The farmer’s market hours are Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

This week’s selection will include…

Strawberry
Bok Choy
Broccoli
Collards
Brussel Sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Diakon
Eggs
Green Onion
Kale
Leak
Lettuce
Mustard Greens
Potatoes
Radish
Spinach
Turnips
Tomato

A link to their website with location and map can be had here:  Matt Family Orchard

“My parents didn’t raise me to ask God for blessings or benefits.  For guidance, yes.  For the strength to do the right thing, yes.  Not for a winning lottery number, not for love or health, or happiness.  Prayer is not a gimme list; God isn’t Santa Claus.”

“…I believe that without asking, we are given all we need.  We must have the wit and wisdom to recognize the strengths and tools at our command, and find the courage to do what must be done.”

The wit and wisdom and sincerity with which Dean Koontz writes his characters makes them favorites and worth the time to read and re-read.  Quick-witted and fun and sarcastic without the need to make another person feel lesser so that they can be more would describe, I think, all of Koontz’s main characters.  Mr. Koontz and his wife are high on that list of people I’d love to have a conversation and dinner with.

Amen.

Think of it!

An amazing way to twist off pounds (Red XL Abdominal Exerciser ) or flex your muscles all day while you do other productive things with your time (Vibro Toning Belt)!   There are ab machines that simulate riding a horse but without the horsey smells and outside stuff.  I, personally, think a person is missing out by not riding a real horse but in a side by side cost comparison the OSIM uGallop Complete Core Exerciser is the hands down cheaper way to go.

It wouldn’t have to be an exercise product.  It could be something that helps turn someone with two left feet into a better dancer or a pack rat into an organizational wonder.  Or better yet, a way for that pack rat to make a million organizing their stuff and learning how to help other pack rats organize their own stuff.  The list is endless!  See why this is such an exciting idea?!

Anyone, anywhere (with a credit card and phone/internet connection) could find what’s missing, fix what’s broken or otherwise make their life complete with my product!  In three easy payments.  How exciting!

Okay…that’s a very simplistic thought and grand start to this post but the idea is a solid one.  Eating beef IS good for you and the planet but only if the animals are raised right.

If you’ve watched Food, Inc. or read Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma you’ve seen the negative side of cheap meat.  Factory farms are taking nature and systematizing it in such a way that every aspect of the process is ultimately a negative to the planet.  The list of offenses, wrongs and horrors in factory farming is so long and depressing that it threatens to make me forget the point of this post which is the good that can come from raising animals in a positive way.

So the positives:
1.  Did you know that cow manure fertilizes the grass they eat and as the cows trample it into the soil they are reducing their carbon footprints by keeping the carbon in the ground and out of the air.  This makes the cows happy, I’m sure.  Since their biological waste is the fertilizer then no fertilizer is needed to be added to the soil, no fossil fuels burned transporting any unneeded fertilizer and no chemicals to worry about.  Cool.

2.  Grass-fed animals live in the sun.  This gives the end products that we eat from them…meat, eggs, milk…higher levels of vitamin D.  Vitamin D is needed for strong bones.  No need to add extra vitamins to the shopping list if you’re eating outside animals.  (Heat processing of milk will be a later post.)

3.   Grass-fed animals have an ideal ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acid profile.  When cows live on grains (at best) on factory farms their fat profile is for crap.  If you will remember from the nutrition clinics, Omega 3 Fatty Acids are anti-inflammatory and Omega 6 Fatty Acids are inflammatory.  They are needed in balance but our grain based diets have our systems completely unbalanced toward the inflammatory side in an unhealthy, at best, 10-1 ratio.

Everyone and their doctor are recommending that we supplement with fish oil to correct this problem; however, this creates a problem of its own.  We are over-fishing the very life savers that we need to correct our little grain habit and that is causing a rise in algae blooms and dead water in our oceans.  Skip the cheap junk meat and you can skip most of the supplements also.

4.  Rotational grazing leads to healthier animals, healthier land and a healthier planet.  Rotational grazing allows the land to not be over-grazed by moving the animals from section to section, staying always on grasses mid-cycle which causes the grass to grow more dense which makes more for the animals and around and around it goes.

This is a very simplistic start to a whole “benefits of being smart about what we eat and how we manage our planet” conversation.  There will be more posts in the future but check out the links in the paragraphs above in the mean time.  There are so many things wrong with our food supply and so many things right.

Educate thy self!

See ya!

Lynsey Kramer was who I contacted on Thursday about a visit on Friday and she was kind enough to work me into her busy day.  From the get go I felt like I’d known her a long while but maybe hadn’t seen her recently.  Heck, by the time the girls and I were leaving we were already to the hug good-bye stage.  She just makes you feel like you belong there.  I loved it!

Back to the farm and food side of it all…After reading Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma and Cordain’s Paleo Diet and watching Food, Inc. I have been left with disgust at the food source options for not only our family but for our CFC family.  Over the past year I’ve searched for Texas raised grass-fed beef and have found sources that I’ve been happy with but none really close.  Yonder Way Farm’s website did pop up in the list and as they are only in Brenham I thought I’d make the time to drive out to actually see where the animals are eating and how they are treated during their time on this earth.  I’m a sceptic at heart and take claims on food labels with a healthy dose of salt so the seeing has become important.  Advertising and spin, in my opinion, make everything offered suspect and though their website makes no grandiose claims I still wanted to visit.  Life, of course, gets in the way and I’ve not made it out in a year.  After Food, Inc. came out on DVD and the last nutrition seminar there was renewed interest in the gym in food sources.  Nancy W. brought up Yonder Way Farm as an option, mentioning that Robb Exline of CF West Houston is working with them for his gym.  Okay.  That’s way too many times of hearing about/coming across the same place to ignore it anymore.  Time to get my rear in gear.  Last Friday was supposed to be beautiful with no rain in sight so…

Here we are full circle at the start with me contacting Lynsey.  While wandering the farm we tossed back and forth the idea of having her husband, Jason, come out to our nutrition seminar this weekend to answer questions, talk about what they do and see if we can get established as a regular delivery group for our surrounding area.  Just wait ’til you meet the Kramer’s!  This is extremely exciting and, hopefully, the beginning of a wonderful relationship!  Check out their website – Yonder Way Farm – for more info on who they are and their philosophy about farming and life.  The pictures are true to the subject.  No need to dress them up.  That’s really how the farm looks and the animals really are wandering about and its all really the opposite of what a factory farm looks like.  We look forward to seeing Jason on Saturday!

On Cordain’s website you can sign up for a free weekly newsletter that is a veritable ocean of information that is neatly divided up into easy to digest sections.  Once a week you get a dose of why you should eat simply and cleanly.  I love it!

You obviously don’t have to take my word for it but it is definitely worth a bit of your time to investigate his site.

Most interesting about the page that the fad diet article is on, in my opinion, is the short book review and recommendation that shares the page which talks about a book called Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the Amerrican Psyche by Ethan Watters.   The book looks at how America’s illnesses (as well as the Golden Arches) are being sent around the world and that it’s not a good thing.  Prior to GlaxoSmithKline heading to Japan, for example, to let the folks there know that they are depressed and in need of Paxil, the Japanese weren’t aware they had a problem.  Ultimately, I won’t be picking up a copy of the book as it sounds like another “America is the root of all evil” book and even the reviewer comments that the author’s indignation can get weary at times.  I’m not into America-bashing, so this little article is all I’ll read of the book, but the review’s placement next to the fad diet article struck me as interesting.  It might just be me that sees twisted humor in it.

Funny enough, the same can be said of food and grains.  It is documented repeatedly (and I’ll post an article or two in the coming weeks that covers and re-enforces this) that once Americans come and “help” people in other, less fortunate countries with flour and rice and beans their health begins to mimic the health, or lack there of, of Americans.   Talk about your Trojan horses.

So its under destruction and then reconstruction.  The old posts will stay but the direction and structure in 2 weeks will be different.

One can only hope its for the better.

See ya!