Not mine and most others' experience. Most people find that the more one cooks the meat, the more it turns into indigestible, blackened  leather-like material. By contrast, most of us find that lightly-cooked meat is much easier to digest.

 leather like? as soon as the meat is subjected to heat it becomes tough, but if it is slow cooked for a long time it starts to fall apart. It only will get tougher if you are cooking at too high a heat.

how humbling!

Well to be careful I would figure out which fish are the ones that go up river (stripe bass is the only one I know of) or the ones who hang out at the mouth of rivers and avoid those. Would take some research. You can get on a party boat and go 15 miles out or so, should be clean by then.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. I think that fish are afforded a certain amount of protection simply because they live in ocean brine. I am not sure but I wouldn't be surprised if even the most organic grass fed meats are no less contaminated from air pollution. I wouldn't be too worried about it, but that's me. But I would be a little bit worried about the species, cause certain kinds of ocean fish like to subsist on human fecal matter found at the mouth of rivers!

I'm not sure I have read many people talking about this subject on this forum. I think it is incredibly important.

All life came from the oceans. They are vast reserves of the brine that spawned life, compared to the limited life recourses us landlubbers have at our disposal. Our blood mineral composition is close to identical to ocean brine, as is the blood of all animals.

I have read the point made that oceanic fish are healthier and more vibrant than freshwater fish and that they are much less likely to succumb to disease. Also it is seldom argued that freshwater fish are healthier than sea fish. Sea foods are commonly referenced as being some of the healthiest of all foods.

Like I said, life was spawned in the oceans or rather, back then, "the ocean", as it could very well be looked at today. But it wasn't simply fungus, animals and plants evolving to live on land that caused the verdant land we have today, it was actually the migration of ocean life onto land, via transportation up river and the consumption there of by predators. I have read estimates that the volume of salmon in the US coming up river was equal in nutrient value to 1/3 the amount of chemical fertilizers used in the US every year.

And then! Couple that with the knowledge that millions of years ago (can't remember exactly when but after the dinosaurs died out), the earth supported 6 times the amount of biomass (life) on land than it does today.

Finally, one has to question the quality of the soil. Man isn't the only thing that is hard on soil. The other thing is time. If I remember correctly the Appalachian mountain range is the oldest in the world. It's been rained on for so long that the soil has inherited a low cation exchange. High cation exchange is what promotes the most verdant vegetative growth and in turn the healthiest, shiniest herbivores and predators that feed off of them.

Chemical fertilizer harms the soil in a similar way to time and rain, but it's more like 1000 times as fast!

Also, on another topic but worth mentioning. The age that we slaughter modern farmed animals is a very new thing, less than 100 years old. Beef used to be 4-5 years old. Porkers were raised to 400 pounds or more. The average chicken in a pot wasn't no spring chicken! It was a spent hen!
The greeks preference was for a 5 year old bull. Native Americans hunted the biggest, oldest bucks and bulls they could find. They ate the tough parts and it wasn't uncommon to leave behind the tender pieces of meat.



Just some chuck roast for y'all to grind up into hamburger and add to your personal diet dictionaries.

I think some of this stuff is key. Especially since man has such an intrinsic and historical relationship with the sea.

Chew on some high meat and stew on that one for a minute folks. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the next step to be taken for those diligent raw dieters to surpass the sound barrier in age prevention and reversal.

Personally all sorts of seafood are about my favorites.... though I might be saying that cause I haven't had hardly much in so long.

Of course microbes are contagious. Look at all the people who got mad cow disease when they were feeding cows beef in the UK.

Or how infections spread in hospitals.

Aajonous has some wild beliefs, and pushes them on to his readers, followers, etc. The fact is his opinions are wild, without merit, and have no documented scientific references to speak of.

I do think there's some merit (though little evidence) to support that infectious diseases spawn on their own and aren't necessarily caught from somewhere.

When you think about it, HIV, herpes, and all those other diseases are claimed to be transmitted, and only caught if you catch it from someone. But then how did the first person get it?

Mad cow disease is contagious through prions, not microbes. Even then, the only way they were able to "prove" that prions are contagious was by surgically implanting prions from a mad cow into a "non" mad cow. Also, cows eating cows or cows eating sheep etc. was not the cause of mad cow as the chemical companies would like you to believe, rather it is probably mainly caused by drench type "grubbers" that conventional farmers commonly use to keep grubs and flies off of cattle.

It depends on what product you want and how long you are willing to wait.
If I could get some pregnant ewes or ewes with lambs this spring, the lambs would be harvestable in the fall and winter. There will be goat meat. On grass to finish (marble) a steer on grass it takes 24-30 months. I could have all manner of poultry ready for summer and fall but I am just getting started so not sure where I am going to focus. I need a ready market for whatever I grow if I am to be successful. When you factor the cost of feeding even a small herd of cattle, the return must justify expense to make a profit.

My general thought is I like my meat more mature, more flavor. However for those who are not meat connoisseurs, or those who prefer rose veal or baby beef I will be raising dairy bull calves that could be harvested 4-12 months old. They would be fine for hamburger at a year. Good quality finished stakes takes 24-30 months, Big investment. Plus you have to feed mama and 3 calves if you are raising and finishing your own calfs. Long term turn around. I would love to get bigger into mama cows, but from where I stand they would basically have to be pre-sold for me to foot the bill. Dairy cows are much more handy for me because they have a much quicker return on investment and a paycheck throughout the bulk of the year.

Goats and sheep or dairy stocker bull calfs are a much better investment for myself to make at this point than mama cows because they pay for themselves the year you buy them. With Mama cows you have to wait 3 or 4 years to return on the investment and you need a buyer who will pay enough for the meat to pay to feed mama cow!

If there was a market for it, I would love to raise grass fed elk, red deer or fallow deer in the future.

I hope to do Muscovy ducks and guinea hens or turkeys as well and probably pigs too. Quail, rabbits, whatever.

There will be places to stay, I am hoping to perhaps have cross country skiing or horseback riding available there, as there is a nice trail. I am interested in doing an ice fishing business in winter.

Meat is big money these days you know?

the average cattle owner is 70 years old. Most of the old cattle fences are rotten and won't hold cattle anymore. There are less cows in the country today than any time since the 60's and cattle prices all last year were more than they ever were!

The average centenarian grew up on a farm and ate way better growing up than most people do now a days.

They might even have been eating higher quality meat than what people on this forum get, back then.

I have been meaning to write about it for a while, but what people called "beef" back then was totally different, even from modern grass fed beef and modern grain fed beef is like veal in comparison.

Sounds like another dedicated RPDer gearing up to "go down in a blaze of glory". Best of luck to you.

blaze of glory? more like delusions of grandeur!

[youtube]Why Cooked Food is Better Than Raw Food[/youtube]

This is annoying to me because currently I am in dire straits and I don't get very much choice in what I get to eat, though I have been eating "whole" foods... I really feel like shit, my teeth are starting to hurt. I am looking forward to being in a better situation where I can go back on an all raw diet.

I haven't experienced anything he claims about what a raw food diet is like... really pointing strongly to the idea that humans are naturally carnivores, at least from my perspective.

over fertilized plants are low in minerals so make up for the lack of rigidity with excess water.

I am moving back to NY, I will be working at a grass based dairy I have worked before. There is room for a lot of projects, I am open to raise any livestock, will be selling at local farmers markets.

This will be near the majestic Delaware river valley in the Catskill Mountains. About 2 hours from New York City.

It would be cool to have a helper and someone to eat with and hang or whatever. I got a Greenstar Juicer, want to be following the primal diet pretty closely.

I am going to be strip grazing the farmers cows. I want to work at helping the farmer go organic or grass fed, his farm is close to organic but he feeds large amount of feed : ( . He has 200 acres on the top of a mountain, over a hundred head of cattle.

This is a great wilderness area on the east coast and I know many many areas for foraging, hunting and farming, I have lived most of my life there.

Cheers!

I have three Jerseys, a Normande, a 3/4 jersey 1/4 holstein heifer and the prettiest calf is the daughter of that Normande and sired by an American Lineback, very big calf, kicks up her heels over her head almost every time she runs, gonna be a great cow.

I worked for 7 months at a pasture based dairy in upstate NY. They fed quite a bit of grain, but the environment was very harsh, I think I have very good genetics for grass fed dairy and it seems to be working out.

Will write more later.