Do you know the source of the food that is on your plate?

In a recent PBS, P.O.V. broadcast of the 2010 Oscar nominated documentary entitled, Food, Inc., the filmmaker, Robert Kenner, shows that the food we eat in America is not generated on small farms any longer. Over the past few decades, small farms have been eliminated and now a few major corporations provide our food. It’s a highly mechanized process dictating how the animals are raised in the most inhumane conditions. Cattle, pigs, and chickens no longer graze in green pastures eating grass or grain, but exist in large feed lots crammed next to each other steeped in their own excrement. To control disease, the animals are given antibiotics in their corn feed, but more strains of E. coli have developed affecting 73,000 Americans annually.

You can also read the article, "Getting Real About the High Price of Food," in Time magazine by Bryan Walsh.

We do have a choice, however, to eat organically raised animals, vegetables, and fruits though a little higher in cost. In fact, here in New England, there are many small, family-owned organic farms going back to the natural way of raising animals in pastures feeding on grass and grains. Bill and I just ordered a quarter of grass-fed beef that will rotate feeding on grass in the open pasture, which turns out to be economical and ensures a safe food source.