• 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

  • Perfect for summer grilling…

    …just in time for your family cookout: Thistle Hill steaks, ribs and burgers. For the first time we’re offering individual packages…no longer only bulk sales! You owe it to your family to try delicious, healthful grass fed Devon beef. Our animals are raised and finished without supplements, pesticides, herbicides or antibiotics. Hamburger is wrapped in individual one-pound packages for just $7.50/pound. Steaks start at $15/pound. Yes, and there are bulk discounts! Farm pickup weekends and by appointment. Email ahead and your order will be waiting but we urge you to allow some time to look around. Fun for the kids and you’ll learn why Thistle Hill meat is simply better.…

  • I see bacon in our future…

    It was a moment of celebration…the day pigs made their renewed appearance on Thistle Hill pastures. Nothing tops the flavor of fresh, naturally raised pork. I put it right up there with fresh off the vine tomatoes and off the stalk corn! Meat from these pigs will be available in the fall but you can reserve a half or a whole right now. More on our new residents is on our home page. Incidentally, try fresh corn sometime. Do what my wife’s farm family did years ago and carry a kettle of boiling water into the field…plop the ears right in…and have a feast. Fifteen minutes from stalk to stomach!…

  • Thistle Hill food co-editors named….

    ….well not really, but sometimes I think it would be nice to have a Food Editor and, while I’d apply for the job, it would probably have to go to Tom Garnett of Boonesboro, Maryland.  And his wife, Brooke, would have to be the co-editor because she does the job of documenting his work. Not long ago we reported—with photos by Brooke—on Tom’s special pork chop recipe.  And after I bragged about my ham, Tom set out to do me one better for his family.  He did not share the food but Brooke shares the recipe here: I wanted to report back on our Thistle Hill ham. Tom did an…

  • “Stay with quality….

    ….quality will always sustain you.”  That was the advice this butcher’s daddy gave him.  Lovely. Here’s a short film that is an ode to country bacon and ham and a man from Virginia who has made it his life’s work.  Heavily-salted bacon and ham are not my favorites but I’m not going to quibble with a man so obviously in love with what he does. http://vimeo.com/29677209 Now Thistle Hill bacon and hams are smoke-cured, the old-fashioned way, but there are no nitrates or other additives in our process.  Nor do our pigs receive hormones, antibiotics or other drugs as they grow.  Finally, they are raised on non-GMO feed.  We simply…