-
The first one….
…not only our first calf of the season, he’s the first Falcon calf born in this country. He’s only a few minutes old here, already on his feet and walking; freshly tagged but still wet. Ashott Barton Millennium Falcon was the bull we found on our first trip to Devon and eventually was to become the anchor of Traditional Devon America, a partnership of three breeders sharing a love of Devon cattle and determined to preserve the traditional pure English genetic pool. His real mama is Goldings Snowdrop 113 (British pedigree records go back a long way.) The mating occurred in a clinic near Cambridge, the embryo frozen and shipped to the…
-
And here she is!
Our new English Shepherd…Pokey Two or Okie. Just don’t expect her to come when you call using her real name, Bonnie. For some reason she likes Pokey and Okie. This also seems to be her favorite place: the front steps of the library. From here she can watch the driveway for intruders and the cows in the main pasture. And, of course, watch for cats. Pokey One thought cats belonged in the basement and would put them there. Pokey Two thinks cats belong outside. Pokey/Okie barks when cars enter the driveway but she loves visitors and immediately decides where they belong as well. She’s very well-behaved with company (mostly because…
-
Gearld Fry update….
Gearld Fry, founder of the North American Devon Association, is reported to have successfully undergone six-hour surgery for a triple bypass yesterday and is resting comfortably. We wish him a speedy recovery. Gearld is not the kind of person to take it easy so the recovery will undoubtedly be just that…speedy. Gearld was hunting elk in Colorado when he felt chest pains. Doctors couldn’t believe he walked out of the mountains without suffering a heart attack. They first though a stint would solve the problem but then discovered a 90% blockage.
-
We’re back….
….and Wales looked just as it’s supposed to. We spent five leisurely days sight-seeing, eating and mostly de-compressing after a hectic year. The quality of the food was a particular surprise and each evening we debated salmon vs. lamb and wished we could have both. As for cattle, we were introduced to the Welsh black and Wooz liked them enough to buy a painting. But as much as we enjoyed Wales, we were anxious to move on to Devon. And cresting the hill and seeing Exmoor laid out before us, felt like coming home. For the next week we stayed with good friends….and looked at beautiful animals. In coming days we’ll share each…
-
Fry undergoes heart surgery…
Well-known cattle expert Gearld Fry was scheduled to undergo heart surgery Friday morning, October 19th after experiencing heart pains on a hunting trip. Fry, who has been the guiding force in the North American Devon Association, will have a triple by-pass operation. The new president of NADA, Greg Hickl, has emailed the following: Gearld was elk hunting in Colorado with a relative and starting feeling severe pain in his chest while trekking the mountain. He said it would go away if he rested awhile, but it continued as he exerted himself. He knew something was wrong with his heart, and they decided to come home early. The doctor told him…
-
Time for a break….
….the beef and pork has been sent on its way….the cows are all on fresh pasture…so it’s time for a break. For the next few weeks we’ll be visiting Devon friends here and in England. First stop: the annual Devon meeting near Cooperstown, NY and I do hope to find time to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. From New York, we catch a plane to England and drive straight to Wales for five days. A beautiful country we’ve only touched before. Then, our annual renewal: two weeks with our good friends in Devon and Cornwall…looking at cows, talking about cows, but drinking very little milk. Again, we’ll have our…
-
Sure hope this doesn’t jinx it but….
….wrapped up my annual physical yesterday and got a clean bill of health. Well, as clean as it can for someone closing in on his 78th birthday. The doctor is very aware of our interest in grass fed beef and so he’s been tracking certain indicators very carefully. One, my cholesterol levels, has come down from dangerously high levels five years ago to where it is now firmly in the normal range. More interesting is a new test he used for the first time: a kind of ultra-sound of the arteries in the neck. The test reveals the condition not only of the arteries but the heart and can be…
-
Whatever happened to the Farm Bill?
Well, unfortunately, it’s alive and well in Congress. But at least one Senator is getting impatient with the delay and wants it passed now. We’ve made our own view clear: this is a trillion-dollar boondoggle (sweetened with the Food Stamp program to garner votes) that would be a good place to start if either party was really serious about cutting spending. Here’s a link to a pretty good summary of what the bill contains: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/316531/reminder-how-bad-farm-bill-veronique-de-rugy
-
From the chef’s corner….
Thistle Hill Farm communicates with its friends, neighbors and customers (generally everyone falls in all three groups) not only with this website and blog, but with Facebook and an occasional newsletter to those who ask to be put on our mailing list to be told when beef and pork is about to become available. The other day, our daughter-in-law, Barbara, cooked a roast for her family using Thistle Hill beef, of course. It was a big success and she emailed us the recipe and we shared it with our meat customers. The recipe provoked quite a bit of interest so we thought we’d bring it over to our Blog. As you…
-
Planning ahead…
…a few months back we initiated a sign-up program for our neighbors who wanted to reserve grass fed beef and pastured pork. That seems to have worked well, with most people finding it convenient to program their freezer supplies to make room for our meat packs. The final steer in that series will be coming out in just a few days and, as always, all the shares have been spoken for. Excuse me, Miss Ady. * But this program also helps us schedule our steers for market and right now we are looking at beef being available in the middle of October, November and December. Again we’ll be selling halves, quarters and…