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Q. Are your ham and bacon cured with salt only? I’ve often seen free range nitrate free bacon and ham, but they still contain dextrose, hydrolysed vegetable protein, acidity regulators and others (things I won’t eat, being a Nourishing Traditionalist!).

A:  In short, No, our bacon and ham are not cured with salt only. We actually use Natural Nitrates/Nitrites in the form of a vegetable extract (made at a certified organic plant from celery). If we brined the pork with salt only we would end up with a grayish sort of end product, without the characteristic pink colour of cured meats and also without the subtle sweetness that Ham and Bacon should have (I think).   So our Ham and Bacon is also not Nitrite free as we have these Natural Nitrites in them, they are Chemical Nitrate free though, and they are the nasties.  Any cured meat product that has sea salt in it has these natural nitrites in them. (The end recorded level of nitrate in our Ham is   12 ppm whereas fresh spinach normally runs at about 1000 – 3000 ppm.)

It does not  contain any Chemical based nitrites or nitrates, Phosphates or Sulphates, or Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein.

Q: What is the difference between certified organic and all the other ways pigs are raised?

A: Certified Organic Pork or Certified Biodynamic Pork, is the only Audited Guarantee that your pork is free from: Antibiotics, Chemicals, GMO’s, Hormones and that they are always able to range freely. We cannot sell an animal as organic if it has ever had any of these things in its lifetime. We need to feed Certified Organic Feedstuffs (our feed is not sprayed with chemicals in its growth or storage and must be grown on certified organic land). Certified Organic means that your farm, feed, pastures, animals and bookwork is inspected by an Independent Auditor, at least once a year. No matter what certification body you are with, the Audit goes by the Australian Organic Standard as set out by AQIS. Unfortunately not everyone that says they are organic is certified. These people either can’t or don’t want to run their farm to the High Standards set out for organic certification, yet want people to believe that they are. Don’t be fooled, always ask for the certification number and certifying body of the farmer. There are Seven Certifying Bodies in Australia:

The Organic Food Chain, NASAA, Safe Food Production Queensland, Australian Certified Organic, AusQual, Bio-Dynamic Research Institute, Tasmanian Organic Producers.

Q: We know the pigs have a great life on your farm, but how are they killed?

A: Firstly we cart all of our own stock in our own truck so that we know they are handled with care as they are loaded, driven to the abattoir, and unloaded from the truck. We also make sure that we pen our pigs up at the abattoir ourselves. The pigs are kept in their own group which keeps them calm. The abattoir that we now use has a CO2 chamber which is the most humane way that I have ever seen a pig killed. They are taken up to the chamber in a group of 2 or 3 so that they are with their companions, then the chamber is lowered into an area flooded with CO2 gas. They simply fall asleep, and while they are unconscious they are killed. Usually when you go to a working pig abattoir there is a lot of noise, this one is very quiet and much more calm.

Q: Why do you grow Berkshire Pigs?

A: When we first started to research growing pigs outside we realised the importance of having a pig with pigment in their skin. The white pig breeds were bred specifically for a mainly indoor life and can burn quite easily, which can lead to skin cancers in older pigs. We had also read that the Berkshires were especially good mothers and that they were also good grazers and foragers which we knew we needed in our pigs, if they were to have a happy and healthy life. Some other really interesting information that we found out was that the fat from the Berkshire Pig is naturally higher in the Essential Omega Fatty Acids, and as they are outdoors in the sun, they store high amounts of Vitamin D in their fat. (Vitamin D is a potent Immune Booster and helps you to assimilate calcium for strong bones). It was a bonus to us when we found out just how good the flavour of the pork is and how juicey and tender it is.

Q: I can see that you obviously love your pigs… how can you bring yourself to eat them?

A: This question used to come up a lot at the Farmers Markets that we attended. It’s not a simple question, and I can’t give a simple answer. I guess it comes from the fact that when I was little, even though I grew up in a town, we always raised much of our own food, both vegetable and animal. My Mother was a great believer in organic and Biodynamic Principles and Permaculture was a way of life in our backyard. We had 2 goats for milking (one of my sisters was allergic to pasteurised cow milk), Chooks and Ducks for Eggs and Meat, and Vegies Patches in every usable corner of the house block (which the ducks and chooks got access to). So from the vey beginning I knew where my food came from, and… vitally important, I knew how it was raised and cared for. The chop day (Goodbye meat chooks) was a family affair, but not at all macabre. I had often raised some of these animals from day 1, but I knew they were not pets, I knew they were there to be cared for and tended, so they could end up as the best possible food for our growing bodies. So I do believe that it is vitally important to understand the life of the food that you eat, know how and where it was produced, because when we turn our heads away and shut our eyes to those things, we have food grown that is just a commodity and not real nourishment. This is not only true in the case of animals, but with the cereals, fruit and vegetables that we eat as well.

Q: You talk about fats as though they are OK for us to eat. Aren’t you encouraging irresponsible diets that can lead to heart disease and obesity?

A: I truly don’t believe the anti saturated fat doctrine that is passed off as nutritional information by many in the Health Industry (which should really just be renamed the pharmaceutical industry).  In the past 60 years as heart disease and obesity have become more and more common, the use of saturated fats has actually substantially decreased, whilst the used of poly-unsaturated fats has increased in a similar rate to the diseases.  The use of sugar in our diet has also increased at a similar rate. Most of what is passed off as food in supermarket shelves, you almost need a degree in chemistry to figure out what the actual ingredients are.

We should be careful where we source the fats that we eat, be they animal or plant based, because most often, fats are where toxins are stored.  Organic has the least possibility of storing toxins in the fat, by the mere fact that the animals and plants are not exposed to them.

Animal fats (from animals that are allowed to range in the sunlight, have a higher level of vitamin D.  Animals that eat grass have omega 3′s and 6′s in a healthy ratio (much like fish oil).  If you are going to stay away from animal fats, make them the ones that are from animals kept out of the sunlight,  that are not allowed to graze, and are routinely given chemical sprays or dips, not to mention antibiotics, hormones and genetically modified feedstuffs.