an interview. "They were getting sick in 1998. It became a swine virus."

 Then from the Gazette article itself you can read

And therefore you’ve got a lot of hosts available to exchange a pathogen, which is one of the processes by which viruses and bacteria evolve and acquire mutations. And then the way in which these operations are run – and I want to stress that this is a worldwide issue, it is not peculiar or restricted to Mexico.

People have also isolated influenza virus from the legs and feet of flies in the vicinity of these operations. This was noted in some outbreaks of avian influenzas, for example, in Japan.

This new disease is neither new nor inevitable. We can start to change this global health issue ourselves by changing the way that we choose the food we eat. Eat locally grown food from farmers who use sustainable, humane methods.

Public transportation is poor choice for some

Have to go to Kobe today, so took the train to work. Walked for 35 minutes, rode for 50 minutes, and waited for trains for 35 minutes. Cost 600 yen, about six dollars. In cost effectiveness, public transportation comes in last. Next is a car, costing about $2.34 in gas round trip and less than one hour one way. Next would be a scooter with 67cents in gas and one hour. Bicycle is number one! No gas, one hour.

On "How to save the world: One man, one cow, one planet"

Peter Proctor is a farmer in India using Biodynamic farming techniques to help people everywhere. He has seen first hand how the agrichemical based farming has ruined huge portions of India's farmland, and he has lived the good news of how organic/natural/biodynamic farming can produce sustainable yields into perpetuity.

The documentary "How to Save the World: One man, one cow, one planet" is a terrific introduction on how "The Green Revolution" in India was really chemical warfare on the earth, and how he has dedicated his life to building sustainable farming in India based on the work of Rudolph Steiner and Biodynamics. Biodynamics is really a comprehensive lifestyle that incorporates and sustains communities. This is the kind of future humankind can have.

I was also impressed by a quote by Ghandi that appeared in the film, and it sums up how this kind of farming is also a political act, supporting a democratic future.

Ghandi's view of Democracy

My notion of democracy is that under it the weakest should have the same opportunity as the strongest... No country in the world today shows any but patronising regard for the weak... Western democracy, as it functions today, is diluted fascism... True democracy cannot be worked by twenty men sitting at the centre. It has to be worked from below by the people of every village.

Honeybee shortage worries Japanese farmers : Read Pesticides killing off bees

I always wondered about this. I mean pesticides aimed at bugs kill bugs. There is probably some fine tuning one can do to limit collateral damage, but if you spray for insects, you will probably kill insects. Farmers spreading tons of insecticides are killing off the bees that they need to pollinate their crops. Then they blame it on Australian disease or ticks that have now become resistant to the pesticides that are supposed to kill them. It is all too ironic.

The answer is to farm with nature rather than against it. It may take time and effort, and much economic discomfort to the agrichemical industry, but it's possible.

04/19/2009 - Honeybee shortage worries Japanese farmers - STLtoday.com

'Natural patterns' of farming touted in documentary - USATODAY.com

If I have a hero, it would have to be "Joel Salatin: Lunatic Farmer."

'Natural patterns' of farming touted in documentary - USATODAY.com: "'Joel Salatin: Lunatic Farmer.'"

Four articles in the international press on younger people in agriculture in Japan

Four articles recently in the international press about young people getting intersted in farming in Japan. Most of the articles give the current economic conditions and concerns about food safety as reasons for the move.

Christian Science Monitor, Donga, Wall Street Journal and New York Times all give accounts of people heading to the countryside to work on farms in various capacities. I am intersted in how they are making it considering the relative difficult system of acquiring farm land. They will also have to bring creativity along with their strong backs to make a living, as prices of everything is dropping and the government is less and less willing to subsidize farmers.

Overall it is a great move, and as in all things, the tough will stick with it and potentially be very successful. If I were thinking of doing it all over again, I would certainly think about farming. Right now I would be working on growing organics and developing new distribution systems.

G8 Warns Food Crisis May Become Permanent

The solution looks obvious to me, but agrimonopolies probably look at it differently.

To meet this challenge, Rev. Beckman emphasized that more resources should be made available to small subsistence farmers throughout the world. "Subsidizing corporate farmers who manage thousands of acres in Iowa will feed hungry people. But putting resources into the hands of small farmers can enable entire rural communities to thrive by providing jobs and generating income to stimulate local economies."

G8 Warns Food Crisis May Become Permanent

World Tea News - Teatulia Hits Ground Running in U.S. Expansion

This tea product company uses tea grown with natural farming techniques. Cool stuff. It is so funny. I went to a tea shop here once and asked for organically grown tea. The grouchy old guy who ran the shop said that there is no such thing as organically grown tea, and if they say it is they are lying. I get that kind of reaction alot when I try to explain to people what I want to do.

Anyway, would sure love to support these tea growers, but my guess is that they won't be coming here anytime soon.

World Tea News - Teatulia Hits Ground Running in U.S. Expansion

planted half of a paddy and worked on making a place for the chickens

Went out this morning and planted rice in half of another paddy. Didn't really want to plant that much, but have so much seed left over, just decided to do it. Next year I'll do the calculations on how much seed to buy myself, and plant it. I will also plant the wheat in rows. Broadcasting it was easy to plant, but the weeds are going to start to compete here pretty soon, and It will be impossible to get between the plants.

Went to a friend's house to give him the seed if he wanted it. He took some of it, but he plants field rice (rikutou) not paddy rice (suitou). I think he wanted it to make his rice a little tastier. Rikutou isn't as good tasting as suitou.

I am also going to get a couple of chickens from him. He keeps about a dozen hens and a couple of roosters. I haven't built my coop and pen yet, but have some ideas about how I want to build it. I want to make a mobile coop and attached pen so that it can be moved around my fields, letting the chickens eat the bugs and grass while their deposits will improve the fertility of the soil. He feeds them wheat, imported as animal feed from the US, rice bran, and vegies. He said he used to feed them corn, again imported from the US, but they aren't importing it much now, or at least he isn't able to get it from the supplier he used to get it from. He also uses rice bran on the floor of the coop to absorb the droppings and make it easier to spread as fertilizer. That is a great idea, as the bran absorbs the moisture making really easy to clean up and the smell inside the coop is only of rice bran, doesn't smell chickeny at all.

I think if his place had rice paddies it would be ideal. As it is, it sits on a hill, and he would have to rely on tap water or well water to irigate the paddies. Not the ideal situation.

Finished planting one paddy

Finished planting one paddy yesterday, and we have 2/3 of the seed left. I went to the farming cooperative and asked how much seed they recommended for the area that we are planting. They told me, and I bought it. We only used about a third of it on the one paddy we expected to plant. We will use up the remaider on the paddies that aren't planted yet and give some to friends, but I'm really surprised that we had so much left over. Beautiful day for it, though. Really pleasant day.