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The perfect steak…
..ok, begins at Thistle Hill. But Church found a way to gild the lily. Apparently these cookers have been around quite awhile but pricey. (Now, Amazon has them for $160-180). Basically you put the steak in a plastic bag…remove the air…and slow cook in water at a temp of 135 degrees. He deployed one of his Christmas presents: a Sous vide cooker. He selected a Delmonico steak for his first try just in case it didn’t turn out. In fact he reports it was as tender and flavorful as a filet mignon. Apparently it’s a no-brainer; a gourmet steak every time! Church finished his steak off in a skillet with…
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Suspicions confirmed…
…for some time I’ve felt we as an industry have been harvesting our beef at too young an age. First let me say I am skeptical of the results of the Mad Cow scare of some years back. Even more skeptical of the cure…permitting bone-in cuts only for animals under 30 months. Whatever triggers Mad Cow may simply not be apparent in younger animals. No matter…30-months has been the trigger for slaughter dictated by the USDA and the industrial beef people love it because that supports their rush to harvest. Finally along comes a cattleman to speak out…and let us know what we’ve been missing. He’s been taste-testing some of…
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This just in…
…all natural grass fed, grass finished beef! Now there’s a delicious mouthful…and nutritious, too! Thistle Hill Farm is back in full operation now under the direction of grandson Church Humphreys. Our focus remains the marketing of the very best Devon seedstock but that doesn’t mean we can’t set aside a limited number of animals for personal consumption. Again we’re offering whole carcasses, halves and quarters. Bulk Prices range from $7 to $7.50 a pound…and that’s packaged weight in individual cuts. We’ll also endeavor to provide special packages of our mouth-watering hamburgers. You’ve never tasted anything this good..and a bulk buy at just $6 a pound is a family bargain. To…
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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.…
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In case you were wondering…..
….people are always coming up with value-added cuts. For instance, the very latest idea is breeding Bacon Burgers.
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Behind the scenes…..
….many, though probably not most, consumers of grass fed beef know the right questions to ask a farmer to be sure they’re getting the “real thing”. The problem is most consumers don’t know their farmer, which is why we think buying “local” is just as important as buying “grass fed”. Simply put: a good deal of what passes for grass fed is really finished on grain, and that destroys all the benefits of a pure, natural product. But the farmer is only half the story. The butcher has just as much to do with the quality and purity of the meat you buy. That’s why we surveyed a number of…
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Customer comments….
Lori S…. “❤ it! Best sausage gravy ever!” And Lori included a picture. How about the recipe? Lori “tried” our sausage and has now ordered a half pig. Lindsay S…. “My husband absolutely loves the sausage. His all-time favorite!” Now about Thistle Hill beef: Dr. Elizabeth M…. “You have the best meat in town. I love promoting your farm in my waiting room.” If you haven’t ordered your beef and pork for the Fall, don’t delay. We have just a half-pig available plus a limited number of Beef Boxes and Pork Paks. Pigs are priced starting at $6 per pound with added charges for smoking and for links and patties. …
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Driving a steak (sic) through the heart….
….of the fat and cholesterol nonsense. This week’s Dr. Joseph Mercola column sums up all the recent research on saturated fats and cholesterol and concludes we’ve been “had”. Natural saturated fats are great for you….and so are high cholesterol numbers! What? The real villain, of course, is sugar! So who sold us the bill of goods? To quote Mercola: With regard to heart health, nutrition policy has been derailed over the past half-century by corporate greed, political agendas, and bad science A new meta-analysis involving a half million people found that those eating more saturated fats do NOT have more heart disease than those eating less Cholesterol is critical for building…
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The bugs win!!!
An important milestone that won’t get much press coverage: A top-level health officials say we have indeed “run the course” of antibiotics. Super-bugs have won the battle and there’s nowhere we can turn. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2477273/Weve-reached-end-antibiotics-Top-CDC-expert-declares-miracle-drugs-saved-millions-match-superbugs-people-overmedicated-themselves.html Just a few days ago, there was an article…one of dozens we’ve seen…worrying about where all this is headed. But now, as we read in the first story above, we don’t have to worry about where we’re headed. We’re there. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/feeding-antibiotics-to-cows-is-bad-for-humans-but-congress-wont-stop-it-new-report-says/2013/10/22/ecd2de08-3afd-11e3-a94f-b58017bfee6c_story.html It’s the same group of Merchants of Death (Monsanto, et al) inflicting GMO on us that have, of course, blocked any attempt to control the use of antibiotics in feeding animals. Like hormones, antibiotics speed…
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Beef on the way….
….starts with pulling the steers out of the main herd. They all come into the pen, and it’s up to me(far right) to let a bunch out at a time checking tags and undersides. They’re held briefly in that alley until Wooz (far center in white shirt) okays the return to the pasture. When we get a steer, it’s aimed to another pen where Kurt Volkert (left) is controlling the gate. Afterwards the steers are moved across the road to a large pasture with other cows awaiting shipment to farms that have purchased our seed stock. Tomorrow the steers will be brought in for loading. We always try to keep the animals together and…