Justifying My Actions

Action: Carrot cake for breakfast.

Justification: I read somewhere that walking 10,000 steps a day will keep you in shape.
I wondered how many steps I take, evidently I wondered out loud and someone gave me one of those pedometers. From 7am to 11:00 each morning I walk 17,000 steps, give or take, on hills, in the heat tending the chicken tractors.

Action: Stealing three bites of steak tartar that Tiffani made and gave to Paige for lunch (Paige can’t see me from her office).

Justification: The stuff is amazing and Paige can’t see me from her office.

Action: Eating a huge dinner of massive sautéed vegetables over a beautiful medium rare pork chop.

Justification: Walking through the fields at night with Roland checking sniffing all things adds on some steps along with the work of hosing him down to get all the duck weed out of his coat because he HAD to jump into the pond. There are steps to get the goats out of the garden (they have discovered the garden) and out of the chicken feed (they discovered that too).

The bottom line is that I am in much better shape than when I was an executive in the insurance industry.
Sitting at a desk on the phone or eating hotel food while traveling had all its appeal (it was clean and my fingers and toes were pretty). But I was fat and unhealthy and frankly bored. Not that that was a reason to go into farming. But it was a reason to take pause, consider what I wanted my life to be like, what I wanted to contribute back…okay I didn’t take pause, I jumped in but that would not suffice to make this point: Working physically as well as mentally rocks. Just like my “pipes” as my son calls my arms. I feel good. I sleep well and I get to eat cake for breakfast!

Warning: If you are having thoughts of going into farming and you are over 45 I would suggest a gym first.

Your Buff Farmer!
Tara Smith

Just when I think we are a fad I get a call. This guy wants to know what to do with the $2 million dollars he has from selling shares in a company. He wonders about organic food as an investment. I sent him to my friend that is an investor doing just that. He buys farm land with investors’ money, turns it into organic producing land within 5 years and the return is 8% starting at the 5 year mark. I was surprised to learn the surge of people putting their money into such an investment and the reasons why. Not just the return. The majority say it is to guarantee organic food for their grandchildren. Most of these investors are over 50 and believe the stock market is not trustworthy but organic land (or land becoming organic) is a safe and smart investment for their families futures. I found that fascinating.
So those occasionally fleeting thoughts of selling the farm because my hands are cut up from moving chickens or I can’t get out of bed without groaning like an old man are just that...fleeting. If anything I would like to lease more land with investors to allow us to raise more chicken on less challenging ground (those hills are tough). Maybe a manicure first…

Your Farmer,
Tara Smith

It’s All About the Twinkie Defense

I have to say congratulations to you as members. Not because you want to feed your kids and selves real food and not because you want to support the farm so you can choose real food (even though those are great reasons). There is another reason.

Remember the Twinkie defense? The defendant killed 2 well known leaders in the community and claimed he was depressed from eating too many Twinkies causing him to lash out and murder. It didn’t fly and he was convicted. Read on and keep the Twinkie in mind…









There was a meeting in Marin yesterday that addressed the availability of healthy food for those that are at or below the poverty line. Now, you know my stand on those that are above the poverty line. The stand about choices. We have a choice to buy a new gadget or pay for real food. However, those that are below the poverty line have less options. Some much less.

In the San Rafael Canal district there are 5 fast food restaurants and no grocery stores. Has something to do with zoning. Really? Are you kidding me? Our county and city planners don’t have a bigger vision than that? Wait…hold on…it is really complicated. So complicated that there is no accountability at any level of government. No one has the authority to make a better choice to plan for growth and distribution of healthy food. What would it take to put a farmers market in the Canal District? A lot of bright minds to get past all the zoning etc. But that wouldn’t be the show stopper.

The show stopper is the cost of the food. The supply and cost to raise it with land prices, workers comp and labor board requirements are cost prohibitive, today. They will remain that way until enough of the middle to high income families and leaders in our communities decide that enough is enough. But why would we decide that? Best to look closely at why. There is a huge health care cost for children that grow up eating from a convenience store or seniors that can’t physically access healthy food and end up eating processed “plastic” food delivered by well-meaning volunteers.

It’s called welfare, food stamps, Medicaid and Medicare. Programs that are creating a wave of higher costs because they cannot address the problem adequately. And the unhealthy are growing in numbers beyond control. The food system, or lack thereof, is feeding the health care system. Nice little monopoly.

Sitting in this meeting my head wanted to explode. All I could think about is why it is okay to sell Twinkies in the store? My husband, the level headed one in our marriage, said it had something to do with some document called the Constitution. Yeah, whatever. I think it is more about leadership.

Leadership like they have in Fairfax. The community decided to ban “polystyrene” from use in restaurants and stores. Makes great sense. The stuff doesn’t biodegrade, creates landfill and litter issues so they ban it. Seems simple.

So why not create a vision that by 2015 we have only real food in any outlet for food i.e. restaurants, grocery stores, farmers markets, schools etc. What would it take to do it? The best way I know how to accomplish a huge goal is to write down all the reasons why it can’t be done and work on each issue one by one. That process puts all the overwhelming stuff in to bite size pieces and it is amazing how much can get done in a short time. Utilizing many people for small projects vs. few doing all the work is another method to Get Sh*t Done.

Can you feel it? The insanity. Anybody interested in leading us out of it?
Your Farmer,
Tara Smith