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What is it about the Amish….
…..their life-style is not for everyone…but we certainly pay a price for our “progress”. Thanks to Lois Aylestock of Blue Ridge Meats for the link. http://theshrug.com/people-always-laugh-at-them/
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A hymn to farming….
….sort of. We’ve played music from the Peterson Brothers before. They’re young men of a Minnesota farm family telling their story via rap, funk, etc. Unintentionally, they often (as in this video) catalog pretty much all the sins of modern commercial farming. The argument is always that this rape of the land is necessary to feed the world…although almost half the food grown in the world is wasted. So watch it and weep….and rock. Thanks to Bob Cain for the link. 3 Brothers Wrote A Song That Left America In HYSTERICS. What It Says About Farmers? I’m CRYING!!
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I laugh….
….when I hear people say they’ve given up eating red meat….in favor of chicken! http://wisemindhealthybody.com/nick-meyer/01-facts-about-chickens/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=postplanner&utm_source=facebook.com Thanks to Lois Aylestock of Blue Ridge Meats for the link.
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Moving cattle….
….our “grazing guru”, Jim Gerrish, has written an article about the best time of day to move cattle. We didn’t realize there was much debate but, anyway, Jim recommends mornings. As always, Jim “nails it” but we particularly enjoyed the picture he used to illustrate putting up temporary fencing on his ranch. http://onpasture.com/2016/05/09/when-is-the-best-time-of-day-to-move-animals/ By coincidence the young man stringing the wire just arrived here at Thistle Hill. Grandson Church Humphreys will be put to work tomorrow morning…moving our herd to new grass.
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I’m from the government….
….and I’m here to protect you. Not! Awhile back, grass fed meat producers were making some progress with the government in establishing minimum standards for labeling. Nothing radical; you still weren’t going to be told whether the meat you ate came from cows fattened on hormones and antibiotics. Well that lasted until grass fed meat passed the 1% point in market share. Then Big Ag (and Big Drugs) teamed up to get rid of the grass fed label. The same health benefits of grass fed meat are found in grass fed dairy…and now those dairy farmers are going through the same (futile) process. Health blogger Dr. Joseph Mercola explains. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/04/19/grass-fed-milk-yogurt-new-label.aspx…
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Et tu, Vladimir….
….finally, Monsanto has met its match! (Thanks to Lois Aylestock of Blue Ridge Meats for the link) http://www.ewao.com/a/russia-decided-ban-use-genetically-modified-ingredients-food-production/
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It’s become a ritual for the past year….
….to end our work-day with a glass of wine and the latest episode of a lovely British t-v series “Lark Rise to Candleford”. The show is a lovely profile of an English hamlet and village in Oxfordshire at the close of the 19th century. Change is coming….”progress”….and it evokes mixed emotions from the residents, who see an idyllic life coming to an end. The other day one of the visitors to the rural area said “it takes courage to change” only to be corrected by a hamlet folk who said “sometimes it takes courage to stand still”. We were reminded of that by this story: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tiny-nebraska-town-1100-jobs-citing-life-38807185
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When a Devon boy meets…
a Cornwall girl….well Wooz saw that it happened…when she choose a cow of her own outside the Traditional Devon™ partnership. Ashott Barton Millennium Falcon was the sire, Goldings Snowdrop the dam. And here, at a year and a half, is their first calf: Thistle Hill Yeoman. Wooz was right (again).
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No comment….
….tough attack on vegetarianism. Perhaps a bit over-the-top, but not more than the criticism of us omnivores. http://www.molonlabemedia.com/2016/04/29/vegetarians-unhealthy-mentally-disturbed/#
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A late spring….
….is plaguing our friends in Germany. Translation: Germany must shiver until June. Thanks to our Koenigswinter bureau chief, Gisela Volkert.