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A grand majority - 75% according to Food Safety News - of the honey sold in US grocery stores is adulterated. It has been ultra-filtered and is almost certainly diluted. The astonishing part is that there’s no way of telling if your honey is 100% pure by the label. It’s being sold as “honey” and is marked as such in the grocery store.
Every beekeeper filters their honey to remove small pieces of the comb or bees. It’s a simple and inexpensive process. However, ultrafiltration is an expensive process that pushes honey through a tight mesh, removing all particles, including pollen, from the thick sugary liquid.
Now, why would a honey producer want to spend more money to ultra-filter their honey? One reason is that honey void of any small particles will last longer and take years to crystallize. However, with competitive honey prices, it’s not business savvy to spend more on filtering unless absolutely necessary. The more likely reason is that honey void of pollen cannot be traced to the country of origin and that the producer has something to hide.
It is generally assumed that honey bereft of pollen has been adulterated, meaning that it has been diluted with cheap sweeteners like corn syrup or rice syrup. Although the filtration costs are higher, the cost of the product itself is lowered through dilution. It is believed that most of this adulterated honey comes from China.
According to Forbes, honey is the third most faked foods. The FDA has denied petitions from farmers to create a “standard of identity” for honey. The USDA has loose guidelines for grading honey, under which two completely different honeys could be labeled “100% Organic Clover Honey from Arizona—USDA Grade A”.
So, what can you do? Buying certified organic honey helps, but is not guaranteed. Studies have shown that about 75% of organic honey does contain pollen, meaning it is likely not adulterated. The best way to ensure you are getting 100% pure honey is to buy direct from the farmer, who can attest to your honey being real. Miller’s Bio Farm honey comes from a local producer who keeps bees in clover fields in the warmer months and brings the bees to Florida in the colder months to produce orange blossom honey. It is raw and heated only to remove it from the comb and filter it.
I use honey as a sweetener in tea and baked goods, but my hands-down biggest use of honey is making medicinal syrups for my family. I recently made cough syrup to help my kids through an upper respiratory infection. I put 2 cups water, 6 Tbs licorice root, 3 Tbs Echinacea, 3 Tbs marshmallow root, 3 Tbs cinnamon chips, and 1 Tbs ginger in a small pot. I heated this tea to a low simmer for about 45 minutes, until reduced by half (keep at a low simmer to preserve the medicinal qualities of the herbs). Then, I strained out the herbs, waited for the liquid to cool to about 100 F, and then mixed in 1 cup of raw honey. Voila! Homemade, nourishing, throat coating cough syrup.
Instead of all-natural ingredients, the chocolate milk that kids (...and adults) know today is full of refined and artificial ingredients and additives. The chocolate milk that you find in grocery stores typically consists of partly skimmed milk, sugar (or glucose or fructose), cocoa, artificial color, salt, carrageenan, artificial flavor, Vitamin A, and Vitamin D3. Let’s take a look at why manufacturers choose these ingredients and why, when you are using high quality ingredients and purchasing directly from a farm, they aren’t needed.
Chocolate milk contains about 25 grams of sugar per cup. About 12 grams comes from the naturally occurring lactose sugar in milk. The other 13 grams, or just more than 3 teaspoons, is added. In commercial chocolate milks, the sugar is refined (think corn syrup, glucose, or fructose), void of any nutritional value. For an all-natural chocolate milk, maple syrup or honey can be used. They contain beneficial nutrients, antioxidants, and phytochemicals. I mean, it’s still sugar, which you probably get plenty of in your diet, but it’s a healthy alternative to refined sugars.
Carrageenan is used as a thickening agent, giving it a smoothie-like consistency, and is found in basically all commercial chocolate milk. This addition to chocolate milk is made to bulk up the watery consistency of skimmed milk (milk with fat removed). In my opinion, this ingredient is useless. We should be celebrating and showcasing the quality of ingredients, not hiding substandard ones with artificial masks.
Vitamin A is added back to 1%, 2% or skim milk, because those naturally-occurring vitamins are lost when the fat is removed. Vitamin A helps maintain the immune system, vision, and reproduction. If you are using a full-fat, nutrient-dense milk like ours, you do not have to worry about this. Our full fat milk has plenty of naturally-occurring Vitamin A. Vitamin D3 is added to milk to avoid deficiency. A nutrient-dense milk like ours contains some Vitamin D, but you may also choose to spend time in the sun or take a high-quality Vitamin D supplement to combat this deficiency.
Artificial color and flavor are added to standardize a product, giving it the exact taste and appearance every time. When you buy direct from a small farm producing all-natural products, this is simply not the case. The flavor, color, and consistency of milk naturally varies throughout the year based on the animals’ diet and lifestyle. And, these changes are to be celebrated, not hidden. For example, in the spring and summer, the milk has a yellowish color, meaning that it’s eating fresh grass.
Chocolate milk can be made with fresh milk but is also a great use for slightly soured milk, that may be too tart to drink straight (especially for kids). The farmer makes his chocolate milk by making chocolate syrup from scratch and mixing it with milk. He puts 2 cups water, 1 heaping cup of cocoa powder, and 1⁄2 tsp Celtic sea salt in a pot and heats and stirs until smooth. Then, he mixes in 4.5 cups of maple syrup. Voila! Chocolate syrup! To make chocolate milk, the ratio is 1 cup of syrup to 1 gallon of milk.
In today’s kitchen, modern home chefs opt for lean cuts of meat that are quick and easy to prepare. Think chicken breast, steak, or pork chops. By giving preference to specific cuts of meat, most modern Americans are missing out on the flavors, textures, and nutrition that comes from the rest of the animal. Think organs, bones, and fat.
Organ meats and bones are the most nutrient-dense parts of the animal. Organs specifically are the best natural sources for vitamin B12, vitamin A, and countless other vitamins and minerals. That being said, it is important to source your meat from farmers who raise animals the right way – on a nutritious diet, in a natural habitat, and without chemicals of any kind. The products consumed from animal raised in these conditions will be far more nutritious than their conventionally raised counterparts.
The culinary adventure of eating from nose to tail is the most sustainable way to be an omnivore. A farmer cannot grow a leg of lamb; he has to grow the whole lamb. The industrialized meat industry takes the less popular parts of the animal and turns them into highly processed animal by-products used in fast food, pet food, and a variety of “meat” products. It is the home cook’s responsibility to take those parts back by learning to prepare meals that utilize the whole beast.
Learning to cook less popular cuts of meat takes guts. These delights were integral in the American diet less than 100 years ago and are staples in many cultures around the world today. However, the flavor profiles and textures are considered “strong” or “weird” to the modern American palate. Because of this, these parts of the animal are not typically found in the grocery store. You need to source these parts from specialty butchers or directly from the farm.
Preparing these parts of the animal is not typically time consuming but does require forethought. For example, here’s a recipe for dried salted pig’s liver, radishes, and boiled eggs that takes over a month to prepare but requires perhaps 30 minutes of actual cooking. Mix 2.5 cups sugar and 1.5 cups salt. Pour half into a glass container. Place the liver on top and add the remaining sugar/salt mix over it. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap, and leave in the fridge for 2 weeks (if the mixture melts away from the juices of the liver, you may need to add more dry mixture). When the time is up, remove the liver from the mixture. It should be firm but not rock hard. Rinse with cold water, dry it, and rub it down with ample black pepper. Roll, wrap, and tie it in a clean kitchen towel and let hang in a cool dry airy place for at least 3 weeks.
About 5 weeks have gone by, and you are finally ready to assemble the dish! Thinly slice the liver and place in a hot pan with a dab of oil. The idea is to show them the pan. Heat quickly, turn over, top them with a healthy splash of balsamic vinegar, and let sizzle for a moment. Remove from the heat and serve over a salad of whole radishes, radish leaves or arugula, quarters of hard boiled eggs, scallions, capers, curly parsley, and your favorite vinaigrette.
Earlier this week, our farmer attended the 25th Annual Southwest PA Grazing Conference for people interested in the grass-fed opportunity. The theme for the 2018 conference was “The Next 25 Years”. The conference was attended by about 400 people. This is about double last year’s attendance, and the farmer thinks the reason why is the presence of Joel Salatin, who is a pretty big player in the current regenerative farming and real food movement.
Joel Salatin is a “beyond organic” farmer of pastured meat and eggs, lecturer, author, and all- around good guy. He is the owner and operator of Polyface Farm in VA, whose mission is “To Develop Environmentally, Economically, and Emotionally Enhancing Agricultural Prototypes and Facilitate Their Duplication Throughout the World.”
Most small grass farmers today are stressed – emotionally, financially, and maybe even legally – just from trying to farm. What used to be a peaceful dirty profession is now just plain dirty. Our farmer reports that Joel did an excellent job of spreading the “We Can Farm” attitude amongst conference attendees. He encouraged them to do all they can to follow the rules (which are often not designed for small farmers) while keeping true to what they know to be right for themselves, the land, the animals, and their customers.
Joel also introduced our farmer to a new technology that will be available soon – a Bionutrient Meter from the Bionutrient Food Assication, a handheld device that you could theoretically point at a tomato and read out the nutritional quality of that particular tomato. Woah! I mean, our farmer knows that, because of his care for soil quality, his food is more nutrient-dense than most farms... but, how amazing to be able to quantify that!
In solidarity with grass farmers, I encourage you to cook up some grass-fed beef this week, and here are some tips to make it as tasty as possible. First, always thaw your meat and bring it to room temperature before cooking. Since grass-fed beef is typically low in fat and tougher than conventional beef, the biggest mistake a home cook can make is overcooking. Grass-fed steaks should be rare or medium rare (you can use a meat thermometer if you’re unsure). Never use a fork to turn grass-fed steaks; you risk losing all those wonderful juices. A roast should be cooked low and slow in a sauce to add moisture. When roasting, a good practice is to sear the meat first to lock in the juices. Lastly, always preheat your oven, pan, or grill before cooking grass-fed beef.
As you may have noticed, we’ve had a good number of new products lately, specifically in the produce department. This is due to the farmer’s new partnership with the Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op (LFFC), a non-profit cooperative of over 100 small farmers from Lancaster County, PA, many of them living the Amish culture. We are so thankful to have this resource to connect our members with even more food produced on highly maintained and nutrient-rich soil.
The farmer has always wanted to offer his members a wider selection of produce. But, the farmer and his wife have never been able to adequately maintain their own garden on top of all the other farm chores. The LFFC partnership allows the farmer to not only sell quality produce to members but also support fellow small-scale farms focused on sustainability and the humane treatment of animals.
Lancaster County soil is considered some of the best agricultural land in the country. You simply can’t produce food like this in other parts of the country – it is the most nutrient-dense possible. LFFC farmers take pride in maintaining the health and quality of their soil to preserve this reputation for future generations. LFFC choose to work cooperatively together to enhance the health of the communities around them as well as the health of the land that we live on.
LFFC provides fresh, naturally-grown fruit, vegetables, and other farm fresh products. Most of them are even certified organic. So far, the farmer is offering LFFC’s fresh apples, carrots, beets, onions, radishes, sweet potatoes, and Jerusalem artichokes. He is also offering its lemonade, iced teas, Good Mood cold pressed juice, kombucha infused with elderberries, and strawberry jam.
I love celebrating ingredients and usually prepare only a few at a time to let their inherent flavors sing. Last night, I braised some country ribs and accompanied them with some easy roasted root veggies from LFFC. Roasting veggies is super simple and takes maybe 10 minutes to prep. The basic idea is to bake veggies with a fat and a seasoning. I tossed largely chopped beets, carrots, and onions with lard, salt, and pepper. Then, I roasted the veggies covered for 60 minutes in a 350 F oven. I removed the cover and baked an additional 20-30 minutes to crisp the veggies up.
Dr. William Albrecht made a film in the 1950s called The Other Side of the Fence (watch it here). Dr. Albrecht, a soil scientist, started his research to answer a few questions. Why do animals choose certain foods (often on the other side of the fence) over others? Why do some farms produce healthy livestock and some sickly? How is our soil affecting our animals’ diet?
Dr. Albrecht took a holistic approach to studying soil health, conducting various tests on soil quality and animal nutrition and how that affects human health. His research proved that the health of soil has a direct impact on the vitality and health of the animals that consume food produced on it, and this includes humans. Basically, if the soil is not healthy, then the food has little value and will not give animals and humans the basic food elements they need to thrive.
The tricky part about this is that, by sight alone, there’s no real way to tell if the food we are consuming is giving us what’s necessary in our diets, even if we think we are choosing healthful foods. Dr. Albrecht held up two seemingly identical stalks of celery. One had a high food value and was grown on nutrient-dense soil. The other had a low food value and was grown on mineral-deficient soil. Looks can be deceiving. Sometimes the biggest best-looking plant can be poorest in food value. Animals inherently know this and will do all they can to get the food on “the other side of the fence”.
Conventional farming methods in the 1950s that prioritized big crops and high yield per acre robbed the soil of vital food elements. These practices took away from the soil but added nothing back. Mineral deficient soils simply cannot produce good food. Without those necessary elements in the soil, we cannot live.
Since then, some farmers have done great work to replenish minerals in their soil, and some have not. Some farmers look to chemical concoctions to produce good-looking plants and fortification to add food value. And some proactive farmers like ours know that good bountiful food grows on good mineral-rich soil. Our farmer tests his soil at the beginning of the growing season for a variety of nutrients. It’s a hefty test that costs $1,200 (one day he hopes to do it more often). He works with a soil specialist to analyze the results and choose a fertilizer that is organic-approved to rebalance the soil. Without this care for the soil, the grass wouldn’t be as green, the yield wouldn’t be nearly as high, the milk wouldn’t be as yellow, and the food would not be as nutrient-dense.
Our health is interconnected with the health of the earth. When we eat foods that are naturally nutrient-rich and nourishing for our bodies, we know that the earth is also being fed nutrient-rich and regenerative foods. I am so thankful to know a farmer who cares and takes action!
If you order eggs from us, you are used to getting eggs with a deep orange yolk. But, recently, you may have gotten a few eggs with yellow yolks. Gasp! Yellow yolks?! I know it’s shocking, but this does happen around this time every year. Here’s why.
Our chickens are always given free access to well-maintained pasture during the day, no matter the weather. In the warmer months, there are plenty of things to forage for. But, in the colder months, the idyllic pastured chicken setting changes. The chickens often choose to stay inside, close to the heater. And, even if they do venture out, there’s not much to eat in the winter pasture. So, in the winter, the laying hens’ diet is 100% feed, which consists of corn, wheat, peas, barley, fishmeal, flax seed, kelp, and a nutri-balancer which has kelp, vitamins, and minerals.
The color of an egg yolk is indicative of the laying hen’s diet, but not necessarily the nutritional content of the egg. A deep orange color indicates a truly pastured chicken eating a nutrient-dense diet of foraged bugs, seeds, and grasses. An orange or golden-yellow yolk means it was fed yellow corn and alfalfa meal. A pale or light-yellow yolk comes from eating a colorless diet of wheat, barley, or white cornmeal. Some egg farmers may add more yellow corn or marigold petals to darken the yolk. Thankfully, adding artificial color is not allowed.
All of these foods are “healthy” for a chicken, but the foraged food is the healthiest. According to a Penn State study, chickens that are truly pasture-raised have a higher nutritional value than those raised in a factory setting. Pastured chickens produce eggs with higher levels of Vitamin A, Vitamin E, and beneficial fatty acids. It’s really the chicken’s complete lifestyle - diet, exercise, general well-being, etc - that affects the nutritional value of the egg. That’s why it’s so important to know your small farmer and their specific values and practices.
You may be thinking, but it’s March, why didn’t this change start in January? Well, a laying hen always has 4-6 weeks’ worth of eggs inside, being nourished every day by the hen’s diet. So, a change to a hen’s diet will take some time, about 2 months, to fully show in the eggs. You should expect those nice deep orange yolks back in a couple months!
One of my favorite egg dishes happens to be one of the quickest and easiest dishes to make – Scrambled Eggs & Cream. Great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Heat up a pan on the stove on medium heat. Add a generous amount of cream – about 1⁄2-1 cup. Crack eggs directly into the cream. I usually use 8 for my family. Gently stir every once in a while, until cooked. The goal is to have the eggs moist and creamy and loosely mixed, with spots of white, yellow, and orange throughout. Serve solo or with toast and bacon.
I was given a postcard for another small farm that said something like “100% Jersey cows producing A2 milk”, and this got me frustrated. It’s bad enough that “grass-fed” means a cow can be finished on grain and that “pastured” means a chicken may never touch grass, but now small farms are doing it, too!? I know farming is a hard gig, and I don’t think anyone is being maliciously deceitful. I’m disappointed. Unscrupulous farmers interested in high quality nutrient-dense food should do thorough research about new products, like A2 cow dairy, and present accurate information. And conscious consumers should do the same.
Let’s dispel the A2 myth. Just because a cow is a Jersey cow (or another heritage breed), it does not mean that the milk is A2. Not at all. Through genetically testing his herd, our farmer found that the chance of a heritage cow producing A2/A2 milk is greater than a conventional cow (like a Holstein), but it’s certainly not a 100% guarantee. So, a herd of heritage dairy cows will produce milk with a higher concentration of A2 beta-casein protein, but not 100%. If someone is intolerant to A1 beta-casein protein, they will only be able to digest milk that has 100% A2 beta-casein protein.
Converting a herd (like ours) to produce milk with a 100% A2/A2 protein profile is time-consuming and expensive. Here’s what our farmer did. First, he read the book The Devil in the Milk, perused articles about A2 dairy, and talked to some experts in the field. Then, he collected hair samples from his cows and sent them to a lab for genetic analysis. The cows that produce 100% A2 milk were kept. The cows that produced any percent of A1 milk were slowly sold, and A2/A2 cows were slowly purchased. The whole process took about a year. With a dairy cow costing $800-3,000 (depending on age, health, diet, and whether it’s A2 or not) and cows producing less for a year after they are moved, it is an expensive process, especially for a small farmer. Also, given the increased demand for A2 milk, it can be hard to come by an A2 cow for sale.
If you’re new here, you may be asking, what’s the big deal with A2 cow milk anyway? All other mammals – humans, goats, sheep, camels, platypuses, and so on – produce 100% A2 milk. The A2 beta-casein protein is fully digestible by mammals. It’s cow dairy that has been infiltrated with a new type of protein via genetic mutation centuries ago, which made cows produce a new type of beta-casein protein – A1. Some bodies cannot handle the A1 beta-casein protein. They are not lactose-intolerant, but A1 beta-casein intolerant. Our farmer is proud to have a 100% A2 herd and has noticed mood and health differences in his children and calves.
If you seek 100% A2 cow dairy (from a farm other than us), here are some questions to help you verify the protein profile of their milk:
1 - What breed are your cows? This doesn’t matter so much, but the answer should not be Holstein.
2 - Do your cows produce milk with a 100% A2/A2 protein profile? Do you genetically test your cows to verify this? The answer should be yes and yes.
3 - Do you source milk from other farms? Have they genetically tested their cows to find out their A1/A2 protein profile? All cows should be genetically tested.
I hope you an enjoying the start of spring, which is finally here. I am so looking forward to the wonderful milk produced on fresh spring grass.
We know how much you value providing fresh, unprocessed dairy for your family. You know, the stuff that’s humanely raised and packed with essential nutrients, fully digestible proteins, crucial enzymes, and beneficial microorganisms.
That’s why our farmer makes wholesome dairy products to order every week, with minimal heating. You simply can’t find these nutrient-dense dairy products in the store.
However, these high quality, small batch products come with a downside – inconsistency. One week your Greek yogurt will be thick and creamy. The next it may be slightly watery or clumpy. This is the nature of truly whole, unaltered, fresh dairy products.
Culture suppliers recommend heating the milk to 180 F or higher. This kills the milk’s living structure, creating a blank slate for a new culture to grow.
Pasteurized dairy products are great for big producers, because they are consistent from week to week. You follow a recipe and get the same results, time after time. Mainstream customers expect this. However, all that great microbiology is lost, making it harder (and perhaps even impossible) for a body to digest.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, we heat the milk to 108 F, maintaining the plethora of valuable enzymes and microorganisms that are necessary for complete digestion. When a freeze-dried culture is added into the mix, the new culture needs to normalize with the current culture, and this happens slightly differently every time.
Another significant factor is that 100% grass-fed milk that goes from the udder to the bottle changes from week to week. Depending on the time of year and the herd’s diet and lifestyle, the milk may have a slightly different taste, nutritional value, fat content, and microbiology. It’s said that spring milk is the most nutritious and delicious – spring please come soon!
Between minimal heating and the ever-changing nature of untreated milk, our products are rarely the same week to week. I personally think this is exciting. When you get that quart of absolutely phenomenal kefir, it’s bliss.
What you can rely on is the quality of Miller’s products. Although inconsistent, our dairy products are 100% A2/A2, 100% grass-fed, humanely-raised, packed with nutrients and living cultures, fresh, and unprocessed.
This week, I encourage you to try one of our fresh dairy products – Greek yogurt, drinkable yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese, cream cheese. There are many flavors and options.
They are charming on their own but can also be dressed up. Try adding some herbs to kefir and using it as a salad dressing. Serve a quick easy breakfast of Greek yogurt, granola, and maple syrup. Or, blend some drinkable yogurt with a banana, juice, and some ice cubes for a refreshing lassi.
It’s one of the worst feelings when you plan, prepare, and serve a beautiful and nutritious home cooked meal for your family... and then no one eats it!
Last night I made roasted turnips, roasted asparagus with sheep rind-ripened cheese and garlic, boneless ham cooked in maple sugar and orange juice, and bone broth and rice noodle soup. Is your mouth watering?
My kids’ mouths were not watering.
Sure, my 5yo asked for seconds with his noodles (not the broth), my 4yo ate one bite of everything, and my 1yo ate lots of tiny bites of ham and turnips and broth. But, how are they not devouring this deliciousness!?
I don’t get too worked up about it. First, life happens sometimes. Second, I do not want to create any food-related trauma in my home. Third, I know that I’m doing all the right things to foster healthy food relationships for my kids – including them in food preparation (chopping, mixing, measuring, cooking), having them set the table, visiting farms that our food comes from, growing our own food, and more.
This doesn’t mean that I don’t feel awful when my family doesn’t eat my cooking. It’s really my problem, not theirs. It adds stress to my life.
In an effort to reduce my stress, I serve the ingredients for most snacks and lunches and at least one dinner per week.
Serving the ingredients means that I spend far less time preparing food. And, as long as I’m sourcing high quality, very tasty foods, I know my family is getting everything they need.
Some local ingredients and simple foods that I almost always keep stocked for quick, easy snacks and meals are:
Do you have any tricks for getting your family to love what you cook and eat it, too? I’d love to hear from you and get to know you better!
I hope you are enjoying the beautiful spring!
Having you been watching the grass grow? The cows have officially switched from hay to fresh grass... and here comes my beloved yellow, nutrient-dense, spring milk.
I pour my family grass-fed milk with confidence. You should, too. Here are 3 smart reasons why:
REASON 1. Neutral ph means healthy, antibiotic-free cows.
Cows are ruminants, which means they are designed to digest fibrous grasses and other plants. When grain and corn (quickly-digested carbohydrates with much less fiber) are fed to cows, it immediately changes the pH of the rumen, making it more acidic.
Lower pH can result in higher risk of infections, systematic inflammation, bloat, decreased immunity, and a host of other health issues. Grain-fed cows on large, conventional dairies are sometimes given routine preventative antibiotics for these reasons.
Grass-fed cows maintain a neutral pH. They can be naturally healthy and, if necessary, heal with homeopathic medicine.
REASON 2. Favorable fatty acid profile for a healthy body and brain.
Omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial for battling inflammation and heart disease and for promoting brain health. Omega-6 fatty acids are very important to the brain, to help strengthen its much- needed function through healthy growth and development.
You don’t just need fatty acids. You need an optimal ratio of them, and grass-fed milk has exactly the ratio you need.
According to research published in the American Journal of Clinical, the recommended ratio of omega-6/omega-3 fatty acids in the diet is 2.3/1. The cows’ diet makes a big difference in the proportion of these fatty acids. Milk from grass-fed cows has a ratio of approximately 2.3/1 - the recommended optimal ratio - compared to a ratio of 5.8/1 for milk from conventionally-fed cows.
REASON 3. Managed grazing is better for the environment.
Managed grazing requires less fossil fuels. Feed is not continuously grown, processed, and shipped to the farm. The cows’ food is simply there, being eaten and grown on rotation.
This style of farming keeps pastures fertile, healthy, and lush.
Growing corn and grain specifically for cattle feed uses huge amounts of resources, and sometimes chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
On a 100% grass-fed operation manure is spread over the pastures by roaming cows, replacing nutrients lost by the growing plants, rather than forming in feedlot pools and causing detrimental runoff.
Be proud to drink grass-fed milk. You are doing right by your body and the world.
The Amish have this amazing tradition called a frolic. It’s when you invite your community to help you accomplish a big project. The host provides the game plan and the food... plenty of food. You work, you play, you eat, you chat, you connect, and you are well.
In the spring, it’s time to make hay. Our farmer goes to many hay making frolics and hosts some himself. Each year, our farm uses about 15,000 bales of hay. That’s a lot of hay - that’s a lot of work!
Just like baling 15,000 bales of hay, living the modern American life can be nearly impossible to do solo. We should be creating and reaching out to our community, which has a much bigger than we think.
This week, I heard psychologist and coach Lisa Daron speak about her human engagement project, The Connection Cure. It was eye opening. She spoke about how your body has an immune response, creating endorphins and white blood cells, when connecting with another human in person.
We are basically built to be in community. Even a “micro-moment” of making eye contact with another person has an impact on your well-being.
Fostering connectedness with your community is nothing new – it’s the oldest of traditions that the Amish continue to carry on. Unfortunately, a big sense of community has been lost in the American suburbs and busy cities.
I love the idea of introducing the Amish frolic into my family’s traditions and wellness regimen. Maybe my first one could be power washing the house or building an outdoor fireplace. What would you do?
OK, I know it can be intimidating cooking for a large group of people, but, if you plan ahead, it can be quick and affordable.
When hosting a frolic, the farmer’s wife Rebeca often makes meatloaf. It’s a more affordable dish that’s easy to make ahead and make A LOT of. And her recipe is delicious! It became an instant hit in my home.
Meatloaf
Sauce
Mix meatloaf well and shape in bread or cake pans. Pour sauce over meat and bake uncovered at 350F for 1 hour.
Make 1/3 batch for a family dinner, 2/3 batch if you want an extra loaf to freeze, and make a full batch to serve at your frolic. Oh, and this recipe can also be made as meatballs!
Fresh cream. Fresh raw cream. So silky. So decadent. Savory and sweet. In my opinion, one of the best foods around. When it’s truly fresh, it’s divine.
Cream, the fat of the milk, is rich in fat soluble vitamins as well as conjugated linoleic acid and even coenzyme Q10. If raw, fresh cream is packed with beneficial bacteria and enzymes with the vitamins intact.
If you know all this, then you also know that, when you receive substandard cream, it is heartbreaking.
What could be wrong with your cream?
Due to this last complaint, the farmer is renaming the cream to better match the expectations set by other cream producers. Same great products, different names.
Light Cream will now be called Heavy Cream.
The new Heavy Cream will be similar in thickness to store bought cream.
Heavy Cream will now be called Super Heavy Cream.
The new Super Heavy Cream is really thick. It cannot be found in stores. It is spoonable and barely pourable. If you haven’t tried it yet, I highly recommend it.
Cream can be used in so many culinary ways. You can top almost any dessert or fruit with whipped cream. Add it to a soup. Cook eggs in it. Add it to coffee or tea. Make panna cotta or ice cream.
Have any awesome recipes for cream? I’d love to hear them!
Pork is the most widely eaten meat, making up 38% of meat production worldwide.
Historically, pork has been a staple in traditional diets for thousands of years. Wild hogs were hunted in the wild and then eventually domesticated. Also historically, pork has been banned in cultures and religions for thousands of year. What’s the big deal? To eat pork or not to eat pork?
Blood: By reviewing live blood samples, the Weston A. Price Foundation determined that eating plain cooked pork has a negative effect on our blood. It causes clotting and biochemical inflammation and eventually chronic disease. These results brought shame to pigs.
On the other hand, Dr. Price observed many traditional people healthfully eating pork. It’s one of the oldest foods. What’s going on here?
The secret is that each traditional culture eats pork in a particular way – by marinating in vinegar or fermenting or curing or accompanying it with a fermented veggie. This counteracts the negative effects. Amazing!
Sustainability: Every farmer knows that a pig is a farm’s garbage disposal. They eat everything and love it! Our farmer feeds the pigs lots of skim milk. There is zero waste on our farm, largely due to the pigs.
Pigs also do amazing work with the soil. Their strong snouts uproot and turn the earth, gobbling roots and nuts. They clear the pasture forest floor, preparing it for new growth.
On the flip side, conventional pork farmers feed primarily corn and soy, which is incredibly taxing on the environment to produce. It consumes a ton of water, is likely GMO and covered in pesticides, and the fields are vast expanses of monoculture.
Health: There’s a lot of great stuff in pork that our body needs. It’s high in protein, B vitamins, zinc, and iron. Just three ounces of cooked lean pork covers you for more than a third of the daily requirement for thiamin, niacin, selenium, and vitamin B6. It’s a powerhouse.
On the other hand, pork has a reputation for being a “dirty meat”. Pigs digest food very quickly and do not sweat, so toxins build up in the fat. They also harbor many viruses and parasites, which can transfer to the meat. This is why it’s so important to source properly raised pork and cook it to 160 F.
I personally eat pork. Any problems mentioned above can be avoided, and, if raised properly, pork is darn delicious.
Right after college, I worked on a CSA veggie farm in NY, and the one animal they raised for meat was pigs. The farmer is a Harvard and Columbia grad and a sophisticated foodie. The reason he raised pork – it matters how it’s raised.
The food that our food eats matters. More so than with any other animal, the diet and lifestyle of a pig makes a huge difference in the taste and texture of the meat.
If a pig eats apples or whiskey mash or acorns, the meat will have a rich and distinctive flavor reminiscent of whatever it ate. If a pig eats a bland conventional diet of corn and soy, the meat won’t taste like much.
If a pig eats a diet high in polyunsaturated fat, the meat will be high in polyunsaturated fat, giving a very soft texture. Lowering the polyunsaturated fat leads to much firmer pork.
And, I can’t forget about lifestyle and health. A healthy animal gives healthy food. Pigs that live in a natural environment, with plenty of space to forage, dig, and wallow will be much less likely to have illnesses that can transfer into the meat.
Great news! At last, we have more pork in stock!
Here’s a pork recipe from the farmer’s wife – “Rebecca’s Delicious Pork Chops”:
Combine the salt, pepper, and sage and rub into the meat.
Pour the olive oil into a heated skillet and brown the chops over medium heat for 1 minute per side or until browned.
Remove from heat and place in a casserole. Add the cider, sliced apples, onions, and raisins. Drizzle with honey.
Cover and roast at 350 F for 1 1⁄2 hours or until fork tender.
Real quick this week. I want to make sure that you know about a really awesome feature of our store – the Reorder button. It makes ordering farm fresh food for your family so much easier.
Imagine it’s 11:50pm on Sunday night. You suddenly realize you didn’t place an order for next week. Is there enough time? Of course!
It's 3 easy steps. Here’s what you need to do:
Once you do it once, it only takes about 10 seconds to do. That’s what I call easy.
However, my strategy is to not wait until the last minute. I reorder last week’s order in the beginning of the week, on Monday or Tuesday. I include all my regular items I get every week - milk, eggs, yogurt, kefir, cream, half & half, chicken bone broth, and ground beef.
Then, throughout the week, I use the second most awesome feature of our website – editing my order.
You can edit your order as much as you want before the order deadline. You won’t get a confirmation email for these changes. Whatever is in your cart on Sunday at midnight is what’s sent to the farmer.
Let’s say I run out of our 3 lb jar of honey. I quickly add it to my order on my phone. Or let’s say I’m meal planning. I’ll add whatever ingredients I need.
By following this flow, I never miss an order. And, it’s so easy and hassle free to get the food I want for my family.
I hope you enjoy the tip and start reordering, too!
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A2/A2 Dairy
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