centre of the universe - the dreaming: Wayfaring

02/21/2007: "Wayfaring" So in Alberta, where money grows on trees, people are spending more on culture. That's good news. It's also good news that folks in Saskatoon and in Winnipeg spend more on arts and culture than those hose-heads who live in Toronto (what thinks it is the centER for the universe. Silly Toronto). Of course, Alberta doesn't pay its *artists* very well. Read a little lower in that article, and you'll see that the wage parity for artists and cultural workers is pretty atrocious.

An interesting idea, that pregnancy can alieviate some of the symptoms of MS. It makes sense, when you think about it. MS is a condition, I believe, that attacks the body's immune system. During pregnancy, the immune system can go into a highly protective mode, and concentrates on getting bad things out, so rather than attacking the myelin covering over the nerves (some of what happens with MS), the immune system concentrates on Other Things. A good friend of mine has MS, but I don't think he's going to like being pregnant...

There's a reason I don't like eating mass-produced meats. Not only do most of the animals whence comes your bacon, burgers, and brunch meats never see the light of day, but they are born in teeny tiny little stalls, removed from their mothers (in the case of cattle, weird stuff is done to the cows to ensure continuous lactation), and placed in other pens to be raised by machines, to live in slightly bigger pens for the rest of their lives. The SPCA has something to say about this, too, and has applauded recent changes to the way animals are cared for, particularly in large-scale operations. However, producers still use 'gestation stalls' and they are touted as "adequate". Bleah. By choosing to buy meat from local producers, not only do I know more or less what goes in to those animals, but I know that those animals have been out to pasture. I know that they're left more or less to themselves, in the fresh air, without too much crap in their systems. Even our eggs. I prefer to get eggs from local producers, and I much prefer free-range eggs. And milk is an issue. I've been starting to buy organic milk, from smaller farms where the cows are allowed and encouraged to mull about in the out-of-doors. To be honest, I prefer fresh farm cream from non-pasteurised, hand-milked beasties, but it's apparently illegal in Canada for me to buy it. I have to clandestinely hang out behind barns, wearing nothing but a balaclava (a very long balaclava), whispering in the dead of dawn, "Psssst. Hey buddy. Wanna sell your DAIRY PRODUCTS?" And then the farmer, who may or may not have a shotgun with him/her because s/he has seen someone wearing nothing but a very long balaclava lurking about behind the barn, might say, "Uh. Sure. Do you have a sealing jar?"
And then I'd pass over the Cheez Whiz jars. "Will these do?" I'll whisper.
"Sure. Just, um, stay over there, in the shadows. I'll be back in a while..."
When the farmer returns with the fresh milk and/or cream, which s/he has packed in the glass jars in a cardboard box packed with newspaper (the Western Producer), s/he will hand it over carefully, and I will hand over a blank cheque. "You can just make this out for fifteen bucks," the farmer will say.
"You got a pen?" I'm still whispering, of course. The farmer hands me a POOL pen. "You got a stamp?" I'll whisper harshly in the coming light.
"Uh. No..."
"That's okay. I trust you. You're good people...." I'll hand the cheque over, then back away, carrying my cardboard box full of fresh milk, not breaking eye contact with the farmer. I'll just keep backing away until I either stumble in a gopher hole or reach my car, which is parked in the windbreak at the edge of the field. I'll cackle to myself, put the box in the backseat, start up the car and creep away up the grid road toward home.
The farmer will probably just shake his/her head, put the cheque in his/her pocket, pull his/her hat a little further down, and get the winch and chains ready because s/he has just seen me drive into the dugout.

See!? Organic is better.

"Partial success" "It's a long way to Tipperary"

6 Comments

laura , on Wednesday, 21st February:

I'm falling in love with Organic...mmmm fresh veggie-tables... no milk products though, just cuz no matter how i try, i just WILL NOT tolerate Lactose. And that's saying sumthin' cuz i'm usually fairly tolerant.

Der Kaptin , on Wednesday, 21st February:

Interesting dairy products scene. This Doctor Mercola site that I see regularly is waging an ongoing battle about the benefits of unpasteurized milk, and the dairy industry's, largely-more-successful, campaign to convince people that it's ~~dangerous~~.

It's invenereal to me as far as I'm sophisticated, because, like Laura, lactose and I have p(f)arted company.

BPM IV , on Wednesday, 21st February:

It's still the Centre of the Universe out here - we're still Canadian here.. we're just better then the rest of you. That's all. :-p

Anyways - the unpasteurized dairy debate is big out here too - top chefs like to use some of it in their hoity-toity creations and have to go to some interesting lengths to get their fix.

So, um, yeah - same issue - just affects our world-class restaurants, not our dinner table. :-p

savia , on Wednesday, 21st February:

I need a dealer!

TB , on Friday, 23rd February:

I've been a big fan of organic dairy for a few years. It really tastes a lot fresher and better to me. And I've recently switched to cage-free organic eggs and I'm wondering why I didn't do it sooner, they are much, much better.

Interesting article about MS and pregnancy. I've read pregnancy can also temporarily alleviate the symptoms of diseases like depression and bi-polar disorder too, but that doesn't mean that people suffering from debilitating illness should get pregnant. In theory it seems like they should be able to find a way to mimic the benefits of pregnancy to help these folks without them actually having to have to care for a child.

cenobyte , on Friday, 23rd February:

It's a fine line, isn't it? If you muck about too much with hormones in an 'unnatural way', you get all buggered up. If you don't, you can still get all buggered up. I'm convinced a lot of hormone imbalances can be linked to diet, too.

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