A Meatsmith Harvest

→ In this episode, Brandon asks Rachel and Kyle all his questions about sheep milking, sheep breeds, wool processing, minerals used for health, dewormer, and fencing for sheep. They also discuss sheep harvesting and how mutton is more nutritious and flavorful than lamb.   → Timestamps/Topics for Episode 111 0:00 Intro 1:02 How much milk can you expect when things are going well? 4:54 How long will...

In this episode, Brandon chats with sheep homesteaders Rachel & Kyle Hester about Romanian placinta cake, how the Hesters got into raw milk for health, sheep breeds for milking, how to start milking a meat sheep, what a milking session looks like, drinking the delicious milk, and making sheep cheeses.   Timestamps/Topics for Episode 110: 0:00 Intro 3:13 Romanian placinta cake 5:49 How the Hesters...

In this episode, we chat with Shawn and Beth Dougherty about offering liberty and experiences to homeschooled teenagers, why the Doughertys stayed in Appalachia, the Dougherty's house fire and rebuild, proximity to community as the next obstacle, starting with trash land and building up the soil, rotational grazing, turf grasses, and hay, our milking routine and dairy cow domestication, and the Do...

In this episode, we discussed small-scale vs. industrial-scale meat production, the ontological shift of food, the Dougherty's first dairy cow, a Catholic's view of suffering, the natural state of cows and humans, asking God what's next in the playbook, and how farming won't make you money.   Timestamps/Topics for Episode 108: 0:00 Intro & Ash Wednesday 2:40 Our upcoming classes - small-scale vs....

In this episode, we discuss how we treated Pertussis in our family with vitamin C, how there's no one person or group we turn to for health advice, and the power of nutrition.   Timestamps/Topics for Episode 107: 0:00 Intro & the paroxysmal stage of Pertussis 8:08 Staying up every night to get our baby through the paroxysmal stage 11:57 Vitamin C vs antibiotics 14:17 The paroxysmal cough & immunit...

In this episode, we chat about our new dairy cow, Georgie, adjusting our lives around milking her, why we age the beef for our harvest classes in the walk-in for 30 days, and then we finally get into the stages of Pertussis.   Timestamps/Topics for Episode 106: 0:00 Intro & our new dairy cow, Georgie 12:55 Difficulty of milking twice a day 16:03 Weight on a dairy cow & Georgie being so chill 22:24...

In this episode, we run the gamut from sharing health resources, pathologically delicious food vs real food, and palette formation to old food traditions and recipes. We answer the question: How important is fleeing the city and starting a homestead as a Christian family? Plus plenty of rabbit trails like the importance of the medieval pig, how conventional health is fear-based, how isolating in o...

In this episode, we chat about whole hog utilization, what we're teaching in the Family Pig II harvest class, the benefits of our online membership, and how, through real food, we take responsibility for ou r health and immunity.  Timestamps/Topics for Episode 104: 0:00 Intro & Family Pig II goodies 5:46 Whole hog utilization 8:19 Chitterlings: a digression 19:50 Things we're making & doing at the...

In this episode, we discuss the seeming contradiction of Pleasure, 'becoming goods', sensitive appetites vs. intellectual delights, the four ends of manual labor, how agriculture is particularly suited to these four ends, and the duties of our state in life.   Timestamps/Topics for Episode 103: 0:00 The seeming contradiction of Pleasure 7:47 Pleasurable flavor to feed the family well and in deligh...

In this episode, we chat about raising teenagers, weaponizing germ theory, our pertussis experience, our Spring harvest classes, and the Liturgy of the Land conference.   Timestamps/Topics for Episode 102: 0:00 Intro & raising teenagers 17:06 Germ theory 27:57 Pertussis experience 38:09 Family Pig & Family Lamb classes in Spring 44:02 The exceptional meals at our classes 48:12 Liturgy of the Land...

In this episode, Brandon and Ted Stiritz talk about the identity of a father, delighting in your children, humility, strengthing of the will, how to live the Good Life, and moving from the Particular to the Principle.    Timestamps/Topics for Episode 101: 0:00 Class announcements & organic feed 10:05 The identity of being a father & delighting in your children 24:50 Ted's first experience at Clear...

In this episode, Kelsey and Brandon chat about biodynamic agriculture, tradition, loss of culture, Kelsey's experience at our Foie Gras class with Backwater Foie Gras, growing regional grape varieties, wine in the Mass, the Protestant Reformation, differences between Protestants and Catholics, authority vs. power, and living in a nation of tyrants.   Timestamps/Topics for Episode 100: 0:00 Biodyna...

In this episode, Kelsey and Brandon chat about farming and processing livestock in urban California, wine culture in Europe vs. the US, Kelsey's Family Pig class experience, and his first solo pig slaughter.   Looking for more Meatsmith knowledge? Join our online membership or come to an in-person class: Hands-On Harvest Classes - Come to one of our harvest classes on our homestead in Oklahoma. We...

In this episode, Mark and Brandon chat more about smartphones, the value of mundane farm tasks, breeding Jersey milk cows and bulls, fencing for cows, and teaching folks (and your kids) to shoot pigs. Also, Mark wrote and performed a beautiful sonnet about shooting pigs for Brandon.   Looking for more Meatsmith knowledge? Join our online membership or come to an in-person class: Hands-On Harvest C...

In this episode, we chat about Mark's beginnings in farming and his experience as a dairyman, teaching children and preserving their innocence, and how smartphones are demonic.    Timestamps/Topics for Episode 97: 0:00 Intro to farmer Mark Wertin 8:27 Why did Mark start to grow food 11:10 Building in virtue as a dairyman 15:57 Livestock genetics & family units matter 30:33 Domesticated vs. wild an...

Agrarian Thomistic Philosophy with Dr Richard Meloche, Part 2 In this episode, we continue our conversation with Dr. Richard Meloche on the use of natural elements in liturgies, the epistemological benefits of rural living, the loss of imagination and unique individuals due to technology, encountering Resistance in reality, indifference, setting artificial limits, and the beauty of natural order....

In this episode, we chat about symbolism and learning through analogy, rational creatures participating in the eternal law, Reason in exchange for physical protection, and the Four Ends of Labor.  Announcements: Our Fall  Family Pig Harvest class will be September 12-14 . Join us to use just your hands (and a sharp knife) to turn two pigs into kitchen-sized pork cures, cuts, sausage, and charcuter...

In this episode, we chat about our new baby, our kids keeping the fast, Easter week, St Thomas Aquinas's 'all knowledge comes through the senses' and De Regno, and reason vs. instinct.  Announcements: Come to the last  3-Day Family Pig Harvest class of the season, May 16-18 , where   you will use only your hands to turn two pigs into kitchen-sized pork cures, cuts, sausage, and charcuterie. Spots...

In episode 93, we chat with Dr. Richard Meloche of the Alcuin Institute about the music in our home, Thomistic philosophy, 'coming to farming' for the food, the spiritual parfait of Grace and Nature, textual references to 'The Good Life,' and why the rural life is the best way to obtain the necessary bodily goods.   Announcements: Come to a  3-Day Family Pig Harvest class, April 25-27, May 2-4, or...

In this episode, we chat about affection for extraneous livestock, raising longhorns for our classes, how temperament is the most important thing with cows, harvesting a cow out of a ditch, culling fencing jumping cows (and their horns), and Wallace's Three Hearts Pilgrimage.    Announcements: Come to the  2-Day The Art of Foie Gras class in Louisiana this January 19-20 . You'll learn the art of g...

In this episode, we chat about the time of year to harvest pigs, the Mangalitza pig breed, our longhorn escapade, fast vs. slow stitch animals, and extraneous livestock.    Announcements: Come to the  2-Day The Art of Foie Gras class in Louisiana this January 19-20 . You'll learn the art of goose harvesting from Brandon and the art of gavage from Ross McKnight of Backwater Foie Gras. Spots are lim...

In this episode, we discussed farm tasks that build virtue, our upcoming The Art of Foie Gras class, farming as an art, the myth of "do what you love," what is the Good Life, the burden of abundance, foie gras as preservation, and horses and cows in our future.    Announcements: Come to the  2-Day The Art of Foie Gras class in Louisiana this January 19-20 . You'll learn the art of goose harvesting...

In this episode, we discuss the French monarchy, the difference between power and authority, the history of botulism (or lack thereof), Brandon's aversion to recipes, and our upcoming Art of Foie Gras class with Backwater Foie Gras in Louisiana.     Announcements: Come to the  2-Day The Art of Foie Gras class in Louisiana this January 19-20 . You'll learn the art of goose harvesting from Brandon a...

In this episode, we chat about Gregorian chant; what it is, how it's different from modern music, and how it impacts our lives.    Announcements: Support our podcast on  Patreon ! Production of each episode takes hours of work, filming, and editing. Becoming a patron can help us keep our episode quality high and allow us to continue filming. Become a patron today at  https://www.patreon.com/meatsm...

In this episode, we chat about the Assumption, our current virtue building, guilds & slaughterhouses of old, how our classes can get you off industrial meat, the meaning of culling, and rotational grazing on our farm. Announcements: Support our podcast on  Patreon ! Production of each episode takes hours of work, filming, and editing. Becoming a patron can help us keep our episode quality high and...