Milk Prices... Is this real?

Sometimes the math just doesnt add up, and that should always make us suspicious... The price of milk and dairy products is an example. Let me explain...

Milk in the grocery store can run form $2 to $4 per gallon.  Seem reasonable, right?  But... consider the price of yogurt  made from that milk. A tub of good quality yogurt made from that milk runs about $10 to $15 per quart, or $40 to $60 per gallon! a HUGE increase in price. But why? Yogurt is a simple process of adding a starter, letting the milk sit overnight, and packaging it for retail. That's it! Where producing that first gallon of milk is a long drawn out process of raising cows or goats, feeding, housing, milking, cooling, transporting the milk... not to mention health requirements for the cows and calfs and facilities for all of this. The workload, cost, and investment in producing milk is absolutely HUGE compared to the workload of changing that milk into yogurt.  Something is wrong with this math! How can yogurt sell for 10x the cost of milk it is made from, if the vast majority of production cost is to produce the milk itself?

One answer can be found in the gory details of "milk production". Producing milk is not "milking a bunch of cows"... no. Big dairies run according to thew "government process" that dictates the fat and solid content of the milk. To meet these requirements, the dairy processing plant must first dismantle the milk into raw components! Yes.. the fat is removed from the milk and sometimes the solids are also removed. Then the processing plant reassembles the milk to government standards. The resulting "whole milk" is nothing of the sort! Even "whole milk" is a creation in the plant by recombining parts of the original product in desired rations. None of this is "natural" by any definition.

Example of a milk processing disassembly - reassembly line

Interestingly, the amount of fat required by law for "whole milk" is below the actual fat content of "milk". So ... if they dont add all the fat back, where does the extra fat go? What about extra solids ?  I think that therein is part of the answer to the cost being so off. The "extras" are sold off as other products that cost way more than the original milk! In other words.... the milk is the "waste product" left over from extracting the valuable stuff that produces the profit.

Strong words.. but think about what is happening.. the milk is "torn apart" into raw components, some extracted and sold as other products, some reassembled and sold "at cost". The milk, is the leftovers!

At Little Sprouts, we have reversed this. We manage goats under a "hard share" arrangement where our farm members own the goats, we mange and milk them and provide the milk produced in raw form, just as nature intended. We do not break apart the beautiful liquid gold to recombining it according to some government established ratios. We let nature dictate the components and rations and nutritional qualities of the milk.   Then, we offer a service of converting the owner's milk into yogurt or kefir for them. The cost for managing the herd is by far the largest portion of this process, and the cost to the members reflect this. The milk "seems" much more expensive by comparison, perhaps prohibitively so. But then.. converting that milk into yogurt cost very little (becasue it is so easy by comparison) and the resulting price paid to acquire a quart of yogurt is BELOW the grocery store price!

yes.. consider this.. the milk costs 10x more than grocery store milk, but the yogurt and kefir ends up CHEAPER than grocery store yogurt or kefir.  We base our prices on actual costs to produce, and that's how the real math works out.

So  next time you are buying milk at the store.. check the yogurt prices.. convert it all to a per gallon price, and question how this can be. Raising animals and milking is much much much more involved than turning milk into yogurt. Something is wrong...

Milk is a golden product, a mainstay of a healthy diet, IF it is produced right and in it's raw form unchanged by man. Especially goat milk, which is much more nutritious and digestible as well as less problematic for humans. I encourage you to consider the milk sold in the stores, how it got there, what you paid for those "leftovers" and then find a local farm that raises "real milk".

New Product! Rosita Cod Liver Oils

Just in time for the January delivery, we have an exciting new product available! The world's freshest and ONLY Extra Virgin Cod Liver oil!

This Cod liver oil is special, very special.  Here is the description straight from the producer's web site:

Rosita Extra Virgin Cod Liver Oil is real Norwegian cod liver oil that is fresh, raw & handcrafted from wild livers using a very rare ancient extraction technique which uses nature to separate the oil from its liver. No chemicals, solvents and mechanical devices are ever used during the extraction process. The oil is completely unrefined and produced under the total absence of heat, a process that protects its nutritional value. This type of cod liver oil is both precious and rare – something that is almost impossible to achieve on an industrial level. This ancient oil is of the highest quality with all the health benefits that are naturally present in the oil of a “living” codfish liver.

The bottom line, there is no better oil available and none that even come close to pure and natural, but free of contaminants.  Yes, it costs more, but when you need the best, this oil is produce without compromise.

To read more about this amazing product, go to the producer's website at http://evclo.com/

Now you can order this foundational health supplement from Little Sprouts along with your regular monthly order, and receive as many bottles as you need through our home delivery service.  No extra charges, no freight, just pure clean true cod liver oil.

RePrint - The importance of what your food eats

This is a great article, we have reprinted here in entirety instead of just a link, becasue it is so good.  The link to the original article is :

http://www.cavemandoctor.com/2016/02/08/4938/

Alchemists and Animals – The Importance of What Your Food Eats

Caveman Doctor > Nutrition > Alchemists and Animals – The Importance of What Your Food Eats

cavemandoctor February 8, 2016 0 Comments

Nutrition

alchemist chicken, cage-free eggs, david perlmutter,free range eggs, healthy eggs, omega eggs, pastured chicken, pastured eggs

Alchemists and Animals – The Importance of What Your Food Eats

The Alchemist Chicken

During the Integrative Health Conference in New York City several years back, I participated in a debate regarding the optimal human diet – vegan, paleo, or Mediterranean. During this debate, Dr. David Perlmutter, author of Grain Brain,used the term the alchemist cow. He was referring to cows that are fed a poor diet, given antibiotics, and stuffed in a small space – yet we somehow believe that their milk and meat would still be as healthy as a cow that is raised appropriately. Click here for the entire debate.

Alchemy is the ancient practice of trying to transform metals into gold. Even the mega-genius Isaac Newton thought that he could perform alchemy. However, as he and others found out, it does not work.

We cannot make gold out of nothing. We cannot feed animals garbage and treat them poorly and expect them to magically be healthy.

When contextualizing to humans, the difference in health between a stressed out person, stuffed in a cubicle at work, never exercising, never sleeping well, and never eating versus a stress-free, healthy counterpart, the health differences become obvious.  Yet, why do we ignore this when it comes to animals?

Enter Tina and Cassandra…

Tina and Cassandra

Meet Tina. Tina lives in an empty 300 square foot apartment. Tina’s cubical at his work is so small that her elbows touch each wall and her head is a couple of feet from the ceiling. Tina is part of typical corporate America and her boss screams at her all day long causing her to be stressed. Tina’s constant level of stress causes the habitual release of a hormone called cortisol – often called the stress hormone – which causes her blood sugar to skyrocket many times throughout the day.¹ Tina’s body is frequently releasing many catecholamines (like adrenaline) that are linked to an increased risk of experiencing a heart attack, high blood pressure, and a stroke. The barrage of cortisol puts her at an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, cognitive impairment, and a poorly functioning immune system.²

She sleeps terribly at night because of her stress level and is at an increased risk of cancer.³ To make matters worse, she is fed Boost and Ensure every day at work (link article), both foods that are quite foreign to her body.

All of these issues leave Tina sick quite often. She has to take antibiotics regularly, and sometimes even gets antibiotic-resistant infections. She has even been given hormones to help build some muscle on her paltry frame.

Man, Tina’s life stinks.

Meet Cassandra. Cassandra lives on a 15-acre plot of land. She sleeps well and wakes up with the sun. She actually works at home taking care of the land. She also finds food on the land around her home, which she freely roams. The majority of her day is spent running around this land. There is much vegetation around Cassandra’s home and she gets her daily vitamins and nutrients through her healthy diet and she even finds time to hunt. Sometimes she has to supplement it in the winter, but this is a last resort. The animals around her property provide her with the fat, protein, and nutrients she needs.

Cassandra gets stressed here and there, as we all do. However, overall she leads a very happy life. She exercises everyday by walking around freely. She rarely gets sick and has a strong immune system.

Man, Cassandra’s life is awesome.

Meet Tina and Cassandra

Tina and Cassandra are actually chickens. Tina is stuffed in a cage for her life, as she lives in a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO). She can barely move, eats unnatural foods, and is constantly stressed, secreting hormones like cortisol into her eggs and meat. Much like a stressed human mother, her offspring are unhealthy.

Tina spends all her life stuffed in her “cubicle.” Image courtesy of koko-tewan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Each and every day of Tina’s life is pretty terrible…

Cassandra, on the other hand, lives in a farm where she is raised on pasture. In other words, she runs around picking insects out of the ground and eating grass – her normal diet.

Cassandra spending a typical day running around and foraging. Image courtesy of suwatpo at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Cassandra’s life is pretty awesome. Cassandra health is pretty awesome. The eggs that Cassandra lays are pretty awesome too.

Whether It Is Chickens or People

Few people give thought to Tina and Cassandra when they are buying eggs at the grocery store. Tina’s eggs are obviously much cheaper, as we would expect. It is much cheaper to stuff Tina in a cage and feed her unnatural food than to let her run around eating worms and insects, some grass, and the occasional supplemental feed.

Along these lines, it is also much easier to push Tina and Cassandra to the back of your head, forget about them and Tina’s cruel and unhealthy upbringing, and pay $1.66 for a dozen of Tina’s less healthy eggs from her less healthy body.

Tina and Cassandra’s Eggs

Much like Tina and Cassandra’s health, their eggs are very different from each another. While this seems quite obvious after reading about their daily lifestyle, the differences can be remarkable.

Cassadra’s pastured eggs contain:

1. Double the amount of vitamin E than Tina’s eggs
2. Double the amount of healthy omega-3 fatty acids
3. 38% more vitamin A

Tina’s eggs, on the other hand, contain significantly more inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids.⁴

Much like Tina’s life, Tina’s eggs stink in comparison to Cassandra’s.

Tina’s eggs also contain a much higher ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids. In other words, Cassandra’s eggs have much more anti-inflammatory omega-3s, while Tina’s have significantly more omega-6’s. The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 is closer to 4:1 or 1:1, which is what our ancestors consumed for thousands of years.⁵ A high ratio of omega-6 to omega-3s is associated with an increased risk of diseases like prostate cancer⁶ and significantly higher amounts of autoimmune disease, inflammation, and circulating inflammatory factors.^5,7

Cassandra’s eggs also look better with their deep golden-hued yolks. They taste better too. They are a great addition to healthy bone broth (LINK BONE BROTH) and a healthy part of the diet.

Much like Cassandra’s life, her eggs are healthy and fulfilling.

Tina’s Effect On Us

While it is obvious that the meat and eggs of our chickens strongly depend on the environment where they are raised, the resultant effect on our body is no different. And if the information above is not enough to get you to consider what you eat, then perhaps this information will change your mind.

Eating eggs from pastured chickens and those with high omega-3 fatty acid feeds result in:

1. 22.4% more vitamin E within blood values
2. 55% more carotenoids in the blood
3. Decreased serum C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation.⁸

CAFO eggs, on the other hand, increase oxidized LDL cholesterol (cholesterol bound with free radicals) which is a major risk of heart disease and cancer. One researcher has gone as far as stating that omega-3 eggs “provide protection against oxidative stress, inflammation, and acute effects of high glycemic load” with “a unique capacity to transform and concentrate protective nutrients.”⁹ In other words, healthy eggs are nutrient-dense foods that help fight inflammation and provide significant health benefit.

The (Non) Cost Differential

A common excuse to buy less healthy and less ethical eggs is the difference in cost. Right now eggs cost $1.66 per dozen in New York, while eggs from pastured hens cost anywhere from $4.99-6.99. The price is clearly higher and this is certainly a sensitive issue for those families with a limited budget. Eggs are still an incredibly healthy food, and I would not eliminate them based on the information above.

Yet, for those of us that eat 1-2 dozen per week the difference in price comes out to about $256 per year, or half the price of an iPhone, two months of cable television, or two expensive dinners. Many of us can certainly find this money from entertainment spending or other less essential costs throughout the week. Pastured eggs are also larger, more flavorful, and more nutrient-dense, so including nutrition-per-dollar likely leaves that $256 as significantly less.

For those of us with farmer’s markets around, pastured eggs are even cheaper. This may take a little more time and effort, but we can use the time saved from cancelling our cable (along with all the extra cash…). This also follows “voting with our wallets.” If we continue to buy ethical pastured eggs instead of the less healthy confined eggs, prices may begin to accommodate the consumer.

The Alchemist Animal

It is time to think about Tina and Cassandra when shopping at the grocery store or local farmer’s market for chicken or any animal products. The push for ethical and more natural foods may be more expensive, but it may be hard to put a price on the health benefits for us and ethical benefits for the animals.

As Tina knows, there are no alchemist chickens.

References:

1. Smyth J, Ockenfels MC, Porter L, Kirschbaum C, Hellhammer DH, Stone AA. Stressors and Mood Measured on a Momentary Basis are Associated With Salivary Cortisol Secretion. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 1998;23(4):353-370. doi:10.1016/S0306-4530(98)00008-0.
2. Lundberg U. Stress hormones in health and illness: the roles of work and gender. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2005;30(10):1017-1021. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2005.03.014.
3. Blask DE. Melatonin, sleep disturbance and cancer risk. Sleep Med Rev. 2009;13(4):257-264. http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1087079208000786?showall=true.
4. Karsten HD, Patterson PH, Stout R, Crews G. Vitamins A, E and fatty acid composition of the eggs of caged hens and pastured hens. Renew Agric Food Syst. 2010;25(01):45. doi:10.1017/S1742170509990214.
5. A.P S. The importance of the ratio of omega-6/omega-3 essential fatty acids. Biomed & Pharmacother. 2002;56(8):365-379. doi:10.1016/s0753-3322(02)00253-6.
6. Williams CD, Whitley BM, Hoyo C, et al. A high ratio of dietary n-6/n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids is associated with increased risk of prostate cancer. Nutr Res. 2011;31(1):1-8. doi:10.1016/j.nutres.2011.01.002.
7. Simopoulos AP. Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Inflammation and Autoimmune Diseases. J Am Coll Nutr. 2002;21(6):495-505. http://www.jacn.org/content/21/6/495.abstract.
8. Burns-Whitmore B, Sapwarobol S, Haddad E, Sabate J, Rajaram S. N-3 Fatty Acid Enriched Egg Decreases C-Reactive Protein in Healthy Adults. FASEB J. 2007;21(6):A740 – b – . http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/21/6/A740-b. Accessed February 6, 2016.
9. Shapira N. Not all eggs are created equal: the effect on health depends on the composition. Can J Cardiol. 2011;27(2):264.e5; 264.e7-e8. doi:10.1016/j.cjca.2010.11.010.

Sprouts.. Nutritional powerhouse

This paragraph from the linked article below should catch your eye:

 "A powerhouse of nutrition, sprouts can contain up to 30 times the nutrition of organic vegetables grown in your own garden, and allow your body to extract more vitamins, minerals, amino acids and essential fats from the foods you eat. During sprouting, minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, bind to protein, making them more bioavailable. Furthermore, both the quality of the protein and the fiber content of beans, nuts, seeds and grains improves when sprouted. The content of vitamins and essential fatty acids also increase dramatically during the sprouting process."

Think about that.. 30x increase in nutrition by turning a seed into a sprout!

This is why we feed hogs and poultry sprouts instead of dry grain. Sure... Its more labor to sprout grain every day instead of just opening a bag of feed, especially at 400lbs per day... But 30x is worth it!

Or animals are raised from birth with sprouted grains and organic produce we grow ourselves. There is simply no substitute! 30x nutrition! No factory formula feed can compete with that. And since "you are what you eat"... What farm animals eat determines YOUR quality of health. Most farms buy the cheapest feed they can... Not us. Little sprouts is dedicated to our customer health... You. We won't skimp on quality!

So when your enjoying the incredible flavor of our ribs, loins, chops, sausage, chicken.... Rest assured we used every aspect of nature we could to increase the health benefits. Health matters, and everything done at the farm makes a difference on your plate.



http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/05/23/edible-garden.aspx

posted from Bloggeroid

Surprisingly healthy hog bones!

We processed a few hogs this week for customers that bought a half or whole hog straight off the farm.  Lately we have been doing all the processing in a USDA plant, so we were not present to evaluate the health of the hogs. Yes, during processing you can tell quite a bit about the health of the herd, so on farm processing is quite helpful.  This week, we found a great surprise!

First off, the livers and organs looked beautiful. That's where obvious problems would show up. But all of these hogs were near perfect.

We noticed something else, a first... about the bones. A part of processing, of course, is to remove the feet.  Usually this is a process of clipping a few ligaments and "snapping" the feet off by hand. We have watched this done numerous times without fail. It normally doesnt take that much strength to pop the joints apart. Until now...

The butcher had a very difficult time! In fact, a few times they had to resort to a bone saw to separate the joints, as it was impossible to snap it apart with human strength.  The first one we did was a retired breeding sow, so I thought maybe it was maybe age. But no.. all the rest of the growers had the exact same strength in their joints.  Amazing!

It is not due to only breed, as we have processed this same breed mix several times before without these extra strong bones. The only explanation I can come up with is diet. These are the first set of hogs that have been fully produce fed. All the squash and pumpkin seeds are loaded with the goodness that build bones. In between produce batches these hogs were fed sprouted grain and fodder. Again.. a step well beyond commercial hog feed in nutrition. Sprouts and fodder are "live foods" as opposed to dead dry cracked grain used in commercial feed.  There just is no substitute for live food!

There is one other possibility that could contribute to extra healthy bones.... Leaves! Last year we collected a few tons of fallen leaves in the fall and spread them in a particular garden area. There was maybe 6 to 8 inches of leaves that decomposed and worked into the soil. Then in spring we planted that area with melon that never really made well (a different story)... but the weeds grew like CRAZY! especially.... purslane! it was thick and consistent .  When the pigs finally were let in to "clean up " that area, they ate all the purslane, roots and all.  How does this help? well... the leaves hold a high mineral content, because trees have very deep roots, and deep roots means bringing up deep minerals. Those minerals get deposited in the soil, and a prolific weed like purslane will pick up the minerals and make them bioavailable.

So , bottom line, we were impressed with the bone health of these hogs. what does that mean to you? Extra nutritious pork and broths made from the bones. We have never seen bones and connecting joints this healthy, so the broths and stocks made from these bones should be super nutrition!

The moral of the story is..  everything matters... your farmer can raise or lower the nutrition and health of your food by his processes...  What has your farmer done for you? Ask them!

Soy.... We are what we feed

I ran across the article below discussing  the top ten reasons of 170 reasons that soy is horribly bad for anyone.  Yes....  Soy      not a health food miracle but rather toxic substance.  But many people today have come to that realization already.  The missing piece I wish to point it out  is that most,  the vast majority,  of all farm animals are fed soy daily.  Soy is the number one protein source for farm feeds.  The end result is that soy compounds are present in all commonly produced eggs and meat.  So even if you are avoiding soy directly,  consuming any meats or eggs that are not specifically labeled soy free brings all the same health problems.

In fact, we have found that many people who are allergic to eggs are fine consuming or soy free eggs.  This is because they are not truly allergic to eggs but to the soy that comes through the eggs from commercial soy based feeds.

This is why little sprouts has been soy free across the board for over 2 years.  Yes it makes our products cost more  because other protein sources are substantially higher in cost than soy.  But we are committed to the health benefits for our animals and our customers. 

Here are ten good reasons to avoid soy,  both directly and in the meats and eggs we consume :

http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/170-scientific-reasons-to-lose-the-soy-in-your-diet/

Raw Milk, The Vaccination Debate, Probiotics, Babies, Farming, Leaky Gut... how it all fits together

Ever hear... "Cant see the forest through the trees" ? Seems a common expression, and true. Often we dont see the big picture because we focus on individual trees. In fact, I am coming to understand that a lot of whats wrong with modern science is just this... the constant focus on trees. 

Recently I had a revelation of the forest... and how all the seemingly unrelated items in the title of this post really do fit together.  Lets take a train of discovery.. each train car linked to the one before it.

Raw Milk.... many say that it is just a normal food, and heating (cooking) it doesnt change anything. Others would disagree, claiming to see different benefits from raw and pasteurized.  An ongoing debate. Sure, there are some live bacteria in the milk, and some heat sensitive enzymes, but does it really change it that much to pasteurize it? Are the benefits worth the risk? Well, lets hop onto the next car to explore.

Vaccines... lots of them... given to newborn babies. Debate.. help or hurt? worth the risk? This is not the debate today.. But in researching this debate I ran across a very interesting link to raw milk. In fact two.  It is a known fact by medical science that the immune system of a newborn is too inactive to build immunity to a vaccine. In fact,  the vaccinations are useless for the purpose administered. The only reason to vaccinate a newborn is.... to train the parents.  This is a fact easily discoverable with little searching. 

A related fact is that in researching some vaccine actions within a newborn, there was a discovery... breast milk actually further lowers the effect of the vaccine. In other words... the breast milk itself will combat the virus or bacteria to the extent of making the shot ineffective even for an older child that has an immune system working. A breast fed baby is FIRST protected by moms milk. The recommendation from that study was to pause breastfeeding for several days to allow the immune system to fight the vaccine. 

Wow.. so what these two mean together is that raw breast milk actually works as a medicine, directly fighting the infection for the baby until the baby's own immune system is activated and working.  That's a revelation! Milk is not a food, its a medicine. It is majorly antibacterial AFTER consuming it. 

Why would we assume animal milk is any different? It appears that milk in general is designed not only to nourish but directly kill any infection that gets to the baby, human or animal.  This.. is a game changer. 

We know that leaky gut is caused largely by a bacterial imbalance in the gut.... and that we are first inoculated with bacteria at birth. It would seem that nature has designed in it a way to then encourage the proper balance populates the gut... mothers milk. It must kill off the bad and leave the good. Fortunately... babies nurse often.. every 1 to 3 hours. That gives them a constant stream of this magic antibacterial fluid to cleanse and populate the root of their immune system... their gut. 

Cow milk, goat milk,  it is no different in purpose than human milk. Therefore... those milks must also be naturally antibacterial. They are medicine as much or more than food! Would you cook antibiotics before taking them? I think not... why would you cook the milk you drink? IT kills bacteria FOR you. Not that it strengthens your system.. but it kills invaders as part of your system! Whoa... thats a whole new way of looking at milk!

We know how important probiotics are, especially those of us dealing with leaky gut and its related problems. Now we find that raw milk is like a selective smart antibiotic! (as long as it isn't altered in)pasteurizing).   If this isn't a reason to keep milk raw, I cant think of a better one!

I love farming, you get to see how life fits together from a very personal perspective. You can see forest, trees, leaves, and surrounding land!

First GAPS soup for trial!

It's here! Our first  GAPS soup canned and ready for trial!  We started with a basic vegetable in chicken stock with heritage chicken meat.  Yum!  (we hope).

This marks the beginning of this year's new project to produce a line of ready to eat soups that are GAPS LEGAL,  and made with only the finest ingredients  (organically raised,  non gmo,  soy free,  heritage breed,  pasture raised,  humanely treated) with zero added chemicals. Our goal is to provide an easy way to experience the gaps intro diet for yourself.

For now we are doing internal testing for flavor,  texture,  aroma....  But we are happy to provide a sample to farm visitors interested in giving feedback.

What an exciting year this is!

Hunter's Story

The video below is very special to us. It was recorded a few months ago as our sun Hunter made his first public speaking event. He decided on his own initiative, to tell the world the story of his struggles with ASD, and how through hard work, good food, and much prayer, his life was changed.

Hunter's mission here is to raise awareness that health conditions, even as deep as ASD, can be healed  or at least lessened by  good nutrition. He truly wants to offer hope to all those that are facing the same challenges.

Here is his story, in his own words.

Why do we even need to consider Obamacare?

I believe that to understand an issue fully it is necessary to dig deep....  To ask the question "why"  repeatedly and thereby uncover the root cause of things.  Here we are embralled in one of the heaviest debates if our nation's history...  Health care...  How do we bring health care to the millions of Americans who don't have it?  Let's dig a little deeper.

Why are we talking about Obamacare?

Two things come to mind :

1. America has the most advanced medicine in the world...  Able to work "miracles" of healing.

2. America has millions and millions and millions of people needing miracles of health care to stay alive.

Without both of these points being true,  we would not be talking about health care.  When you boil these two down you get: "America needs constant miracles of healing through advanced medicine to stay alive"  or "America is perhaps the sickest nation on earth". 

Consider this...  A hundred years ago there weren't these miracles of modern medical science. But life expectancy was not far from today.  Now look at you family,  friends,  neighbors....  How would we fare today without modern doctors,  hospitals,  treatment,  medicines?  I propose that current life expectancy would be much lower than even 100 years ago with modern healthcare.  So basically we as a nation are much sicker than ever,  and rely of modern medicine just to keep up with our grandparents life expectancy! 

So...  Why?  Take away modern treatment and ask what changed...  Why does America need so much healthcare?

The answer lies is the one thing we all do daily to stay healthy....  Eat.  But our food today is totally different from a hundred years ago. The entire food system is changed fundamentally.

I arrive at a conclusion of:
1. Our world and even food supply is full of toxins largely thanks to modern agriculture.
2. Our food is devoid of life sustaining nutrients thanks to modern agriculture.
3. Our food supply is sterilized to provide long shelf
4. Our food supply is built in laboratories to provide artificially good flavor,  texture,  and unnatural consistency.
5. Our food is refrigerated to freeze it in time instead of fermented and full of life to preserve it.
6. Our food supply is remote,  supporting big corporations that need constant profits,  transportation around the world in a fresh state,  and maintain consistency and that fresh state for weeks.

So where do we look for the underlying answer to why we are debating Obamacare?  Seems to me that we look to agriculture....  Our food. If we return to the foods of a hundred years ago,  we remove the need for health care to the point that it is,  on average,  a minor issue.  We trade our cabinet full of Medicine,  our schedule of Dr visits and treatments,  our constant need for health support in over the counter medicine for true good health and naturally long life.

There is an alternative to Obamacare...  It's called health.  We can individually opt out of the healthcare system itself through good old fashioned nutrition!  It truly is that simple!  I know from personal experience and from the experience of dozens to hundreds of our farm customers.

So...  I urge you....  Find a local farm that understands this...  The offers the foods of a hundred years ago... Raised properly for nutrition instead of profit, and buy all you can from them.  Invest in nutrition and permanent healing instead of covering of symptoms through medicine,  remove the need for healthcare! 

Sure...  Real food is expensive...  It will cost 2 to 5 times more to buy real healthy food.  That is a fact. BUT...  Let me ask you....  How are you doing on cheap food?  How many pills do you need per day?  When wax the last Dr visit for a problem ?

Would you rather pay to treat illness or prevent it?

That is the real bottom line choice here,  because for 99 percent of us,  there is no other option!  Pay a loss l nutrient dense farmer Or pay the Dr and pharmacy.

My advice....  Find your local farm that understands this...  Talk to the farmer... If he doesn't know how to grow for nutrition,  look elsewhere or gave him call us.. Opt out of the need for frequent health care and opt into true health!

If enough people did this...  We would not be talking about Obamacare.  Period.

Honey made from... High Fructose Corn Syrup?

Most people just dont realize, we didnt, that most commercial honey, even local, is not actually "pure " honey.  There is a common practice of bee keepers harvesting all the honey at once, and feeding the bees sugar or even HFCS to sustain them until they can replace the honey.

Now, sure, I understand that this doesn't actually get into the honey itself. But stop and think, is this good for the bees? The bees do produce the honey, so doesn't it make sense that something that compromises the health of the bees will compromise the quality of the honey? do you want to buy honey from weakened bees?

One promise we make to you is that Little Sprouts will never follow this practice.  Our bees retain enough honey at each harvest to live on until the rebuild the supply. In essence, we only harvest the surplus. AND if feeding supplementally is ever necessary, we will only feed honey, not sugar water.  This does increase the cost of the honey by lower production per colony, but it is well worth it in the end to us. We simply wont sacrifice any of our farm animals or insects for the sake of o higher profits or production.

Here is a link to an interesting recent study that shows a link between HFCS and bee health decline. Worth a read.

http://phys.org/news/2013-04-high-fructose-corn-syrup-tied-worldwide.html#jCp

Hunter's Story

Hunter, our eldest, decided on his own to go public with his personal story. He did so through his first ever public speaking presentation at the local GAPS support group meeting in Medford.  We share his story here for everyone that couldnt make it to the meeting.

http://youtu.be/5bbhidA255g

NewsFlash! Now the ONLY certified organic AND non-gmo feed in North America

NEWSFLASH!

Scratch and Peck Feeds is, as of today, the ONLY livestock feed in all of North America that is both certified organic and verified non-gmo!

Today Scratch and Peck received their organic certification. All feeds milled June 13th and after are now certified 100% organic. This is in addition to the earlier addition of being the first feed company in north america to gain verified non-gmo status through the non-gmo project.

These certification are in addition to the more important fact that Scratch and Peck is the absolute best quality feed we have ever seen.  This feed has always been a nutrient dense feed with whole grains, high in omega 3 content, not pelleted, never heated, and a proprietary mix of healthy beneficial ingredients. It is also local, grown and milled on the west coast. You can not find a better quality feed through any other source, we know.. we looked for a very long time !

We are very excited at Little Sprouts Farm to be the Southern Oregon representatives for Scratch and Peck, stocking all their popular feeds locally for pickup or delivery through our local delivery service.

Watch for the CERTIFIED ORGANIC LABEL on  chicken, turkey, goat, hog feeds !

For information on how to switch to this awesomely healthy feed,  contact Little Sprouts Farm at :
541-826-4345
 or
email feeds@littlesproutsfarm.com

or go straight into our online farm store to order yours today: http://www.farmigo.com/store/littlesproutsfarm

If your buying chicken, pork, eggs, duck, turkey, from a local farmer, have them contact us to talk about offering this nutrient dense feed to their animals at bulk discount prices.

Excelerite Minerals Available Now

We are pleased to announce that Little Sprouts is now a re-seller of  Excelerite Rare Earth Minerals.  We will be using these minerals ourselves as well as stocking them in smaller packages for resell  through farm pickup or home deliveries.

Excelerite is the brand of rare earth minerals from US RareEarth Minerals. It is produced from an ancient evaporated lake bed in Panaca Nevada. Many scientists consider this lake bed to be the world's richest source of micro, macro, and nano nutrients.

Excelerite is provided in two forms, agriculture  and livestock. the only difference is that the AG type is filtered to remove some unneeded silica and has a slightly higher price.  the mineral content otherwise is the same.

You can read more about his amazing product at their website: http://us-rem.com/

Why minerals? Minerals, especially ancient sea and lake minerals, contain the building blocks that make life work. Everything improves in the presence of abundant minerals in the proper balance, both pant and animal. In fact, life is not truly possible without minerals! Unfortunately much of the worlds soil and therefore foods are depleted of minerals through years of abuse and use. Remineralizing with excelerite restore the soil to its healthy natural state, providing benefits to the ecology (life) of the soil itself and any plants grown in it.

For livestock (poultry, hogs, sheep, etc) these minerals in livestock form are added to their feed to give them the boost that is not contained in their feed and world.  This gives an immediate benefit to all livestock in a number of ways.

We encourage you to try this amazing product and see for yourself how ancient minerals can boost health, vitality, fertility, and production.

you can find Excelerite in our online store: http://www.farmigo.com/store/littlesproutsfarm

The 8 year old VS Dr Oz ? Where does wisdom lie?

This article is just too good to pass up. This young bundle of wisdom and common sense, Coral B, at 8 years old, is on a mission. To confront the popular Dr Oz for positions and statements he recently made concerning our food supply and health in general. If this were an adult, it would be filled with merit, but the fact that a little 8 year old girl is heart warming.

The only point I;d like to add to the article is this... this is important. Dr Oz is highly respected by a good part of our population. I personally know of people who follow Dr Oz just as "religiously" as other would follow Dr Mercola or Sally Fallon. If Dr Oz says it.. it must be true! For him to make these statements, which ARE in fact discrediting to the entire local, sustainable, humane and organic food movements, is a crushing blow to the validity of all we hold dear about nutrition and humanity within food production.

I anxiously await a new story coming soon where Dr Oz is forced to answer Coral's challenges.

Read the article here:

http://butterbeliever.com/dr-oz-gets-schooled-by-8-year-old-girl-on-youtube/

How many eggs do you eat per day?

When we say in conversation with farm visitors that we eat a lot of eggs, everyone interprets "a lot" differently. What is a lot to the salch family? Well, truth be told... we consume from 2 to 4 dozen eggs per day, every day.  That's 14 to 28 dozen per week. And no, we do not bake (wheat free). Thats for 2 adults and 4 children ages 10 to 2.

Some examples for an average day:

• Soft fried or scrambled eggs for breakfast, often double yolks (an extra yolk for every egg)
• Raw egg yolk in broth at every meal
• Raw egg yolk in salad dressings
• Raw egg yolk in raw milk for eggnog
• raw egg yolk in smoothies
• Sometimes eggs for dinner

It quickly adds up! The health benefits are enormous. The egg yolk from properly raised, bred, and fed chickens and ducks is just about a perfect food, a powerhouse of nutrition. There is more benefit in a raw egg yolk than most other foods. Do some googling and you will be amazed at what all is in natures little nutrition packages inside that shell.

As you can see we definitely concentrate on yolks, and raw . That is where nutrition is. Egg whites are fine, but mostly just good protein. Raw yolks are full of most everything our bodies need to grow, heal, and maintain. Once cooked stiff, yolks loose a lot of their magical power.

This is one reason we prefer small eggs. The yolk on eggs does not change much with exterior size, just the amount of white. Since we toss the whites about half the time, it just makes more sense to use small eggs. Same nutrition, less waste. (Actually on a far there is NO waste.. everything gets eaten by someone!)
So... there you have it. We eat close to a dozen eggs per day per adult, every day. And.... we have never been healthier!

Disclaimer.... do NOT consume eggs from the store in these quantities... it can be deadly. Because of how store eggs are produced, they are a health negative potentially producing allergies, and all sorts of health problems including cancer and heart disease. ONLY consume eggs that are soy free, truly pastured, heritage breed chickens.

Alexa Schmidt talks to 4-H about GMOs

This is a very impressive talk given for the local 4H on the topic of GMOs.

Great Job Alexa!

Eggs, eggs and more eggs!

An egg!  We found the very first egg in the new chicken flock!  Amazing on two counts... we haven't lighted these chickens yet, so the first eggs are laid in January without artificial light. And... it was found in the rooster coop!
Obviously while separating hens and roosters someone got misplaced ;) It is difficult to tell gender at this age sometimes. 
But.... this means we will have more than double the number of eggs for sale really soon! That great news for everyone waiting to partake in Little Sprouts eggs.
As a reminder... why are these eggs so special? Because they have everything in an egg that is desirable, not just one aspect, they have it all:
Truly Pastured
Soy free
Certified Non GMO
Organically raised
Antibiotic free
Hormone free
Omega 3 rich
Heritage breed
Fertilized (will be by sales time)
Unwashed or washed (your preference)
Farm fresh
Why are eggs so important? A well produced raw egg is the basis of most healing diets. The pastured fresh raw egg yolk is a miracle food, a powerhouse of healing and nutrition. Many healing diets encourage as many pastured raw egg yolks per day as practical. The egg, when done right, is just about the most perfect food. Just be VERY careful never to overdo storebought eggs. They are not the same thing in a number of ways and are in fact often quite dangerous to eat.
So this one little eggs is happy news! We have been waiting to have a larger supply so that we can start pickling eggs again. Looks like by Feb. this will be possible! Yummy pickled eggs are coming back!

Why is Little Sprouts Milk, Yogurt, and Kefir so Creamy?

Incredibly smooth and creamy is one way to describe our milk, yogurt and kefir.  The yogurt is naturally thick without added gel or stiffeners, and the milk has an incredibly smooth soft flavor and texture.  How is this possible? This picture tells all:

This is a half gallon of milk that was left untouched in the fridge for about 3 weeks as an experiment. When milk sits undisturbed, the cream separates out and floats to the top.  With cow milk this happens almost overnight, but goat milk takes much much longer. We wanted to see just how much cream is in our goat's milk so we let this set.  Look closely and you will see the cream line just about half way down the jar. This means that the cream content is just about 50%.  Not bad! You can also see the thick cream across the top edge. It is really thick!

Cream in milk is what makes it taste, well, creamy. It it what makes the yogurt and kefir thick and smooth. Cream is the magic. Not only is this tasty but also naturally healthy. Goat milk is highly digestible and nutritious compared to cow milk. In fact, most people allergic to cow milk can drink goat milk without a problem. 

How do we achieve nearly 50% cream content? I cant say I am an expert, but it seems to be a combination of breeds and feeds.  We use a combination of Nigerian dwarf and mini Nubian breeds in a tightly controlled ratio. They are fed a majority of organic non-gmo alfalfa and grains (only as a treat), plus plenty of wild brush.  We are also very diligent about keeping the bucks away from the milkers, and quick cooling to prevent any "goaty" flavor. 

Natural Flavorings?

Think about something... As a food producer, why do you need "flavorings", even natural flavorings? There is only one answer I can think of... and that is to make something that isnt a particular food taste as if it is. the reality though, is perhaps even more concerning. What exactly IS the thing that is made to taste like food?

This story appeared on 60 minutes recently, explaining a bit about the flavor industry.  It is filled with eye opening facts that most people (at least me) have never thought of.


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57330816/the-flavorists-tweaking-tastes-and-creating-cravings/

I think the reality is, the flavor industry is in fact the enabler for the entire processed food industry. The flavor industry makes it possible to put together the cheapest raw ingredients, and make it taste like or better than real food. The fact is though, it is NOT real food! There is no way that these artificially created proteins, carbs and starches can be compared nutritionally to real naturally produced food. BUT.. it tastes as good or better than real food. Therein lies the problem!

It is not the health concern of the flavoring, rather the concern is that the flavoring is USED to make some non-food product taste like food!

Once you can take empty raw ingredients and create cravings and addictions to the FLAVOR placed on it, you have a goldmine for profit, and a nation with a health care crisis.  That is my bottom line, the flavor industry without intending to, is the actual leader of the health care crisis and untold human suffering, because they make it not only possible, but preferable to consume weird "stuff" that tastes great.

So my challenge to you is, next time you buy a "food" look at the lable. If it says "artificial or natural flavors" ask yourself WHY? Why do the raw ingredients not have acceptable flavors? Is the raw ingredient something you recognize? Is it truly Food?

Here again I propose that the solution to your health care crisis is simply... find a local farmer who does things right, buy from them the real food that your body is intended to thrive on, and shun anything that comes in a box, bag, can, or bottle.