Digest - Features, etc: Meat manifesto, local eating all around the U.S.

FEATURES

King of the conscious carnivores: The Magazine’s Way We Eat now column is devoted to “The River Cottage Meat Book,” by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, a Dorset farmer and the Ethicurean’s newest hero. In what the writer calls his "Meat Manifesto," Fearnley-Whittingstall asks readers, "Are you among the millions of consumers putting pressure on farmers to produce mountains of cheap meat of dubious quality, by dubious means?" … Have the animals you’ve consumed "lived well? … Have they been cared for by someone who respects and enjoys their contact with them?" The answers are "no way" and "hell yes" for us. And you? (New York Times)

The web of a pork chop: What starts as a portrait of a free-range hog farm in South Carolina expands to cover local eating, Wal-Mart’s organic plans, farmers markets with non-local produce, and Big Meat. (Columbia City Paper)

Locavore capital of the Midwest?: Woodbury County, Iowa, is poised to launch a new logo to indicate locally grown foods. The "Sioux City Sue" logo will be available for use on any product with at least 50% of the raw ingredients grown within 100 miles of Sioux City. Among the city’s other bold moves in recent years are 100% property breaks for farmers who convert to organic methods and a local-foods purchasing policy. (Sioux City Journal)

Ewes on the lamb: Kim Severson writes about how sheep like "Lucky Lady" (right) and other farm animals that escape their captors in New York City get sent to live at Farm Sanctuary, 175 acres of vegan nirvana. We smell a Pixar movie, with PETA in an executive producer role. (New York Times Blog)

"Shoal mining": A tough look at the massive challenges facing fishing, from an Australian viewpoint. (Sunday Mail)

Going-to-Hell Country: Austin-area ranchers and farmers, enticed by multimillion-dollar payouts, are selling thousands of acres of their large Hill Country properties to developers eager to put up McMansions and strip malls. Even Willie Nelson is carving off 65 acres of his ranch for upscale homes. (New York Times)

Big Sky beef: A Montana rancher describes in practical how he began raising "beef without guilt" — Scottish highland cattle that range freely on pasture but are finished with grain. (The Prairie Star)

Sushi : The always excellent Sara Dickerman talks to two authors of sushi books, Sasha Issenberg and Trevor Corson, touches on mercury levels, sustainability, and the problem of actually knowing where the fish came from. (Slate)

Smell the Florez: California State Sen. Dean Florez’s fight to regulate the leafy green vegetable industry has all the makings of a personal crusade…to grab the media spotlight? (SignOnSanDiego.com)

Down at the Tar Heel: North Carolina’s small farmers face skyrocketing land prices, a high rate of consolidation, and an aging workforce. (Charlotte Observer)

Americans will pay for others to count calories: Food companies have discovered they can take an existing product, portion smaller amounts of it (only 100 calories!) into single-serving bags, and sell them for more than you would a regular package by weight. Food company executives say that while smaller packs do cost more, they help people exercise a little hand-to-mouth restraint. (New York Times)

Bag bad guys: IKEA is charging 5 cents each for plastic bags, and Americans have the gall to complain. (Los Angeles Times)

Organic dairy farm in Zionsville, Indiana, opens fresh & local cafe (IndyStar.com)

Tips on preserving a bountiful garlic harvest (San Francisco Chronicle)

Bone up on meat cuts with visual aids (Culinate)

A new book on American artisan cheeses (Courier-Journal)

BLOGSNACKS & MISC.

We (heart) locavores: Pocket Farm has started a new blog for the One Local Summer challenge, in which hundreds of participants around the U.S. and outside it have pledged to prepare one entirely local meal each week of the summer, and share the visual evidence. (One Local Summer)

A putrid dish: Our pal Leslie chews on the idea of meat grown in the lab. (At the Table)

Milk detective: A traveling Seattleite’s meat and dairy strategy while in Hong Kong: "Don’t buy from China because I have no idea what is in it and don’t buy from the US because I know what is in it. Anything from The European Union is okay." (Seattle PI blog)

“I’ve seen the dark side”: Food writer Jennifer Jeffrey, whose post about slow food and feminism got us thinking, does so again with this tale of growing up in Oregon on the 100-foot diet (because her family had to), and how that colors her reading of Barbara Kingsolver’s "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle." (Jennifer Jeffrey)