The weekend after Thanksgiving, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, November 28, 29 and 30, Fishwood Farms opens its gates to the public from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm each day. Families can wander the grounds and visit with the ‘alpaca ambassadors,’ and possibly be privy to a newborn alpaca that’s due this next week.

JoAnn Wood, husband Dan and JoAnn’s sister, Nancy Fish (hence Fishwood Farm) started this alpaca farm four years ago. As JoAnn puts it, the two women were seeking something to do with their land on Trinity Road. Since they were “a little too old to be falling off a horse,” they focused on Huacaya alpaca production.

Alpacas are found native to only one place in the entire world, in the Andes Mountains of South America. Raised in harsh and rugged conditions, they usually are small-boned and their fleece is thin and fine, silky and rare. Alpacas were imported into the U.S. in 1984, and - in 1998 - importation was closed once U.S. breeders established continuing bloodlines. American breeders had the opportunity to create an American Standard for the species.

This American Standard alpaca now is prized worldwide for its robust condition, bone structure, strength, size and fleece. Now, American breeds are exported to other countries. The fleece, especially, is a valuable export and the breeder’s association currently is setting up export to Mexico. JoAnn and Nancy breed Huacaya alpacas, one of two breeds within the U.S., the other being the Suri.

But, until July 2008, alpaca farmers had to fight to make their businesses viable. The alpaca, for the most part, was considered an exotic breed. In July, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) provided authenticity and credibility to the alpaca as a viable livestock product of the United States in the 2008 farm bill. Because of the newly acquired federal designation, alpaca breeders such as JoAnn and Nancy have access to the large numbers of programs offered through the USDA and other farm-specific programs.

Part of the progressive fallout from the 2008 farm bill is that opportunities are now open for the establishment of fiber collection and processing mills in America to process fiber and products for global industries. Soft as cashmere and warmer, lighter and stronger than wool, alpaca fiber comes in more colors than any other fiber producing animal. According to the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (AOBA), alpaca fibers come in approximately 22 basic colors with many variations and blends.

Alpaca owners also enjoy a strong and active national organization with the AOBA. This organization accepts fleece from its members, and turns the precious textile into quality alpaca garments and products. Members benefit from a ready outlet for their fiber, while the cooperative works to increase awareness of and demand for this every day luxury.

JoAnn and Nancy offer many alpaca products in their farm store, including sweaters, socks, outer wear such as hats, gloves and mittens, scarves, capes and wraps. They also have children’s clothing and toys such as stuffed animals. Many of the items in the store are Peruvian, which fit with the alpaca’s original Andes Mountain homeland theme.

So, work off some of that turkey with a walk around Fishwood Farms. Make peace with the family while watching the alpacas and do a little holiday shopping while you’re there.

Fishwood Farm is located mid-way between Appomattox and Lynchburg off Route 460. Take the Mt. Athos exit and make a right onto Stage Road at the bottom of the ramp (from either exit off 460). Drive 3.3 miles and take a left onto Paradise Hill Road. Fishwood Farm is located 4.6 miles on the right, 1/4 miles after Paradise Hill Road turns into Trinity.

If you can’t make a visit to the farm after Thanksgiving, you can visit again on December 13 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Otherwise, the farm is open by appointment. Visit the Fishwood Farm site to learn more.

Learn more about the most important African-American artist of the mid-20th Century at a presentation by Kris Anderson, Director of the Jacob Lawrence Gallery, University of Washington. This presentation will be given by Kris Anderson, Director of the Jacob Lawrence Gallery on Monday, December 1, 2008 at 4:00 pm at the Daura Gallery, Lynchburg College. Reception follows. All are invited.

It was a shock to discover that commodity corn – that dry, golden-yellow stuff that we associate with animal food – makes up the majority of the average American’s diet. But even more shocking to discover exactly how many ingredients are wrenched from the individual kernels at the wet mill.

Commodity corn has had a long and intimate relationship with wet mills for over 100 years. Corn starch, a ubiquitous basic ingredient found in many kitchens, is a wet mill product, one of the first. It is used routinely to thicken sauces and desserts and to lighten deep-fried coatings. It is probably one of the most benign wet mill products, generally safe for consumption.

Wet mills have come a long way since the 19th Century. Now they more closely resemble huge petroleum crackers, extracting hundreds of value-added products from the lowly corn kernel. Corn syrup and corn oil spring to mind, familiar products on supermarket shelves. Then there is HFCS, or high fructose corn syrup, which is made from corn starch, as is corn syrup. The best part of the corn kernel, the high-protein gluten, is shunted off to be used in better animal feeds! Humans get to gobble up the starch and oil derivatives, lucky us!

Take the popular McDonald’s McNugget, formerly called Chicken McNuggets but lately just McNuggets or Nuggets. Breaking down this popular snack’s 38 ingredients, no less that 13 of them come from corn! Just knowing that there are more than 13 ingredients in a simple snack food (I confess, a guilty pleasure I own) that pretends to be batter-fried chunks of chicken is alarming enough. Knowing that 13 of them come directly from corn is horrifying.

The chicken itself is corn-fed, thereby making the chicken broth also a corn product. Then there are modified cornstarch, mono-, tri-, and diglycerides, dextrose, lecithin, yellow corn flour containing more modified cornstarch, cornstarch, vegetable shortening (corn oil), and citric acid. All that from corn! I’ll bet you thought that citric acid came from citrus fruit. I sure did!

But it gets worse. In addition to the 13 ingredients from corn there are are a handful of quasi-edible, synthetic substances that come directly from crude oil. These ingredients include sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, calcium lactate, dimethylpolysiloxene, and worst of all, tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ). TBHQ is a form of Butane that is sprayed directly on the McNugget or on the inside of the box to preserve freshness. TBHQ should not exceed 0.02% of the oil in a McNugget. A gram of the stuff will produce nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, and collapse. Five grams will kill you.

I have ingested my last McNugget.

I have also eaten my last steak from the grocery store. Corn-finishing beef is just a fast way to get the beef from farm to meat case. The steers are crammed into small lots and encouraged to eat corn laced with antibiotics and antacids until they reach the peak of marbled goodness. Coincidentally this occurs a few days before the poor beasts start succumbing to bleeding ulcers. Corn is not really a good food for ruminants, their digestive system is not designed to handle it.

The list of ingredients above, derived from corn and crude oil, are not confined to fast food, nor am I just picking on McDonald’s. You will find them in all processed and fast foods to one extent or another. Read a few labels. If you see a lot of these ingredients, words you can’t pronounce, put the box back on the shelf and wander around to the store perimeter where the real food is kept in the fruit and vegetable departments.

We are going out of the supermarket altogether by increasing the amount of food we already grow ourselves. The poultry for meat and eggs, the cow for milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, and ice cream, the steers and pigs we fatten on grass every year, and the fruits and vegetables we grow and can or freeze, can help us reach our ultimate goal to throw off the shackles of the modern, industrial food chain and return to the diet our great grandparents thrived on.

Instead of gorging on a steady diet of corn and petroleum products, we will instead dine on free-range meat and produce grown in soil enriched by the manure of these creatures.

Until viable alternatives appear, petroleum can be limited to making our vehicles go and kept out of our daily diet.

Who knows, maybe we will start slimming down as well…