Chicken? Really? Are you $!*$^!# kidding me?

[Caliga]

If all the "free range" stuff labelled as such here in the UK would actually be free range, every house would need to be full of chickens.

I would tend to agree, at least since the end of World War II.

[KRonn]

There were some people here who were trying that 100-km rule, announced with a full-on media blitz.  They quietly dropped it during the winter when they realized that they wouldn't be able to eat any fresh produce for about eight months of the year.

I don't need no steenkin' 100km rule!       I use a 25 yards rule for a few months of summer. I get corn, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, squash or whatever I'm growing that year out of my backyard garden. Been eating my home grown stuff since mid July, still getting veggies from there, waiting on my next potato crop to be ready. I've already put a bunch of stuff in the freezer, lots of corn and beans, with potatoes stored in the cellar. 

[Neil]

You don't eat meat?  How awful!

[KRonn]

I eat meat, chicken, fish etc., store bought of course. I did trap a couple squirrels over the summer that were raiding my corn so I guess I could have cooked them up and considered them part of my backyard farmer's market, but nah. 

[derspiess]

Speaking of trapping pesky animals, I believe I have another mole trying to excavate the tunnels of my former mole.  I had just gotten grass to start growing again in the dead spots.

Set the trap this morning.  If I get this one, I may hang his body from a tree as a warning to others

[Jacob]

I drink locally

[derspiess]

I also use eco-friendly growlers whenever possible rather than buy it in bottles

[Savonarola]

Greenhouses are wonderful and do extend the growing season.

But they don't work so well in -30C in January.  Even at the local farmers market you won't find greenhouse-grown veggies that time of year.

There are large greenhouses in Ontario south of Detroit.  Even that far south and with the Great Lakes to warm the region the greenhouses would produce nothing in late January and February.

Here in Florida we have the opposite problem, it's hard to find local produce in July and August.  We need shade houses. 

[The Brain]

Speaking of trapping pesky animals, I believe I have another mole trying to excavate the tunnels of my former mole.  I had just gotten grass to start growing again in the dead spots.

Set the trap this morning.  If I get this one, I may hang his body from a tree as a warning to others

Artist's impression:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCG_ETMZvyg

[Maximus]

Greenhouses are wonderful and do extend the growing season.

But they don't work so well in -30C in January.  Even at the local farmers market you won't find greenhouse-grown veggies that time of year.

There are large greenhouses in Ontario south of Detroit.  Even that far south and with the Great Lakes to warm the region the greenhouses would produce nothing in late January and February.

Here in Florida we have the opposite problem, it's hard to find local produce in July and August.  We need shade houses. 

It's not just heat. A certain amount of sunlight is required as well.

[Jacob]

I also use eco-friendly growlers whenever possible rather than buy it in bottles

Careful now, you might turn into a hippie 

[Ed Anger]

I'm eating toast smothered with home made Apple butter (and regular butter).

The bread came from a factory. The butter? I assume Wisconsin. Or Minnesota.

[Sheilbh]

If all the "free range" stuff labelled as such here in the UK would actually be free range, every house would need to be full of chickens.

Well 'free range' has a meaning. It's not medieval farming or even organic farming. So it's still modern and industrialised. But it can make a big difference in taste, especially with poultry I find.

But obviously if you want real quality you need something on a smaller scale - my brother has a smallholding and that food's amazing.

[Ideologue]

Given China's recent history and reputation for food safety, nervousness already surrounds the prospect of U.S.-raised and slaughtered chicken being processed in China before being shipped back to the United States. 

I'm very surprised that it's cheaper to ship the birds or their carcasses to China for slaughter, then ship them back to the US for sale in markets! In fact, from what I've been reading some companies are finding it not such a bargain to produce products in China due to rising wage and benefit demands by Chinese workers, then the cost of shipping the goods to the US.
Then too after all the food issues by China I usually try not to buy food grown or processed in China.

Yeah.  That sentence:

Given China's recent history and reputation for food safety, nervousness already surrounds the prospect of U.S.-raised and slaughtered chicken being processed in China before being shipped back to the United States.

basically sums up everything wrong with the world.

We will be looked back upon as insane people.