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A year end report….
….not from us, but from our English colleague and Cornwall correspondent, Juliet Cleave. Juliet and husband Chris are partners in our Traditional Devon™ project and in recent years their hard work has vaulted their Kew herd to the very top of Devon farms…anywhere. This year-end video doesn’t begin to do Kew Devons justice….but will give you an idea. Turn up the sound!
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Gluten sensitivity….maybe not….
….here’s a nutritionist that makes the point that gluten has been around for thousands of years. While all the gluten sensitivity now? (To be honest, I suspected it was one of those yuppie diseases). But here’s an explanation that makes sense to me: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/real-reason-for-toxic-wheat-its-not-gluten/ Thanks to Dawn Gerrish for the link.
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The Christmas Tree bill….
….perhaps the greatest wrongs committed in Washington are discovered too-late in what is known as the Christmas Tree bill. That’s when all the pet projects of all the corrupt lawmakers are loaded onto a “must-pass” bill to keep the government running. It comes up for a vote—all the bad stuff hidden among the required stuff—at the last minute before the politicians head home for the holidays. This year, the Christmas Tree bill was that Omnibus spending bill rammed through by Speaker Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi. Let’s say you’re a lawmaker and you have a bank in your district that wants to confiscate the savings of widows and orphans. Well, you put…
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If you read only one thing today….
….it’s this on the jockeying for new nutrition guidelines. And if time is limited read the last paragraph. Or if it’s really limited, here’s the last paragraph: There’s no shortage of lessons here, well beyond this food fight. Even when everyone’s intentions are good, politics can get in the way of science. Scientists are not immune to fads and groupthink just because they claim to speak for science. Special interests work the refs, but the refs often have an agenda as well. Winners of policy fights hate to lose — or admit they’re wrong. And people who shout about a settled consensus are often only shouting to drown out those…
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Chloe is trying hard….
I mean really trying….but she just can’t get the Christmas Spirit! Photo by Church Matthews
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So what is Chipotle doing about it?
This is the most complete article we’ve seen on what the fast-food chain is doing about the food-poisoning outbreak. Complete except that it doesn’t say anything about how this all happened after Chipotle abandoned grass fed beef and substituted the industrial product used by everyone else. It’s also interesting that the company brags about using Niman Ranch pork but it’s only a fraction of the total pork used. Just enough for the ads?? http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-chipotle-food-safety-crisis/
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Mission accomplished….
…if you detect a note of smugness, it is because “Boss Hog” has bred our three sows and is now looking forward to the “blessed event” in March. He’s a Gloucester Old Spot…and an ideal cross for our Tamworth. There’s a good reason the British call Tamworth “the bacon breed” and GOS increases the yield without any sacrifice in flavor. We may be convinced to sell a few small roaster pigs for your grill spit but the real test will come late next year when our first major crop of piglets is ready for harvest. Photo by Church Matthews.
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In the beginning….
….this was Thistle Hill Farm! Wooz’ parents bought the farm at the end of World War II. This is 1947….her father is sitting on the steps….an aunt in dark clothing in the center…her mother in white on the left. (click to enlarge) Wooz and her sister slept in the kitchen…her parents in the other room in the house…the living room/bedroom. The Bells thought they had purchased about 100 acres with the cottage…a later survey indicated they owned 140 acres. The house was eventually enlarged by the addition of a two story log cabin to the left…and a glassed in year-round porch in front. Eventually son Church sheathed the entire structure.…
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You just don’t get it….
….a Washington Post reporter passes over the fact right before his eyes. (This is my shocked face!) Chipotle, which was the darling of the fast-food category for a time, has run into a bad patch. The chain has been plagued with an outbreak of E.coli that has forced it to close a number of stores….sales are off….the stock is down. Why the sudden bad luck? Well you have to read down to the 12th paragraph before the reporter notes—only in passing—that Chipotle changed it business plan two years ago. The chain that was built on quality, grass fed beef switched to conventionally-raised beef (meaning like everybody else) and the food born…
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Baloney….
….and other processed meats. Just ran across a blogger, Adele Hite, thanks to our old friend Ridge Shinn. Ms Hite (or perhaps, by now, Dr. Hite) does a total nuclear strike on the “settled science” of nutrition. This is must reading…and fun reading…particularly for those who have been denying themselves the delights of bacon and sausage, “trites” and “trates”. Worth spending an hour or so reading her site. Here’s a link to just one article. http://eathropology.com/2015/11/03/again-in-3-part-harmony-its-not-about-the-science/