• A chance to see “Cereal Killers”….

    ….the producers of this excellent movie have made it available on-line through July 4th. “Cereal Killers” graphically demolishes the myth that you have to cut out the fat or you’ll get fat.  We ran into some “believers” in the notorious Food Pyramid this past weekend selling introductory packages of burger at the local Ruritan Park. Increasingly we find that we don’t have to explain the benefits of grass fed beef.  More and more people come up to our booth saying something like:  “we’ve been looking for this”!  But still the “Fat is Bad” myth persists; and in nor small measure because of uneducated doctors. Or, more accurately, doctors who were educated…

  • Stocking up….

    ….grandson Luis has been here for the past few days and, of course, everyone is put to work so I can supervise.  Here Luis is emptying bags of bass, blue gill and koi into our pond.  At the fish hatchery where we picked up the young ones, Luis got impatient that nothing was biting at the Zett’s pond near Inwood, West Virginia, and simply put his hand down in the water and grabbed a catfish almost two feet long. Other chores he handled without a fuss:  bringing in some cows so we could collect tail hairs for DNA, feeding the pigs, and repairing a gate.  And mowing, lots of mowing. Fortunately…

  • On the road again….

    ….we’ll be taking the Thistle Hill tent to the Family and Friends Fun Day at the Ruritan Park in Hume, Virginia Saturday, June 28th. Lots of features for the whole family…..moon bounce, bands, baseball, food, face painting, you name it!  And again we’ll be offering our burger at a special low price as well as a chance to win $100 worth of Thistle Hill beef.  Both new and old customers are welcome to enter for the drawing.  No purchase necessary of course….but how can you resist. The day is sponsored by the Marshall United Methodist Church  so please come by.  The fun starts at 11 a.m.

  • The word is getting around…..

    ….its even reached The Economist.  They’ve finally discovered that those things that were supposed to be bad for—-meat, butter, eggs, etc—-aren’t. Nothing in here you didn’t know but it’s well-presented. http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21602984-why-everything-you-heard-about-fat-wrong-case-eating-steak-and-cream And if you want to buy the book, here’s Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1451624425/insta0c-20

  • X3’s new digs….

    ….as we’ve said before, the most rewarding part of what we do at Thistle Hill is helping others get started with Devon.  Here we deliver THF X3 (Red Lad) to Tom Garnett and Brooke Henley near Middletown, Maryland. X3 strode off the trailer and pronounced himself satisfied….with the pasture and his new herd.  Brooke wrote later that she was going to call him “Ready” because he certainly was.  Wooz thinks he was one of the best we’ve ever raised.  I never argue.

  • One thing for sure….

    ….farmers aren’t seeing it. Headline:  meat prices hit all-time record high. The concentration of meat production in just a few corporate hands makes this inevitable.  Shoppers will blame farmers of course.  Later, the statistics will come out and show again that the farmers’ share of the cost is shrinking….the big processors who are “vertically-integrated” will continue to rake in more and more. http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/price-index-meats-poultry-fish-eggs-rockets-all-time-high