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Jenny Swisher: [00:00:00] Excellent. [00:01:00] Welcome friends to this episode of The Sink Your Life podcast. Today I’m joined with my friend Chad Minders. He’s the owner of Ripley Cove Farms. This is not his first time on the podcast. In fact, this is his second. This is sort of a part two, a little bit of an update on his regenerative grass finished beef farm, the things that he’s learning, the things that they’re up to.

, And so without further ado, Chad, welcome to the show. Welcome back, I should say. To the show. , If you would just tell my listeners, like as, I mean, as, as of this moment, your, your video, I, I know you guys can’t see us, but your video, he’s driving through his, his farmland right now getting ready for the rain, , which is, is so like on point and on brand.

Um, but I wanted to just ask you to give us, you know, just a little bit of what’s your world like today, what are you up to today? And then we can go from there and kind of just update folks on the awesome stuff you’re up to.

Chad Meinders: Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for having us again, Jenny. Uh, always a pleasure to reach out and connect with, , with your group.

And, , yeah, today we’re, you know, multitasking, [00:02:00] um, taking care of our, uh, our 10-year-old homeschooling. , He’s not in the tractor with me right now, but, we’re trying to beat the rain and some.

, This is a, this is actually a crop of wheat. Multi-species. We’ve got some oats, some wheat, and some rye here. Uh, some clover and some radishes in underneath in the understory. But, uh, basically we’re, we’re venturing out into some other proteins. We’re trying to clean up, you know, we know we’re, we’re, we’re moving the needle in our beef, our beef project, and we’ve got a, actually a pork, a clean pork project that we’re working on trying to clean up the diet.

See, see what type of proteins and amino acids we can get to, to shine through for, for, you know, all the different species. You know, we know we gotta have a diverse, a diverse diet for ourselves. So what we’re doing out here in the soil and fertilized.

Jenny Swisher: Yeah. Yeah. So if you guys listening, have not listened to our first episode, I’ll link it up in the [00:03:00] show notes so that you can hear more just about, about rip co farms, about the farming practices and the values that are instilled, um, with, with Chad’s family farm.

But as you can hear from his, what he’s sharing, you know, the, the nutritional side of. What they grow and raise is a huge component of, of why he does what he does. And so on the last episode, we talked about the importance of, you know, finding grass finished beef, um, working with products. You know, you know, I’m a big protein fan.

I’m always endorsing protein for women, and so looking for high quality, you know, animal product protein, and I, I realize that in the health space. It’s hard ’cause people, you know, some people are like prom animal protein and some people are anti animal protein. And so whatever it is, like we want the cleanest version of food that we can find.

So in the last episode we talked about glyphosate. We talked about, you know, different things that are found in our environment that aren’t serving us and, and the types of things that Chad and his farm are up to. To really make sure that they’re, they’re nutrient testing and they’re making sure [00:04:00] that the, the products that they deliver to your door quite literally are full of nutrition.

So Chad, I’d love for you guys you to just kind of update our people on, ’cause a lot has happened since you were on the podcast the first time. , Ripley Cove now has bone broth, which is amazing. Um, you have the beef sticks, the proven beef sticks. So kind of give us an update on just the new products that you have out there and you know, what you’re up to with that.

Chad Meinders: Yeah. Yeah. So one of the things that we did do that, that not many of you know about yet, but uh, we did rebrand. Ripley Cove still exists and it’s part of a cooperative of producers. Uh, we launched a brand we’re, we’re calling it proven proteins or, or proven for short for, for trademark. And the purpose behind that initially is a couple different reasons, but, uh, initially we know that we’re not big enough to supply any, any portion of the market.

We’re, we’re quickly finding that we need to reach out and help other, other [00:05:00] producers, one, understand what it is that we’re doing that’s moving the needle when we talk about nutrient density. Two, help them create markets and, and a brand and co-packers that they can, that they can call in. Um, most producers don’t have the means and, and the, and the wherewithal or the time even to go seek out and go find co-packers to help.

You know, produce a snack or a broth or a, you know, even sometimes there’s guys having trouble finding a, a butcher, you know, to, to even have the animals harvested. So we’re, we’re hoping that our small scale can, can grow and we can bring our practices, the things that we know are moving the needle.

Um, we can bring them to the table and share ’em with people so that they’re not kept a secret. Uh, so yeah. Yeah, the broth. The broth is a new offering. We found some next level folks that, that, um, down in Georgia that are helping us with that and a couple different snack stick manufacturers. The reason for a couple is some of ’em are outgrowing us and they need [00:06:00] larger, they need more supply, so they kind of up their minimum orders.

And when we went and found one that was, uh, that can handle both ends. So we got one that can handle smaller scale and a larger scale producers as we, as we start to, to move the, uh, move the needle in the Maha movement. That’s a big, a big thing that that’s happening right now for us. That we’re, trying to, trying to help satisfy that gap, you know, in the cleaning clean and

Jenny Swisher: right

Chad Meinders: verified food, food movement.

Jenny Swisher: Yeah, it seems to be that now all of a sudden attention is starting to become focused on, on the problems in our food systems, right? Like, , the, the food dies, you know, if you follow like Food Babe and these, these sort of influencers online, right? Like these big initiatives behind eliminating dyes and, and crap that’s been in our food for way too long.

I just, I just shared yesterday to my social, um, like a little video where Dr. Calvin Ing, who’s been on the podcast was, was showing, you know, these, this is a, a sort of a. A visual of how many [00:07:00] food, I, I won’t say foods ’cause it’s not foods, the, the number of preservatives and synthetic ingredients that are allowed in American foods versus European foods.

Right. And when you look at the side by side, it is drastically different. Drastically different. And obviously our health is suffering as a result. So, um, I think, you know, Chad is kind of ahead of the curve with, doing it the right way, doing it the way that it should have always been done.

And, and on the last episode we talked about how. The reason for things like glyphosate is because it’s kind of the easy button, right? Like Chad talks about how it’s like the easy button for farming. Like you don’t have to go through the extra, uh, extent of making sure that the food, who cares about the nutrition, it’s as long as we’re producing it, right?

And so, mm-hmm. The fact that you guys take the extra time to do that is, is awesome. So the, the bone broth, , obviously has been, you know, kind of a long time coming you guys have been working on that for quite some time. And, and for those of you listening, you know, I’ve never really done a deep dive onto the benefits of bone broth.

I probably should, but it is such a [00:08:00] huge, um, not only is it, you know, protein dense, but it’s also a great way to sort of like heal the immune system, heal the gut. The only time it’s really not considered a good idea is if you were dealing with some sort of histamine issue, right? So, um, it is considered sort of a higher histamine food, but for a lot of women, I recommend, you know, consuming bone broth like first thing in the morning.

It’s a great way to sort of jumpstart your system. I even have a group of women that I’m leading right now through our sync fitness program. Who are all using bone broth as their pre-workout fuel. So they might have some form of fruit or carbohydrate or something with bone broth before they work out.

And it’s better than nothing, right? Like it’s better than nothing. I’m getting these women to go from, from fasted training to, to fueled training and bone broth can be a simple way to do that, and it’s also sort of priming your gut for the day as well. So tell me like, have you guys done any like nutrient testing on the broth?

Like what does that look like or, or what stage of the game are you in with that?

Chad Meinders: Yeah, yeah, [00:09:00] we’ve, we’ve sent some off and we’re working through, uh, the labs are working through it, actually as we speak. So that’s, uh, that’s pretty exciting. We’ve done some taste tests with some, with some people. Uh, we were at a show in Miami with, with, uh, with one of your previous guests, uh, Martha Carlin,

yeah.

Uh,

Chad Meinders: was down there. And, um, you know, we , sure had a lot of excitement behind the product down there. You know, a lot of good feedback. And, um, so we’re, we’re, we’re really excited about the taste and the texture and the, you know, the, it’s kind of a bold, thick, thick flavor, from just a taste and flavor standpoint.

Uh, one of the neat things that we found when we started to dig into it, when you’re talking about the nuances of broth, and we’re hoping to, to get back some, you know, some, some interesting, , data on is rather than just the protein that’s in the broth or the meat, we’re actually studying the amino acid.

Looking at the profile of amino acids that make up the protein.

Yeah. And,

Chad Meinders: and so one of the things that we heard was that, that methionine is, is typically high in those bone, [00:10:00] you know, bone and connective tissue type byproducts. So, um, yeah, the, the excitement behind methionine is, , well, you, you all can look it up or, and we can probably bang on about it for.

For a whole podcast, but, uh, essential am amino acid that, you know, that we’re, we’re not getting in our diet. So.

Mm-hmm.

Chad Meinders: We’re hoping, we’re hoping to see, see that one shine through pretty strongly for us.

Jenny Swisher: Yeah, I think it’s pretty common. Like, I, I just actually was leading a, a webinar last night on the topic of protein, ironically, and it’s important in our health.

And one of the things that we were talking about is, , I know women especially, but probably just humans in general, are very. Sucked into sort of the diet culture methods of like looking for supplements, right? Like I get, it’s probably the number one question in my inbox is like, what’s your favorite protein powder?

Or what’s your favorite protein bar? Or what’s your fav, you know, what, what are your favorite supplements for the perimenopausal woman? Right? And so people want like a pill or a powder or something like that, and it’s like at the end of the day. If you can find something like the bone broths that already have like the essential amino acids that [00:11:00] you need, right?

If you’re consuming quality grass finished beef that has the different nutrients and minerals in it that you need, like you don’t need the supplementation as much, right? And so obviously bio-individual supplementation is a foundation of hormone health, like figuring out what holes are in your unique boat and then plugging those holes with perhaps supplementation that helps that.

Um, but for the most part, we, we just as hu as humankind are not getting the nutrition that we need because we’re not eating nutrient-dense foods, whether that’s from food systems like we talked about, right? Like the, the lack of vetting or if it’s just from the fact that we’ve gotten so far from.

The farmer or the grower, right. And so, mm-hmm. Um, I know like my girls, we were just talking, you know, at the, at the time of this recording, it’s early May, the farmer’s markets are getting ready to open. Right. And so I was just having a conversation with my 8-year-old about going to the farmer’s market tomorrow and how.

It’s not just about like the cotton candy that they now sell at the farmer’s market or the snow [00:12:00] cones that are at the farmer’s market. Like, which is what she thinks about. Right. It’s, it’s actually, there are farmers there that bring, you know, their, their raw honey or their eggs or their, their poultry or whatever that, you know, that’s the whole idea of the farmer’s market.

Mm-hmm. But we’ve kind of, we’ve, we’ve turned it into a carnival. Right. And so. , Our food systems are so screwed up. Like obviously we could have a whole podcast on that, but I love that you mentioned that about the amino acids because a lot of times people will say like, well, what’s the best BCAA, you know, formulation for me to drink post-workout, or what’s the best brand?

And I’m like, have you ever thought about just bone broth? Right. Or have you ever thought about like eating a nice grass finished burger? Right. Like those, those are things mm-hmm. Really benefit you from a health perspective. So I know you guys are doing the work too on, I mean the, obviously the, the snack sticks are proven branded already.

. I I love that. I love that you’re going with proven as a brand name because mm-hmm. I mean, it’s just, it’s, it’s perfect. It’s like the perfect branding for this. Um, so I, I will say that, you know, when it comes to. [00:13:00] Looking at like what are some things that, you know, the average woman could be doing to increase her, her protein?

’cause most women are not getting enough protein. Most women are consuming 40 to 60 grams of protein when they really need upwards of over a hundred grams per day, closer to one pound, one gram per pound of body weight. Um, this is a simple, this is a simple way to do that, right? Like to have a. A delivered box of grass finished meats, whether it’s steaks, burgers, whatever, with your bone broth, with your snack sticks, like, you know, like you, all of that, um, just coming from one place, coming from from your farm can make such a difference, right?

That’s an easy way to just boost the protein intake each and every day. Now, there’s other, I don’t recommend beef 24 7, right? Like, we can get some great benefits in our omegas from wild caught fish. We can get, you know, we can use lean proteins, Turkey, and, and chicken and those kinds of things too. But again, like kind of rewiring your brain from that, you know, shop.

I just came from Target, like shopping the aisles of Target, right? Looking for the best protein bar. Maybe [00:14:00] we’ve, when you’re, if you find yourself doing that, maybe we’ve just gotten really far away from what, what it’s really about, right? Which is like eating real whole dense foods. So. Tell us. I know you’ve been so, I love that.

So yeah, I connected Chad with Martha Carlin, who I had on the podcast. I’ll link that up as well. She’s done some awesome research, , in her world just on glyphosate and stuff like that. But I’m glad that you guys connected. Tell us more about like, what, you know, what type of conferences have you been to?

Like what are you learning about in this, in this world of, of food and farming.

Chad Meinders: So, uh, we, we’ve been to several, several different regenerative ag conferences connected with some really high doctors and professors. Agro know. Um, we’re learning what, what is in our soil or what’s, what’s still in the soil?

And how, how do we unlock, you know, some of these things are highly oxidized or, uh, you know, and, and not in the right form. So we’re learning that, uh, you know, by the addition of a couple different minerals and some, some different biological species, some different crop and plant [00:15:00] species that’ll support them.

, We understand that there’s a whole life beneath our feet. And you know, the, the secret to unlocking that life is, is through the different plants and the health of the plants. As we’re growing them, whether they’re an annual, you know, something that’s gonna grow and, and, and die by the end, by the fall and winter kill or something that’s gonna stay alive and, and continue to feed the soil, bio biology, you know, for the rest of the fall, winter and the next spring, you know, subsequent year.

So, you know, we’re, we’re looking at diver and species. We’re looking at, uh, mineral balance, uh, and specifically today, one of the fertilizers I’m putting out is, is a, um, a zinc sulfate, uh, with an addition of boron and what we’re learning quickly, just a quick. Chemistry lesson here,

one of those missing pieces that drive the calcium and the magnesium into the plant and allow the, you know, the animal and us to, to be nourished with that, you know, that lack of magnesium that, that a lot of us have, so. Yeah, it’s a, a lot of, a lot of interesting things. You know, we’re, [00:16:00] we’re, we’re living and learning daily.

Uh, you know, the CPG business is, uh, we’ve been to Expo West, um, you know, out in Anaheim, California here this, this winter, and that was a big learning lesson. , I met some really neat people and some connections there and, and how we’re gonna have, you know, be able to, to start to, to scale and, and ramp up, you know, our, our production.

Um, you know, there’s probably.

Yeah.

Chad Meinders: Yeah. Either influencers and, and ability, , as well as farmers and producers. So, , yeah, we’re, we’re, we’re drinking from a fire hose around every corner. So,

Jenny Swisher: yeah, so I love that the attention is now not just on, you know, how to eliminate what’s. Bad in our food, like the glyphosate conversation.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. So

Jenny Swisher: like in this zinc sulfate mm-hmm. Oron thing, it’s about how can we add back in the things that we need? Like how can we, how can we test our soil? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. What’s depleted, right? Like, I’m constantly telling women to, you know, hopefully [00:17:00] everyone listening is consuming a magnesium glycinate or a magnesium of some kind, because magnesium’s just no longer in our soils the way it used to be.

And so. I love that farmers are not just, it’s not just about, okay, how do we eliminate the bad, but how do we also, you know, how do we also implement the good and add the good back into our food? Yeah, that’s cool.

Chad Meinders: Yep. Yep, yep, yep, yep. Yeah, that, that sulfur, that sulfur aspect, that think sulfate, the sulfur aspect, uh, we’re, we’re, we’re hopeful that we’re gonna be able to measure that methionine level moving, moving up.

So, um, you know, that, that was one of the big key things that we learned at one of the last conferences that, you know, we need to, a, a lot of farmers are focused on NPK and yield, and that those nps and K will help produce, you know, a bounty or a full basket, but you know, what’s, what’s in that basket, you know, what are, what are the constituents.

Of, of the product in the basket. So that’s kind of the, the, the way we’re looking at this thing. And we’re hoping, we’re hoping, we actually, you know, with our broth that we sent off for sampling,[00:18:00]

we’re, we, we’re, we’re excited we, we won’t mention the name, but. You know, you all can probably, uh, you know, we’ll, we’ll share it with you when, when we get it back, good or bad. And our hope with this is, our hope with this is, is that even, even if the other brands find out about it, that maybe that they might be able to, uh, to start to know and understand that we’re gonna have to, to turn our food supply around.

We’re, we’re in this together. You know, the consumers, the influencers, you know, everybody, you know, if we’re gonna change our food system, you know, we’re gonna have to share information. We’re not gonna be able to keep it to be a trade secret. You know, it’s probably meant to be shared, so.

Jenny Swisher: Absolutely. I love that.

Yeah. So let me ask you this question, like when you said earlier that like the bone broth is currently in the lab being tested, like, what does that process look like for you guys? I mean, obviously I’m, I’m assuming you pay for that testing. Mm-hmm. What, what does that look like?

Chad Meinders: Yeah. So, um, you know, start to finish, you know, we had the production, the broth in the package.

We send the frozen broth, uh, and the shelf stable broth [00:19:00] that we, we bought at the store, uh, gets put in a package, you know, freezer, freezer, pack, and ice packs. Um, UPS label gets sent off next day to the, to the lab, just like we’d send it to you. Uh, they get it still in the frozen state. Um, you know, it’s a pretty, pretty hefty fee.

Uh, I think we sent two samples off and, and it, it wasn’t even all the, the, the array of, of testing ability that they had, but I think we are looking at, uh, two samples of broth with $1,800. Wow. Six. We’re working on our grassed claim. So, you know, the great USDA has got us where we have to send off six samples, Uhhuh,

um,

Chad Meinders: to be able to make the claim that we’re grass fed, uh, and, and they’re utilizing that Omega six three ratio, uh, that, you know, as, as that determining factor.

So that’s kind of what we’re using. The proven brand is, is, uh, in the testing to help. The consumer understand, you know, is the grass fed claim that they’re, that, that these other brands [00:20:00] are, are offering, are they truly grass fed? Mm-hmm. And, uh, and that, so it’s a, it’s a pretty big financial lift, you know?

It’s, yeah. And we’re carrying it on our own that

Jenny Swisher: it’s, uh, yeah.

Chad Meinders: Look,

Jenny Swisher: but it’s, but it’s the difference maker, right? So, yeah.

Chad Meinders: Yeah.

Jenny Swisher: Um, have you gotten any information back, I know you had, like when we, when we chatted, probably like a year or so ago, like you had shown me some of the initial, I’ll say comparisons between like popular, um, other beef brands.

Mm-hmm. How does your beef typically compare to some of these bigger brands? Or what are you, what are you learning? I.

Chad Meinders: Yeah, yeah. Um, you know, in the mineral content, you know, before we, before we started actually ramping up and, and trying, you know, I’ll air quote by saying, trying to improve, uh, we didn’t really know what we were doing.

It was creating a good product, but just working with nature was, was working in, in the numbers. Um, you know, we were seeing a small amount of mineral. Um, you know, we were, we were leading the pack in, in some of the minerals. Your calcium magnesium numbers, [00:21:00] um, your phosphorus number was, was pretty good. Um, you know, we had a, a really low omega six three ratio, which some people are claiming is a, is an inflammatory, uh, input.

You know, when we’ve got a really wide band, a really high, high dose of omega six is entering the diet, it’s inflammatory, um, quick. We had some chicken we ate out the other day and we, you know, the family, we decided to have some chicken once as we went out and, you know, not, not banging on the poultry industry, but you know, the fact that the, the, the cows rumen, you know, the, the, the fermentation vat actually starts to produce some of those, uh, those omegas and, and convert some of those grasses and forages and, uh.

So what, what we are noticing is, is that chicken typically has a really wide omega six and three ratio. Mm-hmm. And we all, the whole family would, would agreed that we, you know, after we’ve ate, you know, beef for probably a year or two years straight, you know, we’ve had some pork along the [00:22:00] way, but it was something that we raised.

But, uh, long, long story short, there was, we, we all kind of had that, that swollen and stomach feel that kind of knots and, and just kind of bloated feeling. Yeah. And, and, you know, best we could understand was, you know, seed oils and, and, and the poultry, you know, that’s got a really wide, you know, or high, high inflammatory factor, so, you know.

Yeah. But, um, yeah, we we’re, we’re looking at the cooling effects. Uh, one of the things that we did see in our testing that came back, uh, we’re, we’re here, we’re learning that, uh, you know, your antioxidants and your anti-inflammatories. Um, we were in one test, we were 20% higher than the average grass fed.

And then, uh, a year later, as we’re starting to improve these things and we’re trying, you know, we’re making positive impact, we were, I think it was four times the antioxidants, uh, as, as the average grass fed, and then like eight times the average grain fed. So, no, I think there’s, there’s probably some merit behind, you know, some of these tests and yeah, and you know, the extra effort.

So,

Jenny Swisher: yeah, I [00:23:00] think back to like, probably, I guess it was probably close to 12 to 15 years ago, I started listening to the, um, the Dave Asprey podcast. I think I might’ve shared this on the last one. Um, this was before he was really, you know, super popular or even well-known. And when he was starting just the Bulletproof coffee phenomenon and he talked a lot on his podcast about butter and putting butter in coffee and grass finished meat.

And I remember thinking it sounded so bizarre at the time because. Even as a health coach, as someone who had been taught about like whole food, plant-based, I mean at that, at that stage of my life, I had tried vegan, I had tried pescatarian, like I thought red meat was like the enemy, right? And so I remember hearing him talk about beef, beef, beef nonstop, and thinking like either this guy is like really far ahead of the curve or he’s way wrong, right?

Like one of the two. It’s funny now to see sort of this evolution over time. I mean, we, you know, I follow people like Dr. Gabrielle Lyon and, and others who are, are, are literally all [00:24:00] standing from, from the hilltop saying, Hey, like this, this is what matters the most. Right? Like, beef is not the enemy. Um, but the fact that you just mentioned that, that’s what I’m calling attention to, is that, you know, eight times.

The antioxidants of grain fed beef, not to beat a dead horse. Um, like, because we talked about this on the last episode, but finding grass finished or a hundred percent grass fed beef is really critical, uh, nutritionally, right? And so even for my family, like we, if we’re traveling right, we might still grab like the occasional, um.

Burger at a restaurant or chicken like, like you were saying, right? But when we can control the controllable at our house, like the groceries that I purchase are always gonna be grass finished. If I am buying chicken, it’s gonna be, you know, pasture raised. Um, same thing for eggs, right? Like, I wanna make sure that I can control the controllable.

Now does that mean that it’s more expensive? Yes, but I kind of look at it as like proactive wellness, right? Like these are things that maybe I don’t have to pay for those inflammatory things that pop up in my health later as a result of [00:25:00] eating what I’m eating, right? Because ultimately our cells are what we eat.

And so, um, I love that you mentioned that because just as a reminder to our listeners, you know, make, making sure that you do pay the extra couple bucks per pound when it comes to the grass finished beef because it makes a huge difference nutritionally so. Yeah, that’s good stuff. Good stuff. So your next,

Chad Meinders: go ahead.

Go ahead. Yeah. One, yeah. One of the, one of the big things that we are, we’re looking forward to here this summer, we were approached over the winter at a conference by, uh, by one of the leading, uh, uh, agronomist in the country. Uh, he was part of the, the RFK. We’re supposed to be part of the RFK in the Maha movement.

Um, he, he, he’s in connection with them and he’s, he’s pretty excited about teaming up with us in a, in a grass fed dairy out in California. Uh, it’s a brand that’s already on, on most of the, the health store, uh, the Alexander Family Farm,

Uhhuh. It’s an A

Chad Meinders: two A two organic grass fed. And, um. We’ve had some stomach issues, you know, within the family and, you know, if you want to chalk it up as, as lactose intolerance.

[00:26:00] But one of the neat things, and I’ve heard you talk about the, you know, the dairy thing in the past that, um, one of the things we know within the dairy industry is, is that there’s a lot of hormones, there’s a lot of, uh, GMO, you know, they, they really don’t get to get out and get any of that fresh green grass, you know, it’s all brought to ’em and, and forced, you know, it’s free choice, but.

You know, they, it, it’s what they want. It’s not with the cow. It’s what the, the farmer’s bringing them, not what the cow wants. Right. And so the, the neat thing with, with Alexander is they’re, they’re a grass fed dairy that way. And, and, uh, the, A two thing has, has really cooled off some of our stomach issues with milk and dairy.

So, um. But, uh, the, the, this agronomist is wanting to take, take some of our product to a, to a medicinal level. So we’re really ramping up our, um, our minerals and our biological, um, support in the fields and in the plants and, and hopefully in the next year, you know, ’cause it’s a slow turn. You know, what we do this summer and, and, and fall, uh, yields the over winter and next springs.

Um. [00:27:00] Bounty from, from the animal standpoint, so,

mm-hmm.

Chad Meinders: Something we’ll wanna, we’ll wanna stay in touch and, and see, see where these, these test results can take us. But we’re, we’re pretty excited about where, where the food supply can go, you know, and kind of showing, being part of that. So I

Jenny Swisher: love that. Yeah.

And just to kind of harp on the, the dairy thing for a minute, you know, I, I just was talking to a friend of mine who came back from Spain. She was in Spain for two weeks, and she talked about how when she’s in Europe, she can consume cheeses and dairy and have no issues digestively. Um, but when she’s in the US there’s almost nothing she can touch without getting belly bloat or, or all the symptoms.

Mm-hmm. And, you know, um, um, I follow Dr. Laura Bryden and she talks a lot specifically about just period health for women and menstrual health. And, uh, a lot of times women will complain about things like PMS or, uh, menstrual cramping and bloating and migraine headaches and, and everything else. Right? And I.

Um, there are some dra like pretty drastic scientific research that’s been done on just the [00:28:00] effects of dairy as an inflammatory food. Um, and for women who are sensitive, right? It can exacerbate those issues. So a lot of times when women start working with me and they hear me say like, you know, you need to try to go dairy free.

It’s because I know that like nine times out of 10 it’s, it’s not helping, right? And women might say, well, I don’t have a problem with dairy. Like, I don’t have any constipation issues, or I don’t have any digestive upset. But then, you know, two weeks later they tell me something like, oh, I have this acne I can’t get rid of.

Right. Or, or I have really bad menal cramps. And I’m like, okay. So it’s not just always digestive upset, right? Like in inflammation in the body can come out in a lot of different ways, um, through the skin, right? Through, um, like holding onto water weight. Like there’s different, I mean, uh, I have a friend who has, she thought she had like rosacea issues, like eczema, like type skin rashes.

She got rid of the dairy, it went away. So when he’s, when, when Chad’s talking about the fact that like. There’s, there’s no true vetting, right, of like what these animals are eating. Like that’s where the problem [00:29:00] comes from, right? Mm-hmm. And so,

mm-hmm.

Jenny Swisher: I know I’m not, people always hate it when I’m like harping on cheese, right?

Because I used to be cheese’s, number one fan. Like cheese was in every meal I ever ate for a long time until I realized how much better I felt without eating it and when I could eliminate it. Right? So I love that you’re saying that the, the A two organic grass fed is making a difference for you. Um. So tell me what’s next.

You said you’re, you know, working so like ramp up production, obviously you’re obviously, you’re not busy at all. It sounds like you’re just like looking for work. Um, yeah. But no, it sounds like you guys are doing a lot with just obviously maintaining the farm and, and getting things ready for the next season and doing the testing and doing all that.

Like you said, you’re looking to sort of ramp up production, like what does that look like? Um, and you know what, what’s kind of on your radar here for the next six months?

Chad Meinders: Yeah. Yeah. So, so. Some, some days I’m torn. You know, do we need to be raising these animals all ourself and ramping up our own production?

Or do we need to be out teaching and educating and, and helping other people do the same? And I think it’s gonna be a both. And, [00:30:00] um, maybe we don’t scale up so much on our own. Maybe, maybe we scale back just a bit and, and let it be more of an RD project. Um, you know, trying to move the needle and, and really trying to help others and share, share what we’re, what we’re learning and, and.

You know, really focused on other, other growers and producers and bringing them on board. Uh, there’s a lot of people already out there doing a lot of really good things, and there’s just maybe just one or two little things that are keeping the foot on the pedal, on the brake, you know, that we need to, we ease up on the brake on some of those practices.

And, you know, I think some of the heavy metals and some of these, um, you know, uh, the mycotoxins and fungal, you know, the, the harmful fungal component, you know, because there are some beneficial, but, um. I, I think that that’s probably what we need to be doing is, is doing more of these podcasts and helping, helping the consumer understand, you know, the difference in the good, better, best model of what we’re trying to create.

And, uh, you know, bringing, meeting people where they’re at, you know, because there’s a lot of good food out there, you know, by far and [00:31:00] away eating, eating a grass fed beef is probably better than, than, than a grain fed confinement chicken. So, and. So the cheap, the cheap food idea and, uh, you know, cheaper isn’t always better.

You know, sometimes, we’ll, you might pay for it in the end, you know, in in, in medical bills and, and discomfort or, you know, you know, even, even loss of relationships. You know, you know, we, if we can’t. You know, if we’re, if we’re constantly inflamed, you know, you, you know, what’s that worth? So,

yeah. It’s,

Chad Meinders: uh, yeah.

Yeah. So,

Jenny Swisher: well, not to, not, we could talk all day, like, not to introduce a mm-hmm. Subject, but, um, we were just mm-hmm. Sort of, I’ll say babysitting our new, uh, niece. My, a couple

weeks

Jenny Swisher: ago, my, my, my 8-year-old and 4-year-old think that they’re her, her pseudo mom. So we were babysitting and she’s six months old, and I was having a conversation with my brother-in-law about just her infant formula.

And this is an area that I wish, um, and I don’t know if you know, know anything about this, this is totally random, but mm-hmm. This is an area that I, [00:32:00] I’ve been seeing as part of the Maha movement is something that’s also being sort of evaluated is infant formula in the us. Um, when, when my girls were little, both were adopted, I, I did not seek out.

Alternate, um, breastfeeding, you know, milk or anything like that. Mm-hmm. Um, we used, we used Formula. They were both pretty sensitive, so I had to use a soy based formula for ellerie. It was the only thing she could tolerate. And then for Sutton, we were like on the hypoallergenic formulas, but I remember as a nutritionist when we, I.

When I first started investigating formulas, I was appalled. Like, I was like, this is insanity to me. Mm-hmm. That we are feeding our, our babies like corn syrup, solids, um, and these, these additives, like, I, I don’t know. Mm-hmm. I mean, again, this could be like a whole podcast in itself and it’s very on the spot, but it just makes me think like, since you’re kind of in this world of, you know, seeing what’s happening now with new evaluations in our food systems and also.

Just from [00:33:00] the farming side of things, like what do you think? Like, is there, is there hope? Um, I know that, you know, my, my brother and sister-in-law are using a formula that wasn’t there, uh, wasn’t available. I’d never heard of it, so, you know.

Mm-hmm.

Jenny Swisher: My youngest is four, so it, it is obviously new to the market and it was a decent, um.

A decent, you know, bovine, uh, formula. Mm-hmm. The one tried that we wanted to use with both of our girls was a goat milk formula out of Europe. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And it was so hard to get, like it was, I couldn’t rely on, I. Ship like shipment and like I couldn’t rely on having, you know, having stock of it. So anyway, I would love, I don’t know if you have any perspective on this could be an area you don’t know anything about, but I just thought like, this is something that is, it’s, it tugs at my heart ’cause I’m like, oh my gosh.

Like we’re raising infants on formula that’s full of corn syrup, solids and additives. It’s insane. Yeah,

Chad Meinders: yeah, yeah. No doubt. Yeah, definitely. We, we’ve got, we’ve got our own family, family stories that, you know, we’ve got brother-in-law, sister-in-law that. [00:34:00] You know, they’re mainstream and is what it is. And, you know, we’re trying to help, but, you know, we, we can, we can’t control everything, so we gotta kinda let go in places.

But absolutely there is hope, um, connected with some doctors that, that talk about, uh, when we talk about soy, you know, there’s a lot of soy, soy issues, um, you know, a lot of estrogen, uh. Issues and, and t you know, testosterone blocking issues. But, uh, what we, what we learned through, through this, uh, professor was, uh, or doctor rather, he’s a, a military surgeon, I think is what, what, and veterinarian, but short, short answer is, is that soy, when it was brought in from, uh, from the Orient and they, they were looking for the US to help ’em raise, I think it was a, uh, there was a, a very beneficial, you know, it was, it was a very nutritious toy.

And we, we can switch that, you know, we can, we can go back to that really nutritious way and not have the ones that are, that are messing with our hormones. Um,

yeah,

Chad Meinders: the, the has the exact same [00:35:00] effect on our animals. You know, we’re, we’re seeing fertility issues, we’re seeing, you know, all, all sorts of hormonal, uh, you know, their hair coat.

They’re, the way they act, the way they treat their, their young, you know, they’re not, they’re not caring for, they’re young when they’re on some of these toxic. Feed stuff, so, uh, absolutely we can change it. Um, our, our, our production methods changed in six months. Uh, we went from, from seeing what we would’ve been a national average, you know, a negative, you know, I’ll just, I’ll go back to the beef side of things just to help explain how fast we can move the food supply if everybody is, is aligned.

Mm-hmm. Um, and, and, you know, if we’re all in this together, everybody, I want to include, you know, consumers. CPGs, you know, the, the middlemen that are, that are, that are, um, you know, trying to make a buck in the middle, in the dis dis distribution methods. Uh, the retailers, uh, you know, go back to the CPGs and the, the ag industry.

You know, we’re all in this together. And until we start to open our eyes and seeing, you know, where are the answers, uh, and how do we implement ’em, you know, we’re gonna be stuck. But, but to your point, yes, [00:36:00] there’s hope. Uh, we went from what would’ve been a negative or, or a harmful, you know, heavy, heavy metals.

High in mycotoxins and, and inflammatory mark, you know, aspects of our food. And in six months we were able to have, you know, basically the, the professor in this study that we were part of with the BEEF project, um, you know, he was calling us saying, Hey, what are you all doing? You know, and, you know, thinking, thinking that we did something wrong.

And he said, no, no, you guys scored, scored pretty high in this thing and wanted to know, you know, what are your practices? What are you doing? So, you know, it wouldn’t take people’s. People’s minds wrapped around what, what test results and what, you know, what some influencers could, could do from that notion, you know?

Jenny Swisher: Absolutely. Yeah. Well, it makes me, it makes me kind of think about, you know, Dr. Kelly Casperson is, is someone that I follow in sort of the hormone education world, and she has a podcast, I, I hear her say this often, that she. You know, somebody asked her one time on the podcast like, why don’t you, like, why do you have a podcast?

Like, why do you have a podcast? Why are you an influencer? Like, why aren’t you [00:37:00] out teaching other doctors, um, what you know about hormone health so that, that you can change the system? And she said, because I realized that teaching doctors that they don’t know everything and that they. That there’s a part of what they weren’t taught in school that they’ve never learned, like is, is a really long shot.

Um, and it’s gonna take a lot more time. Whereas if I, if I, if I influence and educate the consumer, if I can, if I can re, you know, if I can reach out to the patient, so to speak, in that, in that regard, um, and teach them, then they know how to advocate for themselves and they’ll turn, they’ll turn it around.

Right. And so it’s kind of the same thing where, like you were saying, we need everybody, we need like. The officials, but also we need to educate even just the consumer so that they understand what’s going on. Because it’s gonna have to be sort of a grassroots effort where everyone is aligned in order to make any change.

But the fact that, you know, when you think about things like infant formula, pharmaceutical medications like glyphosate and farming practices, when you think about all this, it’s no wonder that our country is sick. Like it’s no [00:38:00] wonder that that we have, um. The health, the health issues that we have. I mean, when my mom was in the hospital for a pacemaker years ago, she was in the heart hospital in Cincinnati.

So I spent like four nights with her in the Heart hospital, and I, I mean, I literally was like, this is an absolute joke because number one, you know, the, the, the doctors and nurses on her floor, on the, on the, you know, cardiac pacemaker floor had Krispy Kreme donuts delivered in the morning for them as staff.

The, the actual restaurant within the hospital was serving all kinds of like late night pizza and all the things. And her menu, which was considered the heart healthy menu. She had to choose from, you know, it was like a special menu for people who had had like a surgery or whatever she had to choose from the menu.

The, the, there were things like brown sugar, Quaker oatmeal, um, on, on her menu. And I’m like, wait a minute. Like this is, this is so backwards, right? Like, it’s like we’re feeding, we’re feeding the sick care system instead of really looking at. Root cause, which is, you know, root cause goes beyond just [00:39:00] understanding what ailment you have.

Like let’s try to prevent it in the first place and that starts with our food. So,

Chad Meinders: yeah. Yeah.

Jenny Swisher: Good stuff. Okay, Chad. Well, um, as always, you know, thank you for hopping on here and giving us an update. This won’t be the last time, I’m sure. I’d love to have you back on in six months or so, just to see how things are going and what you guys are up to, but.

Um, my listeners, you guys will link everything up in the show notes so that we can direct you straight to proven, straight to Ripley Cove. Um, we’ll have a little code for you guys if you’re interested in getting a, a nice fresh box of, of meats and broths and, and snack sticks delivered to your door. Um, anything I’m missing, Chad, or any, any ways, uh, that you want people to connect with Ripley Cove or proven

Chad Meinders: Yeah.

Yeah. Um, proven proteins com. Proven proteins on the Instagram. Uh, we’re, we’re really slow, you know, as we don’t have any shortage of things to do, but we’re slow to get on all the, all the media sources. But, uh, you know, supporting it that way, you know, if, if we, any, any, any way you could jump in, uh, we are looking to do a fundraising round, uh, to help, you know, support the brand [00:40:00] and, and get, get things really ramped and moving forward, uh, probably late this summer, early fall.

So, you know, if. On the Instagram say, we’re all in this together. And, you know, thanks for, for having us. It’s uh, always,

Jenny Swisher: yeah. Sure thing. Well, I love, I love nerding out with you on this stuff because, um, you put, you put the, the science behind a lot of what I’m wondering and I could feel like I could have, we could have a three hour episode, so, all right, my friend.

Well, you get back to your farming. Yeah, and to my listeners, we’ll link everything up for you guys in the show notes. But thank you guys so much for tuning in and we’ll talk soon. [00:41:00]