Old Dogs, Old Tricks
Edmund went away for a long weekend, which meant I was on livestock duty and also that the animals weren’t on their best behavior. On Friday I was drinking my...
Garth Brown |
Blog
Old Dogs, Old Tricks
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Whiskey Mold and the Problems of Scale
When an alcoholic spirit is aged in a wood barrel, an interesting process takes place. Because wood is porous, over time a small amount of the liquid inside a barrel...
Garth Brown |
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Super Pigs are the New Murder Hornets
I read a recent report about Canadian super pigs with great interest. They sound pretty intimidating — a result of hybridization between wild boar and domestic pigs, these porkers are...
Garth Brown |
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The Difference Between Diet and Exercise
A couple days ago Alanna and I were discussing an interesting difference between diet and exercise. While people certainly have opinions about exercise, there seems to be noticeably less emotion...
Garth Brown |
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Why One Farm Shouldn't Raise a Million Pigs
What do you call a farm this is bigger than a factory farm? A mega farm? For years now pork producers in China have been building production units that resemble...
Garth Brown |
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Kabocha Squash Gratin
I love a good winter winter squash, but I don’t have many go-to recipes other than roasting one or making soup. For kabocha squash, however, neither of these is ideal....
Garth Brown |
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Grass Fed Beef, Hay Fed Beef
When it comes to grass fed beef, one major source of confusion is the role of hay. If grass fed cows should only eat grass, what’s this hay stuff? How...
Garth Brown |
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Sous Vide Chuck Steak
Clarifying a confusing topic On paper it sounds perfect. The chuck is one of the most flavorful cuts of beef out there, which is why it makes such great pot...
Garth Brown |
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Why I Don't Believe in Believer Meat
I sometimes imagine myself a few years in the future, standing in Price Chopper looking at a full display case of lab grown meat. In this vision I am shaking...
Garth Brown |
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What Dogs Think and Feel
In a tragedy that could have been far more tragic, our dog Oban was hit by a truck earlier this month. He was unconscious for five minutes, and he also...
Garth Brown |
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Do Purple Potatoes Taste Different?
A Scientific Inquiry Taste is a funny thing. Wine poured from bottles with fancy labels tastes better than the same wine poured from drabber bottles. (The drinkers must see the...
Garth Brown |
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Snowbound
“Travel may be very difficult or impossible,” the bulletin said as a gray front of clouds rolled in, with as much as 16” of snow in the forecast. By the...
Garth Brown |
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Live Wires
If you haven’t been paying attention to what’s happening in artificial intelligence, now would be a good time to start. While I remain a skeptic of the idea that we...
Garth Brown |
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The Big Question for Small Farms
I’ve noticed that when we (meaning farmers like me) argue for the merits of small farms we do it by pointing out the failures of the industrial food system. From...
Garth Brown |
