Sustainability: Animal agriculture
Part two of four: In an ever-changing world, what are we trying to sustain?
When considering the environmental impact of a business, analyzing its ties to animal agriculture is critical in building lasting kinship between people and planet. Industrial animal agriculture inevitably results in human, animal and environmental harm through animal mistreatment, intense carbon emissions and its consequent impact on human welfare. The value of the animals in these farms is measured merely by the services they provide and the potential profit they can produce. As a result, animals suffer, the land suffers and human health suffers. Fortunately, this is not the case for all farms. In fact, one of the best ways for a business to minimize its carbon footprint is to buy small and buy local. Living in the Pacific Northwest, we are incredibly privileged to be surrounded by a multitude of small, sustainable and family-owned farms that are doing the hard work to ensure their animals are living happy and healthy lives. With this in mind, we made it a mission of ours to seek out local partners who value their animals and the lands upon which they farm to the utmost degree.
For our milk products, we are partnering with Garry’s Meadow Fresh in Mulino, Oregon, a short 20-minute drive from Le Petit Bistro. We are so excited to work with Garry and Lacey Hansen because they truly treat their animals like family, right down to the individual naming of each cow. Garry and Lacey pasture raise Jersey cows, which are the smallest breed of milking cows. This means their cows eat less, create less waste and use the least amount of land resulting in the smallest environmental impact possible. To take it one step further, Garry’s Meadow Fresh milk comes only in glass bottles that can be returned for a deposit. Besides being incredibly reminiscent of the Jersey cow dairy farm my mother grew up on, these glass bottles are going to be an immense source of plastic waste reduction for Le Petit Bistro!
Likewise, for our egg vendor we have chosen to partner with Wilcox Family Farms of Roy, WA. We have never seen a flock of happier hens than those at Wilcox Family Farms! These girls have all of the space in the world to roam, forage and take nice cool dirt baths. Wilcox Family Farms is chemical and pesticide free, certified salmon safe and certified humane, meaning they are truly not taking any shortcuts in stewarding their hens and the surrounding land. We could not be more excited to support these local Pacific Northwest farms and their happy, carefree animal friends.
Speaking of not taking any shortcuts, while we have discussed sustainable farming practices and environmental impact, we have yet to address how these tenets relate to Le Petit Bistro’s signature fare—coffee. Next time we will take a deep dive into the social and environmental implications of our coffee beans from the farms in Ethiopia, Guatemala or Colombia to your very first sip of coffee within the walls of Le Petit Bistro.
Cheers!
McKenna