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One percenters…
…these pigs are in the one percent of pigs raised outside in pastures. They were out exploring and foraging today. Carolyn
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This weekend one of our bull-renters delivered a litter of six piglets to Thistle Hill Farm.
It was cold and gusty, and I was glad their hay-filled pigloo didn’t blow away. These four brothers and two sisters are Tamworth Berkshire crosses. Originally from central England, Tamworths are known for their red color and long abdomen, which makes for wonderful bacon. The Berkshires are black, sometimes with white spots, and produce meat that is not only full of flavor but tender as well. Our pigs, unlike most pigs who when conventionally raised are in pens where there’s not even room to turn around, will be reared in a pasture and given a non-GMO feed to supplement the grass and acorns in the pasture. Carolyn Matthews
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We had an exciting day yesterday
Son Church was home from his first year at Cornell veterinary school and we had one of our favorite vets out for a day of vaccinations, ultrasounds, weights and castrations. We’ve been waiting with baited breath to hear the results of our January AI’s and ET’s…and we are thrilled with the news: 3 Potheridge Presidents, 3 Champson Defenders, a Cutcombe Jaunty, a 663, a 688, and two Grantland Granites. Carolyn Matthews
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Did you know that grass-fed beef is one of the top ten sources of tryptophan?
I have to confess that I didn’t know that grass fed beef is on the top ten list for sources of tryptophan…I always think of turkey. Tryptophan is the amino acid that goes on to become serotonin, the “feel-good” hormone which is low in depression, and melatonin, which helps us sleep at night. Other sources besides grass fed beef and turkey: lamb, chicken, tuna, pumpkin seeds, eggs, crab, cheese, and spirulina. In addition to getting enough tryptophan in your diet, it is important to pursue lifestyle strategies to minimize inflammation, because when inflammatory pathways are turned on, the tryptophan gets hijacked down an inflammatory pathway to make kynurenine and quinolinic…
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Remember, the answer lies in the soil….
When we first moved to Dallas, we had an English gardener, Patrick Butterworth, who ended every letter, birthday card, and bill with the above phrase. Over time I have come to appreciate how incredibly apt this phrase describes so many systems, from the human body and how well it heals, to the garden, to the pasture and the animals on it. Diversity has been shown to be an important part of any ecosystem, whether one is looking at the boardroom, the gut flora, or the soil. For our gut flora, we want a diverse population of bacteria, archaea, viruses, and fungi that together shape our physiology, guide our immune system,…
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Clean Air – Diesel Exhaust
I had a long weekend at Thistle Hill Farm two weekends ago and loved my time there. I fixed fences with young Church, visited all the herd and delivered minerals to the different pastures, and worked on some weed-eating along the fence, done the old-fashioned way in my case- with hand clippers! I loved spending so much time outside, especially the ability to breathe in deeply the (relatively) clean air on the farm. Over the last year I have been taking an environmental health course with Dr. Walter Crinnion, learning about the ubiquitous toxicants in our air, food, and water. Even according to the EPA, there isn’t any area in…
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Why eat organic?
Earlier this week a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine showed that eating more organic foods was statistically significantly associated with a reduction in risk of cancer. French researchers reviewed the diets of 68,946 middle-aged French adults by questionnaire, assessing how often they reported eating 16 organic foods. The average time on study was 4.5 years, during which time 1,340 cancers developed. Participants who were in the top quartile of eating organic food were 25% less likely to develop cancer over the ensuing years than those in the lowest quartile. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was 75% less likely in the organic food eaters, and postmenopausal breast cancer was 21% less likely. I’ve…
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Red Meat and Lipids
I visited the American Heart Association website recently and it recommends getting 5 to 7% of our daily caloric intake from saturated fat. This would be the equivalent of a 1 oz cube of cheese. This perspective perpetuates the idea that saturated fat in the diet leads to high cholesterol, which leads to heart disease. A large review published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2014 found no link between dietary saturated fat and heart disease. In 2016, researchers reviewed data from over 40 countries and concluded that there was no link between red meat and heart disease. The problem is not red meat; it’s the high glycemic carbohydrates:…
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Reversal of Dementia….
Yes, you heard that right- REVERSAL of dementia. I’ve been listening to some amazing talks over the last few days at the Integrative Medicine Menatl Health Conference here in Dallas. Yesterday morning, Dr. Dale Bredesen, author of The End of Alzheimer’s, spoke in two plenary sessions about his pioneering work in reversing cognitive decline with the ReCODE protocol. His case presentations totally undermine the traditional medical model that once you have dementia there is no reversing it. It’s not easy though- not something a single molecule medicine is going to make a significant impact on. It takes a lot of commitment and work on the part of the patient. Dr.…
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Another reason not to partake of junk food…
A prospective study in Europe looked at 471,495 individuals’ intake of junk food at baseline and then assessed the development of cancer over the next 15 years. Higher intake of junk food was associated with statistically significant increases of cancers of the colon-rectum, cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract and stomach, cancer of the lung in men, and postmenopausal breast and liver cancer in women. One potential limitation of the study, published September 18, 2018, is that junk food intake was assessed only once, at baseline, and may be a confounder for some other risk factor that is associated with the above cancers. However, REAL food is likely always best:…