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The Greenwashing of Our Foods – Part 2

Last year, I wrote an article titled The Greenwashing of the Organic Food Movement.Click here if you missed it, wish to read it again, or to listen to my podcast with Holistic Hilda. I share many valuable resources that you may want to access.For many years, humans and animals have lived quite robustly without disease, strong and happy on unadulterated animal products and plants in their most natural state. A hundred years ago, there was no such thing as organic because most farms and food were organic.Nowadays, finding food or growing food without chemicals is nearly impossible. We are at war with governments, corporations, media propaganda, and peer pressure. Cancer, auto-immune disease, weak bones, mental disorder, autism, dental cavities, SIDS, Downs-Syndrome, eczema, allergies, depression, diabetes, heart disease, ADHD are epidemic. Every year the AMA announces some new, unnamed unique disease. We have a hard time walking a block, yet alone reproducing.The health of our society and most importantly our children is failing. Disease is epidemic and humans and animals have become dependent on artificial life support from drugs, surgeries, and machines.Click here to listen to my latest podcast with the Appropriate Omnivore. Listen to the Podcast Here I spotlight the allowable exemptions in the USDA organic standards that include chemicals, de-beaking, and irradiation as well as standard practices in the organic produce, grain, meat processing, fishing, and honey bee industry.Did you know that if your organic grains and potatoes won’t sprout, they were likely irradiated?Towards the end, I discuss the current USDA mandated vaccination policy of our American wildlife, the laws in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho that require the vaccination of ALL cattle heifers, and the current air-drop vaccination programs across the U.S. How are shellfish treated? Click Here to watch how our shellfish are “Depurated” ie. sterilized both chemically and with radiation to protect us from harmful microbes. They are bathed in chlorinated, anti-microbial water for 2-3 days and irradiated to kill the bacteria before they ship to your grocery store to ensure we get sanitary, bacteria-free food. What they don’t disclose is that the microbes are there to decompose the toxic chemicals from industry in our waterways. And, their depuration process does NOT remove any heavy metals, petroleum, or chemicals from the shellfish. Thus, it is more likely that if someone was to get sick from seafood, it is from eating the chemical pollutants, not from the fish or the microbes. Scallops without any additives are called "dry-packed", while scallops that are treated with sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP) are called "wet-packed". STPP causes the scallops to absorb moisture prior to the freezing process, thereby increasing their weight. So, buy shellfish directly from the fisher or dry- packed, and don't eat from the Gulf of Mexico, near big cities, or toxic waste dumps like the James River in VA or New Jersey or Boston. Best to procure from PEI, Maine, NC, and a few select places in the Pacific Northwest.Currently, oysters are NOT depurated. So, go with oysters over clams, scallops, or mollusks.Clean food and healthy children or going extinct, however, I’m an “apocaloptimist”. It doesn’t look good, but in the long run, good will prevail.It takes vision, perseverance, courage, and hard work to find and grow food that is actually food.Are you down for the challenge? A healthy future for our children, aligned with the wisdom of nature, depends on us. If you want clean food, Burke’s Garden Farm and Alpine Heritage Creamery are both “Beyond Organic”. All our animals are outdoors getting fresh grass, haylage, grubs, sunshine, fresh air, and fresh water from the creeks and springs in a high-elevation circular valley surrounded by mountains, protected from city or industrial pollution. Simply Grassfed animals DO NOT eat GMO feeds or receive Growth Hormones. All our dairy cows are tested A2/A2 Beta-CaseinAll our cheeses are made with NON-GMO-Pfizer rennets. Click Here to read moreAll our cheeses are raw, never exceeding 102 degrees.Our butcher cleans our meat with either apple cider vinegar or water.We ship our products in biodegradable or recyclable cardboard insulated boxes in the Winter and ship with dry-ice when we can to minimize the plastic gel packs filling up the landfill. Click Here for an updated Healthy Products Resource List. In Optimal Health,Phoenix

Bulk Up on 100% Grass Fed Beef

This Spring has been bountiful with rain and our pastures are lush! This means our animals are also flourishing on green orchard grass, red clover, white clover, fescue, blue grass, dandelion, nettle, violets, burdock, thistle and more!!! Our meat will be as nutrient-dense as ever this year. And, we predict a good hay season to stock up for the Winter.

Our Babes are Back on Grass

Thanks to a warm and wet Spring, our animals are back to rotational grazing on our delicious dark green pastures of orchard grass, clover, dandelion, blue grass, thistle, and other nutritious grasses, legumes, and herbs.

Lucky Breaks

We had a break in the weather this week which melted the snow. The creek waters rose, the animals nibbled on some new sprouting greens, and we enjoyed the tease of Spring. I’m happy to report that of the two downed milk cows from the brutal cold last month, one of them, Dilly, we were able to get back on her feet with physical therapy and massage and save her life.

Blistery Weather on the Farms

Two cows went down. One did not make it. We are trying to nurse the other back. Besides the regular milking, bottling, feeding, and making butter, the daily routine now includes feeding the animals behind wind breaks, breaking ice in watering troughs, bringing many into the shelters, especially the sheep whose lambs are more susceptible to predators at nighttime.

Bones, Broths, Stews, and Roasts

As we finally shift to Autumn after this long dry Summer, we want to bring your attention to our slow-cooked hearty meat dishes. Stock up on our Soup Bones, Marrow Bones, Osso Bucco Bones, Chicken Broth, Beef Broth, Turkey Broth, Beef Cubes (aka Stew Beef), and Roasts for warm, rich soups and stews.

Prayers and Donations to Southern Appalachia

Here at Burke’s Garden, we received 12 inches of rain in 2 days. Our power is still out and cell service just came back on line. Here at the farm, we have been juggling cleaning up fallen trees on sheds, roads, power lines, drying out household items from the flood waters, and keeping the animals from escaping through broken fences, rotating them to new pastures, and fed.

How Do You Like Our Meats & Cheese

This Summer has been our busiest Summer yet. Typically, Summer slows down for us to make hay and than picks back up in the Fall. Not this year. You have keep us busy as beavers keeping up with all your orders of our Grass Fed and Pasture-Raised Meats and our Raw A2/A2 Cheeses.

News From the Farm

Hay Season Begins! We dusted off all of the equipment, sharpened the blades, and harnessed up the horses. This week we cut, raked, and baled our first test run of haylage. The grass is ready and we are too. Last year we produced about 1000 bales from June to August. We are hoping to produce 1500 this year.

Burke’s Garden Farm Lamb - A High-Quality Healthy Meat Option

Here at Burke’s Garden Farm we raise some the healthiest sheep, and thus, lamb meats in the USA. Sheep thrive on 100% pasture grasses and hay. Sheep also consume plants, such as noxious weeds, that most other animals will not touch. This means that sheep are an integral component of an all grass-fed rotational grazing ecosystem along with other livestock.