Reflections on Wise Traditions

First, and for most, I want to thank you for your patience and understanding while Simply Grassfed focused our energy on sponsoring the 2023 Weston A. Price Wise Traditions Conference.

I am aware how we dropped the ball on some orders the last couple weeks as we worked around the clock to design signs, tote stuffers, and package and ship meats and cheeses for 1300 people.

We got the farm prepared to be away for several days and Avyanna, Asa and I drove through the night to get to the event by 9am on Thursday morning. The preparations were a lot of work and it was all sooooooo worth it.

We met wonderful people from all over the globe who value food for health and are passionate about supporting grass fed meat and dairy farms.

We offered cheese samples along with brisket smoked by John Lee Fisher and eaten and loved by everyone!

We sold out of 350 8oz packages of our Alpine Heritage Creamery Raw A2/A2 cheeses and 500 of our Burke’s Garden Beef Sticks. 

All the participants received a 10% off coupon from Simply Grassfed for attending the conference and many were redeemed before we returned home. Because we supplied so much meat and cheese for the conference we are low on stock this week on some items, and we will be replenishing our inventory next week for your favorite cuts and flavors.

Thank you, Josh in KC and Otis from LA for helping us at the booth and sharing the health benefits of raw dairy and meats.

And, Asa our almost four-year-old quickly warmed up and eagerly handed out coupons, stickers, rack cards, business cards and art drawing that he made to give away.

Thank you, John and Alvin, for holding the vision and holding down the farms, so we could attend and connect with new friends and constituents.

The hopefulness of the emergence of regenerative grass farming for the future was clouded over by my experience on our drive home through the dusty acres and acres of GMO corn and GMO soy beans mono-cropped all across Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. As far as the eye could see farms had just been harvested leaving miles of barren, dry, chemically damaged soil. It was heartbreaking.

I was having a difficult time reconciling why any farmer would choose to do this over having the experience of farming a beautiful grassland paradise rich with life from the microbes on up.

When I got home, I shared my curiosity with John and he said that it’s all because of Earl Butz.

I asked, “Who is Earl Butz and what does he have to do with all this?”

John replied, “He was Secretary of Agriculture under Nixon and Ford. In his time heading the USDA, Butz carried out drastic changes to federal agricultural policy.” John encouraged me to research the rest of the story.

Here’s what I found on Wikipedia. Butz, supported by Big Pharma, re-engineered many New-Deal-era farm support programs.” Butzwas featured in the documentary King Corn, recognized as the face of Big Pharma who started the rise of corn production, large commercial farms, and the abundance of corn in American diets. Butz debated writer Wendell Berry defending the achievements of an industrial agriculture that was replacing the longstanding structure of small family farms and rural communities. Butz pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges for having under-reported income he earned and was sentenced to five years in prison. 

Graham Harvey in one of his several books, “We Want Real Food”, he shares his experience in Great Britain during WW2 when the government actually fined and took away farms from farmers that were not willing to grow corn and soy beans and use chemical fertilizers (shaming farmers for not being patriotic because “Allied soldiers needed food”). Graham offers as a solution to subsidize ALL farms as long as they are prudent and productive and let the market demand what farmers grow. John says it’s best to just keep the government out of it all together. 

I came back to Burke’s Garden with several fields to seed with rye and vetch for cover crop to protect and add nutrients to the soil which provide forage for our cows, pigs, sheep, and goats. Asa was sitting on my lap steering the tractor as I drove, feeling proud and ever so grateful to be farming grass.

Thank you all for giving my family the opportunity to do this service in hopes of preparing my son, John and Alvin’s children, and all our children to bring grass farming back to this country. I pray that we can save our Midwest prairies before they completely eroded away into the Gulf of Mexico forever.

On a more uplifting note, we have turkeys available for Thanksgiving.

All of our turkeys are GMO-free and we offer Soy-Free turkeys as well. They all come with the necks and organs tucked inside. We ship frozen so prepare to take it out of the freezer 3 days before you plan to cook it, so it can thaw. We also have turkey drumsticks, wings, breasts, thighs, livers, hearts, bones, and bone broth.

If you are placing your turkey order to be delivered to Asheville, you will need to get your order in by Saturday, November 4th for delivery on Wednesday, November 15th. If you are placing your order online to ship to your location, You have until Sunday, November 12th to order, so it can be delivered to your location by November 18th. We have a limited supply of birds ranging in size from 10-25 pounds, so it’s probably risky to wait until the last minute to get the kind and size of turkey you are wanting.

If you are not into turkey for the holidays, our brisket, beef and ham roasts make a delicious and nutritious holiday feast.

If you have any questions or need help ordering, email me at hello@simplygrassfed.com

Here’s a picture of our Burke’s Garden Farm Store as the leaves finish falling and the vibrant autumn colors turn to gray. Probably the last week the pumpkins will be sturdy and orange as it dips down into the twenties. We still have plenty of grass in the fields and 1000 bales of haylage stocked up and ready to feed the animals when the pastures are covered with snow.

 Our Paradise Store is now open as well.

Thank you Weston A. Price for your dogged commitment to keep us healthy. Thank you Sally Fallon, Thomas Cowen, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, and Aajonus Vonderplanitz for carrying the torch. Thank you to all the faithful farmers, people, and parents who have persevered against all odds to support regenerative farming practices to keep the soil, the animals and our families healthy.

I’ll wrap up with a couple Wendell Berry quotes:

“The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.”

“Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.”

Blessings this holiday season from Phoenix and the Simply Grassfed families.

Simply Grassfed

Connecting Food & Health