Rachel_Uyeda

Community Grown

Written, photographed and designed by: ray uyeda 1

For my parents, my teachers, the kind people of Harley Farms, and of course, the goats.

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Table of Contents Foreword .................... ................... ................... ................... ................... ....................6-7 Chapter 1 .................... ................... ................... ................... ................... .......................8-15

Chapter 2 .................... ................... ................... ................... ................... ..............16-23 Chapter 3 .................... ................... ................... ................... ................... .............24-27 Conclusion .................... ................... ................... ................... ................... ............28-31 Works Cited.................... ................... ................... ................... ................... ................32 4

“There is no sincerer love than the love of food. ” – George Bernard Shaw

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Foreword It

was a sleepy weekday and the rain was coming down hard in the costal town of Pescadero. Despite the rain, one could still make out the distinct sound of a goat bleep in the distance and the unmistakable farm smell that traveled along with. Still, the gray backdrop accented by the muted green hills made Pescadero beautiful in a way that I had never seen before, but I remained unenthused and unmotivated to make the trudge to the new show room where the Farm’s non-food products were sold. My mom convinced me that this was an angle I would need to incorporate into my research paper so I obliged, shunning the stubborn voices in my head. For a pretty liberal minded person, I’m unaccustomed and rather unwelcoming of change when it involves a childhood getaway or nostalgic location. For I first encountered Harley Farms when I was 13 years old, back when the establishment could still be called “quaint,” and at 17, I was not prepared for how Harley Farms had grown over the years just as I had. Not only had they expanded their culinary reach to include such creations of red onion relish, oil-packed cheese rounds, as well as olive oil combinations, but they’d also added a separate barn just down the road where they sold an entire line of socks, purses, lotions and lip balms, thus completing a world that revolved around goats and thrived on the weak self restraint of the small farm enthusiast. They’d added a pathway connecting the two locations, and in my head this expansion changed everything.

Harley Farms was no longer a place for my own exclusivity or merriment, because now I had to share it with many others who were looking to get their hands on a sustainable product that came straight from the people who got it straight from the producers, a novel concept in this day and age. After years of watching food shows, experimenting in the kitchen and reading magazines for food-themed excursions, I’d finally found a place that I’d found on my own. Little did I know that many others out there were looking for the same opportunities, too. When it come down to it, we’re all looking for ways to entertain ourselves in a healthful and sustainable way, and, as more people are starting to realize, food has achieved that perfect middle ground.

“They had made their business more efficient, and thus provided many others with the opportunities to get close to their food and the land that has allowed their business to flourish.”

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It is said that there are those who eat to live, and there are the few that live to eat.

I’m not ashamed to report that I am one of the latter. This sacred covenant is made up of chefs, restaurateurs, and foodies alike, and though each one’s relationship with food is as nuanced as a glass of fine wine, each is connected to the wonderful substance that sustains us. Thinking about food and its ability to transcend generations, cross cultures, and light up a room got me thinking of the philosophies regarding food various cultures have adopted over the years, as well. One of the most memorable was, “You are what you eat.” Granted, the last time I’d heard this was probably in the fourth grade, but I’d recently heard the phrase uttered by a classmate and thought to myself, “does that mean we’re all over crowded, undernourished, and unknowingly deteriorating in our own waste?” I guess the answer is “yes” for reasons I’ll explain later. This is my exploration of a local small farm that works to sustain its customers in the best way they know how: with good, wholesome ingredients and a love for what they do.

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CHAPTER 1: What makes eating essential to life?

(Hint: it has more to do with eating the Harley Farms way.)

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Left: Large Monet, Right: 3oz rounds, sundried tomato, apricot, cranberry, monet

Over

the past 20 years America has subjected itself to a kind of “makeover” in which we’ve put the small farmers out of business and entrusted our food production needs to a set of machines and mask-clad, unenthusiastic workers. In her critically acclaimed novel, Barbara Kingsolver draws attention to the lack of consideration we’ve attributed to the food production system over the years, “Owing to synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, genetic modification, and a conversion of farming from a naturally based to highly mechanized process” (33).

Kingsolver describes how food production has changed from groups of dedicated farmers with personal connections to their land land, the animals, and the final product to a societal reliance on chemicals that get them through the workday. One can even find a comparison in this change in farming techniques to our overall cultural change as we’ve strayed from the more genuine person-to-person contact and communication to a simple text or tweet that we hope will suffice in portraying our true emotions toward one another. Paradoxically, it seems that our food production system has become somewhat of an allegory for the way we feel entitled to uphold familial and friendship ties. For example, the easier it becomes to produce and sell food, the easier it gets to forget that a person actually took the time to make what we’re consuming. Likewise, it is becoming easier to ignore the ones we love, and our increasing failure to spend time with them hinders our own personal growth emotionally, much like the lack of nutrients in our food hinders us physically. Fertilizers and pesticides have had both and inner and more outward effects on our society by mirroring our actions. Large corporations pump us with chemicals that have bound us to a place of comfortable stagnation, and we remain utterly complacent in the fact that we know these chemicals harm us, but our taste buds still call all of the shots and ask for more.

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At Harley Farms, visitors of all ages reconnect with their taste buds with flavors that they’ve long forgotten due to an inadvertent influx of processed cheese and chemically synthesized flavors. Or, in some cases, have never before experienced such flavors. For many curious foodies, Harley Farms has become a place where one’s food addiction begins, from learning to appreciate the natural flavor of fresh, unedited goat cheese to appreciating the so-called “grass roots” technique that the farm has adopted. It seems that we’re returning to a time where appreciating food means appreciating the hard work and countless hours that go into creating something as seemingly simple as a round of cheese. Ethically sourced food has taken back the maistage, and it’s time we appropriate the spotlight it deserves.

Two adult females

Established

“Some have begun to question if bigger is really better.”

in 1998, the Farm’s founder, Dee Harley had no previous commercial food experience, or farm experience for that matter. However, Harley remained impassioned about food, animals and ethical food production and with a few friends, she made a business plan and fortified the business to where it is today. That is to say, with its own line of beauty and health products, tour options, the opportunity to enjoy a “farm dinner” and much more. Their primary mission is “to provide food and an experience that is truly sustainable and local for our community and visitors” (Harley Website). Over the years they’ve accomplished such goals and excelled at numerous events, surpassing those who have been in the business for many more years. Under their belt they hold titles as the 2008 San Mateo County Sustainable Business of the Year, 1st Place for their Plain Chevre Log in the Fresh Goat’s Milk Cheeses

The fence surrounding the mustard field11

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Two week-old babies

Two adult females enjoying the sulight

The back of the barn from the field

The goats lined up on the fence

category at the 2009 American Cheese Society Award in Austin, Texas as well as 2nd Place in the Cultured Products Made from Goat’s Milk category for their Fromage Blanc, among numerous others.

“I was originally called the dairy bitch,” was the first sentence out of Farm employee David Hope’s mouth. Hope, who started work with the small business a few years ago, took me throughout the farm, describing of the technical processes and the more quirky aspects the Farm has adopted over the years. For instance, describing his nickname was just one of the humorous anecdotes I was treated to during my time there.

This type of open and interesting personality radiates throughout the entire farm, and made for the experience of learning how cheese is made all the more enjoyable. First, the goats are milked, once at 6 am and another time at 6 pm. The milk is fed directly through a complex pressurized system of tubes and nobs where it makes it into the cheese room. Then, as much as 300 gallons a week of milk is cooked at 145 degrees over a long period of time. “We could flash pasteurize it, but we do it low and slow,” commented David, regarding their unique process and how it affects the flavor. After, culture and vegetable rennet are added to both stabilize and give the cheese its creamy texture. The whey is then separated from the curds by means of a simple process in which the cheese mixture hangs over a trough in bags made out of cheesecloth. In true sustainable fashion, the unused whey leftovers are given to other local farms and restaurants. Cooks Salud, Rebecca, and Coco, complete the final steps, adding dried cranberries or apricots, pistachios, and even edible flowers depending on the type of cheese. Some of these flavors include sundried tomato-basil, cranberry-walnut, and my personal favorite, the VanGoat, which is made to look like a piece of art.

After being introduced to the wholesome process by which the cheese is created, one would assume that Harley Farms is an organic dairy, but it isn’t, and they have their reasons. For starters, being certified organic takes many years 13

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Top left clockwise: logs and 3 oz rounds, apricot chevre, monet rounds, mustard field

to complete the entire process in which an organization has to change over their entire system to fit government standards.

Moreover, is that as opposed to organic dairies who aren’t allowed to feed their animal any antibiotics, and thus must let many die to an unhealthy diet or illness, Harley takes care of its goats. The goats are fed a mixed diet of pellets and grasses, which were chosen specially by Dee herself, and they munch on salt licks regularly. If hurt, they’re given antibiotics, but only until they’re healed.

The idea of feeding animals antibiotics because the situation deems it necessary, not for superfluous action appears a rather difficult concept for many American consumers to grasp in this day and age. Harley’s sustainable actions of taking care of their herds, recycling unused and perfectly good portions of the cheese, and maintaining an open relationship with customers is something to be admired and replicated. What seems more inconceivable to consumers is the idea that we have an obligation to the land that we use to produce our food, or even a duty to conserve what we have for mere production efforts. Not only do Harley farmers refrain from relying on chemical fertilizers, but they’ve established a circular system in which the goats themselves fertilize the land. Michael Pollan, a mindful eating advocate, says this of sustainable systems in farming, “in the last few years, several of the major environmental groups have come to appreciate that a diversified, sustainable agriculture—which can sequester large amounts of carbon in the soil—holds the potential not just to mitigate but actually to help solve environmental problems, including climate change” (The Food Movement, Rising).

A goat nibbles on a visitor’s jacket

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CHAPTER 2: Ethically

grown means ethically eaten, right?

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When

Harley Farms first started out, they were making cheese with 6 pet goats. Now, they raise over 100 female goats of three varieties. While their competition, such as large companies like Kraft or Lucerine might impress with large scale production systems, and “cost cutting” techniques of raising 1,000 cattle at a time, Harley Farms pushes a much more valuable product than a slightly thicker wallet. Harley Farm employee David reflected, “People in San Francisco don’t see farms around them. Yes, [this type of food] is usually more expensive, because it’s not everywhere, but the product is better.”

Harley not only allows people of all ages to experience their food hands on, but their customers are more inclined to savor the cheese of that which they’re consuming and further develop an appreciation for good food; this act allows consumers to become more proactive about the food choices they make and conscious about the processes that the animals endure. According to David, “America’s kind of lost touch with food, we’re more separated now.”

In fact, some have even begun to question if bigger is really better. Kingsolver explains, “Smaller farms maximize productivity in three ways: by using each square foot of land more intensively, by growing a more diverse selection of products suitable to local food preferences, and by selling more directly to consumers, they reap more of the net earnings.” Our society has been conditioned to think that producing or buying in bulk is the most cost efficient manner in which to run a business, which poses the questions, which makes more money, the small farms or large companies? It turns out that the small farmers won this test for the main three reasons. However, there are some things Kingsolver failed to mention. In addition to lacking a personal connection with consumers, corporations prove detrimental for moral and environmental (which many would

“[Harley Farms] introduces you to the nature of it.“ contest are the same thing) reasons, too. Smaller farmers possess a connection to their land and to their product, a drive to produce good food that can’t be measured by corporate sponsors. Small farmers are personally accountable for their food, a concept that seems rather foreign amidst PR reps and “press # for customer service.” Small farms and the communities in which they’re established have an opportunity to fortify a relationship between the land and the animals, by not using chemicals using by using antibiotics only when necessary, as do the good people of Harley Farms.

The honesty

demonstrated in Harley’s effort to connect a consumer with their product is an attribute that must be searched for far and wide these days.

Working in food production has forced the growing number of Harley employees to reflect on ethical farming techniques as well. Tour guide and college student Chloe said, “I’ve learned the importance, especially for a goat--whatever they eat, whatever they drink affects the flavor, the texture, the integrity of the cheese and we have to monitor what’s in the grass, what’s in the grain and it just makes you think about where the food comes from that you’re eating.” In the 21st century it’s become far too easy to take our food products at surface value, what with the influx of complex and constantly evolving government guidelines on how to eat most healthily, an intensifying rate of big-business 18

tion, or, for that matter, yesterday’s news from today’s breaking story. Harley Farms makes it easy, though. Those who sign up for a tour get to experience first hand the unique effect of how learning where one’s food comes from betters the body, mind and soul, extinguishing the craving for “American” cheese—sending one on their way to a complete amelioration of all the damage that big industry farming has done to our taste buds and lunchboxes. “We’re getting all different types [of people.] Times are changing; we get a lot of teachers that want to bring their classes here. Some kids have come bring their parents back, too. It’s easy to get to; it’s fun to do and introduces you to the nature of it,” reflected Chloe, who started working with the farm in the 8th grade.

Harley’s

opposition to even the idea of factory farming is well founded, as demonstrated by Chloe’s testimonial. When we hear the words “Factory Farm,” we envision the idea of animals being produced for meat consumption, but the truth is that all the animals are treated the same--even to produce cheese. “Factory farms are called concentrated animal feeding operations. The animals are chosen for rapid growth, ability to withstand confinement…it’s an efficient way to produce cheap, good-quality meat for consumers…CAFOs house them as tightly as possible…creating obvious waste storage and water quality problems.” (100) Kingsolver included this excerpt by Steven Hopp to illustrate the gruesome reality that is animal factory farming. This piece shows that American’s really don’t care about the animal unless it’s in our home and called “pet,” or on a list somewhere to be watched.

While many Americans are often ignorant that their meat is produced in such inhumane ways, this does not remain an excuse to not take action. Is it possible that Americans simply don’t care where the meat is coming from? Because if they don’t care about the animal rights aspect, the logistic and realistic aspect, or even the environmental, I don’t know how we’re going to get the message across. Harley farms gives their goats over 100 square feet of open land to roam, not to mention feed that’s mixed with vitamins and nutrients. Each step in the process is as sustainable as the next. Local farming has also been proven to alleviate many of the environmental problems that can be found in the larger corporate farms such as the reduced chemical run off and the accountability small farmers feel toward the land and their community. Simply buying from an organization like Harley Farms lets them know you support their practices, and ultimately, this small action makes a big difference to the livelihood of everyone involved in the process of creating the cheese.

Ethical food sourcing is not a difficult thing to do; one just needs to know where to look. Take the Michelin Star awarded, One Market, of San Francisco, whose ingredients are ethically and locally sourced. While the chef du cuisine is without a doubt skilled and accomplished in the kitchen, it’s the wholesome, organic ingredients and thoughtful preparation that brings customers to the door night after night. Or, if eating consciously to you means eating less meat, then try Greens, or Millennium, two world famous restaurants, also of San Francisco, appreciated for their intelligent use of vegetables, whole grains, and local dairy products. Throughout history 19

more modern-day adaptation. Big food corporations against the locally minded, and thus smaller, farmer. Both are trying to make it in a changing economy and appeal to the modern housewife, nanny, health foodie, and restaurateur. But, if past events are anything but advice to be taken for granted, which I hope they are, then it can’t be too soon before it’s restaurants like these that are the ones receiving government subsides.

But let’s see how the numbers fare: “Each food item

Chive chevre on bread

in a typical US meal has traveled an average of 1,500 miles…If every US citizen ate just one meal a week composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week.” (5) Kingsolver intimates that this gross assessment of our inability to locally source our food and ineptitude to react to what is undoubtedly harming our environment will eventually bring us to a point of no return. This proves moreover that “ethically” grown food is not limited to the idea of treating animals with dignity or making sure that the practice of slaughtering an animal abides to an archaic religious law, but “ethically” can apply to our environment.

Americans are extremely fortunate to have many opportunities and resources at the click of a button or the dial of a phone, but often times we fail to take responsibility for the very entity that provides such wonderful opportunities to us--the earth.

Kingsolver corroborates many scientists’ and activists’ plea that one person doesn’t have to create monumental change on their own; they merely have to do their part and hope it makes a difference. We lionize the fact that we can afford water from Fiji and lobster form Maine, when really, knowing the grower should warrant bragging rights.

“It’s a modern day adaptation of the David and Goliath story.”

The more

the local food argument seems to touch the surface, the more we place the blame in the wrong places: 20 Oil packed goat cheese with sundried tomatoes

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Two goats side-by-side with the growers, or the schools, or the parents who are feeding their children such inconsistent and unbalanced diets.

Why can’t we accept the real sources of this self-deprecating cheap food cycle? Is it because we’re afraid of what we’ll find when we get there? Is it because we merely know better but lack the motivation to truly change our ways? I don’t think it’s either, actually. The lack of general awareness that has consumed our society is alarming. In fact, the government subsidies that fund the production of malleable crops like soybeans and corn are making us fat. We’ve heard it all before. So why do we continue to ignore the facts? Yes, healthier food is on the surface more expensive. But if we look at the taxes that are allocated to health insurance and the millions of dollars that go to treating diabetes, now for which 26% of Americans under 20 are being treated, we’re unfortunately leaving a surfeit of 7 million undiagnosed Americans out there racking up emergency room, medicinal, and other costs. (www.diabetes.org)

It’s rather simple, really.

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The healthier we eat, and the more locally we buy, because buying locally is correlated to healthier habits, then eventually as a nation we’d be healthier and wealthier. As Pollan reports, “although cheap food is good politics, it turns out there are significant costs—to the environment, to public health, to the public purse, even to the culture—and as these became impossible to ignore in recent years, food has come back into view.” Here, Pollan implicitly advocates for a new idea called “voting” for one’s food with one’s dollar. Similarly, in Animal Vegetable Miracle, another anecdote is offered, “Local and regional policymakers need to hear our wishes.

Many forums are appropriate for producing local food: town and city hall meetings, school board meetings, even state commissioner meetings. It makes sense to speak up about any venue where food is served.” (Hopp, 160) Hopp reels us back in with informational and inspirational messaging like this. He points out a sacred right and free opportunity that is widely taken for granted--to be directly involved in how change is made in our country. Hopp urges readers to not only change their personal habits, but to take advantage of public forums in our towns. While the idea that one should “vote” with their dollar, for that is one way to directly affect the market is admirable, there are other ways to make definite change too. Use of the governmental system not only lets lawmakers know that you care about a certain issue, but also holds them accountable for how they vote on relating issues. Basically, the more aware we are, the more aware we force our elected officials to be. It’s the simplest way to let your politicians know that you care about what types of food are being put into your body and these actions let your grocer know what types of food they should stock more of. Harley Farms in itself a vote for local and sustainable food. This 400-square-foot voting booth is a fun and accessible way to get your message out there and learn something new in the process.

A group tour pets the goats

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CHAPTER 3: What we’ll learn

in the showroom.

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MAGENTA = Margin/Safe Art Boundary

Baby goat Onion relish

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the back corner of the show room

Baby goats play in their pen

Being

a mindful eater doesn’t always mean counting calories, but in terms of stacking up points for the farm, here are few facts: Nutritionally, Harley Farms’ cheese has about one-third fewer calories per ounce, about twice as much protein, and about half the fat and cholesterol than commercial brand cheese. In addition, their cheese is easier to digest because the fat globules are smaller, resembling those of human milk, making it easier to digest in addition to the fact that goat milk contains less lactose than cow milk, making it an alternative for people with traditional dairy protein allergies. Not many industries, let alone food industries, willingly pull back the curtain, invite you inside, and admit you for free. Yet, Harley Farms does all of that and more, nurturing a transparent veil through which visitors are fighting to look through, allowing us to ponder if their unbridled enthusiasm should be expected in years to come from other growers and marketers hoping to mirror the successful business plan they’ve established. However, despite the increased exposure residents of the Bay Area, not to mention of California, have when it comes to local food, dairy and meat options, and accessible plain ol’ farmers’ markets, there are still many who neglect the ever-enticing “smelly cheese.” Whether this is a fine brie, or a generic store brand version of goat cheese, most of us have never tasted what real cheese ought to taste like. Harley Farms cheese retains, rather, boasts a

“Local farming alleviates many environmental problems.“ strong earthy sentiment distinct to Harley Farms itself, a flavor that can only be found in Pescadero. Purchasing goat cheese from Harley doesn’t just mean you’re paying for sustainably resourced cheese, it means you’re procuring cheese with a one of a kind flavor--a flavor which you yourself have had a hand in sourcing, sustaining, and fostering—a wholesome process to which very few can attribute their dollar, much less their time.

More and more food-minded and adventure driven families are looking for fundamental ways to involve their kids in the food chain, integrating ideas of resourcefulness and mindfulness with pure fun. More and more, these parents are taking their children to Harley Farms, situated in the sometimes-sleepy coastal town of Pescadero, California. But Pescadero also plays host to many other locally owned eateries. In fact, one could make a day of touring from one community minded organization to the next. Whether it be at Duarte’s Tavern, which advertises the best pies and comfort food, or Arcangeli’s Bakery, which spins out fresh, warm loaves of artichoke-garlic bread on the hour. Harley belongs to a lost collective, an idea that has dissipated with the common “neighbor,” “snail mail,” and grower to consumer contact: the community. However, Pescadero is an interesting slanted exception to the rule, which defines community. It’s much less of a string of separate establishments, each sporting its own customer base and vying for a spot on the local economy’s ladder; rather, Pescadero is a community’s community. Made up of these local chefs, restaurateurs and foodies, each business works to serve the other as well as themselves—and Harley fits right in. Over the years, Pollan has collected a number of rules that act as his stomach’s moral compass, here is a final though of his, “You are either improving or ruining your health when you eat -- that is a very American idea,” Pollan says. “But there are many other reasons to eat food: pleasure, social community, identity, and ritual. Health is not the only thing going on our plates.”

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CONCLUSION: The final plan; Where do we go from here?

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MAGENTA = Margin/Safe Art Boundary

A tour guide shows children how to decorate the cheese

“We love

Harley Farms!” said Esther Selk, a middle school math teacher after visiting there with her three-year-old daughter. Many other parents and families alike would report the same thing, too. That Harley brings together the water and nutrients of the earth with members of society who care to remember that such things exist, creating the perfect dichotomy of modern technology and grass roots farming. Harley offers participants a chance to really experience food, much like our ancestors did. We’re entrusted with the secrets of the kitchen and the hearts and souls of the goats—or rather ourselves, seeing that many walk away with a connection to a service animal many thought impossible. From the visitors that sustain the business to the goats that sustain the cheese production, this farm remains community grown.

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“If you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with him... the people who give you their food give you their heart.�

-Cesar Chavez 31

Works Cited Corona, Salud. Personal Interview. 16 Mar. 2013.

Hope, David. Personal Interview. 16 Mar. 2013.

Tabolt, Chloe. Personal Interview. 16 Mar. 2013.

Kingsolver, Barbara, Steven L. Hopp, and Camille Kingsolver. “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life.” New York: HarperCollins, 2007. Print. 2013 Pollan, Michael. “The Food Movement, Rising.” Michael Pollan. Michael Pollan, NY Times, 20 May 2012. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.

Wikipedia, Wiki. “Cheese.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Mar. 2013. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.

DeNoon, Daniel J. “Michael Pollan’s 7 Rules for Eating.” WebMD. WebMD, 2005. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20090323/7-rules-for-eating>.

Talmadge, Karen T. “American Diabetes Association Home Page - American Diabetes Association.”

American Diabetes Association Home Page - American Diabetes Association. American Diabetes Association, 26 Jan. 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. <http://www.diabetes.org/>.

Dee, Harley. “Harley Farms - About the Farm - Our Mission.” Harley Farms - About the Farm - Our Mission. Harley Farms Goat Dairy, 2013. Web. 02 Apr. 2013. <http://www.harleyfarms.com/farm. php?id=160>.

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