• Meat sales soar…

    …according to a survey of supermarket and on-line buying.  Meat during this pandemic year has gained about 20% in sales volume…it’s now 35% of the food dollar and twice as much as chicken. https://www.supermarketnews.com/meat/meat-sales-reach-record-highs-2020-increasing-192 It’s interesting that on-line sales have really increased while at the same time people are more concerned about healthy food. Now note this summary is based on dollar sales…not pounds.  But now that younger people have broken the restaurant habit, will they continue cooking at home?  Will their interest in healthy foods continue? Most smaller farmers we know haven’t been able to gear-up production to get a piece of this action.  Nor do they have the…

  • What’s the difference…

    ..between Grassfed and grass-finished beef?  From time to time we allude to the benefits of Thistle Hill’s grass-finished beef…but the labels are confusing and the USDA does it’s utmost to confuse the issue to the benefit of Big Ag. So we thought we’d reprint an article that does a fair and balanced treatment of the subject by food writer Nathan Phelps which was recently published in the US Wellness newsletter. David

  • Another convert to…

    …sous vide cooking.  The young son of a friend recently was given a sous vide cooker for his birthday.  His very first attempt at a ribeye steak (grass fed if not Thistle Hill) was a smashing success. Incidentally, if you’re one of those who prefer your meat more well done. Your just increase the settings We were late to using the sous vide method.  Son-in-law Curt introduced it to Thistle Hill about two years ago.  Being a traditionalist,  it took awhile for me to be converted but there’s no doubt this technique of slow-cooking guarantees a perfect steak every time! Heating in water results in a more tender, moist steak…

  • The danger of Super-Sizing…

    It’s been some years now since Michael Pollin set the beef industry on its ear with his article in the New York Times expanded into the book The Omnivores Dilemna. Speaking  in England…Pollin pulls back the curtain on the real story behind McDonalds French fries…or as they’re called over there…chips! David

  • Couldn’t have said it better….

    …mostly I ignore the rants of vegans and the extreme animal rights people…because they’re beyond reason.  But I was tempted to sound off after Joaquin Phoenix used his Academy Award victory to launch a diatribe against those who eat meat. In fact commercial farming of vegetables is far more destructive of the earth and its environment than responsible grazing. But Joel Salatin, a neighboring cattleman who is a leader in the grass fed industry, did the job for me. https://www.thelunaticfarmer.com/blog2/2/14/2020/joaquin-phoenix-hates-you-nbsp

  • Not an approaching storm…

    …but an approaching lime truck. Our pH averaged about 5.8 across the farm and we decided to bring it back up over 6.0. We’re adding one to two tons of dolomitic lime per acre…depending on what soil testing revealed. I think this is the best investment you can make in a pasture. It not only kicks up the yield and feeds soil biology, I’m convinced it is one of the reasons Thistle Hill beef and pork just tastes better! IMHO Good timing too…if we can get it all down. Two days of rain coming to soak it in. Incidentally over the years we’ve found some difference among soil tests…with the…

  • 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,…

  • Beware “settled science”….

    ….I do try to stay away from politics here…there’s enough everywhere else.  But with the increasing dogmatism (okay, fascism) in academia today it seems clear a lot of people are going to get hurt in the name of “settled science”.  All thought and speech really is being regulated now among the “educated”….and the rest of us will soon be caught in the net. Our concentration here is on food…and nutrition.  And this article raises the question of how many people have been killed by “settled science”. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/07/the-sugar-conspiracy-robert-lustig-john-yudkin  

  • 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…

  • I’ve lost track…..

    ….of the number of food warnings…and the many nutrition advisories…that have turned out to be dead wrong.  We lucky we’ve survived the advice of the experts.  Here’s the latest: http://news.investors.com/blogs-capital-hill/100715-774507-government-advice-on-whole-milk-has-been-wrong.htm