For better or for worse, I’ve been known to blow the whistle on organic food and farming. Honestly, I abhor many practices commonly used in organic food production such as confinement chicken and pork production, feedlot beef, and vegetable raised using “organic” chemicals (yes, that is a widespread practice on many organic produce farms). If the non-organic food sector focuses… Read More
If you’ve been interacting with us for a while, you know we’ve chosen to circumvent governmental oversight rather than comply. If the state and county food oversight bureaucracies had their druthers, we would have a raw milk permit to sell raw milk, a licensed and inspected kitchen in which to make homemade canned goods, an inspected processing facility to process… Read More
The birth of organic food is one of humble beginnings and grassroot effort in an attempt to regenerate farmland and provide clean food for those who sought it over sixty years ago. In the mid-1960’s, the moment was ripe for turning back to nature; DDT was in the news, an oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara had blackened… Read More
Whether we face the fact or not, integrity food sourced from local farms—that care about more than the almighty dollar—is not the most convenient or the cheapest option out there. I’m sure most of you can attest that it takes extra commitment—not to mention time and money—to dedicate to integrity food. Is it worth the extra hassle and cost to… Read More
While this blog is not about politics necessarily (we try to stay out of that as best we can) occasionally we just can’t resist weighing in on some of the hot-button issues of the day. Today, so-called “climate change” is one of them. Because of the esoteric ideas surrounding this subject, much of the language used in political circles is… Read More
For the past several years, multi-national corporations have corrupted the once-local food sector with cheap unhealthy ingredients and mass-production of highly processed fare. Once upon a time this was only true in the conventional food arena, but as always, much wants more. As the organic sector garnered attention, the food giants of the world eyed it as a new frontier,… Read More
In keeping with our promise last week, this post will delve into the nutrition side of grass-fed vs. grain-fed beef. First, I’ll go into the common science-based points such as omega fatty acids and CLA, and then we’ll visit the less known aspects. Here goes: Omega Fatty Acids- Although it’s now almost common knowledge among educated consumers that grass-fed meat… Read More
While we believe in–and constantly talk about–the health benefits and environmental value of pastured animal proteins, it becomes necessary and beneficial to revisit the “WHY” from time to time. Today we’re offering some detail on the “WHY” of grass-fed (and of course, grass-finished) beef. Here goes…. GRASS-fed: Provides every cow over 100,000 sq. ft. of fresh pasture via daily moves to… Read More
William Bruce Cameron once said, “Not everything that can be counted counts. Not everything that counts can be counted.” That said, what if price isn’t the sole arbiter determining food value? What if we took nutrition into the equation? Environmental footprint? How about human health? Let’s look at these three individually. Nutrition – In the US, food science has become… Read More
As you know, capitalism has taken a bad rap in recent years. Much of this is due to the examples we see all around of industrial rape of the earth and environment, highlighted by powerful environmentalist groups who point to capitalism as the culprit. That may be true, in part, at least. However, I say it’s not true capitalism when… Read More