• Eat. More. Fat.

    ….they’re having the same difficulty in England as here in the States….breaking down the “settled science” that fat makes you fat.  In fact, the right fat makes you thin…and healthy. http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/672772/eat-more-fat-Britain-obesity-health-epidemic-cholesterol-NHS

  • A hymn to farming….

    ….sort of. We’ve played music from the Peterson Brothers before.  They’re young men of a Minnesota farm family telling their story via rap, funk, etc.  Unintentionally, they often (as in this video) catalog pretty much all the sins of modern commercial farming. The argument is always that this rape of the land is necessary to feed the world…although almost half the food grown in the world is wasted.  So watch it and weep….and rock.  Thanks to Bob Cain for the link. 3 Brothers Wrote A Song That Left America In HYSTERICS. What It Says About Farmers? I’m CRYING!!

  • I laugh….

    ….when I hear people say they’ve given up eating red meat….in favor of chicken! http://wisemindhealthybody.com/nick-meyer/01-facts-about-chickens/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=postplanner&utm_source=facebook.com Thanks to Lois Aylestock of Blue Ridge Meats for the link.

  • I’m from the government….

    ….and I’m here to protect you.  Not! Awhile back, grass fed meat producers were making some progress with the government in establishing minimum standards for labeling.  Nothing radical; you still weren’t going to be told whether the meat you ate came from cows fattened on hormones and antibiotics. Well that lasted until grass fed meat passed the 1% point in market share.  Then Big Ag (and Big Drugs) teamed up to get rid of the grass fed label. The same health benefits of grass fed meat are found in grass fed dairy…and now those dairy farmers are going through the same (futile) process.  Health blogger Dr. Joseph Mercola explains. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/04/19/grass-fed-milk-yogurt-new-label.aspx…

  • A special place in hell….

    ….reserved for Monsanto, I trust.  Now they’ve found Roundup in California wines….not some of them….all of them.  Even the organic wines! Thanks to Church Matthews for the link. http://naturalsociety.com/glyphosate-california-wines-tested-6795/

  • Congrats to our butcher….

    ….don’t know how I missed this, but Blue Ridge Meats in Front Royal, VA—better known around here as “our butcher”—received great press about a month ago in the Washington Post.  Doug and Lois Aylestock do it the right way and that’s why we selected them when we began selling beef (and later pork) direct from our farm.  Here’s the story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/16/AR2010031600921.html?sid=ST2010031603046 Choosing the right farm to buy your beef includes choosing the right butcher.  There’s a warning sign about one of the butchers right in this article though the writer doesn’t realize it.  There is some point in the size of the operation where you have to be particularly careful.…

  • Now this is hard to believe….

    ….developers have discovered another marketing gimmick:  agrihoods! Selling even better than those gated golf course communities.  In fact, they’re turning golf courses into farms (kinda) and people are buying the views (and the food). http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/agrihood-homes-built-working-farms-36806887

  • Another totally unnecessary….

    ….”enhancement” of bacon.  It’s called a Swineapple roast.                                 Pork ribs ringed by pineapple and then a crust of bacon.  This suggestion is from our son, Church Matthews, website.  (He’s been away from the farm too long!)

  • 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.  

  • 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…