500 million eggs
500 million. That’s how many eggs are being recalled because of salmonella.
Salmonela isn’t really problem among small-farm producers; it’s only when you get to these humongous farms where chickens are kept in tiny cages and never see the light of day when you get into trouble.
All these eggs come from just two farms in Iowa.
Just two farms.
The federal Food and Drug Administration has no power to issue a mandatory recall of these eggs — they have to wait for the producer to recall them voluntarily.
That’s how big agri-business wants it. As long as the FDA is underfunded and powerless, they can produce eggs and meat and other products in the nastiest, most abhorrent conditions imaginable.
These corporate “farms” snip off chickens’ beaks so they won’t peck at each other. That’s because the chickens are kept in tiny cages crammed together so close they never get to stand up and move about. They snip off the tails of piglets because they’re in such close quarters and so stressed that they nip at each other’s tails.
Have you ever followed a truck taking corporate-produced chickens to be slaughtered? It’s a horrifying sight. Most of the chickens have few feathers and a lot of them look dead already. They don’t move or make noise. It’s no wonder people get sick from eating them and their eggs.
We had a poultry farm down the street when I was a kid. The chickens were out during the day and were kept in large coops at night. Compare that to the poultry farms of today and you won’t want to eat chicken or eggs anymore.
I buy my eggs from a local farmer. I know how the chickens are treated there. I pay a little more, but I don’t run the risk of salmonella. The eggs are fresh — they haven’t been shipped from Iowa — and they taste better.
Local is better. Small farms are small businesses and you can support them by buying local. In addition to supporting local small businesses, you’re reducing your risk of getting food poisoning.
Another thing you can do is call your Senator in ask that he or she vote to pass S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which would force agri-business to comply with standards and give the FDA the teeth to deal harshly with producers who don’t.
Have a beer in May
Stop into Altamont Brewing, 1042 Haywood Road, West Asheville, any time in May and ask for their "charity" beer of the day. Buy one and Life o' Mike gets $1. In fact, we get a buck for each one sold. So go in every day and have one to support Life o' Mike.
Thanks, Altamont!
Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a peer support program for people with one or more serious or chronic medical issues or disabilities.
We aim to reduce isolation and fear among people who have conditions, including psychiatric illness, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, mild dementia or other cognitive disorder or disability, thereby reducing depression and complications as people learn to improve self-management of their medical conditions.
Patient Pals help alleviate feelings of isolation and frustration. They can help people develop a list of questions to ask the doctor and then accompany the person to the doctor to make sure all the questions are answered, taking notes to be sure the person understands the doctor’s answers.
Our trained volunteers also accompany their “Pals” to art exhibits, movies and walks outdoors, meet for coffee, call to check in and more.
Our Pals have experienced weight loss, improvement in diabetes, HIV, psoriasis, depression and more, just because they have someone who cares about them. Some relationships develop into longer-term friendships; other Pals move on to more independent lives.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
We need volunteers, who are asked to donate a minimum of one hour a week. Training is free and includes information on active listening, ways to help and when to know more help is needed.
And of course, we need funding.
To learn more, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712 or e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com.
Start From Seed
Life o' Mike has a new program- Start from Seed (SFS).
SFS is a volunteer doula program aimed at providing non-medical, comprehensive support to low income, high-risk women and families of Buncombe County focusing on three areas:
1. We help new doulas with certification and training in return for their participation as a volunteer doula for SFS
2. We mentor volunteer doulas with their first few clients
3. Our volunteer doulas provide birth and postpartum doula services to low income, high risk moms, providing support and tools to empower them as a new parent.
A birth doula is a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; a postpartum doula provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.
Start from Seed clients are referred to us from the Buncombe County Department of Health’s Nurse-Family Partnership Program, Western North Carolina Community Health Services, and Mission Hospital. The Program is intended and designed for growing clients’ inner strength and helping them gain empowerment to help them cope with the emotional, physical and mental challenges of childbirth, labor, and motherhood.
Our new moms and their infants have many needs. If you would like to help them get off to a good start, please visit our Start from Seed web site: Start from Seed, or call Program Director Chelsea Kouns at 804-814-9946.
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