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Being Polish, Easter is almost as big a deal as Christmas in our household. ;-) No work at all is supposed to be done on Easter - even peeling eggs is considered work - so the contents of the basket are used a lot. Ours typically includes lots of eggs; kraszanki (eggs boiled with onion skins), boiled eggs dyed with food colouring, and I've taking to doing "dragon's eggs" for the peeled eggs (soft cooked eggs have their shells cracked all over, then cooked again in a mixture of tea, soy sauce, and other ingredients, which leaves interesting patterns after peeling), and wax resist dyed blown eggs we use every year. No one in our family likes the traditional Babka, so I make an egg bread, shaped into a wreath. Then there's ham, kielbasa, salt, butter, cheese and horseradish (I try to find a piece of root instead of prepared horseradish). We add some chocolate, too. Our one non-traditional treat. ;-)

I've got a photo of last year's basket here, minus the wax resist eggs. link

Others include things like fruit, wine, rye bread, as well as a candle. The filled and decorated baskets would be taken to church for blessing on the Saturday. I always loved seeing what other people put in their baskets.

I grew up on a small, largely self-sustaining farm - we raised cows and chickens, occaisionally pigs, geese and turkeys. We grew most of our feed for our animals, as well as vegetables and fruits for ourselves. My sister was a dairy farmer until she and her husband converted to beef. Their neighbours are all farmers of various specialties, but mostly beef and dairy. Most are organic, or very close to it, though none are certified organic. I grew up surrounded by farms raising animals such as cows, chickens, geese, hogs, bison, llamas, and even ostrich. There were also farms growing grains, oil seeds, corn and potatoes. Currently, I live in the heart of Canada's beef country, though I'm in the city again.

I know that things are done differently in the US, but the animals that end up on our grocery store shelves are NOT necessarily eating a grain based diet. Especially cows. It is not only rediculously expensive to feed an animal so large a strickly grain based diet, such a limited diet would make them sick. Likewise, the feed for poultry and hogs must have a variety to be nutritionally adequate. Stay far away from any company that claims their poultry, for example, has a vegetable only diet. Their natural diet includes bugs, worms, and sometimes each other (we had free range chickens with plenty of food, but they still killed and cannibalized the weak ones). They require protein for their health, and I'm not sure how those "vegetable only" feeds get adequate protein.

Not eating meat isn't going to magically mean more crop land for people food. Different soil types and local climates are better for different purposes. Some are ideal for growing grain, but would be poor for growing vegetables. Land that's good for pasture or growing hay and other greens for cows is not necessarily going to be good for growing food for human consumption. They also need water and shelter, so there's incentive to keep trees, ponds and watering holes, etc., which adds to the diversity of wildlife.

As for damage to the environment, growing grains, etc. are FAR more damaging than growing grasses or leaving it for pasture. There's a tremendous amount of soil loss from any crop that requires plowing and planting. There's also greater soil nutrient loss, as nutrients are not replaced as easily. Add in increased risks of plant diseases and insect infestations due to such large areas having only 1 or 2 types of plants growing in it, too. Oh, and all the equipment needed for planting, irrigation, and harvesting.

Probably the least amount of effort and intervention is needed for raising cattle. You let them loose on the pasture, rotate the herd to other fields as needed to prevent over grazing, and keep an eye on them for illness. Cows are pretty good at taking care of themselves. It isn't until they head out to market that things get more intense - from what I understand, the US uses feedlots quite a lot. I personally don't know a single beef operatore that uses feedlots, though I can't say what happens after the animals are sold at auction. With the hoops people need to jump through to get organic certification, many don't bother. The meat in your supermarket is as likely to be organically grown as not. The most invasive and destructive practise, IMO, is large scale mono-culture agriculture. Ponds get filled in, trees get bulldozed down, every useable inch gets plowed under, then herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers become increasingly necessary to maintain healthy crops.

From my personal experience, if you want to help the environment, eat a steak.