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Articles by Rebecca Thistlewaite

Rebecca Thistlewaite grew up in Oregon with berry fields on one side and suburbs pressing up against the other side. She studied Natural Resources Management at Colorado State University and International Agricultural Development at UC Davis. After apprenticing on a half-dozen farms around the West, she studied crop biodiversity and indigenous agriculture in Central America, worked with beginning farmers in Salinas, CA, for many years, and then started her own farm with her husband six years ago. Now she consults on sustainability in the food system, runs a pasture-based animal operation, attempts to raise a family, and goes hiking and trail running whenever she can fit it in. She blogs at http://www.honestmeat.com/.

Featured Article

Duroc-ing out: This boar has got what it takes.  Photo courtesy of Dave Hamster via FlickrYou watched Food, Inc. with your mouth aghast. You own a few cookbooks.

You go out to that hot new restaurant with the tattooed chef who’s putting on a whole-animal, nose-to-tail pricy special dinner. You bliss out on highfalutin’ pork rinds, braised pigs feet, rustic paté, and porchetta.

Later that weekend, you nibble on small bites as you stroll down the city street, blocked off for a weekend “foodie” festival.

Then you go back to your Monday-Friday workaday routine, ordering pizza and buying some frozen chicken breasts at Costco (“Hey, at least they’re ‘organic’!”) to get you through your hectic week. (You make time for at least two hours a day of reality TV.) You manage to get to a farmers market about once a month, but the rest of the time your eggs and meat come from Costco, Trader Joe’s, and maybe Whole Paycheck now and again.

Guess what? You are NOT changing the food system. Not even close.

You’re no better or different than the average American. You pat yours... Read more