Dija Know… Joe’s Restaurant Newsletter -109 December 2014

Dija Know… Joe’s Restaurant Newsletter -109 December 2014

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Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! . . . Please?

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Thinking of a holiday gathering or party? Joe’s Red Room accommodates 30-40 people for both sit-down parties and come’n go mingling parties. We can do anything from finger foods and beverages to full several course meals. And Roland always offers the best price he possibly can for large groups.

We extend a warm welcome to our new head chef, Russell Thornton who will take a huge task off the shoulders of chef-owner Roland in that capacity. Russel you will recognize from many years of heading up the Santa Fe Dining Corporation’s family of restaurants, most notably perhaps, Rio Chama. We look forward to Chef Russel’s input, drawing on a prodigious and prestigious career.

Albert Moore, Jill Foster and Nancy Dean Kreger, our 3 current artists, will be exhibiting their works for just another month through the Christmas and holiday season. So do keep that in mind when you are looking for absolutely unique and locally produced gifts. Also for holiday greeting cards, check out the artists’ offerings at the red counter. They are beautiful!

Stocking stuffers – how about a Joe’s latté mug (see the sugar bowl on your table) or Joe’s tee shirt? Your waiter can handle any transactions.

I can’t tell you how excited I am about hemp! I attended the Carbon Economy Series’ evening featuring hemp researcher and advocate Doug Fine last week at the SFCC. It was mind-blowing! I had no idea! The tremendous economic and agricultural production potential of hemp along with its ability to improve soil and reduce water consumption, profile it as the ideal sustainable industry for New Mexico. After just a cursory review of this miraculous crop, it is clear that legalizing its cultivation (as 10 states so far have and Canada did years ago) could and would supercharge this state’s economy. Farmers, manufacturers of cars, clothing, rope, building materials, textiles and neutraceuticals, health care experts, land reclamation activists, food producers – are encouraged, no, urged, to update your business plan and engage in the renaissance of this incredibly useful crop. It was once a true staple of the US economy until mis-guided lunatics rendered its growth illegal. The politics is fascinating but too involved to recount here. To clarify, we are talking here about industrial cannabis, as distinguished from high THC psychoactive cannabis. So don’t anticipate smoking your curtains. Two different industries. What stood out to me in Doug’s (he is by the way a New Mexico non-hemp-yet farmer) presentation was the unique properties of hemp enabling it to sequester carbon into the soils and thereby rebuild soils lost to drought or poor land management. And get this – without the need for pesticides, herbicides or even much water! Eastern CO farmers are already doing it. And Canada – holy smokes (pun, forgive me!) – their industrial cannabis production measures in annual billions of dollars now. Currently, the U.S. gives up $2 billion annually by having to import hemp products because US federal legislation has been slow to act. Hemp cultivation has been profitably underway in Canada (big time) and in Kentucky, Tennessee and CA most notably. Hemp can reclaim our lost soils in just a few years! Hemp has such incredible diversity of uses that entrepreneurs and farmers have reason to expect a very good income. It is the rock star of sustainable farming, edging out (again I repeat, profitably) the massive land grab by GMO mono-crops like soy and corn. Hemp is a biofuel. It’s a nutritionally dense superfood. Carmakers such as Ford, GM, Chrysler, Saturn, BMW, Honda, and Mercedes are currently using hemp composite door panels, trunks, head liners, etc. How about a hemp tractor body? And the textiles are hardwearing with a beautiful hand. So what do we need to get this pony galloping?

From Iginia Boccalandro, “What is required is the quick outreach and education of the majority our legislature. It can give a boost to economic growth, local farmers would make more money and the tax base would grow exponentially. Who knows Senator McConnel or who knows Governor Martinez or key Republicans in New Mexico that can stand up for the farmer right now?” Once visionaries in all segments of NM’s economy see the explosive potential, we can fire up NM’s economy in a most unexpected (to me) way. Who knew? Well Doug Fine did. Please read his engaging book, Hemp Bound.

This renaissance of humanity’s most useful crop is inevitable. The question is: will New Mexico again be last on the list to benefit?
Iginia Boccalandro’s next presentation in her Carbon Economy Series could prove to be equally as fascinating as the last one on hemp. Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon – the oiling of America, hydrogenated oils vs. home-rendered lard, the nutritional truth about ancient foods, why pastured meats are better and raw milk advocacy. Dec 5 and 6th Reserve 505-819-3828.

When we moved to NM in 1990 raw milk was readily available. Now, as far as I know, only De Smet’s Dairy sells raw cow’s milk. It’s great tasting and wonderfully nourishing. This is not verified but my “instinct” is that lactose intolerant people would be able to digest raw milk because all the good stuff (primarily enzymatic activity) is retained in raw milk.
A no-brainer, eh? Greg and Patty of Camino de Paz Farms produce great raw goat milk.

Terrorist activity in America – it’s not what you think. My opinion is that there is nothing more lethal and insidious than agencies co-opting our air, water and food – the very essentials of life. The effects of this interference negatively and involuntarily impact each of us. Monsanto has managed to control and contaminate our air our water our food. [And as a side note, it is troubling to me that Bill Gates owns 500,000 shares of Monsanto.] Be that as it may, here are 12 deadly products made by Monsanto:
1.Saccharin – known from early studies by the American Cancer Institute to cause cancer in rats. Various commercial lobbies however, removed it from the NIH Carcinogen list.
2.PCB’s – developed as coolant fluids. Finally banned in 2001, they are still showing up in the blood of pregnant women.
3.Polystyrene – widely used in food packaging.
4.Atom bomb and nuclear weapons – including plutonium purification and production.
5.DDT – 1945 for insect control, banned as toxic in 1972.
6.Dioxins – a group of chemical pesticides that persist and accumulate in the fatty tissues of animals and humans.
7.Agent Orange – chemical herbicide defoliant routinely used in the Vietnam War, killing and maiming 100’s of thousands of people and causing illness in our troops and their offspring.
8.Petroleum based fertilizers – which essentially sterilize the soil, removing all natural beneficial complex soil activity.
9.Round up – herbicide affecting butterflies, bees and other beneficial insects, causing infertility and cancers in rats and promoting, yes promoting, the growth of super weeds.
10.Aspartame (NutraSweet/Equal) – we’ve spoken of many times here and do not offer it as a sweetener because of its extreme toxicity especially on brain function.
11.Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) – Cows subjected to rBGH suffer excruciating pain due to swollen udders and mastitis infection, byproducts of which end up in our milk and ice cream.
12.Genetically Modified Crops – the most obscene of all experiments to befall our food supply rendering us involuntary consumers of untested “frankenfoods”.

Why do we keep hammering on this “buy local” theme? There are many factors that are out of our hands when it comes to our food supply. Most of what ends up on the American dinner table derives from a shockingly few giant agribusinesses. Their influence reaches from designing the (GMO) seeds to planting, harvesting, processing and shipping.

We as consumers cannot with confidence hand over the entire stewardship of our food to these few multinationals. Our passion here at Joe’s is for a local sustainable food supply – food produced by growers who are accountable for what they grow. KYG – Know Your Grower. We are able to look our local farmer in the eye and ask him about his growing practices or even visit his operation. This gives us the confidence that we are eating food that is healthy, wholesome, non-genetically engineered, often better than organic, humanely treated and minimally processed. It is grown with a smaller energy-use footprint and transported short distances. We cannot divorce human health, the economy, ecology, personal (perhaps spiritual) satisfaction or honorable work from food. Food is fundamental. What we eat, where it comes from, the stewardship of food animals, the nurturing and building of soils – all these factors affect us at a cellular and visceral level … whether we slow down enough to be aware of it or not. We so are fortunate in Santa Fe to have one of the very best Farmers Markets in the nation.

Here at Joe’s we do our best to offer this bounty to you, keeping dollars in the community. In the interest of transparency, in 2008 Joe’s spent $30,000 on local foods. In 2009 that increased to $60,000. Each year since 2012 we have far exceeded $100,000 per annum. During the growing season as much as 95% of our produce is locally sourced.
Land, economy, health – inseparable.

Tired of still paying for BB’s (big banks) bailouts? Tired of lining the pockets of the uber-rich Wall Street bankers? And still no convictions? DiJa know… in 2011 a congressional audit o f the Federal Reserve found that the Fed gave 16 trillion dollars from American taxpayers to bail out the “too big to fail” banks with a hefty portion of it going to CEO’s obscene bonuses. Can you imagine — had this staggering figure been re-directed to the people of the US, how different the picture could have looked today? Manufacturing starts, job creation, skills training, roads and bridges repair, national parks, education, etc. Every time we use a credit card, part of that 3%-5% fee contributes to the BB’s. Now let’s be real – in today’s world you cannot function without a credit card, but there are still (legal) alternatives that can save money and reduce our dependency on and subsidies to the BB’s. We have a couple of suggestions: (1.) Are you on Joe’s Check List? If you are a “regular” and wish to pay by check, please ask your waiter to get you on the list. (2.) Joe’s own credit card/gift card – purchase a $100 gift card with cash or check or silver coin or gold coin, get a $10 free bonus!

 

Giggles – A child’s perspective on nudity:

Driving with my three young children one warm summer evening when a woman in a convertible ahead of us stood up and waved. She was stark naked!  As I reeled from shock, I heard my 5-year-old shout from the back seat, ‘Mom, that lady isn’t wearing a seat belt!’
Joe’s
2801 Rodeo Rd (at Zia Rd) Santa Fe, NM   87507
505-471-3800      
www.JoesDining.com
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