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The system circles the wagons…
..for 20 years I’ve been railing against glysophate…a chemical herbicide that Monsanto has been selling worldwide under the trade name “Round-up”. A number of studies have identified it as a carcinogen and a few farmers have successfully sued Monsanto for damages. Now however the EPA has declared glysophate entirely safe, putting millions of dollars in court awards in jeopardy. And more than that our health in jeopardy…particularly because glysophate/Round-up is invariably used in growing GMO foods. In short, glysophate is spread on almost all the vegetables we eat folks and the government, Big Chemicals and Big Ag are going to keep it that way. Joel Saladin is a natural grower…
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This little piggy…
…went to the freezer. Two of the pigs we’ll be harvesting between now and the holidays. They’ve passed 250 pounds and the closer they are to 300, the better we like them. These are mulefoot pigs…descendants of pigs brought here by the early Spanish explorers. Their diet now should be adding some acorns from trees in this pasture. And that’s the combination that made the flavor of Spanish ham famous worldwide….at $60/pound the imported price today! I’ve already ordered my holiday pig! Have you? Spanish pork at American prices. Call Church at (214) 802-1283 or churchhh@gmail.com David
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It’s not too late…
…to purchase Thistle Hill burger for summer grilling. Our family gets great satisfaction in reading notes like this one from Bill E. It’s almost like we’re at the Outer Banks, too! We have the whole family at the beach in North Carolina for the week. We brought down 7 lbs of our most recent thistle hill ground beef. Our son made hamburgers for everyone. Of course they were spectacular and got added kudos when I told the family that this was local grass fed beef from my neighbor. Bill E. Thistle Hill Farm complete price list. Or call or write Church at (214) 802-1283 or info@thistlehill.net David
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Happy New Year!!!
The Big Boys might call this a “line extension”. Son Curt was recently invited to a special Chinese New Year’s dinner featuring Thistle Hill Farms beef tongue, pigs feet and jelly fish. Truth in blogging: the jelly fish is not from our pond. Nor are the chicken feet. Curt reports the tongue was excellent. Less enthusiasm for the feet. Warning: You may not want to try this at home. Meantime, we’ll stick to beef. But tongue is available by special order. If you’re not on our mailing list to receive our monthly newsletter just write: info@thistlehill.net. David
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Suspicions confirmed…
…for some time I’ve felt we as an industry have been harvesting our beef at too young an age. First let me say I am skeptical of the results of the Mad Cow scare of some years back. Even more skeptical of the cure…permitting bone-in cuts only for animals under 30 months. Whatever triggers Mad Cow may simply not be apparent in younger animals. No matter…30-months has been the trigger for slaughter dictated by the USDA and the industrial beef people love it because that supports their rush to harvest. Finally along comes a cattleman to speak out…and let us know what we’ve been missing. He’s been taste-testing some of…
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This just in…
…all natural grass fed, grass finished beef! Now there’s a delicious mouthful…and nutritious, too! Thistle Hill Farm is back in full operation now under the direction of grandson Church Humphreys. Our focus remains the marketing of the very best Devon seedstock but that doesn’t mean we can’t set aside a limited number of animals for personal consumption. Again we’re offering whole carcasses, halves and quarters. Bulk Prices range from $7 to $7.50 a pound…and that’s packaged weight in individual cuts. We’ll also endeavor to provide special packages of our mouth-watering hamburgers. You’ve never tasted anything this good..and a bulk buy at just $6 a pound is a family bargain. To…
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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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Sometimes you gotta wonder….
….if that old joke isn’t true….that among the three greatest lies is “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you”. It seems the feds devote their greatest effort to what isn’t a problem…..finding ways to nitpick small farms and processors when all the bad food is coming out of the industrial food chain. Just today our CSA farmer told me he can’t eat hamburger because his stomach can’t handle it. I told him that’s because he wasn’t really eating ground beef….but a conglomeration of junk from around the world. (Yes, “Certified Angus Beef” isn’t all Angus). Several of our customers who couldn’t eat beef happily down Thistle Hill…
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Well, this is depressing….
….and it’s only a partial list. Doesn’t anyone every wonder why we’re spending more and more on health care….and our population is increasingly less well? Let’s start with obesity, autism, ADD in our kids. You think maybe?? http://nypost.com/2016/07/10/the-truth-behind-how-were-scammed-into-eating-phony-food/ I also have to shake my head when people say they don’t eat red meat….but choose chicken and fish instead.
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New on the scene….
….well new to me anyway. Tammi Jonas is an Australian farmer (cattle and pigs) who departed vegetarianism several years ago to become not only an omnivore but a butchers. And not incidentally, an advocate for “natural” farming. Ms Jonas recently attended a pork producers meeting in Australia and found her worst fears confirmed. Pigs are a big business with the dirty work done by little farmers but the ground rules dictated by Big Ag and Big Pharma. The situation is exactly the same here in the States. Big Pharma, Big Food… who really controls the pig industry?