After last’s weeks post about loving yourself, this week I’ve been thinking about loving the environment, and by extension, my grass-fed farmers. Grass-fed farmers are today’s environmentalists, providing healthful and sustainable meats while restoring the soil and the ecosystem. If you want to eat your meat raw, as you occasionally should, grassfed is really the only feasible way. And Weeknight Carpaccio is the easiest way.

Factory farming

In 2001, Fast Food Nation was published and it came into my hands. I devoured this book, and it shook me.

In addition to the specifics of the rise and export of fast food, this book took a deep dive into the factory production of farm animals. As if the treatment of animals wasn’t completely appalling, Eric Schlosser describes the inhumane conditions of meat slaughterhouses and the diseased meat that emerges from this process.

The continuous diet of antibiotics to farm animals (80 percent of US sales) both reduces the effectiveness of antibiotics and leads to antibiotic-resistant diseases flourishing in factory farming operations. Moreover, these concentrated operations are polluting air, land, and water in devastating proportions.

On sale for a bargain price near you. In every grocery store and unavoidable in most restaurants.

Once you know the details, the thought of consuming this tainted meat is disgusting. Supporting these companies is upsetting. And so I avoided eating meat for several years.

Celebration of pasture

Fortunately, in 2007, I stumbled across The Omnivore’s Dilemma at a quaint, neighborhood bookstore. (Remember those?!) Here, Michael Pollan introduced me to Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm and clean, grass-fed, pastured meat. Agriculture could in fact be healthful for the earth and interconnected species, from the insects to the people.

Sustainable. As it had been for a long time.

The sun feeds the grass, that feeds the cows, that fertilizes the soil, that increases biodiversity, that (re)builds topsoil, that nourishes the grass…

In exact contrast to the absolute destruction of the environment offered by factory farming, this type of farming actually rehabilitates damaged lands.

Not only is this type of meat free from pathogens and solvents required to eliminate them, it is the most nutrient-dense. Across the spectrum, these happy farm animals are higher in the important fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Some of these, and others such as omega-3 fatty-acids and conjugated linoleic acid are simply missing from their feedlot counterparts.

Know and love your farmers!

To me, the concept of pastured animals was a very welcome revelation.

As Joel Salatin jokes in Poultry Pastured Profits, your doctor wants you to eat more greens and get more exercise, and it makes a lot of sense to demand the same from the animals you eat. You will receive the benefits of bio-accumulation of nutrients in their greens and their healthy immune systems. Our grass-fed farmers are the stewards of the land and these animals.

Clean. And if you want to eat your meat raw, as you occasionally should, it’s really the only feasible way.

For that, I want to send a note of heartfelt thanks to my grass-fed farmers. These farmers are rebuilding topsoil, increasing biodiversity right at home, and providing the most healthful and nourishing foods I can find.

Do your homework, visit your farms, ask questions. See what your grass-fed farmers are doing day in and day out. Learn about how different it is from what’s on offer across America. Vote with your pocketbook. And say thank you!