Elderberry Syrup's Many Benefits

Winter sure came fast this year and, with it, an early cold and flu season.  There is a folk remedy making a recent comeback that may make this year’s sniffles the easiest to conquer yet.  Dating back to Roman times, elderberry syrup has traditionally been used to improve health and promote longevity.  Over the past ten years, various studies have been undertaken to explore these benefits; their findings show great promise. 

 

Ripe elderberries ready for harvest.

Native to Wisconsin, elderberries contain very high levels of the antioxidant, anthocyanin, giving elderberries an oxygen radical absorbance capacity score double that of blueberries.  When absorbed into the blood vessels’ inner membranes, anthocyanin decreases inflammation, improving circulation and decreasing heart disease and stroke risk.

Perhaps elderberry’s most well-known attribute is its ability to ward off viruses.  This comes through the action of a potent antiviral component, antivirin, which affects the properties of viruses, preventing them from entering cells in order to replicate. Add to that more naturally-occurring Vitamin C than oranges, and elderberry syrup defeats the common cold with a one-two punch.

While many Americans are first learning of elderberry’s benefits, people around the globe have been enjoying the effects of elderberry extract for decades.  Because of its immune-stimulating effects, Israeli hospitals use elderberry syrup in treating cancer and AIDS patients.  Studies in Austria revealed that elderberry extract reduced oxidation of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol.  When elderberry syrup was given to patients during a 1993 outbreak of H1N1 flu virus in Panama, 90% were symptom-free within 2-3 days.

The recommended dose for elderberry syrup when treating flu symptoms, and the one commonly used in studies, is one tablespoon four times per day for 3-5 days.  Children can also benefit from taking elderberry syrup; their recommended dose is one tablespoon twice daily for three days.  The syrup can be taken straight from a spoon, mixed with hot water to make a tea, or even blended into smoothies. 

At Morning Star Family Farm in Hartford, Wisconsin, we not only grow elderberries without chemicals, pesticides, or herbicides, we also handcraft our own elderberry syrup.  Available at the farm and at limited local stores, our syrup is as delicious as it is immune-stimulating.  It is one more way we provide a link from our farm to your table.

Merry Christmas!

The Christmas season is fast approaching.  During this special time of the year we seek to prepare our hearts to celebrate the beautiful feast.  Often, however, we find ourselves distracted by other obligations.  If it isn’t shopping for the perfect gift for a loved one, it is time spent fretting about the special meals that must be prepared.  

Here are some suggestions to help keep Christmas preparations from taking over.

1. Delegate.  If you are hosting a big dinner this year, start asking the other families you have invited to bring a dessert or side dish.  Your bachelor brother doesn’t cook?  That’s alright; ask him to bring a package of dinner rolls or a bottle of wine.

2. Try one-stop shopping.  No, not at the big box store.  Bring a little extra meaning to your gifts this year and support local artisans at the same time.  The Milwaukee County Winter Farmers’ Market is held at the Mitchell Park Domes every Saturday from November until April.  With selections ranging from freshly made cheeses to seasonal flavors of kombucha and all points in between, you are sure to find something for everyone on your list.  While you are there, be sure to pick up something special for Christmas dinner.  How about a leg of lamb this year, or maybe a more traditional, but still locally grown, ham? 

3. Stop and savor the season.  Fix some hot cocoa, turn on a little Christmas music, and enjoy the Christmas lights with someone you love.  Spend time with those old friends you haven’t seen for a while.  Above all, remember to celebrate the real reason for the season and share the love of the Christ Child with one and all.

Merry Christmas from all of us at Morning Star Family Farm.

NuGenesis: Beacon of Hope in a Nutritional Wasteland

You are what you eat.  That old adage gets a lot of press these days, as a new generation discovers the truth of the statement.   Every morsel we eat truly is assimilated into our bodies and helps to determine our level of health or disease.  Take trans fats as one example.  Famous for their presence in most fast foods, trans fats are those bad fats that are formed when otherwise good fats are heated excessively or are hydrogenated and changed on a molecular level.  When we eat these trans fats, our bodies, trusting as they are, believe that they are food and use them to build our cell membranes, the outer covering present on each of our cells. 

Black raspberries, a local superfood,
growing at Morning Star Family Farm

Cell membranes are a very important part of our cells, because it is through the cell membrane that nutrients enter the cell and waste products are removed.  Replacing good, functional cell membranes with ones made from trans fats is a little like replacing our city garbage men with crash dummies.  They might look a little like the real thing, but there won’t be any garbage removed any time soon.  Can you imagine the pile of trash that would pile up if the garbage men stopped coming around?  It wouldn’t take long before all of garbage would build up and lead to the spread of disease.  This concept works in a similar fashion at the cellular level; leave waste products inside of cells and people start feeling sluggish and become more prone to autoimmune diseases and cancer. 

Educating the next generation of
eaters is one of NuGenesis' objectives.

If just one aspect of our standard American diets, trans fats, is so bad for us, what else lurks out there that we need to avoid?  More importantly, what superfoods can we eat in order to help reverse the effects of the junk we may have taken into our bodies leading up to this point?  Enter NuGenesis, a non-profit organization based in Oconomowoc dedicated to educating the public on how to choose, grow, and cook whole foods.  From their website: “Founded in 2010 by three-time cancer survivor Kathy Bero, NuGenesis helps you prevent disease, support your body through a chronic illness and prevent recurrence through the food you choose to eat.”  At Morning Star Family Farm, we are proud to have been a part of the 2014 NuGenesis Harvest for Your Health.  We encourage you to learn more about NuGenesis and consider supporting their mission of education about superfoods that come from our farm to your table.

Read more at: www.nugenesis.com and www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/the-skinny-on-fats/

Discovering Kombucha

There is a refreshing drink out there that has been enjoying a surge of popularity among the health-conscious crowd.  It is kombucha.  A fermented, non-alcoholic tea, kombucha provides detoxifying benefits while quenching thirst. However, the drink hasn't always been well known.

As the story goes, there were two industrial towns in Russia on opposite sides of the same polluted river.  One town had a cancer rate significantly higher than the general population, while the other town did not.  Medical researchers were sent to interview residents of the two towns in an attempt to identify what lifestyle or diet choices may have caused such a variance.  

When the researchers entered the homes on the low-cancer side of the river, they often saw multiple odd-looking jars in the kitchen.  Upon inquiry, they learned that these jars were filled with kombucha, a drink which had been passed down by their ancestors and which was drunk on a daily basis by the residents of the town.

Rich in probiotics and enzymes,
our Kombucha is also
a delicious, refreshing drink

After hearing this story, our family began brewing kombucha for our own consumption.  Imagine our surprise that something with health benefits actually tastes good!  That was over a decade ago.   Now we produce kombucha for sale to our customers.  

Kombucha Soda is a healthy alternative
to regular soda.  Try Root Beer,
Ginger Beer, or Rye Kvass Kombucha Soda

We begin our kombucha with filtered water, organic tea, and organic cane sugar; then we add kombucha from a previous batch and a ‘scoby’, a patty of good bacteria and yeasts that will culture the tea.  When the fermentation is complete, most of the sugar and tea components, including caffeine, will have been consumed by the culture, leaving behind what is now called kombucha tea.  In the case of our flavored kombucha drinks, it is at this point that we add ingredients like organic ginger and strawberries, plus a touch of raw local honey, creating a taste sensation worth exploring.

Visit us at the market or at the farm
to give our kombucha drinks a try.

Our kombucha is available in several flavors at our farm, Good Harvest Market in Waukesha, and Health Hut in Brookfield, as well as at several local farmers’ markets.  Give it a try.  We think you’ll be as happy to discover kombucha as we were. 

Dog Days on the Farm

The dog days of summer are upon us, with hot, humid days and breezeless nights.  That term, dog days, is intriguing and, for me, brings about images of dogs, panting in the August heat.  Why did this uncomfortable season get linked with our canine friends?  It is during the summer months that our dog works the hardest here at Morning Star Family Farm. 

  

In conventional livestock farming, especially for chicken and pork production, keeping animals indoors 24/7 is standard procedure.  Among other things, this practice provides protection of the animals from predators.  When following the pasture-based model, as we do, decreasing predator pressure is a full-time job.  Who better than a dog to meet the challenge?

Rex is our resident guard dog.  While not a professionally trained livestock guardian dog, he still works hard to keep predators in the woods and out of our pastures.  Born on a farm and raised around the many species of livestock that we have, Rex has a keen sense of friend and foe when it comes to animals.  In addition, his very presence and scent helps to keep potential problem animals at bay.

 So, if dogs are so helpful, why do the hottest days of summer seem to be blamed on them?  According to Wikipedia, it has little to do with animals at all.  Apparently, the phrase “dog days of summer” has its origin in ancient times, in the nighttime sky.  Sirius, the dog star, would rise during the same time that weather would turn sultry.  Changes in the heavens have affected this correlation, but the name has stuck. 

This is good news for Rex and all of the other hardworking guard dogs out there, as it means that they are off the hook and free to go about their business of protecting livestock.  That is Rex’s part in helping us to get tasty, local foods from our farm to your table.

Starting Them Young

Selling our organic-fed meats and eggs at various farmers’ markets, we get to meet our customers face-to-face.  Lately we’ve noticed a trend among them.  Many young parents are actively seeking naturally-grown meats, eggs, and produce in order to give their little ones the best start in life.  Starting young is important, both for growing healthy bodies and for developing healthy habits.  We instituted our summer camps in an effort to help these attentive parents fulfill their desire to instill in their children an appreciation for wholesome food and ecologically-sound farming.  

Held in mid-June, our Farm Workers’ Day Camp gives 10-14 year olds a chance to try out life as a farmer.  Over the course of a week, the kids are given a taste of all of the jobs on the farm, from moving chickens to feeding calves.  It is our goal that they will come away from the experience with a realistic picture of what farmers do to grow the food they eat each day.

A little later in the summer, on the second Monday of July, 5-9 year olds assemble at the farm for their one-day Farm Explorers’ Day Camp.  These kids get to help collect eggs, pick garden vegetables, play with baby chicks, and feed the livestock.  They experience first-hand why animals are happier and healthier when they live outside in the fresh air and sunshine.

A little bit of education can go a long way towards improving the chances of today’s healthy food choices becoming lifelong habits.  If you’d like more information about our camps, please contact us through our website.  We’ll be happy to help your children or grandchildren see firsthand the connection between our farm and your table.

Hope springs eternal.  After a long, cold winter like we just experienced, those words ring true more than ever.  We hope that the blustery winds and deep snowdrifts will fade into distant memories, and they do—spurred on by new leaves on the trees, and sales at the local garden center.  Who can resist spring, with its promise of new life?  Just planting a row of lettuce seeds, then seeing those tiny seedlings lifting their heads out of the soil, is gratifying enough to make one forget all about those below-zero days. 

Do you garden?  Many Wisconsinites do, even if only a few tomato plants beside the garage.  I’ve gardened for as long as I can remember and have fond memories of growing things in my youth—picking and nibbling on homegrown carrots while waiting for Dad to come home from work and, later, keeping a few bedding plants outside of my rental house in college.  Gardening keeps us connected—with the earth, with our food, with each other.  For city dwellers, even a small garden can be a way to feel like one can be, even in a small way, self-sufficient.

At Morning Star Family Farm, this year the focus of our garden will be growing ingredients for products from our processing kitchen.  Strawberries and black and red raspberries will provide a luscious palette from which we’ll create honey-sweetened jams.  If our young orchard makes a sizeable contribution, there will be plums, peaches, and apricots to turn into preserves as well.  We’ve made fresh, raw sauerkraut for ourselves for years; this year we’ll be making some to sell.

It is an experimental year of sorts, as we offer our products to our loyal customers for the first time, gathering feedback for next year’s products.  Is there something you would like us to grow or make?  Drop us a line and let us know.  Our customers are the driving force behind what we do here.  Looking for your feedback is one more way we seek to make the connection between our farm to your table.

"Eat Local" Starts Here

Duck….duck….duck….goose!  That old children’s game will come to mind later this month as baby chicks and ducklings descend on Morning Star Family Farm.  Having hatched the day before just an hour away at Abendroth Hatchery in Waterloo, the little chirping puff balls take their first road trip up to the farm.  It is a noisy ride home, but also one filled with excitement and anticipation.

Supporting a local hatchery, like Abendroth’s, is important for many reasons, some more obvious than others.  We vote with our dollars.  The money we pay to purchase these chicks and ducklings helps to support local agriculture.  Our customers buy our meats in order to do the same thing; buying our animals from neighboring farmers simply adds another layer to the “Eat Local” idea.

Buying from a hatchery within driving distance also decreases the stress that the birds endure.  Most chicks and ducklings must be shipped via the postal service in order to reach their new owners.  Two and even three days are not an unusual length of time for birds to travel by mail.  Freshly hatched chicks are able to last up to three days without food or water, as they are still consuming their yolk sac which they swallowed prior to hatching from the egg.  Long days and nights riding in trucks still do take their toll on the hatchlings, however.  In our experience, mail order birds are not as perky as those we get locally, and are more apt to succumb to sickness in the early days.  

And so, later this month, our newly hatched Abendroth chicks and ducklings will complete their short road trip and arrive at our farm.  We will carry the boxes of chicks into a special room in our barn that is set up for their arrival.  There will be freshly ground, certified organic feed available in various feeders around the room.  Warming lamps will be suspended above soft, clean bedding.  Waterers spiked with raw apple cider vinegar and sugar, two old time tricks for giving chicks a good start in life, will also be available.  This will be a temporary home for the birds, as they will be moving out to the pasture in just two weeks.  To introduce them to their new home, we will lift each chick from the box individually, help it to drink from a waterer, and then place it under the heat lamp.  Their pleasant, persistent chirps tell us that all is well on the farm.

March Comes In Like a Lion...

March in Wisconsin has always held the promise of coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb.  At our farm, it may come in like a lion, but it goes out with several lambs—Icelandic ones, that is.   
  

Born in March and April at a friend’s certified organic farm just 20 minutes away, the lambs spend each day at their mothers’ sides, learning about milk and hay and grass—it is their education in how to be a sheep.  After a few months, the lambs are ready to be weaned, leaving our friend’s farm for our pastures.  

Brought to Iceland by Vikings 1100 years ago, Icelandic sheep have remained pure as a result of their isolation there.  It is said that the Icelanders’ survival was dependent upon the Icelandic sheep’s meat, fiber, and milk.  As one can imagine, the rugged, cold terrain of the country also encouraged the sheep to become extra hardy themselves.

Because growing grain in Iceland is considered to be a difficult proposition, the Icelandic sheep evolved to grow efficiently on grass—thriving on quality pastures, but also surviving when given poorer grazing land.  Our sheep get the best of both worlds—excellent pastures, combined with a small amount of certified organic grain.  It is this formula that gives our lamb a taste that simply cannot be compared to store-bought meats. 

Raising heritage-breed sheep like the Icelandic has given us the opportunity to participate in maintaining this beautiful breed.  Our customers, in turn, get to experience the taste sensation of true organic-fed, pasture-raised, heritage lamb.  It is a situation which makes one look forward to the cold, wet days of March, knowing that they signal the coming of another lambing season for Morning Star Family Farm.