Farm News November 2021

Nala, one of our Brown Swiss mamas, taking an autumn stroll.

It’s November 2021. This is Claire writing.

October on Saint John’s Organic Farm brought the usual autumn changes, as well as some unexpected things and things new to our family. 

We finished calving early this year, in September instead of November, so all the calves are putting on thick winter coats and are big and well set to go into winter. Some of the animals are saying it’s going to be a long winter, so it’s nice to have the calves already a couple months old. 

Lots of fall color, the sumac trees were especially bright, and even though we had a few days of frost, Indian Summer has been lingering, and there are still raspberries (a fall-bearing variety) good to pick off the canes.

Our irrigation pump quit the first of October, so instead of being able to water all the fields generously one more time before the irrigation ditch is turned off on October 15, we are going into winter feeling a little dry. But thankfully, we were given 5 days of good rain last weekend, and the fields are doing their best to grow some more grass for winter feed.

Aaron is taking a break from the farm. He is starting security work in Boise.

Strider and Ginger grazing.

And while October has been good, it will be interesting to see what November brings!

How to Eat Beef Liver: The Best Way to Hide It In Your Favorite Recipes

Beef liver outshines other foods when ranked by micronutrient density.

Beef liver. It’s the king of nutrition that hardly anyone wants to eat. Liver and onions was once a mainstay of American diets. This tradition sadly faded in America when eating offal became associated with poverty, as the cuts of organ meats were the least expensive. Over time, families stopped preparing organ meats regularly in favor of more “choice cuts” as the American middle class grew. Because many were not exposed to the tastes and textures of organ meats in early childhood, liver is now undesirable for most people. However, there are many reasons to bring back eating liver, chief among them being nutrition.

Why Eat Grass Fed Beef Liver

Saint John’s organic, grass-fed beef liver.

In nature, it’s common to see predators prioritizing liver and other organ meats over the muscle meats, often leaving the muscle meats for scavengers to eat. In wolf packs, the alpha wolf gets first dibs on the liver, and orcas are known to kill a shark just for its liver. There is some wisdom here beyond science, and it’s intimating not to skip the liver.

Iron and Vitamin A

Liver is a rich source of iron and vitamin A, and is well known as essential to recovery from anemia. It’s the most concentrated dietary source of vitamin A, a vitamin key for vision, reproduction, and immune system function. The vitamin A from liver is in retinoid form, the form in which our bodies are most easily able to absorb and assimilate the vitamin A. Compared to carotenoids (as in beta-carotene from carrots and other yellow and orange vegetables), 

There’s an association between carrots, sweet potatoes, and other orange and yellow vegetables and vitamin A, with their pigmentation as a supposed indicator of beta-carotene. It’s a common misconception that beta-carotene is vitamin A. In truth, carotenes are a precursor to vitamin A, and most humans can convert beta-carotene to vitamin A. Our genetics and gut health determine if, and to what extent, we are able to convert beta-carotene into usable vitamin A.

For example, let’s compare carrots and beef liver. 100 grams of cooked carrot contains about 10,200 mcg of vitamin A in beta-carotene form, but only 852 mcg will be converted to active retinol form, given good gut health and genetics. Only 8% of the beta-carotene was convertible to active vitamin A in this case. In stark contrast, 100 grams of cooked beef liver contains 7700 mcg of vitamin A, all of it preformed and ready to be absorbed.

Classic Liver Preparation: Liver & Onions

You can’t go wrong with liver and onions...unless you don’t like the taste of liver. Here are a few tips to make an honest liver dish a little more palatable.

• Soak liver in milk, buttermilk, or whey for a few days prior to cooking. This is a traditional cooking method that helps to remove some of the pungent flavor.

• Pile high the onions.

• Use bacon and bacon fat. Bacon and bacon fat make everything more delicious, including liver!

• Don’t overcook, a little pink is best to maintain a creamy texture and prevent a leathery, overcooked texture.

My Favorite, Painless Way to Eat Beef Liver

Here is how to eat liver…advice that goes beyond “buck up” or “plug your nose”.

My favorite way to eat liver is to whiz it up in the food processor and use it in any of my dishes that use ground beef or other ground meats. I’ve found that by adding a little ground liver to those dishes, we usually don’t notice the taste and neither do our dinner guests! I stick to a ratio of ⅓ lb liver to 1 lb ground beef. If you’re feeling hesitant or you know that you really don’t like the taste of liver, lower that ratio to ¼ lb or even ⅙ lb. It’s important that you enjoy your food and have success while still adding a powerful nutritional boost to your meals.

Saint John’s liver in the food processor, before being ground up.

Pulse the liver until the desired texture is reached, it should look somewhat liquid-y.

Ground up liver.

If you don’t have a food processor, try cutting the liver into small pieces to resemble ground beef. If you go this route, freeze the liver for 30 - 60 minutes until it is semi-frozen. This will help with the slippery texture of liver and make cutting much easier.

If the liver taste ends up being too strong throughout the dish, add more hot sauce, ketchup, or other acidic condiments, and take a deep breath. Allow yourself to experience a new taste and texture, knowing the good you are doing for yourself.

Recommended Recipes

For grinding liver in the food processor, I recommend recipes that have some acid or spice to them, and I’ve found Asian dishes really don’t pair well with added ground liver. Spicy dishes like tacos or enchiladas and acidic, tomato-heavy bolognese are ideal.

My favorites include:

• Meatballs

• Shepherd’s pie

• Meat loaf

• Taco meat

• Bolognese / spaghetti meat sauce

I haven’t tried adding it to burgers, but I bet that would be delicious!

Liver, an ancestral superfood, has fallen out of fashion in recent decades, but it certainly deserves a place on our plates, for our benefit! If you try one of these methods for eating beef liver, let us know by tagging us on Instagram or Facebook!

We have organic, grass-fed, grass-finished beef liver available, please contact us for more information.

Microplastics in Meat: How the average person eats a credit card sized piece of plastic each week

Plastics are everywhere. Plastics have been instrumental in medical sanitation (through single-use wrapping) and have played a major role in our economy and lifestyles through the use of convenience items, for better or worse. Plastics and modern industrialization appear to have grown in lock-step.

What are the detriments of plastic’s ubiquity? The effects are subtle yet powerful. A viral video (since removed) showed boxes of processed food -- e.g. crackers, cookies, cereal, etc. -- going into an industrial grinder, still in the packaging. The workers claimed this would go to animal feed, cardboard, plastic, and all. While shocking, this type of recycling is completely legal and commonplace in the industrialized world. This immediately triggered in my mind studies I’d come across on microplastic contamination of meat, and I decided to do a little digging.

Microplastics: What are they?

Microplastics are defined as small pieces of plastic less than 5 mm in size, and they range in size from microscopic to the length of a grain of rice.

In the natural world, microplastics are commonly found in water sources -- (oceans, rivers, rainwater), soil, air (wind is a major microplastic transporter), and wild animals. Due to wind and water currents, “plastics now spiral around the globe” and there are few places on Earth untouched by microplastics. In the US alone, 94.4% of tap water sources are confirmed to contain microplastics. Because microplastics are discoverable nearly everywhere, they’ve become part of our bodies, too. A recent study found that 100% of human stool samples collected contained microplastics.

The World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) No Plastic in Nature combined over 50 studies and found microplastics are ubiquitous enough that “an average person could be ingesting approximately 5 grams of plastic every week”, or roughly the equivalent of a credit card. The average amounts ingested varied based on consumption habits. The grocery items that were the biggest contributors to microplastic consumption were drinking water (tap and bottled), shellfish, beer, and salt.

Microplastic Effect on Meat

A British farmer documented the microplastics clearly visible in the animal feed he purchased.

What does this have to do with organic, grass-fed beef? Conventional meat (beef, pork, and poultry) in the US is commonly fed grain-based animal feed. Often, part of this animal feed is “recycled food waste”. From the beginning of agriculture, we’ve been feeding livestock our leftovers. However, today’s recycled food waste involves sending processed foods still in the packaging -- cardboard, plastic, adhesives and all -- to an industrial grinder where the powder is then used as an ingredient in animal feed and pet food.

The ground up recycled food waste is also used as an ingredient in many fertilizers, meaning these microplastics get sprayed all over crops and leach into groundwater. This has led to some controversy in the Organic farming community concerning if these fertilizers should be considered USDA certified Organic. Environmentalists are touting the environmentally-friendly and sustainable nature of using food meant for waste as fertilizer, but who can say the long term impact of microplastics in the soil will be good for the environment?

The trays used to package grocery store meat add microplastics to your meal.

Meat packaging is an additional contamination vector for microplastics. The food trays used to package supermarket meat are usually made of extruded polystyrene (XPS), and small quantities of this material end up trapped between the meat and the plastic wrapping. These particles are difficult to remove by rinsing, and generally end up in the meat when cooked.

Impact on Human and Animal Health

We know microplastics are everywhere now, but is this truly a problem for us or our livestock? Is this just the price we pay for living in an industrialized, modern world?

According to Dr. Heather Leslie, a leading expert in microplastics research, microplastics can pierce the bowel and enter the bloodstream when consumed orally. From the bloodstream, these plastics are transported to and deposited in the tissues and organs of the animal. This has been seen with pigs, dogs, rats, and chickens but hasn’t been tested in humans.

Microplastics end up in the muscle tissue of animals, the part that’s usually consumed by us, but this hasn’t been well studied or tested across different types of meats, environments and agricultural practices. The current available science is limited because microplastics have only been studied in earnest the last 4 years.

It’s not much of a logical stretch to assume that, similarly to pigs, dogs, rats, and chickens, as humans are ingesting microplastics, microplastics are piercing our bowels, entering our bloodstreams, and being deposited in our tissues and organs. The long term consequences are not known, and we should take steps to reduce our exposure.

Because the majority of plastics are made with flame retardants, phthalates, pigments, and Bisphenol-A (BPA), most microplastics contain these additives. The harmful health effects of these additives are well known to be endocrine-disrupting and carcinogenic.

Saint John’s cows with their lush winter coats, grazing on grass and hay.

What can be done?

Replace bottled water with filtered tap water. This step alone reduces a person’s exposure to microplastics 22-fold!

Support community and legal initiatives to reduce the microplastic permeation of our planet.

Buy meat from sources you can trust, and ask questions about what you’re buying. Farmers may not know of the potential microplastics in animal feed. Our USDA Organic, 100% grass-fed, and grass-finished beef is not fed manufactured animal feed. Buying meat without microplastics is one way to vote with your dollar.

Buy food in glass or packaging alternative to plastic.

Microplastics are everywhere; there’s simply no avoiding it. However, we can take steps to reduce our exposure and protect our health.

Grass Fed Beef Tongue Recipe: You'll Slurp It Up

Beef tongue hash, a family favorite.

Why Eat Grass Fed Beef Tongue

When making a bulk beef purchase like a ¼ or ½ cow, you often have the option to take home offal -- the less commonly known cuts of meat. This can include liver, heart, tongue, fat, tendon, kidney, and bones. For most of human history it was normal to eat the whole animal. Our ancestors prized organ meats for their nutrient density, and it’s only in recent years and in industrialized nations that muscle meat is the primary cut of meat eaten.

Grass-fed beef tongue is a rich source of zinc, iron, phosphorus, and B-vitamins (B12, B2, B3, and B6). It’s very tender and can have a “game-y” taste if not prepared with a brine, as included below.

Tongue hash served up with eggs.

About this Preparation

This method is my favorite preparation of beef tongue because the brine removes all “game-y” and offal-esque flavor from the tongue and helps to further tenderize and imbue the tongue with subtle flavor. The taste and texture are akin to a well-prepared brisket, but even more tender. I truly doubt most people would know they were eating tongue if served this dish.

The key is to brine for 5-7 days, covered, in the refrigerator. After 2-3 days, flip the tongue in the brine to help with even soaking. I skipped the brining step once and didn’t enjoy the flavor nearly as much. After brining, the tongue is poached for several hours and then is ready to be used in the skillet hash. The skillet hash is a combination of fried potatoes and peppers with poached and seared tongue.

This recipe is an amalgamation of the tongue preparations in The Meateater Fish and Game Cookbook by Steven Rinella and Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal by Jennifer McLagan.

INGREDIENTS

For the brine:

• 12 cups cold water (may need more)

• 1 cup salt

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 Tbsp whole black peppercorns

• 1 Tbsp whole coriander seeds

• 1 tsp whole mustard seeds

• 2 whole cloves

• 1 bay leaf

• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

• 2 stalks celery, cut into chunks

• 1 onion, quartered

• 8-10 cloves garlic, peeled

• 1 Saint John’s grass fed beef tongue

For the hash:

• 5-6 Tbsp cooking fat (bacon grease recommended)

• 2-4 potatoes, chopped into bite-size pieces

• 1 cup peppers, sliced (I used bell pepper but any peppers will do)

• 4-6 eggs, optional

• Salt and pepper

METHOD

1. In a small pot, add all brine ingredients from 4 cups of water through the bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer uncovered for 3-5 minutes, until salt and sugar are dissolved.

2. Transfer brine to large glass bowl. When cooled, add 8 cups of water and remaining brine ingredients. Refrigerate for 5-7 days, flipping the tongue once halfway through.

Tongue brining. She’s a beaut!

After brining is complete, preheat oven to 300 F. Strain the tongue, reserving the spices, and put the tongue and spices into a Dutch oven. Add enough water to cover the tongue and bring to a boil.

3. Turn off the burner, cover the Dutch oven and transfer to the oven. Cook until the tongue is very tender, 4 to 5 hours. Check tenderness by gently poking the tongue with a paring knife to feel its firmness.

4. Remove tongue from water and let cool. Then use a paring knife to remove the outer skin and chop into bite-sized pieces.

Poached tongue, ready to peel.

6. Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat and add 2-3 Tbsp cooking fat of choice. When it’s searing hot, add chopped potatoes and let them be (for a few minutes)! The key to crispy fried potatoes is to resist flipping them until they are adequately browned on one side. After 5-7 minutes, flip the potatoes and finish cooking. When the potatoes are cooked, remove from skillet and season with salt. I season with salt last because salt draws out moisture from the potatoes, and moisture is the enemy of crispy potatoes.

Potatoes frying in bacon grease.

7. Add another 2-3 Tbsp cooking fat to skillet on medium-high heat. When it’s very hot, add chopped tongue and sear on all sides, 1-2 minutes each side. Tongs are ideal for flipping each piece of tongue. Remove from skillet and set aside.

Tongue frying in bacon grease.

8. Add peppers to skillet and cook 2-3 minutes.

9. When peppers are cooked, transfer potatoes and seared tongue to skillet and season with salt and pepper. Warm up the hash on medium-low for 3-5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Hash, ready to serve.

10. Optional: Fry an egg (or two) for each serving.

Tongue hash served up with eggs.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

• Sour cream

• Salsa or hot sauce

• Chopped green onions or chives

Enjoy this delicious preparation of grass-fed beef tongue! If you try this recipe, let us know by tagging us on Instagram or Facebook.

Farm News September 2021

Autumn is coming quickly. The air is cooler now and has a distinct crispness first thing in the morning. The trees are beginning to turn brilliant colors and we found frost in patches across the fields at least one morning last week.

Happily the smoke that hovered most of the summer has blown away, at least for now.  Especially in the afternoon the light is so bright and clear after all the weeks of smoke and haze. I keep pausing to look around and admire the bright rich colors, the hills clearly visible and how the valley seems to nearly sparkle.

Our beef harvest is moving apace, we have sent six beef nearly each week this month to our processor Northwest Premium in Nampa, and our big walk-in freezer is just about full. Orders keep rolling in, for which we are thankful, but we have plenty of beef available here to fill your freezer and feed your family this winter.

Late summer and early fall is the best time of year to harvest since the steers have had all summer on the best pasture available. They can gain 2 pounds per day! And it’s good for us as we plan and prepare for winter to have fewer mouths to feed through the cold months, especially large steers that can each eat quite a lot! By harvesting now while the grass is still growing, we capture the highest nutritional profile in the beef, and allow the pasture to grow and stockpile feed to graze through the winter.

We are finally raising our prices in October. It’s been years since we raised them, but the current state of the economy dictates that we must. If you order bulk beef (eighth, quarter, or half) and send in your deposit by October 1, you can take advantage of the current pricing for your whole order.

In other news, Aaron has decided to step away from the farm in mid-October to pursue a career in law enforcement. Claire is stepping in to fill more of the management of grazing and cattle and our friend Robert Kennedy is also coming on part time to help with the heavy lifting. However, given the wide range of responsibilities Aaron carried out here, we have a need for more help. There are a variety of options with field projects, managing social media, coordinating orders and making deliveries. Please feel free to contact us if you have interest in working with us.

Organic Farming and Wildlife: How Does Bambi Feel

Modern businesses, farms, and families are becoming increasingly concerned with the environmental consequences of farming and the destruction of habitats for our planet’s wildlife, and many strive to be environmentally friendly and conscious in their day-to-day decisions. “Environmentally friendly”, “Sustainable”, and “Eco-friendly” are all labels we see on products in an effort to persuade us to purchase.

While many are concerned about metrics like carbon footprints and other resources used in agriculture and food transport, an often overlooked environmental factor is the effect of farming on wildlife. For example, it’s become trendy in recent years to reduce meat consumption or altogether forgo eating meat due to concerns about resources used. The truth is that eating meat has an environmental impact, but it doesn’t have to be a negative impact. Local, grass fed beef has a net negative carbon footprint. Read more about that here. Let’s talk about the impact of conventional and organic farming on the environment directly, the consequences felt by wildlife and local ecologies.

Conventional vs. Organic Farming

Stunning view of our cows next to the garden.

In the United States, “organic” is a term and label regulated by the USDA and includes several key qualifiers a food producer must meet in order to proudly display the label. For example, a product must be free of:

• Additives

• Synthetic pesticides

• Herbicides

• Fertilizers

• Be non-GMO

Additionally, for meat to be classified as organic, the USDA requires “animals must be raised in living conditions accommodating their natural behaviors (like the ability to graze on pasture), fed 100% organic feed and forage, and not administered antibiotics or hormones.”

Our farm practices go beyond organic by practicing rotational grazing and feeding our cows a 100% grass-fed and grass-finished diet. This means that we have a significantly reduced environmental impact compared to conventional feedlot beef operations that utilize imported grain and pesticides and other toxicants. All of these choices and practices have an effect on the local ecology and wildlife, for better or worse.

Effects on Wildlife

Pair of Canadian Geese taking a gander atop our silo.

Habitat loss and pesticide use are the two biggest drivers of wildlife decline, so we can’t ignore the harm caused to wildlife by conventional agriculture, even if these farms claim to be “environmentally friendly” because they are producing corn and soy instead of meat and dairy.

A common argument against meat consumption and production is that growing livestock feed (corn and soy) is a significant cause of habitat loss, an argument that seeks to equate meat eating with the destruction of natural habitat for much of wildlife across the globe. The truth is complicated because not all meat production is the same. Our organic, 100% grass-fed and grass-finished beef farm is a haven for wildlife, and this is often true of organic farms because they seek to work in harmony with the natural world.

“Images of recently cleared grassland areas from North Dakota where rates of grassland conversion to corn and soy are the highest in the country. Stripping grassland landscapes bare removes natural buffers, increases soil erosion, and exacerbates the risk of fertiliser pollution from crops planted in these areas.” – Mighty Earth Mystery Meat 2 Report 2017.

One of the leading causes of grassland conversion (and therefore habitat loss) is the demand for corn and soy. Rainforests, grasslands, and other large, fertile swaths of land across the world are mowed down daily to plant lucrative corn and soy cash crops. A large portion of this corn and soy goes to livestock feed, for poultry, beef, and pork farms. This is very unfortunate because these forests and wild lands that serve the wildlife may never return to their full beauty. In this way, our farm doesn’t contribute to habitat loss because we are organic and 100% grass-fed. By stewarding the land well and feeding our cows a species appropriate diet, we also make room for the native species to continue living and thriving.

Environmentally-oriented organizations have acknowledged the dramatic benefit of organic farming on wildlife surrounding farms:

“Organic farming boosts biodiversity at every level of the food chain. For instance, the chemicals that kill insects, weeds or fungal diseases, which then accumulate in the food chain as birds and other animals eat the affected insects, are not used. Instead, balanced wildlife populations encourage birds and beneficial insects to control pests, diseases are reduced using crop rotations, and mechanical weeding or natural suppressants eliminate weeds....Organic practices and adopting wildlife-friendly management of habitats could be a solution to the current biodiversity crisis.”  - formerly tend revolution dot com

In conclusion, all agriculture will have an effect on the wildlife and ecology in which it is practiced. We have great opportunities to support and take care of our local environment through the choices we make and the farms we support.

Frankenfood: The Problem with Soy Meat and the Impossible Burger

Photo courtesy responsibletechnology.org

“Heart healthy!”

“Environmentally friendly!”

“Protein packed!”

“Plant-based meat alternative!”

All of the above are ubiquitous phrases heard from soy companies and anti-meat campaigns. These epithets are unfortunate misnomers used to persuade health conscious consumers to purchase soy-based “meat” alternatives. The truth is that soy and other plant-based “meats” are highly processed, often high in glyphosate (a known carcinogen), and harmful to the environment. This becomes more evident when compared to organic, grass-fed beef.

Plant-based propaganda in Emmett, ID Albertsons, offered alongside beef.

I was surprised to see fake soy “meats” offered side-by-side real animal meat in the Emmett, ID Albertsons. The Impossible Burger is not beef, nor is it a proper beef substitute. I wonder how much was spent in lobbying to position this toxic imitation of animal-based nutrition next to other meats for unsuspecting shoppers.

The Impossible Burger: Harmful to the Environment

In a press release, Impossible Foods CEO and Founder Pat Brown makes known his intentions to end meat consumption in favor of genetically modified soy as a primary protein source:

““We sought the safest and most environmentally responsible option that would allow us to scale our production and provide the Impossible Burger to consumers at a reasonable cost. And the unambiguous winner was American-grown, milled and processed GM soy that meets the highest global standards for health, safety and sustainability.

This choice allows us to continue making a product that rivals beef for flavor, texture, nutrition and versatility. And it keeps Impossible Foods on target to achieve our mission: to end the use of animals in food production by 2035, halting and reversing its catastrophic impact on climate, land, water and the ongoing meltdown in biodiversity.” (emphasis in original)”

— Pat Brown, Impossible Foods CEO and Founder

American genetically modified soybean fields.

Pat Brown says he is concerned about climate, land, water, and biodiversity, and growing GM soy is a superior solution to organic, grass-fed and grass-finished beef production. Let’s see how his claims stack up.

Miles of American soybean monocrops are a net negative for human and environmental health. Monocropping, the agricultural practice of growing a single crop on the same land year after year, is destructive to soil quality and contributes to desertification. With a monocropping operation, as is done with GM soy, copious amounts of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides are typically used. These chemicals pollute the soil (especially the soil’s microbiome) and local water supply, thereby harming humans, animals, and plants living in the area. How could this be good for preserving the health of our land and water?

Saint John’s cows grazing on organic pasture.

In response Brown’s claims to preserving biodiversity, monocropping soy is the complete opposite of diverse agriculture. Thousands of animals die every year through the destruction of their habitat to make room for soybean fields… all to produce “vegan” foods. Contrast the image of soybean fields with a well-tended pasture growing a diverse variety of grasses. It’s obvious the organic, grass-fed beef system is more diverse and in tune with nature.

The plain truth is that GM soy looks good on paper because soy production has lower carbon emission than commercial beef operations. However, when considering the fact that rotational grazing systems (akin to our farm practices) have a net negative carbon emission, grass-fed beef is the clear winner. Rotational grazing actually puts carbon back into the soil, something GM soy producers could never dream of accomplishing.

When one considers the toxic monocropping practices and pollution of soil and waterways required for GM soy, it’s apparent that Brown’s claims that the Impossible Burger is an environmentally healthy and sustainable solution simply don’t hold water.

The Impossible Burger: Toxic

Because the Impossible Burger and other soy-based meats are most commonly produced with genetically modified soy, the burger contains a substantial amount of glyphosate. Glyphosate is an essential ingredient to the commonly used herbicide, RoundUp. Almost all soybeans in the US are sprayed heavily with RoundUp and therefore contaminated with glyphosate.

Glyphosate, a known carcinogen, has also been shown to be neurotoxic, endocrine-disrupting, harmful to DNA, and damaging to the liver, even at very low levels of exposure. This information alone is enough to avoid glyphosate to preserve human and animal health.

A Monsanto trial jury awarded the plaintiffs over $2 billion dollars, as a settlement for the connection between the glyphosate containing herbicide, Roundup, and their cancer. An independent test compared the levels of glyphosate between two of the popular soy-based beef replacements, the Impossible Burger and the Beyond Burger. The test found that the Impossible Burger contained eleven times the amount of glyphosate as the Beyond Burger. The raw values for glyphosate were 11.3 ppb for the Impossible Burger and 1 ppb for the Beyond Burger.

The amount of glyphosate in the Impossible Burger (and other soy-based meats) is concerning because only 0.1 ppb of glyphosate has been shown to alter the gene function of over 4000 genes in the livers, kidneys, and cause severe organ damage in rats. The Impossible Burger contains over 100 times that amount of glyphosate!

In addition to the toxic load from glyphosate, the soy-based meats are problematic for human health because they are made from soy. Soy is a plant food loaded with anti-nutrients and phytoestrogens. This means that soy impacts our health by contributing to inflammation and hormonal imbalances. Perhaps most importantly to those seeking to use soy as a protein source, the anti-nutrients in soy inhibit proper protein absorption, so most of the protein is not bioavailable to the consumer. 

In short, soy-based meats and the Impossible Burger are not a proper alternative to beef or other animal-based meats. The risks to consuming these products must be made known to the consumer so we can make informed choices about our health and future.

The Impossible Burger (and other soy and plant-based meats) is not healthy, environmentally friendly, or a real replacement for pure and nutritious grass-finished beef. It is loaded with toxic glyphosate and hormone-altering phytoestrogens. Grass-fed beef is real nutrition, a net positive on the environment, and truly “protein packed” with protein that is easily digestible. If you want a burger, the best option is support your local organic, grass-fed and grass-finished beef farm. You won’t regret that choice!

Steak Pizzaiola Recipe: Best Way to Use Leftover Steak

Steak pizzaiola alongside sauteed zucchini.

After steaks on Independence Day, we had leftover cooked steak. I was searching for a way to prepare and reheat the steak without cooking it beyond the perfect medium rare doneness that was achieved. Enter steak pizzaiola. Warm, comforting, packed with summer vegetables and herbs. This 30 minute meal was delicious and did not overcook the steak!

This recipe was inspired by this video from Lisa at Farmhouse on Boone.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Tbsp butter

• 2-3 lb Saint John’s organic, grass-fed steak

• 1 onion, chopped

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• ½ cup wine, broth, or ¼ cup water + ¼ cup vinegar

• 2-3 fresh tomatoes, chopped or 14.5 oz can roasted tomatoes

• 1 cup peppers, sliced

• 2-3 Tbsp fresh Italian herbs, chopped (basil, rosemary, sage, thyme)

• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes

• 1 cup shredded cheese (mozzarella, cheddar, or jack work best)

METHOD

1. If your steaks aren’t already cooked, season and cook the steaks. Season both sides of steaks with salt and pepper. Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat until it’s searing hot. Add butter and cook steaks until desired doneness is achieved. Start at 3-4 minutes per side and cook for longer as needed. Set steaks aside to rest.

Saint John’s (absolutely massive) rib steak cooking in cast iron skillet.

2. Add onion to skillet and cook until onions are browned. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid burning garlic.

Onions sauteeing.

3. Add wine or broth, tomatoes, peppers, and herbs to the skillet. Simmer 4-5 minutes.

Vegetables and herbs simmering.

4. Slice the steak into thin, bite-sized strips.

Sliced steak.

5. Add steak and red pepper flakes to the pan and turn heat down to low. Add cheese and cover skillet with lid for 1-2 minutes, until cheese melts. Serve immediately.

Steak pizzaiola, ready to serve!

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

• Dinner rolls or garlic bread

• Sauteed zucchini

• Fresh summer salad

• Loaded baked potatoes

• Pasta

Enjoy this herb-packed steak dish! If you try this recipe, let us know by tagging us on Instagram or Facebook.

Antibiotic Resistant Meat: Organic Grass Fed Beef Has Fewer Superbugs

Over the last decade, reports of superbugs (antibiotic-resistant bacteria) have become more commonplace and concerning. We know a primary driver of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is the overuse of antibiotics. Antibiotics are frequently used in humans for disease management when infection is suspected (or even just hormonal acne). The overuse of antibiotics extends to animals raised as livestock, and the consequence for this is transmission of superbugs to humans, through the meat of the animals.

Organic certification requires animals not be administered antibiotics, as antibiotics are routinely given to conventionally raised livestock animals. A new study highlights the difference in organic and conventional meats and contamination with multidrug-resistant bacteria.

Organic Meat Less Likely to Contain “Superbugs”

Saint John’s cows roam and eat in our organic pastures.

A study from the U.S. National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) found that conventionally produced meat samples were more than 400% as likely to have multidrug-resistant contamination compared to organically produced meat. The study covered a total of 39348 meat samples, and 1422 were found to be contaminated with at least one multidrug-resistant organism.

Contaminated meat is much more likely to contribute to food poisoning and serious illness in people who consume it. Because the meat contains drug-resistant bacteria, it can be challenging to treat illness with standard antibiotics, as they simply don’t work to clear the infection.

“The presence of pathogenic bacteria is worrisome in and of itself, considering the possible increased risk of contracting foodborne illness,” says senior author Meghan Davis, DVM, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Bloomberg School. “If infections turn out to be multidrug resistant, they can be more deadly and more costly to treat.”

An additional risk factor for whether meat is contaminated with drug-resistant bacteria is the type of processing facility used to process and package the meat. There are three main types of meat processors: organic, conventional, or split -- those that handle both organic and conventional meat. The study found that for conventional meats, those processed at conventional facilities were contaminated with bacteria one-third of the time, while conventional meat handled at a split facility was contaminated one-quarter of the time. The difference may be because disinfection of all equipment is required between batches of organic and conventional meats at split processing facilities. This increase in disinfection may result in lower contamination rates.

“How we raise animals matters,” says Davis. “As a veterinarian, I recognize that we sometimes need to use antibiotics to treat sick animals, but taking advantage of opportunities to reduce antibiotics use could benefit everyone. Consumer choice and regulatory oversight are two strategies to do this.”

Why Conventional Livestock Animals Are Given Antibiotics

Cows in a Caged Animal Feeding Operation are given routine antibiotics.

Preventative antibiotic administration is a matter of routine in much of the livestock industry, especially for beef. The overuse of antibiotics in conventional agriculture may be a major contributor to poor gut health in Americans and the development of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. Steroids are also commonly given to increase the rate animals grow in order to improve profit margins.

Antibiotics are routinely given in conventional livestock settings because the animals are largely in Caged Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). The animals’ environments are stressful and make them prone to disease, so antibiotics are given en masse to compensate for their unhealthy environment and a lack of nutritious diet. 

How to Avoid Drug Resistant Bacteria Contamination

The best way to avoid drug-resistant bacteria contamination is to choose organic certified meats. Keep in mind that USDA Organic is a needed step in the right direction but far from perfect.

Choosing small, local, organic farms is another way to avoid superbugs because small-scale farms are more likely to use small-scale meat processors that have less likelihood of contamination because of their smaller amount of volume. Talk to your farmer, look at their practices, and find out how they raise their animals and how the meat is processed and packaged.

Our certified organic, grass-fed and grass-finished beef is raised without antibiotics and given our utmost care and attention. Our cows are raised on diverse pasture grass, sunshine, and quality care, providing your family with a healthy protein source. Come see for yourself and taste the difference!

Farm Tours: Come Pet a Cow

Boy approaching cows at one of our farm tours.

We’re offering farm tours on the second Saturday of every month at 10 AM this year through October (and maybe November). Farm tours usually last until about noon. This is an opportunity for you to talk to us, your organic beef farmers, directly. It’s our pleasure to show you our farm and how we turned our land into a regenerative farm. Bring your questions!

Girls exploring the grasses at a farm tour.

What Happens at Farm Tours

We all meet at our family farm in Emmett. We spend some time walking through our pastures and explaining what it means to be an organic, 100% grass-fed and grass-finished beef farm. You will see the rich diversity of plants we grow for our cows to eat (hint: grass-fed, grass-finished beef aren’t eating only grass, there’s a variety grasses and legumes grown for maximum nutrient density) and how we rotate the cows through our pastures to maximize plant growth and health. You will be able to see the cows up close and ask us questions.

One of the joys we experience during farm tours is hearing the stories of how people have come to prioritize quality food as part of their unique healing journeys and maintaining health for their families. We open up discussion on matters of health and nutrition, and we all learn from each others’ knowledge and experience. Farm tours are a family-friendly event where you may also meet with like-minded people (often many interested in the work of the Weston A. Price Foundation).

What to Bring

To dress appropriately, check the weather in Emmett before you come, as it’s sometimes different from the Boise area. This time of year, we recommend bug spray (for mosquitoes), closed-toed shoes, long pants, a hat, and a water bottle. Our pastures are free of weeds and goat-heads, but on occasion the grasses can be tall and wet.

For parents with young children, we recommend a baby carrier over a stroller, unless you have a substantially rugged stroller. It’s not an overwhelming amount of walking, but some young children may tire.

Peter leading a farm tour group.

Scheduling Matters

Please RSVP on Facebook, email us at saintjohnsorganicfarm@gmail.com, or text Susan at (208) 477 - 3723.

It’s essential that you give as much notice as you can if you need to cancel your reservation. We keep group sizes small and often fill up quickly, so a timely cancellation allows someone else to come to the tour.

Our regular farm tours are on the second Saturday of every month, from 10 AM - noon. If you have a group and would like to set up another time for a farm tour, please get in touch with us, we are happy to make arrangements.

Beef at Farm Tours

Reserve bulk beef ahead of the tour, and we will have it ready for you to pick up when you’re here. Beef is also available for order after the tour.

We hope you’ll join us for a scenic walk through our well-kept pastures and fellowship with like-minded people!