Chopbiscuit on the road: Celebrating with the Niman Ranch Family

Who's cuter, me or the baby pig?

There are far too few of us that take a dream and make it a reality. This is exactly what Paul Willis did over 40 years ago. Back in 1970 Paul saw the way farmers were beginning to raise hogs in his native state of Iowa and he soon realized this was not in the best interest for the hogs or the environment. He decided that if this was the future of farming, then he would no longer farm. This was a big statement considering he comes from generations of hog farmers, but Paul knew that Confined Animal Feeding Operations tore apart everything that he believed farming to be. So, he kept farming the only way he knew how and that was "free range."

A couple of folks like Paul seem to have taken credit for the free range labeling, but as he will tell you it was just called farming back when he was a kid. Free Range Pork (HOGS) are given the opportunity to live in open pastures, or in deeply bedded pens when the sows are farrowing (Farrowing means to give birth to piglets like the one day old one I'm holding in the picture above) and allowed to run, play, eat, and roll in mud and do naturally what pigs do. Paul also felt an obligation to be a steward of the land that included farming multiple crop rotations and keeping the pastures fertilized between crops. Paul ran his dream farm and yes, there is a really large red barn on the farm called the dream farm and it's featured on his cookbook that he co-wrote with Bill Niman. The dinners in that ole big barn are legendary but I'm getting away from an important point - the problem with the way Paul was farming was the huge cost and having no real way to tell the great story of how different his hogs were treated and cared for. If you have ever eaten and Niman pork you know exactly what I mean.

The way the pork commodity system was currently set up it seemed as if the business model was stacked against how Paul was farming. The other issue was the price of his pork. Paul had to get a higher dollar amount for his end product, but if folks didn't understand why his pork was more expensive most were not willing to pay the price. In the mid 90's Paul met a man that would change his life forever and for me personally, it would change the way I would eat for the rest of my life. Paul met fellow rancher Bill Niman who had been raising beef in Bolinas, CA since the late 60's under the name Niman Ranch. Bill was also moving towards a natural state of raising animals on his farm.

Shortly after the Niman Ranch Pork Co was created, I began reading about Niman Ranch and at every chance I could.  The most obvious thing to me is that it tasted like beef and pork from my youth and I was hooked. I was hooked on the product, hooked on the culture that these hero's of the animals have created and I knew that from this day forward I would "vote by proxy" or by fork from here on out. Unfortunately there's been a dark turn. I will never ever eat Niman Ranch Beef again under any circumstances.  The reason for me is simple. In 2007 Bill was basically forced to sell all of his shares and give up all of the cattle he had been breeding for 37 years. This is truly unfortunate. As I previously mentioned, these farmers and ranchers are hero's in my mind and it was both a career high and a personal high meeting both and staying in contact over the years. Last Janurary I took a couple of friends out to walk the famous Bolina's Ranch,  (another personal and career high) and I've also had the chance to attend the Niman Ranch Annual Hog Farmers Appreciation Dinner  a few times. Once as a guest and another a guest chef.

Paul and I recently chatted and I told him what has happened brings tears to my eyes. On my second visit as a guest chef at the Hog Farmers dinner, a chef from Denver and I snuck out to the dining room to get a glimse of the farmers and their families enjoying our food when this little girl pulls on Chris' apron and whispered to him, "thank you for saving my daddies farm, he loves his farm very much." It was a heartening moment for us both.  There are certain events in your life that change you for the better and if you live long enough and have an open mind, you'll get to enjoy these moments knowing that what you do and what you buy makes a big impact to so many people.

Be Well, Eat Well and Live Well

~Mark

The real question with antibiotics and livestock

Happy Cows at BN Ranch

There are so many things in our country that if "We The People" knew, we would stand in protest, or that's what we would like to think. We continue to smoke, over 25million of us, even though we know and fully understand the potential outcome. And, that list goes on and on with our addictive and destructive habits. I'm by no means a saint or perfect, but when some things just slap you in the face when you become a little older and (hopefully) wiser you shift your priorities and values. Such is the case with me regarding antibiotics being abused for the raising of livestock. There are numerous reports and leading scientists that warn against the abuse of antibiotics even in humans and the reasons and possible outcomes are as scary as any sci-fi or horror movie you will ever see. But, a large majority of us seem to not be asking the right questions. We get caught up in the "he said she said" bullshit, or we make it a political game to dodge the issues. 

Or we just ignore it. Hell, that's so much easier!

Recently there was an article published in the National Agricultural Library where the USDA commissioned a report on the antibiotics used in the raising of livestock. Here is the link to the article in Mother Jones. Ironically the article just vanished last Friday once the watchdog groups got a hold of this powerful document. For me it's not about the occasional use of anything in particular it's the abuse and cover up and lack of transparency that concerns me greatly. So I ask you to ask yourself this question "if something goes against the natural order of things, is it worth the risk of continuing?" It's really that simple and apparently it is that simple to Sweden because 20 years ago they banned the "routine" use of antibiotics in raising livestock and European Union thought the same as well because they followed suite in 2006.Hat's off to Europe, well done.

Just to clarify I'm not saying we should never use antibiotics in raising livestock, but there is no reason to routinely add small doses of antibiotics their feed for no apparent reason other than the "if they get sick"excuse. Vote with your fork, educate yourself and understand where your food source comes from. Your life just might depend on it.

The photo above was taken at BN Ranch in Bolinas, CA. Where Nic & Bill NEVER use antibiotics and their cattle live free on hundreds of acres of land.

Chopbiscuit on the road: Walking the ranch with Bill & Nicolette Niman

Two weeks ago while in San Francisco expanding my Culinary knowledge along with my waistline I reached out to Bill & Nicolette Niman to see if they had some time for a visit. I have never really had the chance to visit the famous ranch that Bill started over forty years ago so I was really hoping they were up for a visit as well as a tour of the ranch. They were home and told me to come on up, so I grabbed my BFF's (best foodie friend's) Shauna from Sacramento & Chef Eric from NY and off to Bolina's we went.

I've driven Hwy 1 along the California coast many times over the years but never and I mean never with the excitement that I had last Thursday on our way to the farm. I've only met Bill & Nicolette a couple of times, we have some mutual friends and Nicolette & I keep in touch through Facebook so I was so honored that they would take the time for a visit. I'm getting ahead of myself so let me start with the The Niman's:

I could write countless words describing what they have both done for sustainable agriculture, animal husbandry and for the environment. Also, the countless folks like me that they inspire before they even met each other and then 20 more pages on what they have done since they met, wed and had one of the most bright & beautiful little guys I have ever met.

 I would like to tell you what they mean to me.  To me, they are to sustainable agriculture and good living what the Beatles were to music ~they have changed everything. Ok, now don't roll your eyes or stop reading just yet, but they have both in their own ways done more to restore animal husbandry and the restoration of our environment than pretty much anyone you will meet in your life time and have a huge following everywhere they speak and each time they write. They continue sharing, writing & speaking all over the country and beyond. Bill was telling me that he just spent almost two weeks in the UK speaking about his passions and spreading the word. Nicolette in just the last two weeks has attended the 2011 Food Camp @ the prestigious MIT in Cambridge, MA., spoke at Chef Michael 's restaurant Lumiere, (I was able to attend this event) gave a speech at Slow food, Napa Valley's - A Tail of 2 Pigs at the incredible campus of the CIA Greystone, and last but not least, a visit from chopbiscuit. Wow, I'm tired from just typing what they have done lately

As I said before I was really excited for the afternoon but knowing Northern Cali has had a very wet spring with almost 20 inches of rain in a couple of weeks, so I was worried that we would not be able to walk the ranch or even be able to see the operation. So knowing this I was doing my good weather dance and man did it work because not only was it great weather Nicolette commented that it was the best spring day so far this year. I could not agree more, because living in Northern NY we are weeks away  from these kinds of days.
When we finally arrived, Bill greeted us at the door with their Great Dane the wonderful Clair De Lune and followed by Nicolette and Miles with big smiles.

After catching up for a few minutes Miles was ready to lead the charge up the first hill but quickly fell behind because there was so much other cool stuff to check out. We headed to the breeding pens for Heritage Turkeys. As we arrived at the pens, Bill opened the door walked in and Clair was right behind him. My first reaction was to step in front of her and stop Clair from getting to the turkeys but I was about a second too late she bolted in. I was shocked that not only was she excited to be near the turkeys, but the turkeys didn't mind her being in their home. The Toms and Hens just walked all around us and at one point the large Tom was fanning his large tail feathers directly into Clair De Lune's face, it was quite funny. Seeing each breeding pen after breeding pen, (three in total) we saw the same thing: the turkeys were not aggressive or even concerned one bit.

Next we begin walking the ranch and I had to drop back and take a few minutes take it all in. It was almost overwhelming from the beauty and to actually walking the ranch that I have read and heard so much about. It was such a great day and you could smell the ocean and the breeze was great. We walked and talked for hours, watched Miles play in puddles and looked out over the cliffs into the Pacfic Ocean that the ranch drops into. At one point I asked Bill how in the world he ever leaves to go on speaking engagements and such and he looked me and said that if it was for needing "milk money" he would ever leave.

As we approached the first heard of cattle Nicolette & I were hopeful that the now famous female cow "Girlfriend" was in this bunch. At first it didn't look hopeful but in the distance on a hill top Nicolette yelled, "there's Girlfriend" and with that yell we all headed towards her. Now this might not be exciting to some but I can tell you that for me I was really excited because I have read about her in Nicolette's book ~Righteous Porkchop and have seen pictures on line but now was my chance to meet her.

Girlfriend was saved from "going to town" by Nic's lawyering skills. You see, if cows cannot produce calves then they are not much use on a ranch and Girlfriend was not pulling her weight on the ranch so to speak. So after pleading her clemency case she was spared that year and was spared the next year only because she became the perfect babysitter to other calves in the herd. Finally, Girlfriend was with calf and Nic's lawyer skills were not need this season. For the next several years she produced several healthy calves and Bill agreed to allow Girlfriend to live out her days on the ranch. It is quite a story and for a ranch to have a happy ending like this it just puts a big smile on my face. So that's why I was so excited to finally meet her.

We continue to walk and talk, changing from walking with Miles to watching the Niman's walk their incredible piece of heaven on earth. I hope to return one day and even get my hands dirty.. Oh, and one last thing, I don't think I will ever get all of the mud out of my shoes and man does that make me happy, cause every time I look down at my shoes I can be right back on the ranch.