Alan, the vegetarian, environmentally conscious director, gave us these videos to watch when we got back from visiting the Monteverde Cheese Company (Quaker founded in 1953) and a local, 9-cow, 6-pig, 20-hen home operation. Check them out if you haven't had previous exposure to food industry practices (River of Waste: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-WAGf-4gC8 ) OR if you like chipotle's buy local focus and animations set to covers of Coldplay songs ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMfSGt6rHos ). I have to say, I really, really appreciate the serious focus on the mutualistic interactions between humans and the environment versus the doomsday, "We suck all the time" message people seem to get from conservation in the media. This program is really getting me to think critically about alternatives, consequences, geography and ecology at a much deeper level--which is, additionally, getting me to reconsider the impact I really want to make and where I want to make it. Tropical biology? Wildlife veterinary science? One thing is for sure: I want to make conservation a priority, whether that be through my career, or my volunteer work and lifestyle.
All that being said, today was incredible. Drinking warm, fresh milk (Dominga, her lush lashes and big, plaintive eyes against caramel hair, didn't mind that 22 non-farmer kids from the U.S. tried their hand at milking), eating empanadas with cheese and black bean, cheese-sampling, milkshake-savoring field-tripping under clear, windy skies should put everyone in the frame of appreciation. And if the good food doesn't do it, maybe the barn kittens and feather-legged pullets could. Ask me about why I'm in favor of the switch to mostly small scale farming or my vegetarian preferences after ending 7 years of vegetarianism when I came to college: I love meat as much as you do, I approve of your deer hunting, and I would love to keep debating the pros and cons of large-scale production.
So.
Pictures? Yes.
Coconut ice cream: Monteverde fresh.
The cheese farm's pork production. These pigs are kept in pretty good condition compared to most: they are in clean, but extremely confined spaces. They were first brought to the cheese factory for a profitable means of disposing of a cheese-production by-product: whey, which is readily digested by swine.
There were a few nurseries, where piglets nursed by the dozen per pen. All of the pigs were in open-air environments, which is a step up from some factories, scarily.
Sleepy piglet.
Nursery for post-weaned piglets.
Beef: kept around for eating (I kid you not, this is an extremely common practice) washed pig waste. When also fed grass, their manure can be used for agriculture and reduces the toxic by-products of swine development. It was crazy to see it first hand.
Yeah, okay, okay. Call me a hippie or whatever you want: Alan told us to look in to their eyes, and I really think that this is an important thing for people to do. Alan and many others are right: we have lost the connection to our animal food sources, which is certainly a major factor in how so many people can just avert their eyes. Many people see it as a tradeoff: In exchange for cheap meat and the taste we've grown to know at every meal, we have sacrificed both human and animal welfare. (Disagree?)
A small-scale production near San Luis. The farmer, Jesus, and his wife were the only workers, and they produced and sold cheese, milk, and eggs; as well as providing for themselves food -and- energy-wise. They used the gases in pig waste for biofuel in both their house and the house of Jesus's brother (most of the time...today when we visited, the biodecomposer that collects the gas was rendered out of service by marauding armadillos).
Jess in front of the cow and cheese barn.
Looking out over the pasture. Brisk mountain day. Gorgeous as always.
All of the green.
In front of the pig pens.
Pigs are SO SMART. We're talking Lassie-levels here. These post-weans were wagging their tails and fighting over a sprig of grass Jesus had thrown in. Gah. So adorable.
Ohai pig.
The spotted one was my favorite.
Standing in the barn.
Making cheese! He's straining post-boiled milk that's been treated with bacterial cultures specific to flavor and a solidifying enzyme.
We got to milk one of Jesus's cows, Dominga.
True blue farmer. He was always smiling.
Parting shot of their front porch.
So the beauty and the adventures and the school continues. I've got some big tests coming up, and another few packed days: don't expect another update 'till Sunday or so. Also, guess I forgot to mention that on my morning hike I saw a taira (http://zoobaq.org/especieani/taira.php) and this HUGE iridescent jay (preening!) on my walk this morning (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azure-hooded_Jay). Planning to get up early with people tomorrow and hike back to where I saw a female quetzal on Sunday.
The life.
Cheers.
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