The Taste of Freedom...

Once you enjoy the taste of freedom, there is no turning back...

Did you know you can taste the freedom of your food?

In Free-Range-Eggs you can taste it in the rich, sweet, creamy yolks.

In meat from animals that have been free to select which feeds to eat out on pasture, you can taste it in the juicy-flavor and the deep yellow fats that melt on your tongue.

In raw milk, you can taste that a dairy animal has been able to choose what is best to eat from moment to moment, in the velvety, yellow, sweet, cream.

In vegetables and fruits you can taste that a plant was able to take up whichever nutrients it felt it needed the most throughout the growing season.

The same goes for foods that were not raised with that freedom to wander, forage, and feed themselves out in the sunshine and fresh air unfortunately...

Once you taste Freedom Foods, raised by people you know, in a place you love, everything else suffers by comparison and nutrition. You can feel the difference in your daily life- for better or for worse.

This is why I get so excited about eating local in Wyoming.

Our local ecosystem here creates a short, but very sweet growing season that jam-packs so many nutrients into the Spring, Summer, and Fall and makes rich, nutrient-dense foods with flavor you will never experience purchasing food from a grocery store.

Many generic brands of meats and eggs claim to have free-range flocks and herds, but those same brands say things like "happy hens on 8 acres"... With an operation large enough to stock grocery stores around the country, 8 acres is a confinement operation...

Free-range as an industry standard means "access to the outdoors." Unfortunately, what this looks like in many cases is a small door, leading to an outdoor run that makes up less than 1/16th of the are of the large barn those animals are raised in.

So how do we avoid this nonsense and the false claims of freedom?

Know your farmer.

Ask them questions.

Know where your food comes from.

Buy local.

I talked about how to do these four things above a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't touched on the most important piece...

Cook for yourself in ways you will thoroughly enjoy!

The best way to make eating and living healthy the easiest option is to thoroughly enjoy it.

Do you remember the last time you went on a diet?

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The emphasis seems to always be on what you CAN'T have, rather than what you CAN.

I hate diets, and I unfortunately grew up in a diet culture, where I learned to restrict myself from a young age for the sake of how I looked to others. It was not a happy or healthy mindset, and I don't plan to ever be "on a diet" again.

What I have found over the past 10 years of soul-food-searching is that our bodies use cravings and discomfort to tell us what we need for optimal health and wellness through diet.

There was no experience that demonstrated this to me as blatantly as being pregnant.

My cravings became so strong for things I wasn't even able to eat for several years, that I just had to listen to them!

My diet changed drastically during pregnancy and I cut out ALL PROCESSED FOODS and I have never gone back.

I'm not the only one either, I have heard so many friends of mine tell the story of how food restrictions melted away when they cut out processed foods, seed oils, preservatives, and anything outside of pure food!

Once you make this transition, it actually becomes easier and cheaper to eat, if you have the right tools...

By that I mean kitchen tools, spices, foods, and Cook Books.

Online recipes and Cookbooks these days all use pre-made, ultra-processed ingredients for the sake of convenience.

I don't know about you, but I don't find feeling like absolute garbage all the time very convenient.

It really doesn't take much time at all to make things like crusts, sauce-bases, and condiments from scratch- if you have the right recipes, ingredients, and tools in your kitchen.

Here are my top five (technically 8) go-to cook books that talk about how to make things from scratch rather than using pre-made.

They all have sections on what to keep in your kitchen to make things super quick and easy, how to purchase and store unique foods that aren't staples in the American diet (but should be), and how to make things ahead to save you time when you are in a pinch!

-The Fannie Farmer Cookbook

-The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook

-Nourishing Traditions: ( this is actually a 3 book series)

-Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast

-The ones I am constantly writing and changing myself...

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My past CSA Members have loved the recipes I have shared, so I started keeping them all in a binder, and I have found that I actually reference this binder more than anything else. This is probably because I pull my favorite recipes from books, friends, family, and even the internet, and I change them to fit my from-scratch lifestyle.

Here is one of my go-to's:

​Home-Made Tortillas with Pastured Pork Lard​

This used to be pretty common- for past generations to accumulate and pass-down beloved recipes as they are prepared for families and friends and refined over the years, but only a couple people I know still do this now.

Why don't we write down, and refine, and share recipes anymore BJ?

Have you been lucky enough to inherit a family recipe box, folder, or book?

Chris's dad kept his mothers recipe book with all of her handwriting, and it is so neat to flip through and see the notes and anecdotes she wrote.

She passed away rather young, so Chris and his siblings never got to meet her, but reading that cookbook gives a small window into her world when she was on earth. I have always loved this, and I have started writing little notes and stories in my cookbooks ever since. I also have been building my own cookbooks to pass down and share.

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Here is one of them:

​Cooking Your Way Through a Whole Beef​

Do you have a folder of favorite recipes, or a cookbook that was passed down to you BJ?

Which cookbooks are your favorite go-to's?

I always love to hear about other people's cooking styles, preferences, and favorite recipes.

Reply to this email to share yours- I can't wait to hear about them!

Our first Spring Farm Club is well on its way!

It's not to late to join and select your in-season box of farm-fresh goods every week, every other week, or once a month.

Sign up this week, because all farm club members are going to get a free copy of Cooking Your Way Through a Whole Beef!

You can add-on awesome local items like extra steaks, sourdough bread, lamb, raw milk, farm-fresh eggs, ground beef, and more...

Don't miss out- we have 2 weeks left!!!!

​Reserve Your Weekly, Bi-Weekly, or Monthly Spring Farm Club Box HERE​

P.S. Farm Club Shares and Bulk Harvest Meat Shares are also open until

May 31st at 11:59 PM, or until they sell out!

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Until next week!

-BJ and the Taste of the Wind Crew