Thread Removed! BUT it's became a very good one!!!! enjoy

[karen J]

Julles;

You're close enough to us (about an hour) that you ought to drop Savannah an email if you need real ground beef.  We raise our own beef, and every year give away hundreds of lbs of the stuff.  We simply can't eat it all.  No hormones, no additives, no antibiotics.  It's been 6 years since we gave an animal an injection of anything *except* for a vaccine at birth (it's just flat-out cruel if you don't).  All these animals get fed is well-water, free-range native grasses, and a dietary supplement based on grains.  The resulting meat is about as "natural" as you can get and tastes NOTHING like the swill you get at the store.

If you're of a mind, come on by and you can "meet the meat".   Next-years harvest is currently chasing butterflies in the back pasture, and they're all as tame as a dog.

Roark 

 

Wow, I wish I lived near you. I have a farmer who raises his beef the same way. There is nothing like a cow that has been allowed to live his life the way nature intended, happy, eating grass.
I bought a quarter share from another farmer, and once a month he brings pastured pork, eggs, and maybe some chicken (pastured). The eggs are just amazing- bright orange-y yolks that stand tall. And they come in all different colors. Some are brown, white, speckled, even green ones from his South American breed.

Julles, are you a vegetarian for moral reasons or health reasons?

[Julles]

Jerry, never mind.  I decided I like the title the way it is - it entices people to come take a peek.

Speaking of eggs, have you seen the ads for eggs that have the really high-standing yolk?  It's meant to look delicious, but to me it's a bit bizarre, that white spread out flat and crisp, and the bright yellow yolk about 1 1/2" above it, like a ping-pong ball sliced in half.

Karen, I started bean a veggie (pun intended) back in the '70's when I read Francis Moore Lappe's Diet for a Small Planet, which explained how we could feed the planet with the food grown in the U.S., but instead we take it and feed it to animals.  Animals are a poor user of grains, and consume something like 16 lbs of grain protein to make one lb of beef protein.  Lappe advocates eating "low on the food chain," and she convinced me right on the spot.

As time went on, we learned of the nutrition found in produce and grains, and the dangers of meats and fats.  (Sorry to disagree with previous comments, but I am reading them and listening to what you say.)

So I eat fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and a little dairy, like occasional yogurt or feta or blue cheese crumbles to accent a dish.  I used to be more strict, but old age has brought flexibility and respect for other people, so when I go to someone's house and the main dish is soup with meat, I'll eat a little, rather than make a fuss and cause a problem for the host.  Oh, and I always eat turkey on Thanksgiving. 

My cholesterol, blood pressure, weight, etc., are better than average, and I'm fit as a fiddle.

Eyes are going, though.  Got a stack of Dollar Store readers - somewhere around here... if I could just find 'em!     

[Mikey]

Someone should speak to Parker Games about Flax.  Flax is the lowest value commodity in the game of Pit and I understand they took it out of newer versions replacing it with something else...  "Two, Two, Two!...."    Only Pit players have a clue what I'm babbling about here... 

[Jerry]

HUH?

[karen J]

HUH?

Ditto. Maybe Mikey can elaborate a little... 

Julles, I read that book. I think that book was what caused Weird Al Yankovic to also become a vegetarian. I tried eating that way, but unfortunately gained over 30 pounds. So I guess it only works for some people.
That is my attempt to be diplomatic, because I really think that humans are 90% carnivores, based on the available evidence. "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes is a real eye-opener on the actual science (good and bad) of the past 150 years of nutrition study. How did you underline your book title??? 

If your eyes are going, you may want to consider adding eggs. Eggs are loaded with nutrients that help to prevent/slow macular degeneration, and no animals are killed in the process.

[Mikey]

What, no Pit players here?  My, my....you people have missed out.  What in the world do you people in snow country actually do in the winter?....   Never mind....DON'T answer that....      Actually Pit is a very fun card game that can start out slow and quickly build to a frenzy....  "Three, three, three, three.....!!! "

It's sold here and briefly explained: http://www.boardgames.com/deluxepit.html

And here's a YouTube of some kids playing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkIb21ovrww&feature=related

[Roark]

Julles:

Ever see a BLUE egg?  Savannah has an african chicken which lays these really cool-looking blue eggs.  They're fiesty and as tough as nails, too. (The chickens.  The eggs are very well-behaved).

One correction to your post about feed conversion: "Animals are a poor user of grains, and consume something like 16 lbs of grain protein to make one lb of beef protein".  This is true only when whole grains are fed in large amounts in a manner common to many large feedlot operations.  It is true that high-grain diets are wasteful when grains are the predominant component in the diet, but when you feed cracked grains as nothing more than a supplement, they actually convert it pretty well.  Cattle on pasture supplemented by minimal cracked grains will gain about 1 lb for every 3 lbs of cracked grain in the diet... assuming free-intake of pasture.  (This is considerably better than people, btw. heheheh)

I agree with you that likely the best "conversion" in the long run is to be had by feeding this stuff directly to people, but you gotta understand that I didn't fight and claw my way to the top of the food-chain just so I can nosh on tofu.      Bring on the beef!!!!

Mikey:  Re: PIT.... I'm still working on "Go Fish".

Roark

[Joyce]

Roark, you are making my mouth water...

I wanna hunka your beef. 

[Roark]

<<<Speechless!>>>   

Roark

[Esther]

UM, no comment.

[Joyce]

Roark Speechless? Just proves: never say never. 

[karen J]

Roarke, would you want to trade a blue egg for a green egg?

I think it's amazing that a cow can basically take the energy from the sun and turn it into such high-quality protein just by eating grass.

Gotta beware of some vegetarian advocates. Especially Dean Ornish. He once claimed that he eats foods "low on the food chain", like fish. Well, fish are actually quite high on the food chain (they eat other fish), whereas a cow is very low on the food chain (they eat grass). Size doesn't matter.

[Roark]

I'm up for the egg-trade, but I'm not sure exactly how to get it to you.   Eggs are sorta... welll.... eggy... and tend to break during shipment, but I guess if there is a will, there is a way!

Edit:  I wonder how many ag laws we'd be breaking?

Roark

[Brian]

Joyce,
I finally opened up the bag of ground flax seed and added it to some carb friendly yogurt.  It was delicious!!  I am going to fix a Ceaser salad tonight and sprinkle the ground flax on it too.

Thank you for the idea of putting it in the yogurt!

[Julles]

Yes, Diet for a Small Planet was THE book that brought about the vegetarian movement that swept in along with the hippy movement, back in the '70's.  It's been updated and revised many times, and is still considered the "Bible" for plant-based eating.  Although, the original edition's concept of food-combining has been debunked. 

Back then, they said that most non-animal proteins were "incomplete," and so you needed to combine at least two types in order to "unlock" the proteins and allow them to combine with one another into "whole proteins."  So we would eat a grain protein along with a legume protein, combining them into a complete protein.  Today they say that even though proteins may be incomplete, eating a variety of them over the course of a day would provide what you need.  Besides, your body, it has been learned, can use the incomplete protein as-is, or store it until the next needed building block comes along for it to combine with.

Karen, to underline something, or bold it or put it in itallics, highlight the word and then go to the upper left, above the smilies, and click U, B, or I. 

Also, my eyes aren't really "going."  It's just that danged hardening of the retina (or whatever it is) that is inevitable for us middle-aged people.  My distance sight is just fine.   Just need those readers for close-up.  About to graduate to the 200's, too.   

[karen J]

Edit:  I wonder how many ag laws we'd be breaking?

Roark

Hummm. Probably a lot. It must be highly illegal for a person to trade an egg for an egg. The government can't make much money on that, now can they? 
I suppose there is some sort of tax (confiscation) that can be applied. Or some sort of fine (confiscation) imposed for potentially transporting dangerous bacteria or pathogenic parasites across state lines (there are no good bacteria, I'm sure, according to the feds).

I usually blow the insides out of my green eggs, let them dry, and display them with other colored eggs. I'd be glad to send you one.

Yes, Diet for a Small Planet was THE book that brought about the vegetarian movement that swept in along with the hippy movement, back in the '70's.  It's been updated and revised many times, and is still considered the "Bible" for plant-based eating.  Although, the original edition's concept of food-combining has been debunked.

Back then, they said that most non-animal proteins were "incomplete," and so you needed to combine at least two types in order to "unlock" the proteins and allow them to combine with one another into "whole proteins."  So we would eat a grain protein along with a legume protein, combining them into a complete protein.  Today they say that even though proteins may be incomplete, eating a variety of them over the course of a day would provide what you need.  Besides, your body, it has been learned, can use the incomplete protein as-is, or store it until the next needed building block comes along for it to combine with.

Karen, to underline something, or bold it or put it in itallics, highlight the word and then go to the upper left, above the smilies, and click U, B, or I.

Also, my eyes aren't really "going."  It's just that danged hardening of the retina (or whatever it is) that is inevitable for us middle-aged people.  My distance sight is just fine.   Just need those readers for close-up.  About to graduate to the 200's, too.   Sad

Thanks for the underlining instructions, I never realized that option was there.

I remember that protein-combining stuff. Rice and beans. Seriously lacking in Vitamin B12... that's one of my arguments that humans were meant to consume meat. If vitamin B12 is SO essential (it is), and we can't get it from other sources (at least, not very absorb-able forms), then aren't we obligate carnivores?