@hlovins Hunter Lovins explains how we should start grazing to save the planet…
…no, not us. Not humans. That’d be silly. No, she’s truly excellent on why it’s cattle we should be grazing more of, in her piece entitled “why George Monbiot is wrong: grazing livestock can save the world”
Or listen to Rick Haney, a U.S. Department of Agriculture soil scientist in this piece called “Dirt First”, flagged up by Dan Barber.
@defendingbeef The Science of Soil Health: Compaction
http://youtu.be/GTUVRieYoZ8?5BFt
and by Nicolette Hahn Niman:
Well managed cattle improve soil health by increasing organic matter-soil carbon. This in turn improves the soil’s capacity to hold more H2O
© Nicolette Hahn NimanGreat description of how to raise pigs; in this case some very beautiful Hindsholm hogs from Denmark but this process should apply everywhere around the globe. Slow is good. Fast is bad.
And how to solve the bread over-supply? This piece from Eater is interesting.
Here’s Grant Achatz
“He stood up and greeted her loudly in rapid-fire Italian, waving his arms and kissing her on both cheeks. She bear-hugged him back. The woman appeared to be eighty years old, even though she was probably sixty. She wore a blue dress with small white flowers scattered across it and a white apron loosely tied around her rotund midsection.
A man who I assumed was her husband walked over, plunked down wineglasses and a plate of crostini with chicken liver, bean, and tomato toppings. He filled our glasses with a hefty pour of red wine.
“She usually just cooks, well, whatever!” Tom said. “Today she’s made chicken under a brick, some gnocchi, wilted greens, and fagioli al fiasco. You guys know what that is? Basically a very typical Tuscan way of cooking white beans. She’ll place them in a glass flask over a dying fire until they’re creamy. They’re pretty awesome.”
“Yes they are,” I thought. “Yes they are.”
I peeked around the corner and saw the woman bent over a makeshift grill with glowing embers beneath, pushing a plain old brick on top of our chickens. Four glass flasks filled with beans were positioned around the edges.
We ate and drank for two hours. I didn’t want to leave. Everything was more perfect, more delicious, and more inviting than any of the three-star restaurants we’d been to. Even the service was better.
At the end of the meal the woman brought out a plate of almond cookies and we dunked them in Vin Santo. “Grazie,” everyone said.
I left the restaurant in a daze, and not because of the wine.
I realized immediately that I had just had the best meal of my life.
And finally, if this picture isn’t the very definition of “happiness” then I don’t know what is…
