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In the beginning….
….this was Thistle Hill Farm! Wooz’ parents bought the farm at the end of World War II. This is 1947….her father is sitting on the steps….an aunt in dark clothing in the center…her mother in white on the left. (click to enlarge) Wooz and her sister slept in the kitchen…her parents in the other room in the house…the living room/bedroom. The Bells thought they had purchased about 100 acres with the cottage…a later survey indicated they owned 140 acres. The house was eventually enlarged by the addition of a two story log cabin to the left…and a glassed in year-round porch in front. Eventually son Church sheathed the entire structure.…
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You just don’t get it….
….a Washington Post reporter passes over the fact right before his eyes. (This is my shocked face!) Chipotle, which was the darling of the fast-food category for a time, has run into a bad patch. The chain has been plagued with an outbreak of E.coli that has forced it to close a number of stores….sales are off….the stock is down. Why the sudden bad luck? Well you have to read down to the 12th paragraph before the reporter notes—only in passing—that Chipotle changed it business plan two years ago. The chain that was built on quality, grass fed beef switched to conventionally-raised beef (meaning like everybody else) and the food born…
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Baloney….
….and other processed meats. Just ran across a blogger, Adele Hite, thanks to our old friend Ridge Shinn. Ms Hite (or perhaps, by now, Dr. Hite) does a total nuclear strike on the “settled science” of nutrition. This is must reading…and fun reading…particularly for those who have been denying themselves the delights of bacon and sausage, “trites” and “trates”. Worth spending an hour or so reading her site. Here’s a link to just one article. http://eathropology.com/2015/11/03/again-in-3-part-harmony-its-not-about-the-science/
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Bad beef is getting a little cheaper….
….according to market reports. Industrial beef supplies are dropping from their record highs but still well above the level they were at when the boom began seven years ago. It’s pretty much based on the price of corn and farmers have planted ever inch of ground thanks to the ethanol boom. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-27/fattest-ever-u-s-cattle-herd-signals-end-to-record-beef-prices Normally it takes quite a while…at least six months…for the price a farmer gets to be reflected at the meat counter or restaurant. And with the actual meat accounting for less and less of the price, it’s probably that again it will be the farmer who will be hit….you’ll probably not notice a hamburger getting any cheaper. You…
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We aim to please….
….nothing’s too good for a Thistle Hill animal. It turned very cold the other night and so we put out a bale of hay for our pigs to burrow into for warmth. Today it’s sunny and the temperature is rising so they simply plopped down on top. That’s our new boar and his three sows. What’s the saying? “It’s a pig’s life.” Any comparison between the way pigs are raised at Thistle Hill and your industrial pork?
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Warning: do not try this at home….
….unless Mom is a Devon. Grandson Church Humphreys fortunately was on Thanksgiving break from college this morning to “bulldog” two newborn English calves. This one is a heifer out of Essington Park Buttercup by Ashott Barton Millennium Falcon. Just slightly up the hill her full brother was also born overnight. In both cases the dams put their noses right into the action…mooing softly to the calves that Church wouldn’t hurt them. Of course, David with his tag applicator and pliers to pull tail hairs was another matter. Note that we use our best cows as recips. We feel they’re every bit as important as the actual donor cow and sire.…
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Keeping up with the demand….
….until now, we’ve been content to buy 6 to 8 piglets every year and sell a little pork. But the demand has far outstripped our supply….so much that we don’t even announce when our pigs are nearing harvest. We think the exceptional flavor everyone raves about is due to the breeds we use—Tamworth and Gloucester Old Spot—but also to our insistence on using only non-GMO feed. The acorns we get in the fall certainly help, too. The problem has been that raising pigs properly is very expensive and we’ve just not been able to even break even. In fact, we lose $2.70 on every pound of pork we sell. (Clearly not…
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Don’t mess with Thistle Hill….
….we’ve posted a lookout. Photo by Duane Ard
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Now all they have is de Blasio…
….but there was a time when New York City had cows….cows grazing right next to Grand Central Station. Depends on your definition of progress. https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2010/12/13/when-cows-grazed-next-to-grand-central/
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You ain’t gonna get me (again)….
….last time I’d had no experience with humans and wound up with this sign in my ear. Why? My mother knows who I am! Photo by Duane Ard.