As consumers, we live in an age where the term “free range” simply means poultry are allowed some access to the outdoors with no regulation on the quality or size of the “outdoor” area or the length of time granted access, and the term “cage free” which simply means the animal isn’t kept in a cage but the owner of the facility isn’t required to give any access to the outdoors and practices such as beak cutting are allowed.
So how can a consumer navigate all of the ambiguous and unclear labeling laws in our country? By getting to know their farmer!
This is Gary Carpenter,
Gary owns and runs Carpenter Squab Ranch in Ojai CA, just south of Santa Barbara ( http://carpentersquabranch.com/home.html ). Gary and his family have been squab farmers in Southern California since 1921, and have been dedicated to producing a quality product like no other. The ranch produces squab, chicken, geese, and duck. And it also acts as a processing facility for locals in the community.
Nestled in a small canyon on the outskirts of Ojai, the Squab Ranch is a tiny example of a farmer and his family committed to doing things the right way.
The squab Gary raises are some of the most beautiful fowl I’ve seen. The breed are White King/ Hubbell birds, and are a broad breasted pigeon bred in the 1920’s by Dr G. M. Hubbell and acquired exclusively by Dr. Edwin Carpenter for his ranch. The current flock traces its roots back to those original birds.
The “free range” chicken and geese are just that, FREE RANGE! They are allowed to have full access to the ranch to dig in the dirt for bugs and worms, or make a little nest along side the ranch house and soak up the sun.
The doors to the spacious coops are left open to give access to the real outdoors.
It is important to become more savvy about tadalafil the unclear labeling laws administered by our government, and to be informed about how your food is being brought to your table. Supporting farmers like Gary Carpenter is one small difference that you can make in trying to repair our broken food system. If you would like to try Gary Carpenter’s products, they can be found on the menu at Alma Restaurant in Downtown LA ( http://www.alma-la.com/index.html ).
“Good farmers, who take seriously their duties as stewards of Creation and of their land’s inheritors, contribute to prednisone the welfare of society in more ways than society usually acknowledges, or even knows. These farmers produce valuable goods, of course; but they also conserve soil, they conserve water, they conserve wildlife, they conserve open space, they conserve scenery.”
~Wendell Berry
