Greetings!

Welcome to the first edition of West Wind Farms Newsletter! We will be sharing news from your farm and notifying you of upcoming schedules and events through these quarterly letters. We hope you will look forward to each one.

in this issue
	Good Gobbling! It's Almost Turkey Time! Virginia Learns About Organic at West Wind Farms Nutritional Benefits of Grassfed Ralph's Ruminations Why are West Wind Farms' Products Labeled That Way?

Virginia Learns About Organic at West Wind Farms

This August, ten Agricultural Extension Agents from Virginia came to Tennessee to visit with West Wind Farms and selected other successful sustainable agricultural operations in Tennessee. Hosted by the University of Tennessee, the agricultural agents were interested in learning about West Wind Farm's methods of organic livestock production and marketing. At the time of the visit, Virginia's confinement poultry houses were experiencing an outbreak of a highly contagious disease called Avian Influenza. Concentrated in enclosed living quarters, millions of birds were lost as a result of the disease. Is there ever a need for smaller, organic, grass-based farming!! We graciously declined an on-farm visit by the Virginia Extension Agents to protect our pastured flocks from the risk of disease. Instead, we spoke to the agents at a safe off-farm location about our grass-fed and certified organic beef cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, chickens and turkeys. The breakout of disease in Virginia's poultry confinement houses was an interesting contrast to West Wind Farms' production methods. We discussed the importance of raising small groups of animals on organic pasture, for the health of both the animals and the people who consume the meats. The agents seemed to be quite interested. Who knows...a few organic converts may even have been made!! Information gathered was taken back to Virginia to help Virginia farmers develop sustainable farming alternatives. West Wind Farms has been organic since the farm was started 7 years ago, and certified organic for over a year now. West Wind Farms remains the only farm- raised certified organic livestock and poultry meat in Tennessee - organic, locally grown, biodynamic, grassfed, healthy and humane. Read on... »

Nutritional Benefits of Grassfed

Although low in total fat, meat and dairy products from grassfed ruminants are the richest known source of a good fat called "conjugated linoleic acid" or CLA. When ruminants are raised on fresh pasture alone, their products contain from three to five times more CLA than products from animals fed conventional diets. CLA may be one of our most potent defenses against cancer. In laboratory animals, a very small percentage of CLA --- a mere 0.1 percent of total calories --- greatly reduced tumor growth. There is new evidence that CLA may also reduce cancer risk in humans. In a Finnish study, women who had the highest levels of CLA in their diet, had a 60 percent lower risk of breast cancer than those with the lowest levels. Switching from grainfed to grassfed meat and dairy products places women in this lowest risk category. Researcher Tilak Dhiman from Utah State University estimates that you may be able to lower your risk of cancer simply by eating the following grassfed products each day: one glass of whole milk, one ounce of cheese, and one serving of meat. You would have to eat five times that amount of grainfed meat and dairy products to get the same level of protection. Whereas CLA is highest in products from grazing animals (cattle, sheep and goats) on a diet of fresh pasture, turkeys also appear to have about 2.5 mg of CLA per gram of fat. To date, no one has tested the CLA content of turkeys raised on pasture rather than in confinement, but it is possible that turkeys with a significant amount of greens in their diet will have even more CLA. (Chin, S. F. e. a. (1992). "Dietary Sources of Conjugated Dienoic Isomers of Linoleic Acid, a Newly Recognized Class of Anticarcinogens). Zoologists studying wild turkeys found that "the youngsters instinctively peck at moving things - which are usually protein-rich bugs or larvae." While adult turkeys "prefer grass and other plant leaves, along with berries and bugs." West Wind Farms' pastured turkeys have a grass-based diet very similar to wild turkeys. And organic too! (Article excerpted from Jo Robinson's writings at www.eatwild.com) Nutritional Benefits »

Ralph's Ruminations

One thing I really appreciate about living in a rural landscape, and working a farm in particular, is the intimate connection I have with the natural world and exposure to the natural order of life. It is refreshing to be surrounded by things that I have not contrived - things I learn to deal with but cannot control. The weather, the pasture and forest ecology, and the timing of seasons and events all remind me that I am only a steward of my surroundings, not its master. One event that brought this concept to life recently was the farrowing of a litter of piglets. I was tending the sows and gilts one morning last week and decided to check on a sow that had started to nest in one of the Port-a-Huts in the lower pasture. I peeked inside and saw a lone piglet with his momma, who was lying quietly on the floor. I got closer to see how the piglet was faring, and about that time, another piglet came popping out. I wiped his nose off so that he could breathe, and after a couple of seconds, he grunted and started to squirm. In a moment, he was walking around, looking for breakfast. Eleven brothers and sisters followed shortly after, each in a similar manner. From a still and quiet wet blob, to energetic and noisy little pig. The hut was full of high- pitched sqeaks, squeals, and grunts, plus the sow's verbalizations to her new babies. What a picture of life! Not all of those piglets lived through the first day. Things happen. Momma doesn't watch where she puts her feet, or some babies just don't seem to have a bright spark of life in them. But death naturally follows life and is a part of the same circle. That's the way God made us - we don't write the rules in this game. But while we are here we have great opportunity to grow and to share the richness of life with each other. Hopefully what we do here in Deer Lodge will help to enrichen your life. God certainly blesses us while we try.

Why are West Wind Farms' Products Labeled That Way?

Product labels can be confusing. A customer of West Wind Farms noted that our chickens were labeled "Mid- Missouri Poultry Processing" and "Processed for West Wind Farms". Does this mean the chickens were produced by someone other than West Wind Farms? No! All meat and poultry sold by West Wind Farms is raised by us on our farm. Mid-Missouri Poultry Processing is simply the USDA-inspected butcher. For those of you who are long-time customers, you will recall we once butchered our poultry ourselves on our farm. We did this poultry processing under a regulatory exemption from USDA inspection. This on-farm processing exemption is no longer available to farmers in Tennessee. West Wind Farms must now have its poultry processed at a USDA-inspected facility. The USDA-inspected processor is required by law to label each meat or poultry product with its contact information, e.g. "Mid-Missouri Poultry Processing, (address)". West Wind Farms voluntarily requests the label also state, "Processed for West Wind Farms" to maintain the identity and integrity of our poultry. This additional labeling assures you of the products' origin - West Wind Farms. Do you have a question for West Wind Farms? Send us a line by email, and we will try to address it in our future newsletters.