Keeping it real...

Holy cow this is so funny! LOL! Thank you, Occupy Your Kitchen for sharing!

Farmer's Market Consumers: Buyer Beware. Part 1 of 3.

Part 1 of 3. Part Two and Part Three

Does anyone care that farmer's market consumers were allegedly sold repackaged meat, poultry, and eggs by Sharon Palmer and Healthy Family Farms representatives, such as Victoria Bloch?

From the "Declaration in Support of Motion Regarding Source of Bail and Bail Deviation" dated August 12, 2011:

"Other invoices and records seized in the search warrant at Palmer's Healthy Family Farms location in Santa Paula also revealed that she was buying thousands of dollars worth of meat, poultry, and eggs from other vendors and reselling it at farmer's markets and at Rawesome, despite claims and advertising that it was raised on her farm and not fed commercial feed." Source: PDFs on South Pasadena Patch


Healthy Family Farms Then: April 2008, Fillmore, CA
Certified organic? 

Sharon Palmer says that her farm was certified organic when her farm was located in Fillmore, CA. Farm Muckraker has not been able to track down any paperwork or certifying agency through which Palmer was organically certified.

Courtesy of CHEESESLAVE blogger, AnnMarie Michaels, former co-chapter leader with Victoria Bloch of the Weston A. Price Foundation's Los Angeles Chapter, from her flickr photostream:

"Healthy Family Farms produces some of the very best chickens and eggs in southern California. They are pastured raised -- meaning the chickens get to run free outside (not just "cage free" which means that although they are not in cages, they are still cooped up inside).
One of the most important things about eggs and chickens is what the chickens are fed. Most chickens, even "free range" "cage free" organic chickens, are fed corn and soy. I don't care if the soy is organic -- I don't want to buy chickens that ate soy. It's not good for them and it's not good for us.
Another thing I read was that chickens that get adequate protein from the pasture (worms, grubs, snails, etc.) are much healthier. The reason they have to de-beak the chickens who live indoors is two-fold: (1) they are often living in quarters that are too close for comfort and (2) they do not get enough protein from insects, which causes them to peck at each other. Very sad. Many organic "free range" and "cage free" chickens are still debeaked.
But that doesn't happen at Healthy Family Farms!
It is also very important for the health of chickens for them to take in sunlight and eat grass.
Pastured eggs and chickens are a LOT more nutritious than battery eggs and chickens. www.motherearthnews.com/eggs.aspx

Healthy Family Farms also raises turkeys. I bought one of their turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner -- it was delicious. I think they also have duck sometimes. And, best of all, they will sell you chicken livers and chicken feet. I put some on order to pick up next weekend."

Healthy Family Farms Now:

After her move to the new farm in 2008, Palmer did not bother to get re-certified as organic. But this doesn't matter too much to Palmer because her farm-raised meats and eggs are now "always grass-fed, free-range, fresh and delicious!" Her egg laying hens are "proudly non-vegetarian. No corn, no soy, no antibiotics, no hormones." She sites the whole organically certified vs. what's IN the organic feed debate. She would rather not feed her chickens soy than give them organic feed that has soy in it. What's funny about that is that the eggs I buy are truly pastured, and according to my organically certified farmer, there is no soy in the egg layers' feed because they are moved around on pasture and get enough protein from the organic feed they receive and the plethora of bugs that they eat. I know that HFF eggs are free range, yes, but are not truly pastured. They are raised in a large pen, and according to Ventura Ag as of April 2011 there were 2,000 egg layers at HFF which means that this is not a small egg operation. Contrast that with the farmer I buy my eggs from who has around 200 egg layers rotated on 100 acres of irrigated pasture (it is green year round). Gama Farms claims their 2,000 free-range egg layers are on an ACRE of land. From the pictures below it looks like the egg laying chickens are on significantly less than an acre of land.

Feeding 2,000 egg laying chickens requires a lot of feed, and the bugs (if there are many living in the waste of so many chickens in a confined pen) are not plentiful enough to provide adequate protein to produce quality eggs. In other words, the bird's waste needs to be dealt with because it accumulates, and how are bugs supposed to live in that harsh environment? Too much chicken waste is considered a pollutant. So if protein in the feed is a must, then what type of protein is in the feed of Healthy Family Farms chickens?  So far Sharon has yet to report what kind of feed she feeds her egg layers, how much she buys, and from whom.

Always Grass-fed and Free Range! Credit David De Bacco

"Free Range Eggs from Chickens Raised on Pasture"from Healthy Family Farms. Credit Katharine Ballas 

If the egg laying hens don't eat organic soy laden feed, then what do they eat? For the thorough answer, which is very helpful and encouraging about Healthy Family Farms practices, see this video posted on youtube in February 2009. Notice this is former employee, Vanessa Parrotta, Sharon's niece and former market laison and salesperson for Healthy Family Farms to LA area restaurants. 

VP: "They can access bugs, they're vegetarian fed, so they get fresh produce, and strawberries, in addition to their grain which does not contain any corn or soy and they're high in wheat barley and flax. So what they're eating is what you're eating.


Interviewer: "So their natural diet is to eat bugs, grubs, worms, even grass-hoppers, snakes, all that good stuff..."


"And they're outside, they're on huge pasture so they're always scratching around...especially when it rains because that's when the worms come up...that's they're favorite time they go out and play in the rain all the time. Yeah, Lot's of protein. They're high in Omega-3, you're just getting all of those nutrients. Especially because our land is organic, everything that's coming up is organic."


So the land is organic, just not certified so?

Who knew that to be, or not to be, certified organic would be such a conundrum?

Farm Tour and Photos

Healthy Family Farms had an open farm policy every Sunday between 10am and 2pm this summer and early fall. I went on a Saturday in the afternoon, unannounced because I was in Ventura (about a 30 minute drive from the farm) for a birthday party. I thought I would pop in since the farm is an hour drive away from my home and I did not want to drive all the way back the next day, or another weekend.  Plus, I was curious. When I arrived and parked, the Healthy Family Farms farmers market workers were unloading their leftovers from that day's markets in the commercial kitchen on the property located in the red barn. I asked them if I could look around the farm. Diane told me no, because Sharon was not on the property. She could not answer any of my questions because Sharon was not there to answer the questions. Jose echoed her statements. I was told emphatically that I could not take any pictures. According to Palmer, when I spoke with her on the phone the week following my visit, the farm is not open at any other time because of liability reasons as well as that her dogs are free to roam the property, and her children live on the property. Here is what I saw, some pictures taken from the privacy of my own vehicle, and some from across the street:

View of the Farmhouse from the parking lot of the Red Barn. Small garden on right?

View of the Red Barn where market workers Diane and Jose were unloading a Healthy Family Farms van.

The sign reads: Goats

Healthy Family Farms goats, or Rawesome goats?

Cardboard dumpster across the street. Sharon Palmer acknowledged the dumpster in a phone interview and said it is used by at least 6 neighbors. When I asked if Healthy Family Farms uses the dumpster, she acknowledged that they do.

View of Palmer's farmhouse across the street from dumpster.

Egg Case Flats: When asked about all those egg flats, Sharon Palmer stated that they do not reuse their egg flats but instead buy egg flats by the 10,000. When asked why, she said it is because of safety and health reasons. "No one reuses their flats. Salmonella can get on there from a cracked egg", she said. Feed bag tucked in the back left corner, yellow from the bag barely visible.

On the boxes: Harrison Poultry: Young Chicken, USDA inspected seal. Harrison Poultry is located in Georgia. A sales representative for the company said that Healthy Family Farms is not a known customer. She did say that although they ship young dressed chickens that are freshly slaughtered all over the world, California is their largest market. I asked how a small farm might get hold of their birds. She replied that they sell to wholesalers who in turn sell to vendors. She proudly said that they are a commercial poultry producer and that they slaughter ONE MILLION young chickens per week. ONE MILLION young chickens per week...and they sell for $3 a chicken.

Bags of Feed from the dumpster. I have no idea what type of feed this is...organic, soy free?

Ah, Kruse's Perfection Brand. Maybe someone can help me out here? I don't know what's in it?

Another Dumpster View

Signage says the chick barn.

The red egg layers in the back? White meat birds up front? "HFF" feed silo.

"Open Sunday: Big Red Barn (Organic)" At the bottom: "Cheese!!" It doesn't say if it is pasteurized or not?

The HFF silo in the background. Garden in foreground: to feed the chickens their strawberries?

The dry and dusty canyon in the background where I thought the beef cows were hiding.

Horses? Sheep? Goats? Not sure if these are even HFF owned?

I spoke with Sharon Palmer on the phone the week after my visit. When I asked where all the grass is, she became defensive. "This is 150 year old cattle country." she said, "Look around, everyone in the canyon raises cattle on pasture." When I responded that I had thought that pasture raised animals ate green grass, she told me that I needed to look up my definition of pasture. I guess I should have asked what exactly her cattle do eat? At the height of the summer there is a whole lot of dried grass and dirt in the Golden Hills of California. Does a rancher need to supplement their cattle's diet to maintain a healthy cow? If there is enough "dry pasture" per cow, is that enough? I also asked her where all the cows were. Are they in the canyon there behind your home where I heard they were? She said that she leases 600 acres "up the road" where her cattle roam freely. I am learning about ranching myself, and forgot to ask her how many head she generally keeps. I wonder if her herd is open, or closed?

Before I had even written a public blog but was just a Weston A. Price Foundation member angry and looking for answers from my local chapter leaders as to why the state claimed it had evidence that she was purchasing, repackaging, and selling commercially raised meat and eggs, Sharon emailed me directly. She was gathering her receipts, she said, and was certain the receipts mentioned in the bail documents were from her slaughtering receipts or receipts for the business she has selling to restaurants, private chefs, and...charities? I wonder why the assistant district attorney would lie about finding receipts that clearly showed she was buying meat, poultry and eggs from different venders and selling them as her own?

Sharon has also said that she buys these chickens to give to her employees. When asked how many employees she has, she said she has one part-time employee. Currently is seems she has none, as Victoria Bloch sent out this appeal to Los Angeles area WAPF members to volunteer at Healthy Family Farms. So did she buy the commercially raised chicken for her employee dinner of one, or for her volunteers who believe in local, sustainable, and ethically raised animals? What was the date of these dinners and charity events? What are the names of the charities? Would Sharon care to provide receipts of how many she purchased and from whom? After all, if she is doing her taxes she needs to keep records of these purchases so she can write them off for charity. But according to the state, she hasn't paid her taxes...?!?

She would probably also like you to know that she is a small farmer, a single mother, and that farming (ranching?) is very personal business. She said, "If you don't like one farmer, go to another one." Thanks, Sharon, I did that a long time ago.

Part 1 of 3. Part Two and Part Three

Where's my Pastured Eggs?

John DeBruin of DeyDey's Best Beef Ever

UPDATE: September 21, 2011:
Dey Dey's Best Beef Ever was featured in LA Magazine this month because they did a "farm fresh egg test" and John's eggs came in 2nd. They used his commercial company name: California Lowline Cattle Company for some reason. You all know they are first in my book. To see the results, see this months article at L.A. Magazine or listen to this Good Food show on KCRW. For me personally, this is such validation that I am not the only one obsessed with finding the best farm fresh eggs. John is now selling out of eggs before we can even set up the booth at MarVista Farmer's Market. He is in 15 markets, people, so you can go to another one...maybe Saturday Sherman Oaks? Spread the Egg Lovin', aight?



*******************************************************************************
 
Okay, folks, as if it wasn't hard enough to come by truly pastured eggs in LA...you all need to stop hoarding the eggs.

I worked at the farmer's market stall today to help give Rancher John a day at home on the ranch. The man works his patooty off and he still can't make enough LOCAL and TRULY-PASTURED eggs for us. What gives?

I got six measly eggs. I am not happy. You all bought my dang eggs!

Wah Wah Wah!

Seriously, though, I had the best time meeting the people who are seeking. Seeking better health, losing weight, gaining nutrition, gaining bone mass, gaining brain function and who are trying the best they can with their time, money and talent to feed themselves and their families well. And MANY of you are seeking better eggs. :)

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for caring about good food. Thank you for supporting the ranchers that do it right. Thank you for asking questions, and learning along with all of us what constitutes a real ranch and a real rancher. 

It seems to me that there is a shift after this past raid of Rawesome. Some people want to put what is broken back together again. Some want the f-ers to go to jail. Most want the government to let me decide what to put in my mouth, thank you very much.

And then there are the thousands of the rest of us, who just want to be able to feed ourselves and our family well with local food. Is that too much to ask?

No. It is not. Ask more. Put pressure on the farm fraudsters to go into another scam. Put pressure on the guys that do it well to do it better. Put pressure on the guys who do it the best to produce as much as they can and still be true to their SOIL.

My daughter and niece in the grass at DeyDey's Farm Tour.
May 2011 

The lowlines out on pasture at DeyDey's. You might want to try their beef, too. ;)

Put pressure on the government to let you eat the food that is the cleanest, healthiest, and purest.

Please do not whisper about HFF and Rawesome anymore. The information is out there if you really want to know. The information is out there if you really CARE to know.

ASK OUT LOUD.

Ask the other farmers and ranchers. Ask the farmer's market managers what they are planning on doing? Ask your foodie friends. Ask. Please. Just ask. And ask your questions below. I will answer them to the best of my knowledge.

Egg-cellent Questions

Farm fresh eggs from Healthy Family Farms. Credit Katharine Ballas

Edited for content: October 9, 2011

I have heard from a few friends regarding HFF farms products now. One says the liver smelled pastured to her, and the other says that the chicken tasted like any other pastured chicken she has eaten, which means it was probably tasty.

That's the thing...the products seem normal enough for a farmer's market product. In fact way better than any store bought battery egg or chicken. Heck, when I bought the eggs when we first moved to LA, they seemed good enough quality to me. Until I read Aajonus' website, and then doubt trickled in.

I am not the only one who was angered by the proclamations of Deputy District Attorney, Kelly Sakir, in the "Motion Regarding Source of Bail", nor am I the only one who has doubts about the authenticity of Healthy Family Farms products. It is coming close to a year now that these allegations have been swirling. I know Sharon Palmer and HFF employees are busy, but if they don't get busy showing their records and numbers...well, I don't have many numbers of consumers but it seems to me that people would be hesitant to buy. But then again, people are flocking to farmer's markets and what do they know of this saga? Where is the consumer protection for them?

Anyone who is interested in this story wants to hear from Hohberg Poultry Ranches. They have a website and are on Facebook, so they are social media savvy, yet they cannot seem to return emails or phone calls. If I don't hear from them soon, I will make sure I go visit them! If anyone wants to come with me, please email me or let me know.


Hohberg Poultry Ranches, Fontana and Ontario, California

Here is why we need to speak with the Hohberg's:

On the original healthyfamilyfarms.blogspot.com website put together by a Southern California WAPF co-chapter leader, was a private letter from another local WAPF co-chapter leader describing her suspicions of Healthy Family Farms eggs. This letter was originally posted here but Farm Muckraker was asked by it's author to remove the letter. Loosely paraphrased: When asked about the possible outsourcing of eggs, a FM employee, Tina, said that Sharon told her she took the eggs to Hohberg's to have them washed. This co-chapter leader concluded that the eggs weren't outsourced.

Hohberg Poultry Ranches of Ontario are first mentioned in the investigative report:

"Approximately 5 or 6 months ago, there was a period of lower egg production at Nichols resulting in eggs not being available for sale through the retail store. At that time, Mr. Cisneros suggested Sharon Palmer try Hogbert Egg Farm in Fontana. Since that time, Sharon Palmer had not come back."

So who, then, are Chris and Christina? 

Victoria describes them as: "disgruntled former employees...two of our former market managers were let go for stealing (well, technically, one quit just before things hit the fan, and one was fired). They tried to extort additional money from the farm by threatening to get the farm in trouble if they didn't get a hefty severance package. We never told our customers why they left, because we didn't want to gossip; but clearly, they've headed down a lower road. What a shame – we've put that unfortunate situation behind us, and we're sorry that they have chosen to be vindictive. (And now we understand that they are letting people know that they left because of their concern over our "deceptive farming practices". What rot.)" in her original letter to HFF Customers. in the Fall of 2010.

Here is a testimony, in their own words, from Aajonus' website:

"Christopher and Christina Girard:
Subject: Healthy Family Farms And Rawsome Club Members Deceived For Years
As an interested party, I am forwarding this message to [Dr. Vonderplanitz]. This is the reason that Christina and I quit Healthy Family Farms. My family could no longer work and distribute products from Healthy Family Farms. Due to the fact that reporting this to you prior to having received your report, Christina and I could have been seen as just vindictive ex employee trying to damage my former employer. However, we did report it to the district attorney.
[Rawesome members and farmers’ market buyers] have been duped out of your hard earned money plain and simple. Test results show a 5 times higher than allowable level of Mercury in the eggs and Arsenic in the chickens. I will also encourage you to print this email and present it to the Farmers Market Managers and complain and encourage the managers to no longer allow Sharon Palmer and Healthy Family Farms to make a handsome profit at the Farmers Markets from pure deception and fraud. Christina and I thank you for all of your friendship and support.
I [Chris] took all of the photographs I sent you while my wife and I worked at Healthy Family Farms (HFF). As you see, Sharon Palmer had us repackage meats and eggs from commercial wholesalers as born, raised and layed at HFF as organic without soy. When we repeatedly complained about misrepresenting HFF products as organic, she fired us.
 HFF sold 523 chickens and game hens, and 18 ducks per week. Just at Hollywood Farmer’s Market alone, we sold about 12 pork rib racks. Customers would request things like organs etc. and we would not have them but would have 15-20 Racks of Lamb and 2-4 legs of lamb just on Sunday Hollywood Market. Since there were only a few pigs and one or no lambs at HFF, you can guess where Sharon bought the meat. The numbers of items sold on the chart on the freezer were weekly sales. Cases of eggs were 15 dozen per. Also Notice that the Hollywood Farmers Kitchen operated by SEE-LA (Hollywood FM Management) received 10 Large Chickens per week (Bottom of Picture just below "Hollywood" I would personally deliver the chickens to the kitchen. Let me know if you need more info.
Christopher and Christina Girard"

Did Sharon Palmer and James Stewart conspire to sell Rawesome customers outsourced eggs?

James words: "For your piece of mind, know that his claims regarding poor animal feed quality, negative laboratory testing results, alleged felony convictions, high temperature oil processing and huge profits are inaccurate and outlandish.

I have always been transparent and shared with everyone "exactly what I know” about the food represented in our club. If a food producer has lied, the minute those suspect items were proven to be false, they were removed from our club."

Notice James did not mention egg outsourcing. Notice his last sentence. 

From a conversations with those closest to this case, Sharon has admitted to buying eggs and repackaging them for Rawesome only. She said she had James' blessing to do so. The story goes like this: sometime in the year of 2009/2010 a mountain lion consumed a lot of the egg laying chickens. Sharon made arrangements with James to pick up eggs from other farmers. I cannot confirm if these eggs were repackaged as HFF, but it seems to me they were. She has admitted she only did this until she could raise more egg layers to support his co-op since she was only able to produce enough eggs for the Farmer's Markets.

Did Rawesome club members know that James and Sharon did this? I believe they found out after Aajonus' announced his suspicions. How did some of them keep buying eggs from Healthy Family Farms after the admitted fraud? I do not know. Here is word from an anonymous Rawesome member in an email to Aajonus: 

"I used to be a member of Rawesome Foods and agree with the concept behind what they stood for obviously.  I stopped shopping there about a year ago after you brought some important issues to light and after visiting HFF.  I definitely consider myself to have been “duped” regarding the eggs and was very frustrated (especially since I eat most of them raw) that I had taken Rawesome’s word for it.  I never liked the yellowness of the yolks (as opposed to the brighter, darker orange – a sign of a grass diet) or the way they poached (or didn’t).

I visited Healthy Family Farms during an “open house” on a Sunday and was extremely disappointed, even though I was bracing myself for a negative experience already.  The reps at the numerous farmer’s markets, HFF literature, and web info indicate that it is a grass/pasture based farm (i.e. Joel Salatin), as does Rawesome.  The farm is nothing of the sort as you know.  It reminds me of a petting zoo.  Since they have four open houses per year they can prepare to put their best foot forward each time and yet not one blade of green growing grass was available for any animal to consume.  They have permanent fencing and dirt “pastures” just piling up with bacteria.  The amount of nitrogen the animals are putting down is far too much for the soil to metabolize.  This kind of farming does not demand my food dollar.  For all the talk about James Stewart and Sharon Palmer working an “under the table” deal, did no other Rawesome leaders visit Healthy Family Farms and see this?"

Did James remove Sharon from the club? I do not believe so, because in the

"Declaration of Support of Motion Concerning Bail" Deputy District Attorney declares, "continued investigation, including an undercover buy made on May 18, 2011 at the food facility known as Rawesome, indicate that [Sharon Palmer] is still selling her illegal dairy products at that facility."

I do not have these answers, though, since I was not a Rawesome member. 

If buying eggs from someone else and repackaging them as coming from your farm isn't bad enough, how do we know what quality of eggs these outsourced eggs were? The investigators hired by Aajonus confirmed that at Nichols/Chino Valley eggs where Sharon was a known customer: 

"We saw commercial and organic eggs which were brown in color. The organic eggs were only being sold by the dozen at a cost of $3.50 per dozen. The commercial flats of eggs were sold at $1.99 per flat....We spoke with David Will, Steve Nichols General Manager. Mr. Will agreed to research invoices on Ms Palmer, but recalled that she had bounced a check on them and that he thought she was buying eggs from other companies.

He subsequently contacted us by phone and advised that Sharon Palmer had not purchased eggs from the company in at least six months. He confirmed that Ms Palmer was buying 10-15 cases of commercial (non-organic eggs), jumbo browns."

Victoria told me at my first WAPF-LA meeting that Sharon had apologized for this outsourcing. But it begs the question, is this the only time Sharon has done this? How do we know that not only did she not have enough eggs for Rawesome but for the Farmer's Markets as well? How do we know she didn't outsource eggs for the Farmer's Markets, as her former employee suggests? Surely Sharon would have known that outsourcing is against the rules of the farmer's markets. How do we trust that she will never outsource again?

And that, my friends, is the conundrum: trust.