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A peek behind the curtain….
If you feel the meat you’re eating isn’t as tasty as it was when you were little, you’re right. Studies show that the percentage of meat qualifying for “Choice” and “Prime” has dropped way down. It’s the result of hurrying the cattle with hormones and grain. But time is money, and Industrial Ag, and their handmaidens in university research, keep coming up with ways to grow beef faster if not better. Dr. Sue Beal sent us this story on the latest wonder drug in your supermarket beef. http://chronicle.com/article/As-Beef-Cattle-Become/131480/?sid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en Dr. Allen Williams, the university professor who blows the whistle on the conflict of interest in “scholarly research” in this article is…
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Another helping of slime, kids?
We thought it kinda funny-sad-outrageous recently when the Fed Food Police confiscated some school lunch boxes and substituted cafeteria meals instead. The contents of the lunch boxes were deemed “unhealthy” but when we read what the Feds proscribed—starting with chicken nuggets—we concluded Mom’s cooking may not have been perfect but it was a whole lot better than Michelle’s Menu. Now comes word that a decision back in the Bush administration perfecting a school lunch burger—something scientists that investigate the project call “pink slime”—is being implemented. The Feds are buying millions of pounds of the stuff—made up of meat trims, connective tissue, and “you best not ask”—for your local school cafeteria. …
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Not all food is created equal….
A good friend has written an article on food production that we think deserves wider dissemination than we offer here…..but we’ll do our bit. Organizations such as Weston A. Price are stout advocates of what is termed “nutrient dense food”. It’s a phrase that is beginning to find its way into popular literature and Bill Roberts, of 12 Stones Grassland Beef, offers his take on it below. We think he’s right and spend a good deal of money each year trying to improve the mineralization of our soil. We also spend about 10 times what the average farmer does on natural, organic mineral supplements for our cows. America’s soils were…
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First they came for the raw milk farmer…
…and eventually it will be locally-grown meat. (In fact, it’s already started.) The unholy alliance of Industrial Agriculture and Big Government are engaged in a campaign of harassment and intimidation targeting the small farmer who sells his products directly to the consumer. It’s all under the guise of protecting consumer health, but in fact the real danger to the consumer is that food in the fancy wrapping in the supermarket. This isn’t political, though Michelle is the only one closer to the President than Big Ag’s lobbyists. But this campaign to discourage local food production has gone on through several Republican and Democrat administrations. It seems to be intensifying now…
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Better living through chemistry…
More and more, I find myself wondering how long man can continue playing with Nature before we pay the ultimate price. Experiments with that ultra-flu virus make me think that way. So does reading that scientists in the Netherlands have developed a glob they think is artificial beef. The first hamburger will be ready to serve in the Fall. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9091628/Test-tube-hamburgers-to-be-served-this-year.html There’s a somewhat limited market for a $400,000 dollar hamburger but mass production will kick in and take care of that. But what would be the real price of such a burger? And I don’t mean all the un-calculated real costs in energy and transportation and minerals involved in production. I…
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Two old cowboys “chew the fat”…..
While I can be hard on government ag agents, it was one of those critters (since reformed) who set us on the path to grass fed cattle and, indirectly, Devon. His name is Jim Gerrish, a consultant now, who lives and works out of Idaho. Jim visited Thistle Hill almost 10 years ago, when we were still a traditional operation using chemicals, feeding grain, and not really interested in eating our own meat. That really shocked Jim at the time and he immediately pointed out a cow that we should slaughter and taste. Jim also recommended moving our calving to the Fall, to spare the cows the stress of Virginia’s…
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Why we’re so fat….
Dad’s note: what follows is a post from our daughter, Carolyn. At the Baylor Medical Center in Dallas, they call her Dr. Matthews. She is a cancer surgeon who has shifted some of her attention recently to creating a center for integrative medicine at Baylor. Carolyn is a frequent writer and lecturer, the mother of two, and a partner in Thistle Hill Devon. Here’s her post: In our lifetime we are experiencing never before seen rates of obesity, with a 60% rate of overweight in adults. In my field of gynecologic oncology, our surgical cases have become tremendously challenging due to the large size of our patients. When I was…