Grass-fed meats improve fat levels

Eating moderate amounts of grass-fed meat for only 4 weeks will give you healthier levels of essential fats, according to a 2011 study in the British Journal of Nutrition.

The British research showed that healthy volunteers who ate grass-fed meat increased their blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids and decreased their level of pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids. These changes are linked with a lower risk of a host of disorders, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, depression, and inflammatory disease.

Interestingly, volunteers who consumed conventional, grain-fed meat ended up with lower levels of omega-3s and higher levels of omega-6s than they had at the beginning of the study, suggesting that eating conventional meat had been detrimental to their health.

British Journal of Nutrition (2011) Red meat from animals offered a grass diet increases plasma and platelet N-3 PUFA in healthy consumers. Volume 105, pages 80-89.

Some things for 2012!

As we start into the New Year, I would like to share with you a few things that we are up to:

1. This year we are adding an apple orchard to our farm.  This is an established orchard with McIntosh, Jonagold, Yellow Delicious and Honey Crisp, to name a few varieties.  We are pruning the orchard now, getting it ready for the coming growing season.  We intend on raising our apples naturally, using very limited spray & maintaining tree health through fertility.  We will be offering apples at the farm or at the market locations along with our existing meat products.
2. We are growing our sheep flock and cattle herd to better meet our customer's needs. This means that we are clearing more brush to create productive pasture, overseeding existing pastures and always looking for more ground to raise hay on for winter feed.
3. We are planning on adding another weekly market to our schedule in 2012.  We haven't decided on the location yet, but will be letting you know asap so you can come and visit us.

These are just a few things that we are doing.  As always we appreciate your support and referrals and will try to keep you updated on our progress.