Photos of recipes from the new book Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Photos of recipes from the cookbook Tender Grassfed Meat
How Real Food Healed Me
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Organic Greek yogurt, a traditional food.
Our ancestors did not reach for drugs or doctors when they had an injury. Instead, they tried to get the food that would enable their bodies to repair themselves.
Only the most serious injuries would require a doctor, and many traditional doctors would prescribe a particular food. The most famous and successful of ancient doctors, Hippocrates of Cos, said:
“Let thy food be thy medicine, and let thy medicine be thy food.”
This seems primitive, in our modern age, which celebrates the wonders of medical science. Yet many of us have noticed that medical science is not always the best choice, due to its using drastic methods such as drugs, surgery, and radiation for even minor ailments. And most drugs only manage to relieve symptoms, while interfering with the natural processes of our body.
I had a minor but annoying injury a few weeks ago. I had a choice, and I chose food. And it healed me.
The Injury
While fooling around, I got a split lip. It was not that bad, but it would not fully heal. There remained a split in the lip. If the lip got dry, especially at night, it would get quite painful. At other times, it was annoying. After two months, there was no change.
I thought of going to a doctor, but the only thing they could do was give me stitches, or a drug. Having a needle going in and out of my lip had no appeal. Drugs scare the heck out of me, since they interfere with the natural functions or our bodies, and I would consider one only under serious circumstances.
I began to look for natural remedies for a split lip that will not fully heal, and I found none.
The Remedy
I saw some full-fat Greek yogurt in a store, made by my favorite dairy. This dairy has organic milk products, is extremely careful to make sure that its cows get no GMOs in their feed, pasteurizes their milk at the lowest temperature the law allows, does not vaccinate or drug their milk cows, and gives these cows wonderful treatment. In other words, it was my kind of dairy, and I have enjoyed their products for years.
I had never had this kind of yogurt before. It was tangy, very thick and rich with good animal fat. Without understanding why, I placed some of this yogurt against the split in my lip, and held it there. It felt cooling and wonderful. Within seconds, the irritating sensation in the split went away. I did this for a few days, several times a day. I noticed that the split was smaller after the first day. After about three days, the split was gone, and the lip was healed. After several weeks, it has remained healed.
I should say that I had never heard of this before. I think that the good fat and probiotics in this very special yogurt caused the healing, but I cannot prove it. And I do not know why I did it.
Chris Kerston, of Chaffin Family Orchards, a chemical-free organic farm and ranch I admire, told me how his grassfed cattle would treat themselves by eating certain plants, which fixed them up. The cattle would select the plants themselves.
I am just guessing, based on this experience, but I think our bodies have a wisdom and knowing that can often help us. I listened to my instincts when I held the yogurt against my split lip, and it healed.
This story is anecdotal, unsupported by studies, is not a recommendation, is no substitute for the services of a medical professional, has not been reviewed or approved by the FDA, and is intended solely as a sharing of my experience.
This post is part of Fat Tuesday and Real Food Wednesday blog carnivals.
Grazing Animals Are the Solution—Eat Grassfed Meat
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Rich, healthy land at Chaffin Family Orchards.
Before I went to the recent Weston A. Price Foundation Conference, I decided I would blog about the most important thing I learned there, and share what I had learned. I thought it would be a difficult decision. I was wrong.
The recent Weston A. Price Conference had many lectures, and many themes. They covered a huge variety of topics involving food and the raising of food, disease and ways to avoid or cure it Yet one of these topics was so vital, so important, so overwhelming, that it dwarfed all the others. I learned this at a fantastic talk given by Chris Kerston, of Chaffin Family Orchards, a true real farmer, whose farm uses no chemicals.
This is a concept that most people have never heard of, yet it holds the solution to almost everything that is wrong with the condition of our planet , our food supply, and our water supply.
This concept was not created by scientists, and uses a technology older than humanity. It uses the very laws of nature to build soil, increase green vegetation, sequester carbon in the earth, bring water back to long-dry streams and rivers, enrich the soil, and provide a healthy and nutritious food supply.
The concept is to use large herds of grass-eating animals, grazing them in a manner that mimics the patterns of nature, to rebuild the soil and create grasslands and forests. This method is how the grasslands and forests were created in the first place, and was invented by nature, not humans.
Modern Agriculture Destroys the Soil and Creates Deserts
We have become so seduced by technology and science (and the quick profits it can bring), that we have forgotten one of the oldest rules of every civilization. The rule that nature’s laws must be obeyed.
Instead of using the hard won agricultural knowledge of our ancestors, we have poisoned the soil with a huge variety of chemicals, using them to kill insects and undesirable plants, along with crucial microflora that are vital for the health and nutrition of the soil. We have used techniques like monocropping and artificial fertilizers to produce huge crops of plants like soy and corn, without giving the land a chance to rest and renew.
These methods have led to huge amounts of once fertile grasslands and farmland turning into desert, as the soil blows away, and is not replaced. The lack of grass and growing green plants has disrupted the balance of the atmosphere, and led to increasing water shortages. The food that is grown on the declining soil lacks the nutrients it should have, and animals grazing on such soil are less healthy than they should be. Artificial feed compounds the problem, as food animals are fed species-inappropriate food that reduces their health and nutritional value, while making them grow at an unnaturally fast rate.
The loss of soil and green plants cannot be sustained. If this trend continues, the food supply will be greatly reduced, more and more land will return to desert, and the future will be very bleak.
It should be mentioned that nothing developed by science or the greedy biotech companies has done anything effective to solve this problem. Instead, their theories and products only make things worse, and hasten the decline of the soil.
The Natural Solution—Properly Managed Herds of Grazing Animals
Dr. Weston A. Price, the greatest nutritional researcher of all time, said
“Life in all its fullness is mother nature obeyed.â€Even in the early twentieth century, Dr. Price knew that the soil was depleted of nutrients, and that every generation of his patients was sicker and weaker than their parents. He knew the key was in nature.
Alan Savory, the founder of the Savory institute, made a very important discovery about the laws of nature. Herds of grazing animals, moving from place to place, staying tightly packed to protect against predators, renewed the soil.
The process bears a stunning resemblance to traditional farming, and works as follows.
The herds eat all the old growth, digging up the earth with their hooves, trampling the grass seeds deep into the soil, and fertilize the soil with their rich manure. This creates ideal conditions for the growth of new grass. The herd moves on, letting the land rest and renew its life and richness. The growing grass holds water in the soil, with lead s to the creation of streams and watercourses. This leads to the growth of trees, which promote rain and release beneficial elements into the atmosphere. When the herd returns, it is greeted by lush green living grass, the perfect food for grazing animals. And the whole cycle repeats itself, resulting in even richer soil, greener grass, and more water, trees and plants.
This is nature’s way, and nature’s law, and we can work in accordance with it, and prosper, or ignore it, and ultimately perish.
Alan Savory and his Institute have turned millions of acres of desert into lush grasslands, by using herds of cattle, grazed and managed in accordance with the techniques he developed that follow the laws of nature. Long dead streams and rivers have come back when this program is followed, and the rich grasslands provide the perfect food for grazing animals, grass.
And these grazing animals provide the perfect food for humanity, grassfed meat, grassfed fat, real milk, and real dairy products. This has always been humanity’s richest, most valuable food source.
In summary, I cannot think of anything that could help us more than to follow the Savory Institute’s method of renewing the land, the soil, and the water supply by using properly grazed herds of grass-eating animals. This is the solution to our problems with soil and food. It is right before us, and has been proven to work, with none of the horrifying side effects of modern, chemical agriculture.
Eating the grassfed meat and other foods from animals grazed in this manner is one of the best things we can do to support nature’s way of healing the planet. Many grassfed ranchers use these methods, and supporting them by buying the food they raise not only helps their soil, but gives us some of the healthiest, life-supporting food we could possibly eat. Food like this makes you strong and healthier, and is utterly delicious.
Related Posts
Grassfed Farmer Renews the Land
A Better, Sustainable Way to Farm
This post is part of Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday, Fight Back Friday, and Freaky Friday blog carnivals.
When Organic Tests No Better, Check the Soil, and the Bias
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Magnificent olive trees thriving on the rich soil at Chaffin Family Orchards.
Recently, another study claiming that organic food has no more nutrients than conventional food was published. Since this study appears to defend the chemical-laden conventional food, it has been widely spread by the mainstream press. Yet several important factors should be noted about this latest study.
First, it provides no new data, but is a review of approximately 200 previous studies.
Second, nearly all studies of this nature, including most, if not all, of the studies they reviewed, are done by universities who are completely committed to supporting conventional agriculture, and receive large donations from Big Ag and the biotech industry, including Monsanto.
Third, and most important, it completely ignored, as do nearly all studies of this type, the most important factor in how many nutrients will be in food—the soil.
The Fatal Flaw in Conventional vs. Organic Studies
Have you ever been puzzled about why almost every study comparing organic food to conventional food finds no difference in nutrients? I have. It just does not make sense. Yet university study after university study finds no real difference. The answer was given to me by a farmer who attended a famous agricultural program in a well known university. I will honor my promise to keep his identity confidential.
This farmer, while a student, assisted with agricultural studies and is completely familiar with how they were conducted. Universities and food research organizations have their own land, or land that they use to raise crops and animals for studies and experiments. When they study the qualities of crops or animals, they raise them on their particular research land. Since nearly all of the research they do involves conventional farming, this land is heavily spayed with pesticides on an ongoing basis, and artificial fertilizers are regularly used. This has the effect of greatly depleting the natural nutrients in the soil, and filling the soil with substances that block the absorption of nutrients.
When “organic†farming is done on this land for the purpose of a study, the same blasted, depleted soil is used that had previously been used to raise conventional foods.
Since the nutrients are not there in the soil in the first place, plants that are grown with organic methods on that dead, depleted soil do not have more nutrients than conventional food raised on the same soil. The plants and animals cannot absorb nutrients which are not there. The same chemical residues that block the absorption of nutrients in conventional agriculture will block the absorption of nutrients when organic methods are used on the same poor soil.
This fact alone makes all of these studies fatally flawed.
The Database for the Study Is Flawed
A study relying only on other studies has all of the flaws of the studies it relies on. Most of these studies were conducted by researchers beholden to Big Ag.
So many studies these days are nothing but an analysis of other studies. I do not consider this method to be of value, since studies of this type rely on all the bad information gathered and interpreted by the previous studies. This is particularly true in this case. The agricultural research done in this country is completely dominated by conventional and high-tech methods, especially GMOs and Bio Tech. Chemicals rule, and GMOs are touted as the solution to every problem. The reason for this bias is obvious—money. Big Ag and the biotech industry make huge grants to agricultural schools, with Monsanto leading the way. In fact, one of the largest and most respected agricultural schools in the nation has been called “Monsanto U†by its students. My anonymous friend was openly mocked by his professors when he questioned the desirability and safety of GMOs. Funding is also provided by the Federal government, which appears to only fund research of conventional agriculture and GMOs.
Just about all agricultural research done in these institutions is on conventional methods and GMOs. The extent of how bad and biased this really is was shown during debate on the most recent farm bill. Senator Jon Tester of Montana introduced an amendment that would require that just five percent of federally-funded agricultural research be devoted toward the development of classic non-GMO seeds and biological diversity in seeds, as opposed to the current zero percent. That amendment was killed. Which tells us that one hundred percent of federal agricultural research funding, which goes to the very institutions that do agricultural research and studies, is devoted to GMOs and similar unnatural methods.
Do you trust institutions whose funding is targeted solely toward supporting Big Ag and GMOs to be unbiased when it comes to research that affects the value of Big Ag and GMOs?
The Healthy Peoples Studied by Dr. Price Got Far More Nutrients than We Do
Dr. Weston A. Price spent ten years traveling the world to learn about nutrition. He studied a number of traditional peoples who ate the diets of their ancestors. Dr. Price sent over twenty thousand samples of their foods to be studied in the U.S. It was found that these peoples got far more vitamins and minerals than modern peoples, often five times as much or more, depending on the nutrient. All of their food was organic. All of their food came from soils and environments that had never been sprayed with chemicals, or subject to artificial fertilizers. All these peoples were careful to rest, restore, and fertilize the soil they used, using totally organic methods. Dr. Price wrote that many of the nutritional deficiencies suffered by modern peoples were due to the poor, depleted soil that was used for farming. I might add that the soil he wrote about was far less depleted than the soil we use today.
Dr. Price considered good soil to be the foundation of nutritious food, and devoted an entire chapter to this subject in his book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.
Yet this latest study totally ignored the quality of the soil used to raise the food in the studies.
Grassfed Meat Is Far Superior to Factory Meat, and Depends on Good Soil
Like almost all such studies, the issue of whether the meat people ate was grassfed or factory meat was totally ignored. But the truth of the matter is that grassfed meat contains far more nutrients than factory meat, containing far more omega-3 fatty acids, much higher levels of CLA, and many other nutrients. This has actually been established by studies, whose information is superbly presented and summarized in this excellent article at EatWild.com, Health Benefits of Grass-fed Products.
While most grassfed beef is not organic, it is raised with methods that are the equivalent of organic, and it must be raised on soil that is rich enough to support good grass, or the cattle will not thrive and fatten. Many grassfed ranchers use traditional rotational grazing methods to enrich their soil and improve their grass.
Truly Organic Food, Grown on Good Soil, Is Much More Nutritious than Conventional Food
I have eaten organic food that seemed quite ordinary, and organic food that filled me with energy, made symptoms disappear, and made me feel like I had just taken a drink from the fountain of youth. The difference? I am convinced it was the soil. Much organic food is grown on soil that was once used for chemical agriculture, which ruins and depletes the soil.
But some organic food is grown on clean soil, free of chemicals, which has been carefully nurtured with traditional methods. I have eaten fruit and meat raised at Chaffin Family Orchards. The fruit, eggs, and meat from this farm is raised on land that has never been sprayed with chemicals. Land that has not been tainted with artificial fertilizer. Land whose fertility is carefully nurtured and preserved by traditional methods, such as rotational grazing.
The first Chaffin food I ate was some organic apricots. The skin on two of my fingers was quite dry and was peeling and cracked in a few small areas. I thought it was due to the hot, dry summer and not drinking enough. While apricots are not my favorite food, these apricots were delicious beyond dreams, I felt so good and renewed when I ate them. Within two days, the skin on these fingers had healed completely, as if it had never been damaged. I had been eating plenty of organic fruits and vegetables before I ate the Chaffin apricots, and I am convinced that it was the good soil that made the difference. There was some nutrient in those apricots that my body used to heal the dry skin. Anecdotal? Totally.
But let us remember something. Humans have been learning and passing down information for tens of thousands of years, maybe longer. All of that knowledge was anecdotal. Modern scientific studies have been around for less than two hundred years, and would have never been invented if it were not for the anecdotal information that came first. There is old saying—experience is the best teacher. What I learned from the Chaffin apricots taught me to appreciate the value of food grown on pure, rich, chemical-free soil. I trust this experience far more than any number of flawed studies.
Based on the knowledge of how agricultural research is conducted today, the work of Dr. Price, and my own experience—I am convinced that organic food, or the equivalent of organic, raised on good soil—contains far more nutrients than conventional foods.
This post is part of Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday and Freaky Friday blog carnival.
Rich Pasture Means Delicious, Fragrant, Grassfed Meat
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Rich grass on John Wood's farm.
Recently the issue arose on Facebook as to why some grassfed meat might have a strong, almost fishy smell. The opinion was expressed that the steer might have eaten wild onion or wild garlic, which are known to give a bad taste and smell to milk. Should a good grassfed farmer remove wild onion and wild garlic from their pastures?
As I do not raise grassfed meat, (though I certainly cook it and eat it), I posed the question to two of the best grassfed ranchers I know: John Wood of U.S. Wellness Meats, and Chris Kerston of Chaffin Family Orchards.
John qualifies because his meat is always delicious, and smells great while it is cooking and even better when it is done.
Chris qualifies because his meat is also always delicious, and also smells great at all stages of cooking and eating.
John has never had an issue with wild garlic or wild onions, and has not noticed them on his land. John is of the opinion that a good stand of grass usually chokes out wild garlic and wild onion. John’s pastures have some of the richest, greenest, most beautiful grass I have ever seen. John has substantially increased the density and richness of his grass by rotational grazing techniques, and by enriching the soil with ancient vegetable matter. Meat from his farm, raised on that wonderful grass, is in a class of its own, in my opinion. I have eaten a lot of John’s beef over the last six years.
Chris said that what the animal eats has a huge effect on flavor. Eating a lot of wild garlic and wild onion will have a big effect on the taste and smell of the meat However, Chris is opposed to removing wild garlic and wild onion from grazing land. As Chris pointed out, removing any natural plant from a pasture will affect the natural balance, and something else will take its place. Chris stated that cattle will not eat pungent plants like wild garlic and wild onion in normal conditions. They prefer sweet grasses. Cattle will eat pungent plants for medicinal purposes, and Chris has observed his cattle treating themselves by eating certain pungent plants and grasses when they have a need. However, this is only done on a short-term basis. Also, the amount of pungent plants they eat for this purpose is in small quantities, not enough to interfere with the flavor or smell of the meat. The other situation where cattle will eat wild garlic and wild onion is when they do not have enough other suitable feed (like grass) to eat, and will eat anything out of hunger. This could certainly affect the taste and smell of the meat. I have visited Chris’s farm, and seen the beautiful rich, green grass the cattle graze on. Grazing is rotated to enrich the soil and the grass. The soil on Chris’s farm is particularly rich, and has never been sprayed with chemicals. It provides dense, sweet, green grass that the cattle love. The grass gives the cattle a deep, beefy flavor that I love.
It is clear that having plenty of good sweet grass, and providing adequate pasture prevents the problem.
You can buy John’s meat at U.S. Wellness Meats.
Chaffin Family Orchards does not sell its meat over the Internet, but you can buy it directly from the ranch or at the farmer’s markets where Chaffin sells meat, or some buying clubs. Chaffin does sell its magnificent olive oil over the Internet. This olive oil is my absolute favorite, and my first choice for marinating meat.
While John’s Missouri grassfed beef tastes different from the California grassfed beef raised by Chris, both tastes are wonderful, and I love to eat both of them.
This post is part of Monday Mania and Real Food Wednesday blog carnivals.
A Better, Sustainable Way to Farm
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
No need for herbicides when you have goats. Note the contrast between the untrimmed and the goat trimmed areas.
There is a better way to farm. A way that uses no chemicals. A way that renews the soil, rather than depletes it. A way that produces far more food. A way that produces healthy food that our ancestors would have recognized, food that our bodies are designed to use, food that makes us strong and healthy.
- We have been told that farms should specialize in one crop or animal only.
- We have been told that farms need to use herbicide to control weeds.
- We have been told that farms need pesticides to control insects, or the crops will be lost.
- We have been told that farms need artificial fertilizer so the crops can grow.
- We have been told that we need GMOs to “feed the world.â€
- Each one of these statements is not true.
I recently had the pleasure of visiting a real farm, Chaffin Family Orchards, in Oroville, California. Chaffin has a different way of farming, a way that is the best example of sustainable agriculture that I have ever seen or heard of.
Chaffin had caught my interest because they raised a large variety of fruits, as well as eggs, chickens, goats, and lamb, but what really caught my interest was a chance to buy some of the grassfed meat they raise. They do not sell meat over the Internet, so going to the farm or a distant farmer’s market was the only way I would get to try it.
The First Surprise—Peace
My first surprise came when I stepped out of the car. I immediately felt a strong sense of harmony. It was a very powerful, yet tranquil feeling, as if I was in a holy place. I am not a mystic, and I have felt that feeling only a few times in my life. Yet it was there. Keren, my wife, also felt it. As I toured the farm, this feeling was everywhere. It was as if the fruit trees, the grass, the cows, the chickens, the land itself—were healthy, well-fed, content, at peace, and—happy.
The Second Surprise—No Stinks, No Flies
There were no bad smells on the farm. None. Every other farm I have visited had plenty of bad smells, from manure, from the livestock themselves. Not Chaffin. We visited the cows, and saw the manure scattered here and there over the pasture. No bad smell. We visited the chickens, a lot of chickens. No bad smell. In fact there were no bad smells anywhere on the farm. Every other farm I visited had areas that smelled very bad. Not Chaffin.
I had also visited a number of farms with livestock or chickens. Every one of those farms had swarms of flies and other bugs, especially in the summer. Not Chaffin. Not even in July. I did not see a single fly. There were very few bugs around.
Chaffin Raises Many Kinds of Foods
Chaffin raises olives, cherries, apricots, avocadoes, nectarines, peaches, persimmons, pomegranates, figs, grapefruits, lemons, and oranges. They also produce 100 percent grassfed beef, grassfed goats, pastured chickens, and pastured eggs.
This huge variety of nourishing food is produced on one farm. The fruits are available only in season, when they are at the peak of nutritional value and taste. The beef is harvested only once a year, after the cattle have been eating the best green grass of the year and are at their best, both in taste and nutritional value. The same is true for the chickens, and the goats. The harvesting of food in season is how it was done through most of human history, and the results are absolutely wonderful.
Chaffin Controls Weeds with Livestock—Not Poison
No artificial chemicals are used on the farm—none. This means no herbicides of any kind. So how does Chaffin deal with weeds, brambles, and thorny growths that could choke the fruit trees? The answer is very simple—cows and goats. The cows can graze among the trees, choosing the grasses they want to eat. The goats will eat bushes, including the thorny growths, as well as the weeds. The weeds and brush nourish the cows and the goats, who are eating what nature intended. The fruit trees give the cows and the goats shade from the hot sun. There is absolutely no need for herbicides, and none are used. Rotational grazing practices are used so the animals and trees support each other.
No Pesticides Needed—Just Call in the Chickens
Insects are not a problem at Chaffin Family Orchards. They use no pesticides. Instead, they move their chickens around in mobile coops as needed, to control the bug population. Bugs are the favorite food of chickens, who are not vegetarians. The bugs provide excellent feed for the chickens, resulting in the highest quality pastured eggs. The chickens are also able to forage for seeds and other plants, while on the hunt for bugs. The moving of the chickens is done on a rotational basis, in accordance with the needs of the land. I must say that the bug control method at Chaffin is the most effective I have seen at any farm.
Forget the Artificial Fertilizer—Bring on the Animals
Chaffin never uses artificial fertilizer, yet the soil is incredibly rich and fertile. The cattle, goats, and chickens deposit manure on the land. Rotational practices are used so there is never more manure on the soil than can be ideally absorbed. The manure from healthy animals eating their natural diet is of very high quality and restores nutrients to the land. Land is often given a rest from farming or grazing on a rotational basis, which allows the soil to absorb nutrients, and allows dead plant matter to decay and enrich the soil. This provides incredibly rich soil, full of nutrients and minerals. Plants grown on this good soil are strong and healthy and very resistant to disease and insects. The fruit from trees grown on this rich soil is likewise blessed with a full complement of nutrients and minerals and is incredibly sweet and delicious. Animals who eat the plants grown on this rich soil are strong, healthy, very well nourished, and provide nutrient-dense meat and eggs.
The plants, soil, and animals all support each other in this magnificent cycle which fully obeys the laws of nature.
No GMOs—Just the Fruit and Animals Developed by Nature
Chaffin Family Orchards produces a huge amount of different types of foods from the same farm, far more than if just a single crop was grown. The animals are raised on their natural foods. All of the many different fruits are natural varieties, including a number of heirloom fruits that are hard to find anywhere else, because they do not have a long shelf life. I might add that the heirloom Blenheim apricots were the best apricots I ever had. The incredible variety of nourishing food produced by this farm has no need to be modified or tampered with.
How Does It Taste?
We did come home with a moderate stash of grassfed beef from Chaffin, along with two pounds of Blenheim apricots. The apricots were gone in a day and really made me feel good after eating them. The beef had a clean, pure taste, like the essence of beefiness. It was incredibly tender, and worked perfectly with the recipes in Tender Grassfed Meat. The meat had a beautiful coating of its own natural fat, which added greatly to the flavor and tenderness. I salute Chaffin for leaving some of the fat on the meat. Every producer of grassfed meat would do well to follow their example in this. It had great marbling, full of tiny flecks of life-giving, grassfed fat, and was absolutely wonderful. I will definitely have to make the long trek to Oroville again. I also want to add that we all felt good and renewed after eating this fine beef. I should not forget to mention the olive oil, which is the best I have ever had, and works perfectly with the recipes in Tender Grassfed Meat.
I have just scratched the surface of what I could write about Chaffin Family Orchards. I also want to thank their sales manager, Chris Kerston. Chris not only gave me a fine tour of the farm, but taught me so much about the kind of farming they do, and agriculture in general. Chris is literally a walking encyclopedia on farming, and I wish his methods were taught in agricultural colleges, rather than the factory farming that dominates them. Chris is absolutely passionate about his craft, and I am grateful to everybody at Chaffin Family Orchards for the fine food they produce, in the most sustainable way.
This post is part of Real Food Wednesday Blog Carnival at Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
This post is part of Fight Back Friday Blog Carnival at Food Renegade.