The Weekly Watch

Food for Thought

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Our food system is about as sound as our health system, economic system, education system, and government in general...controlled by corporations (as are their respective regulators). Last week we looked at the Great Reset, and discovered one of their goals is for us to eat less meat. I want to look into that idea today, and illustrate it's fallacy. (23 min)

I want to make it clear from the start I'm not suggesting vegans nor vegetarians should eat meat, but that those who choose can do so freely. Ecologically speaking, there are no ecosystems without animals.

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My first point is by properly mob grazing, grassland ecosystems can be restored, enhancing soil fertility, and water absorption as carbon is captured. When Europeans arrived in North America 30-60 million bison were here mainly in the Great Plains (but even in Alabama where I live). Today there are about as many cattle, but most are fed an unnatural diet of grain and beans in horrid confined conditions. That does need to change, and I'm suggesting the alternative today.

Large herds of grazing animals are tied to healthy grasslands. This is the story worldwide. Utilizing mobs of grazing animals can restore ecosystems. Believe your lying eyes. (12 min)

Examples of Grassland Restoration - Excerpt from Talk by Allan Savory at Tufts University

This clip highlights examples of how Holistic Management restores grasslands from land that's degraded to desert. This innovative, natural, and simple idea mimics Nature by using careful management of livestock to stimulate the regrowth of grasses, animals, and puts large amount of greenhouse gases (GHG's) from the air into the soil.

This strategy is working world wide. The Australians are also restoring their lands with livestock. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vQW8Tl_KLc (13 min)

Amy Browne set out across the dry farming country of South East NSW to meet Massy and the other trailblazing farmers bringing new life to their land.

Regenerative agriculture is one of the most promising wide-scale environmental solutions. This short documentary is a comprehensive journey through a variety of landscapes and regenerative farming techniques.

'From the Ground Up' is a story of genuine change and inspiration - tracing the steps of individuals who transformed their practices following the life-changing realisation - that farmers have a unique opportunity to heal the planet.

(8 min)

Regenerative agriculture offers a future for sustainable farming of meat in line with nature’s needs, by using holistic management and organic/biodynamic practices and even sequestering carbon in the soil – so important in our response to our climate crisis. At Mangarara, in New Zealand’s beautiful Hawke’s Bay, Greg Hart and his family are in the process of restoring 1500 acres of land, conventionally farmed for over 150 years, into the paradise it once was.

More New Zealand regenerative farmers (11 min)

This short (8 min) documentary video, "A Regenerative Secret" pulls back the curtain on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) and the detrimental effects they have on our ecosystem. More importantly, the film features Dr. Allen Williams, Chief Ranching Officer for Joyce Farms, who offers a powerful alternative -- regenerative agriculture.

Sheep can also be used to restore grasslands and create more soil carbon. Here's a Kansas farmer...Using katahdin sheep to build soil and pasture quality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DuEZpCux0g (15 min)
Greg Judy (see below) uses sheep and cows in rotation in Missouri. He is a master grazer with many instructive videos.

Pastured poultry can also regenerate declining ecosystems. Here's a farm in Florida using mixed or layered species in a complementary system. (11 min)

There are also pastured and woods raised pig operations. As with all these animals they can be used to improve systems. Most pigs root and they can be used in forest systems to create woodland meadows for grazing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o53nJsHvmVo (25 min)
There are smaller pigs like Kune Kune and these American Guinea in the clip that require little to no grain and grow on just grass and weeds.

I haven't mentioned fish, an excellent nutritious meat. We buy wild caught. The healthiest species are considered TRASH...that is trout, red mackerel, anchovies, sardines/salmon, and herring... all cold water fish. Notice tuna isn't on the list? Long lived tuna collect mercury and you will too if you eat lots of tuna. Our local lake passes through several industrial areas (fed by the Coosa River). It is recommended you only eat fish from the lake once a week. So we don't ever fish there. There are some smaller cleaner lakes where we catch and eat mainly Bream and a few Bass.

There are many great regenerative producers in the US. I've featured ten regenerative farms in the "Carbon Cowboys" a couple of times. But the regenerative farmer I've been enjoying of late is Greg Judy. Here's a nice introduction that I can't embed and must be viewed on YouTube. (5 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lM39LI0l9w
Here's Greg and his cattle this week on winter stock pile. (15 min)

This pasture was rested for eight months in order provide some winter forage. The condition of his cattle speaks to his excellent management.

There's a dirty little secret about the label grassfed beef. The USDA only requires regulation around the cattle’s diet, not around how the cattle are raised, or if the cattle even have to be raised on pasture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CU1TLNXptc (5 min)

So these pasture raised ruminants not only can improve farmlands, but they also produce healthier meat, milk, and eggs. Pasture-raised animals have more vitamin E, beta-carotene, vitamin C, and a number of health-promoting fats, including omega-3 fatty acids and “conjugated linoleic acid”. Pasture-raised animals have up to 10 times more Omega-3 fatty acids. In feedlot grain-fed meats, omega-3 fatty acids drop to almost zero. Find producers near you with this directory.

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But is it good for you to eat meat?

Well, we evolved eating meat, or as some suggest we evolved BECAUSE we ate meat.

No one explains it better than Nina Teicholz - 'Red Meat and Health' (34 min)

I eat meat and vegetables, but many people are using a carnivore diet. Tennessee physician Ken Berry is one proponent. He explains https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e56gVwMFVPw (23 min)
Ken and his wife Neisha have moved to a family farm and are trying their hand at homesteading and raising their own food. Chris Martenson at Peak Prosperity is doing the same in Massachusetts. Here's Ken with a snark clip on problems with carnivore diets.

There was an interesting study in 1930. Two men ate nothing but fatty meat for an entire year. They had problems eating lean meat, fats and organs were needed for health.

Examinations at the end of the observation showed that both men were healthy while on the diet. The authors write:
There were no subjective or objective evidences of any loss of physical or mental vigor. The teeth showed no deterioration and gingivitis had disappeared. There was, however, an increase in the deposit of tartar on the teeth of [Stefansson].

Georgia Ede is another carnivore. She suggests it improves brain health.
Dr. Ede was the first and only psychiatrist at Harvard University Health Services to offer nutrition consultation as an alternative to medication management to students, faculty and staff. Her areas of expertise include ketogenic and pre-agricultural diets, food sensitivity syndromes, and college mental health. She explores food’s powerful effects on brain chemistry, hormonal balance and metabolism for Psychology Today and on her website www.DiagnosisDiet.com.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR7H9xeMYME&t=35 (30 min)

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Building Community as well as soil
As a final idea to support the importance of raising meat animals is to promote local (especially rural) communities both economically and socially.

White Oak Pastures in SW Georgia is a great example.

White Oak Pastures is rebuilding the Bluffton Community. Rural communities like our village of Bluffton, Georgia had been the backbone of our culture. But, for the last two generations, they have been sinking into oblivion. This is because they were made irrelevant by the industrialized, centralized and commoditized farming system. In the last ten years, the impact of our farm on this small town of 100 people has been dramatic. We now employ 155+ good people who are eating, shopping and living in Bluffton.

They are the largest employer in the county. Many of the homes in town are owned by the farm for managers and help. They are one of the only farms in the United States that have both red meat and poultry abattoirs (processing plants) on the farm. They have an on farm store, restaurant, cabins for rent, and a variety of integrated operations. (15 excellent min)

Another great farming influencer is Joel Salatin and his Polyface Farm.

He also has on farm meat processing, and is a creative agricultural innovator. His layered species approach has improved his farm more and more over the decades.

Joel is building a world wide regenerative community as is Savory's Holistic movement. They and farmers like them are building a new grassland agriculture and approach to food production.

So I refute the Great Reset's goal of people eating less meat. The goal needs to be the elimination of CAFO production and grants for small farmers to become regenerative producers for local markets. We could easily make the transition.

But what about the veggies?
Despite our 20 degree temperatures several nights in a row, we still have some production. Covers are need this time of year.

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And you have to grow cold tolerant crops

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like cabbage

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and broccoli

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But we ain't got nothing on Eliot Colman in Maine. You won't believe his winter production.

He suggest in the clip above that plants use sugar as antifreeze which explains why winter crops are so sweet. Our winter cabbage is amazingly sweet. Eliot was Jim Kovaleski mentor. I often feature his excellent gardening skills.

Before I close I will say these pasture raised meats are more expensive, but they are more nutrient dense and better for you. You vote with your dollars for small independent producers or for large industrial management. Additionally it is fun to get to know your local farmers. You will be surprised at how many there are around you. Use this directory to locate them. Once you meet one or two you will discover others. The same can be said of vegetables, but we grow most of our own.

Well here's to healthy food (including meat), healthy people, and healthy thriving communities! Be well. This is an open thread so all comments are welcome!

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Comments

I like your concept of health at the end a fork.
Will take a bit to digest all of your links.
Wishing you well and many thanks for your
WW. It is good to get off political topics.
every now and again. Wink

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

than can be digested in one bite. If I had to just recommend two, they would be the white oak pastures and polyface farms. Those farmers are inspiring to me.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

lotlizard's picture

the price of supermarket meat. That makes for a steep re-learning curve, but essays like this help me understand why it’s one of those personal behavior changes I need to make sooner rather than later.

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Lookout's picture

@lotlizard

to know our local producers, one of whom is a former student....makes it easier to pay more. Since we've changed diets a few years ago we eat less in general.

Hope your health is on the mend and you're feeling well. It's been so nice to see you around the site. Thanks for coming by today!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

snoopydawg's picture

NATO has flipped the bird at Russia and their demands to stop effing with them and is continuing to threaten them with massive sanctions if they invade Ukraine. Here’s the large banner headline on HuffPost today.

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The Biden administration on Saturday issued new, forceful warnings to Russia on penalties it may face if it goes ahead with threats to invade Ukraine.

U.S. officials raised the possibility of incremental shifts in decisions about America’s future strategic posture in Europe. But they also said Russia would be hit with debilitating sanctions should it intervene in Ukraine.

The officials said the administration would be open to discussions with Russia on curtailing possible future deployments of offensive missiles in Ukraine and putting limits on U.S. and NATO military exercises in Eastern Europe.

Yet, they said Russia will be hit hard with economic sanctions should it intervene in Ukraine. In addition to direct sanctions on Russian entities, those penalties could include significant restrictions on products exported from the U.S. to Russia and potentially foreign-made products subject to U.S. jurisdiction.

And, they said there is no chance the U.S. will reduce its military presence or arsenal in Eastern Europe as Russia has demanded.

While those comments, made to reporters on condition of anonymity in a White House-organized telephone conference call, were the first to suggest a willingness to compromise on issues tangential to Ukraine, they were accompanied by threats for Russian inaction on U.S. demands to step back.

In addition to sanctions on energy and consumer goods, the U.S. and its allies are considering bans on the export to Russia of advanced electronic components, software and related technology that uses American equipment. Russia could be added to the most restrictive group of countries for export control purposes, together with Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria, officials said.

That would mean that Russia’s ability to obtain integrated circuits, and products containing integrated circuits, would be severely restricted, because of the global dominance of U.S. software, technology and equipment in this sector. The impact could extend to aircraft avionics, machine tools, smartphones, game consoles, tablets and televisions.

Such sanctions could also target critical Russian industry, including its defense and civil aviation sectors, which would hit Russia’s high-tech ambitions, whether in artificial intelligence or quantum computing.

Sanctions are an act of war and sanctions this severe would definitely tick Russia off and possibly back them into a corner. And good luck getting gas Germany and Biden if you go ahead with it. Dumb asses!

More threats today.

US officials tell media iPhone ban possible for Russia

Whether this is just the media being stenographers for the think tanks and other neocon goons or what Biden’s actually planning on doing is unknown. But with Blinken and the head of NATO acting like tuff guys it might be true.

Yesterday Blinken’s mouth said that we never promised Russia that we wouldn’t expand NATO 1 inch East after they tore down the wall, but just a few short months ago papers were discovered with those exact words in them.

NATO has never promised not to admit new members, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed on Friday, labelling Russia’s demands of the bloc inadmissible. However, long-declassified Western documents suggest otherwise.

Dozens of documents analyzed by George Washington University National Security Archives researchers Svetlana Savranskaya and Tom Blanton show that many Western leaders were rejecting the idea of the “Central and Eastern European membership in NATO as of early 1990 and through 1991” and that Russian “complaints” about its subsequent expansions were “founded in written contemporaneous memcons and telcons at the highest levels.”

So stay tuned to see what happens during the talks between Biden and Putin starting tomorrow. Russia is insisting on legal documents stating that NATO will behave and for it to remove every action taken since 1997. The fact that Russia acted so quickly in Kazakhstan with troops should show NATO that they were/are ready for any trickery coming from them.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Lookout's picture

@snoopydawg
We're lying warmongering bastards...

Yesterday Blinken’s mouth said that we never promised Russia that we wouldn’t expand NATO 1 inch East after they tore down the wall, but just a few short months ago papers were discovered with those exact words in them.

As I said yesterday, Kazakhstan smells very much like Ukraine 2.0 to me. To bad our media doesn't tell the story of Biden, the $hill, and Obomber instigating the Ukrainian coup to install fascists to replace the socialists. There's a reason Hunter and Kerry's nephew got the $50,000/month board appointment on a Ukrainan oil company, but any mention of that canceled even newspapers like the NYPost.

If Joementia and blinky start this (cause the US is the instigator) its bad news for the entire world likely starting WWIII

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

snoopydawg's picture

@Lookout

The saker has some good articles on what is happening there and why it’s so important for Russia to stomp it down. Apparently we have imported our terrorists from Syria and Iraq to Afghanistan where there’s all that military equipment we just abandoned and Russia is leery of people from there fleeing the horrific conditions we have set up there and flood through Kazakhstan and into Russia including terrorists. It’s one reason they stomped down on ISIS in Syria. We created the terrorists in the first place and armed and funded them, but now say we are fighting them. Trump said that we wiped them out. Just like we said we won WW2 when both times it was Russia who did. Our good friends the Saudis have also funded the ones who kill our troops. Nice allies.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg

All of the sudden, NATO, a self described peacekeeping mission, has re-established their modus operand to include forcing independent countries into a response situation. This is not good. If that
organization were true to their cause, they would be pressuring the US to back down from initiating conflict. Unfortunately, it seems the US directs the NATO forces to do their bidding. It is no wonder we can not have any friends in this world. Arms, bombs, missiles, and nukes do not sound like peaceful tools. Does the pentagon consider themselves as the rulers of the world now?

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snoopydawg's picture

@QMS

Yeah what’s not to like? I think Russia is ready for any moves we make. They did live fire exercises for a year with their allies in their version of NATO. And they know that we aren’t to be trusted.

https://www.rt.com/russia/545492-nato-talks-no-concession-pressure/

Imagine if Clinton had gone with peace after the Soviet Union collapsed instead of going for more war? $2 trillion wasted in just Afghanistan alone. Think of how that money could have been used here instead.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@QMS Not separate. US influences and owns NATO.

Maybe it's too far to go to call NATO a sham or a shield. Maybe a screen the US hides behind?

Or when one parent tells a child that it's the other parent issuing some kid unfriendly directive. Kind of like that. Maybe.

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NYCVG

@NYCVG

It is another sham shield the US projects to pretend democracy, liberty and justice.
It appears the NATO forces are about to get their collective asses kicked.
They have pushed their perimeter zone too close to the Russian federation.
The chicken hawks at the penta gone are OK with letting Ukraine and Uzbekistan
do the dirty little war thing. War is good for the US economy. Not so much for humans.

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lotlizard's picture

@snoopydawg  
The only voices against it in parliament (the Bundestag) are to be found among the German alt-Right / “New Right” AfD, and among an increasingly marginalized faction of the ex-communist Left Party.

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Lookout's picture

@lotlizard

than the so called left. Those labels have lost meaning world wide.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout

sense. But the deliberately bastardized reference to Pelosi and Schumer as the extreme left or radical liberals by right wing talking heads pisses me off. There is so much stupid packed into that meme that it is nearly impossible to unpack.

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Lookout's picture

@entrepreneur

whatta world. I've totally given up on politics. In fact unless there a local issue on the ballot, I'm through voting as well. The game is rigged like a crooked roulette wheel. So why play a rigged game?

Build community where you can and prepare for the whirlwind.
We will all be riders of the storm...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZT_OxPRmSw&t=22s]

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout

thanks man
brings me back to my motorcycle daze
wicked wild and uncompromising
association with the elements
gotta think momma nature has a plan for us

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

Loved the Doors in the day...well still do.

That cut just seemed appropriate.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Lookout, I'm looking forward to reading the links and watching the vids you posted.

Now that the holiday chaos is over I can sit and read a bit more. I'm getting back into Gabe Brown's book Dirt To Soil. As you know, it is about trying to restore the soil to its naturally healthy state. Grazing animals are an important part of that process. It has to be done properly though, no overgrazing. Hence the need for knowledgeable and intelligent farmers. Someone needs to write the book The Art Of Farming because it seems to me to require not only knowledge, but respect, love, gratitude, and appreciation for the land and the whole dynamic give and take of farming. Wendell Berry has been saying that all along. We need more farmer poets. Time for me to read Ovid with more attention than I gave in the past.

Last night I finally opened Suzanne Simard's book Finding the MotherTree. I just read a few pages. So far, it is very exciting.

Thanks for a chock-full roundup, Hope all is well on the Farm.

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Lookout's picture

@randtntx

we have a cold drizzle right now with a sure enough rain coming this afternoon, but yesterday when I photographed the veggies it was nice.

Gabe Brown is another innovative farmer. I'm sure his book provides lots of insights.

There are many books on the art of farming Here's a pdf of one...
https://library.uniteddiversity.coop/Permaculture/The_One_Straw_Revoluti...
This is Asian Natural Farming which I find intriguing.

I too love Berry and wish we had more like him.

So much depends on location...soils, climate, markets, and so on. Back in Ag school, I pushed the pencil and decided farming for a living wasn't for me. I've always aimed more for a self sufficient homestead. After decades of growing some of my own food, I find it interesting to see the new found interest among many. Seems to me a new back to the land movement is underway.

Well take care of yourself and all the best in your efforts!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

enhydra lutris's picture

about attempts to import a highly similar grazing method from Australia back in the sixties or seventies called a "paddock" system. It used intensive grazing, but also worked other crops into the mix, like corn. IIrc, an example would be an area would be planted to corn and after harvest, the cattle would be turned into that area to eat the stubble. Then it would lie fallow with grass or suitable cover crop, then the cattle would be turned into that field again. The one I remember best had the paddocks arranged like the slices in a pie, separated by fencing like the spokes in a wheel, and the cattle would just be rotated from one to the next to the next ad infinitum. Have you seen anything like that going on?

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Lookout's picture

@enhydra lutris

Randtntx mentioned Gabe Brown above. He deftly manages both crops and animals. I'm pushing for the conversion of cropland to grassland, but mixing in some crops has its place. Something like 75% of crops are grown for animal feed (and export), and another 10% or so for ethanol. Conversions to grassland is to my mind a better approach.

In the early 70's I attended the International Grassland Congress. The Aussies and New Zealanders were way ahead of everyone in rotational grazing systems. In those days forage was grazed closely before moving. The mantra these days is graze a third, trample third, leave a third.

Pie shaped paddocks allows for central water
https://drought.unl.edu/archive/Documents/Ranchplan/DuringDrought/g581fe...

Here's a mind boggling paddock system and fence placement in NZ 15 min
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zymjPcYnadA]
A TechnoGrazing system on Burleigh, New Zealand. The logistical efficiency of TechnoGrazing lies in the fact that 8 mobs can be moved as one. Having small mob sizes means calmer animals, better animal surveillance and less pugging.

Greg Judy disagrees and keeps his cattle in one large 300-400 head herd. He moves them twice daily and it is also something to behold.

All the best!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

NOT Democracy


https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/01/07/world/europe/ukraine-maps...

Three higly detailed maps in the print edition tell us not only how many Russian troops are deployed but what sort of troops. A is artillery, T is armored Tanks V is armored Vehicles.

Manwhile acting so outraged.

US has done this surround and sanction stuff all over the globe. It's what we do! How dare they....

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NYCVG

Lookout's picture

@NYCVG
the US are lyin' warmongering bastards. I hate it, but it is true.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout The chicken raising practices of Shepard farm were very hopeful. Healthy chickens raised humanely is a ray of light in these darkening skies.

Have you all heard of Just Eggs? Buildings in lower Manhattan are plastered with adds pitching this prodict. Tastes just like eggs but plant based. No thank you. The wall they will hit is that most people cling to what they prefer as long as it is possible.

Which brings me to your fish comments. Salmon tops my list of favorite foods and at this late date in my life I will choose salmon for dinner and ignore the adverse news. I also have a steak occasionally, and lately have been roasting rock cornish hens when I can get them, which is infrequently.

It was a very long time ago when I first heard that farmers were forbidden from using their own seed corn and had to buy seeds from a third party. Then I became aware of a seed saving vault somewhere in the north to preserve what has been grown.

I could not understand that then and time has not mellowed my impression at all. The government is complicit in a plan to control everything grown in America and that is not going to end well.

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NYCVG

Lookout's picture

@NYCVG
are ultra-processed junk. I mention that to a friend who has a tick bite disease which prevents him from eating mammals, so he likes the impossible burger cause thats all he can have. Now it makes sense in that case, but not otherwise IMO.

I'm with you on the salmon too.

The seed game was rigged by montsanto's GMO crops. There are alternatives. I use this seed coop located on a commune. https://southernseedexchange.com/

Take care and be well!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfrhATD4nM0]

The only thing missing in the video is Blinken manipulating the puppet strings.

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Lookout's picture

@humphrey

The US is simply a bunch of lyin' warmongers and anyone who can't see that is willfully blind.

Make me sad to be a citizen...but I ain't givin' up my place!

Thanks for the bringing the lying bastards to light!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@humphrey It was not as clear as it could have been.

First the world map showing US Military bases around the world encircling our so-called enemies.

Then the item about a very upset NY Times piece with 3 detailed maps showing what Russia has been doing to protect its sovereign territory.

OMG Russia protecting itself!!! How dare they???

The hypocracy is mindblowing.

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NYCVG

@NYCVG going to be successful.

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@humphrey @humphrey more saber rattling or the USA's favorite, a limited action/"small war."

Just big enough to generate profits and the need to replace spent missiles and other war materials.

oh and kill lots of humans. destroy a country. whatever.

Then we lose.

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NYCVG

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Lookout's picture

@humphrey

the CIA, the mafia branch of our government, controlling media and more. I think of them as the enforcement arm of the oligarchy....perhaps even controlling the oligarchy. Was that part of Epstein's job...blackmail and control of the powerful?

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout

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NYCVG

If we want to have one anyway.
One guy I've been following for a while on instagram (after I bought some of his beef) is a real proselytizer on regenerative ag. He was over on the other side of the cascades from us in Sisters, Oregon. He ran the Sisters Cattle company until recently. He has a fun little video that might serve in the future to introduce the idea of regenerative grazing in a very general way:

He recently picked up and moved the operation to Lubbock, Texas. Sisters is a ways away from the number of customers he needs. And, there is a shortage of small-time butchers/processors/packers--they are all booked waay out around here. In Lubbock, he is on what I think once was prime prairie land and has the Houston market nearby. I think he's from the Tx panhandle originally, so that also makes sense to me. If I grew up in the panhandle, I might be wistful about moving back to Texas at times, but I'd probably move somewhere in East or "Central" Texas.
And I'd agree about finding locals for sources. I wasn't too bent out of shape about the loss of Sisters Cattle co, since he is going to still be regenerating soil somewhere. And we tend to eat chicken and fish mostly, pork and lamb occasionally, and beef almost never (well, ok, except for brisket maybe once a year...), I've found all of what I need can be sourced from local small farms. There is a mini back to the land movement going on around here, I hope it spreads.
Thanks again!

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Lookout's picture

@peachcreek

to sisters cattle co. Our local farm movement is small too, but vastly larger than it was say a decade or two ago. I'm hopeful that at least some young folks are choosing a homesteading/small farm lifestyle. We have local pastured pork, chicken, eggs, and several beef operations...oh yeah and a small dairy. I think folks would be surprised how many small producers are in their respective communities.

Thanks for dropping by and providing more great info!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”