The Weblog

This page contains news, event information, and other items added by Ian and Adam, the resident farmers at Old 99. We send out a message every week, but most are set with a delete date about two weeks later. I archive some of the posts if they have content other than weekly availability of produce and meat.

You can send me questions too, which if they are of a general nature, I can post to this Old99 blog.



 
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Food and Nutrition Papers, Advice


Every so often I get several leads to article and research paper reviews on nutrition that I believe should be shared.
Here’s a few, with some excerpts.

Dr Paul Marik on spike protein, covid, recovery
Excerpts
- The first thing is to avoid being spiked. If you’ve been vaccinated, don’t get boosters. You want to further limit exposure to spike, no more jabs. Secondly, if you get Covid, you want to be treated early, because the longer you allow it to linger, the more spike protein. That’s just a basic common sense principle.
- Getting back to spike, it’s essential that people change their diet. You don’t have to do strict intermittent fasting like I do, where you eat within a six to eight hour window, and then the rest of the time you don’t eat.
- In fact, there’s no human requirement to eat carbohydrates. Unlike proteins and fats which you need, humans can survive without carbohydrates. If you have a diet which is low in carbohydrates or has no carbohydrates, you’re going to start making ketone bodies. Both the brain and the body use ketone bodies as a source of energy. Instead of using glucose, you use ketones.
- There’s nothing wrong with saturated fat. In fact, there was a really good paper in the Lancet, this ivory tower journal. They’ve looked epidemiologically and found that the more fat you eat, the lower your risk of cardiac disease. It’s not saturated fat that’s the enemy. It is these polyunsaturated, synthetic, manufactured vegetable oils. The use of soy vegetable oil in this country has gone up exponentially, in terms of tons.
- Eggs are wonderful. They are one of the most nutritious sources of nutrient-dense food, and eggs do not increase your cholesterol. Maybe it does if you have 30 or 40 eggs a day, but one or two eggs a day is perfectly fine. It’s a highly dense, nutritional food.

Dr Robert Malone on avoiding processed foods, and traces of atrazine, widely used herbicide
Excerpt: Advice for healthy living:

  1. If you use a commercial lawn service that sprays conventional herbicides, please fire them.
  2. Buy organic produce.
  3. Buy grass fed meats (local if possible). Talk to the farmer about what sprays they use and how often.
  4. Buy organic eggs.
  5. Use “green” products when cleaning your house. Soap and water will take care of most cleaning needs.
  6. Buy organic grains, legumes and nuts. Think about investing in a bread maker or find a local bakery/grocery store that uses organic flours.
  7. Consider eating less simple carbs (sugar, flour, etc). Unfortunately, sugar cane is another crop where atrazine is used extensively.
  8. Be mindful about what you put in your body and of course, avoid ulta-processed foods!
  9. Finally, find out if atrazine is being used in your local community. Local parks, playgrounds, school grounds. Start by calling your parks service (city, county) and find out. Our children should not be walking or playing on turf that has been sprayed with this toxic brew. We can impact our local communities more than we think!

‘A Midwestern Doctor’ writing under a pseudonym on how to choose a correct diet to follow, “Diet, Food Craving and Weight Loss”.

Excerpts: I attempted to establish the scope of the problem we are facing. Diabetes and obesity are continuously growing epidemics in the country. The intense cravings we experience for these foods and the lack of nutritional authorities we can look to for advice (as most of them are bought out by the food industry) make this problem remarkably difficult to handle.
I believe there are a few dietary facts you can state with relative certainty:

•Regularly eating high fructose corn syrup will cause you to gain weight.

•The less processed foods you eat, the healthier you will be.

•Foods grown on remineralized soil, while difficult to find, are much better for restoring
vitality.

•Quality of ingredients matters, and you should shoot for fresher foods that are produced
in a healthy way (i.e., as naturally as possible). This is especially important for animal
products.

•Properly purified water is essential for health and well-being (I personally endorse
reverse osmosis water filtration).

•It is essential to eat in a non-stressful environment and if possible, to be focused on
eating rather than some intellectual task.

•Many digestive and nutritional issues (especially as you age) arise from deficient stomach
acid and sometimes deficient digestive enzymes.

•Once you have had enough not longer to feel hungry, don’t eat more (unless you are already
malnourished).

•Low glycemic index foods (carbohydrates that don’t rapidly dump sugar into your
bloodstream) are better for you.

•Avoid eating before bed. Eating before bed can increase the amount of time you need to
sleep and the likelihood of gaining weight from eating. Extending this to intermittent
fasting (e.g., one meal per day) typically provides additional benefits.

Old99 Farm week of June 18 2023


First a few pictures

Here’s Kendra and Steve weeding the 4 60 ft rows of onions today

Here’s a sirloin steak being bbq’d by me, Old 99 grass fed Lineback beef.

Yes there is still room in the summer harvest basket CSA plan. $32/week for 8 to 10 vegetables and a dozen eggs. Sign up here.

Crops this week: Tokyo Bekana chinese cabbage, beets, green onions, baby fennel, green garlic and scapes, baby lettuce mix, rhubarb, asparagus, carrots, collards, cabbage collards, leeks, and herbs. Surf to the online store here to place your order. Store pick up Thurs 4 to 6 or by arrangement.

Healthy eating,
Ian, Cami and Adam

Old 99 Farm, week of June 12 2023


Summer Harvest Basket starts this week. You can still sign up for the full 20 weeks.
The summer season is flush with new crops fresh from the greenhouse. 8 to 10 items each week with options for 2 of those, and an exchange table. The summer basket will start June 13 week till Nov 7th week and cost $31.95 a week, times 20 weeks (or 10 weeks if bi-weekly) This year we are offering one size of basket, a little more choice and you have a bi-weekly option. Our basket typically contains 8 to 10 different organic vegetables that are freshly harvested and in season. You can choose to pick it up every week or every 2 weeks (bi-weekly).
Here is one regular customer at our store stand last week

Surf to the online store here to place your order. Store pick up Thurs 4 to 6 or by arrangement.

New this week: Tokyo Bekana chinese cabbage, beets, green onions, baby fennel, green garlic.
Lots of lettuce, other greens and roots.

Here’s an excellent essay investigating the confusion around diet, food cravings and weight loss
The medical doctor who authored the paper says “I commonly observe that processed foods make individuals feel dead inside. Since their nervous system is deadened, it becomes much more difficult for them to experience the subtleties in life that are often where our deepest joys and meanings in life originate from.”

He’s not the pill-pushing sort of MD and questions a lot of the sacred cows in modern nutrition, hence he writes under a pseudonym.

Healthy eating,
Ian Cami and Adam.

Old 99 Farm, week of June5 2023


Summer Harvest Basket starts this week. You can sign up for the summer basket will start June 13 week till Nov 7th week and cost $31.95 a week, times 20 weeks (or 10 weeks if bi-weekly).
The whole post from our virtual farm market is reposted below.

It’s haying season and we would love some help with our small acreage. If you can come out for an hour or two on Friday or Saturday, all will go smoothly. Pls send a reply to old99farm2015@gmail.com saying you’re available and times. I’ll confirm.

This week we add beets to the crop list. Head and leaf lettuce, carrots, herbs and more. Still have asparagus and rhubarb. Surf to the online store here to place your order. Store pick up Thurs 4 to 6 or by arrangement.

We have our two Tamworth pigs back from the butcher, in the freezers. Lots of choice including spicey Italian sausage.

Healthy eating,
Ian, Cami and Adam

The summer season is flush with new crops fresh from the greenhouse. 8 to 10 items each week with options for 2 of those, and an exchange table. The summer basket will start June 13 week till Nov 7th week and cost $31.95 a week, times 20 weeks (or 10 weeks if bi-weekly) This year we are offering one size of basket, a little more choice and you have a bi-weekly option. Our basket typically contains 8 to 10 different organic vegetables that are freshly harvested and in season. You can choose to pick it up every week or every 2 weeks (bi-weekly). With the bi-weekly basket you will get 10 pickups/deliveries, scheduled on alternative weeks. Delivery is new for us, beta-testing so to speak. We think we can do it for $15 a week within 10km radius from the farm. If you want delivery, add $15 to the basket x number of weeks (5 or 10).
Another change for this year: vegetables are not pre-boxed. Members make up their own basket by following a blackboard list with the basket contents, and making their choices. We also provide an exchange box where you can trade unwanted items. Please bring your own bags or boxes! Our vegetable basket is a great way to reduce packaging and waste. Here are examples of what the baskets might look like at different times during the summer season.

Early: 1 head lettuce, 250 g salad mix, 1 bunch scallions, 1 bunch garlic scapes, 1 bunch turnips, 1 bunch radish, 1 bunch beets OR Tokyo Bekana mustard, 1 bunch parsley OR arugula.

Mid Summer: 1 herb choice: dill, basil, cilantro, 1 choice between: fennel, celery, cabbage, 1 bunch carrots, 1 pint cherry tomatoes, 1 bulb fresh garlic, 2 cucumbers, 2 eggplants OR 1 bunch beets, 1 quart onions, 1 quart tomatoes, lettuce.

Late Summer: 1 head lettuce, 3 red peppers, 1 kg carrots, 1 bulb garlic, 1 bunch leeks, 1 quart tomatoes, 1 celeriac OR turnips, 1 butternut squash, 1 herb choice: hot peppers, sage, thyme

Old 99 Farm week of May 28 2023


I’m posting in the online store our offering of seedlings for vegetable gardens at home. Some interesting varieties you might not find elsewhere, especially tomatoes.

Vegetable selection remains about 25 items including herbs like parsley, sage, lovage.

I keep plugging the weekly harvest basket summer season starts June 13 week. I’ve taken all the advice: not too much, emphasis on standard familiar crops, flexible choices. Sign up in the locallygrown.net virtual market. You’ll see the list of typical crops listed there, early, mid and late season.

Surf to the online store here to place your order. Store pick up Thurs 4 to 6 or by arrangement.

Healthy eating
Ian and Cami

Old99 farm week of May 21 2023


Yes we’re here with lots of fresh picked vegetables for you. From winter leeks to new crop carrots and collards, lots of asia greens and lettuces. A dozen different herbs, asparagus and rhubarb too.

Surf to the online store here to place your order. Store pick up Thurs 4 to 6 or by arrangement.

June 13 week is start of summer CSA Harvest Basket. Please sign up here in Locallygrown and tell your neighbours.

Healthy eating
Ian and Cami

Old99 Farm, week of May13 2023


Quick reminder, we have 400 sq ft of greenhouse space filled with greens, roots, and on top, we have lots of asparagus and rhubarb!

Surf to the online store here to place your order. Store pick up Thurs 4 to 6 or by arrangement.

Healthy eating
Ian and Cami

Old 99 Farm week of May 6 2023


Thank you to several readers who commented about the post last week alerting you to Robert Lustig, MD, being interviewed on The Great Simplification/Nate Hagens.

Topic was food and health.

Lustig was asked what was his advice to avoid chronic, ie recurring illnesses. He said it in three words: Eat Real Food.

That’s why I do what I do.

We have lots of fresh greens, some roots and a stem (asparagus)!

Surf to the online store here to place your order. Store pick up Thurs 4 to 6 or by arrangement.

Here’s another essay I commend to people from the blog site of Ugo Bardi, Prof of Chemistry in Italy.
“the future is not a single path toward catastrophe. It is a garden of forking paths. We are bound to follow one of these paths: we don’t know which one yet, but not all of them lead to the Seneca Cliff. In the transition to a renewable energy system, we can adapt, reduce demand, improve efficiency, deploy new technologies, and simply be happy with a more limited supply of energy. It is only the rigidity of our mental models that make us think that there are no alternatives to fossil fuels.”

Healthy Eating!
Ian and Cami

Old 99 Farm week of Apr 30 and metabolic syndrome


It’s wednesday evening, almost not relevant to send a reminder to y’all about our fresh picked veggies, which now includes rhubarb and asparagus.
Suffice to say, there’s 20 different greens, for cooking and salads, lots of flavours.

Surf to the online store here to place your order. Store pick up Thurs 4 to 6 or by arrangement.

But more interesting, you should really have a listen to this kitchen table explanation by Dr Robert Lustig (UCLA credentials) on metabolic disorder. What’s that? That’s the precusor to adult onset diabetes, kidney disorder, overweightness, and much more. It’s about the food we eat or rather, don’t eat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=onVqjZOYlQs

Dr. Robert Lustig joins Nate Hagens to dive into the metabolism of the micro level of human systems – the humans ourselves. Over the last century, accompanying the transformation of our energy systems, our food and consumption patterns have been massively transformed. One of the biggest areas of change is the dramatic increase in sugar consumption. But are our bodies adapted to eating such high sugar, processed foods? What are the health effects connected to this way of eating?

Eat healthy,
Ian and Cami

Post-Doom, No Gloom big picture on Climate Crisis


It’s really not a climate crisis, it’s an overshoot and bottleneck predicament facing the human race.
If you’re looking for some perspective on this, (60% of American youth are distressed by it) look no further.

Michael Dowd* will be delivering a live Zoom presentation this Wednesday, May 3rd at 10:30am PDT / 1:30pm EDT for the Canadian Association for the Club of Rome (CACOR): https://canadiancor.com/

All are welcome to join!

Here’s the info and Zoom link…
____________________________

Topic: The Big Picture: Beyond Hope and Fear – with Michael Dowd

Date and Time: Wednesday, May 3, 2023 1:30pm EDT / 10:30am PDT

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 893 5478 3674
Passcode: 543421

Summary:

No one needs convincing that we are living in an age of chaos and breakdowns. Even those without an ecological understanding of history feel the stress. How do we cope? How can we escape the seesaw of hope and fear? And, crucially, how can we be of support to others who are confused, angry, depressed, or filled with fear, blame, or guilt?

*Dowd is an American progressive Christian minister, author, and eco-theologian known as an advocate of Big History, religious naturalism, sustainability, climate activism, and the epic of evolution.[wikipedia]
I know him personally and applaud his attempt to get people of any faith/nonfaith tradition to wake up to our global predicament.