Gluten Free Options at Burger Night? Yes please!

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March 28, 2021

Hey Everyone, Kasey Here!

I have some GREAT news for anyone out there like myself who has Celiac Disease, is gluten intolerant or has a gluten sensitivity etc; you can eat virtually everything at Burger Night!!!! Gluten free burgers, buns, fries, cheese curds AND beer all available at Burger Night!

I'll repeat that for you: Gluten Free Options at Burger Night!

I'm going to come back to the cheese curds and other gluten free goodies at Burger Night, I promise! But first I want to give you a little background into this gluten-free world some of us unlucky humans (and some animals!) are forced to live in because the fact that Together Farms is offering these items is a very big deal. I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in November, 2016 at the bright age of 21. Celiac Disease is a "serious autoimmune disorder that can occur in genetically predisposed people where the ingestion of gluten leads to damage in the small intestine." - Celiac.org.

How I finally got diagnosed...

I've had stomach problems my entire life and because every doctor I had told me I was the picture of health and that there was absolutely nothing wrong with me I chalked these problems up to a sensitive/nervous stomach. Eventually I thought I was crazy because any test the doctor would (reluctantly) run would come back with "perfectly healthy" results.. So I gave up for a long time and just decided my symptoms were "normal." This worked until my symptoms (severe nausea, lightheadedness and dizziness 24/7 along with spending 5+ hours in the bathroom each day) became too much right around my 21st birthday. So I sternly asked my new doctor [who told me I might have Irritable Bowel Syndrome but that my symptoms were at every point of that spectrum so probably not], to refer me to a Gastroenterologist. (Okay, fine my Dad made me ask because my symptoms were WAY out of hand, but also by sternly I mean very nicely and timidly)*Note that I'm VERY terrified of needles, blood and pretty much hospitals in general so even asking to see a new doctor who was definitely going to run blood work on me was a very big step*Once my gastroenterologist took a LOT of blood and ran some tests, EVERY test came back "perfectly healthy" except for one test where my levels were elevated just slightly, but enough where they wanted me to have an Upper Endoscopy because they suspected I might have a problem with gluten. When the results came in from my Upper Endoscopy my doctor called me and said that I did indeed have Celiac Disease... this was the FIRST time a doctor gave me a legitimate name/reason for why I had been feeling the way I had for my entire life. I basically cheered on the phone and she was a little shocked because, in her words "normally happiness is not what I hear when I give patients this diagnosis... I'm actually not really sure how to react here." This doctor was giving me a diagnosis of an autoimmune disease that is very serious and I basically hugged her via the phone. Even when I went to the follow up appointment with my parents where my doctor was expecting tears while she told us all of the serious issues I could develop at any time (lord help me if I ever develop diabetes 1 and have to give myself insulin shots), but I wasn't sad at all, just curious and so happy she wasn't telling me "you're totally healthy and all of your tests came back perfect." She had an actual diagnosis AND a plan to get my body back on track to being healthy again!!!! It's still shocking to me that it takes an average of 6-10 years for someone to be diagnosed with Celiac Disease even though it took me 21 years to be diagnosed.. But to be fair there are over 300 symptoms of celiac disease and each person experiences those symptoms differently so doctors are trying their best.

Where/What Can I Eat?!

Now that I had the diagnosis and met with a nutritionist (and other doctors to make sure everything that can go wrong with an autoimmune disease wasn't going wrong with me) I had to start making serious changes to my diet! Now that I'm over 2 years out from my diagnosis, I pretty much have this whole no gluten thing down! Trying to eat out with a gluten sensitivity is basically impossible, seriously here are the steps you have to go through. Not only do you have to do background research on the restaurant but it actually seriously hard to find gluten free options at restaurants and it takes a pretty bold person to ask restaurant staff to make special accommodations for you if they don't have any gluten free options already available. This is not my strong suit because I also have a fear of being the center of attention even in small groups (unless I'm telling a story or purposely put myself in the center of attention). But hey, if you are comfortable with only ordering a salad with no croutons & know the ingredients of the salad dressing options (because watch out, there's even gluten in those!), are a bold person who isn't afraid of making the wait staff's job just a teensy bit harder or you just never go out to eat then you're totally fine! Geez Kasey, aren't you being a little dramatic?

NO, I am not being dramatic in the least! Remember how I was 21 when I was diagnosed, so I know exactly what I'm missing out on now that I can't even have a trace of gluten in my diet? I don't know how many of you reading this have a gluten sensitivity/allergy but if you do then I highly doubt you've had a deep fried cheese curd since you were diagnosed. I'm from Wisconsin, and I am a full on cheese head (even though I grew up right across the border in Minnesota) so I seriously almost started happy crying when Stephanie told me about the gluten free cheese curds via text yesterday.If you still think I'm being dramatic then imagine cutting out all products that contain wheat, barley or rye from your diet (and many other grains depending on your sensitivity because sometimes your body reacts to those negatively too) for the rest of your life. This means no bread, beer, pizza, pasta, Pringles, malt drinks, cheese curds, chicken nuggets, Chinese food, cereal (huge improvements in this area lately), chips, seasonings and more. (Seriously, when you get diagnosed you get a very large packet of information after meeting with a nutritionist who tells you everything you can't eat anymore and what will happen to your body if you don't cut those things out). Yes that list was mainly the things I miss most about gluten, but you get the idea. While gluten free alternatives to many of these products exist the few good ones are hard to find which is why it's so great that Together Farms is offering so many gluten free options!

Hooray, Burger Night to the Rescue! Tell me about the GF options!

Now do you understand why it's so amazing for Burger Night to have so many gluten free options!? Like I said above, I almost cried happy tears after Stephanie told me all of the gluten-free options that she is offering at Burger Night. The two gluten free beers are Copperhead (Copper Ale) and the Kickback (Kolsch) from the amazing gluten-free Alt Brewery in Madison, WI. The Copperhead Copper Ale is a Great American Beer Festival Silver Medal Winner! I didn't get too much time after turning 21 to know what kind of beer I like, but these are definitely beers I'm looking forward to trying. Plus we are the only ones to be serving Alt Brewery products on this side of Wisconsin, so it's kind of a big deal!At Burger Night we have a completely separate fryer for gluten free items in the works, and we are found the perfect gluten free bun from Green Bakery to top these amazing 100% grassfed and finished burgers (and other yummy things being announced soon). The fries are already gluten free and our Together Farms Chef will be making the breading for the cheese curds himself with gluten free ingredients! We use lard to fry everything in, which means we know exactly what is in our food and exactly what we fry that food in. If you're a member of the gluten free community, then you probably know how shocking it is for a small farm who happens to also serve burgers, fries and more on their land to have not only one gluten free option, but multiple!! Honestly when Stephanie said that along with the TF Chef she was planning the gluten free items I expected what restaurants usually offer up; a big piece of lettuce wrapped around the burger with some bland fries on the side. I've seen the start of the menu (stay tuned!), and with these gluten free options that Stephanie and the TF Chef created I can basically eat any one of the burgers I want!!!Are you as excited about these amazing gluten free options as I am?! Let us know in the comments if you've even heard of Celiac Disease/Gluten Intolerance etc before, or if you're in the GF community along with me! :) p.s. less than 2 weeks until Burger Night!!!

Pricing Updates & Freezes

Heads up, farm friends, it’s that time of year when all our behind-the-scenes costs start creeping up again, and unfortunately we have to pass along a few updates on delivery/shipping starting tomorrow. We’re still the middle man in a lot of ways, and the middle is getting a little more expensive. 🙃

Celery in meat - more deception?

UPDATE, 12-19-2025: I just learned that synthetic nitrites, aka pink salt, are pink because red dye is added to it. But, since it's at such a low percentage it is not required to be labeled on the meat (more bs in my mind). So that would be a point for Team Celery; however, with red dyes being banned, all the red dyed pink curing salts are now being phased out. So point is nullified, Team Celery still loses. Today we're talking about something that really irks me, really gets my britches in a bunch, really makes my blood boil, really drives me up the wall....but I will do my best to not devolve into anger and name-calling, I am clearly a professional so we'll keep this educational and factual because that's what you're here for and I don't even know where to get knickers from to twist. I'm obviously in such a state of controlled rage because it's Easter and so up popsCELERY. 😡Obviously. The gist of it: My belief is that nitrates and nitrites in meat should be avoided due to the creation of nitrosamines and that this is created whether the nitrates/ites are from the chemically pure lab-created (aka synthetic) nitrate/ite or if they are from concentrated nitrates/ites derived from celery because the same reactions will occur and be treated by your body in exactly the same way and it's best avoided. To further confuse matters, "their [synthetic nitrate/ites compared to those derived from celery] chemical composition is absolutely the same, and so are the health effects," says Joseph Sebranek, Ph.D., Morrison Endowed Chair in meat science at Iowa State University. 1 Just like how my blood sugar will spike if I eat a spoonful of sugar or a hunk of sugar cane. 🥄🌿REGARDLESS of what the label on the raw sugar cane says - it could say "natural", it could say "organic", it could saw "raw", it could say "derived from natural locations".....my blood sugar will spike because my digestive system is 100% immune from marketing gimmicks or downright deceptions.A+ work digestive system....please teach the eyes. 👁👃👁 Finding smoked meats without any added nitrates/ites in ANY form from animals raised well and organically on a small farm and then processed by an animal-welfare approved butcher that cares about health is quite a feat! Congratulations! 🎺🎺🎺Pictured: our $99 March Bundle of the Month (not pictured: included recipe cards and all the transparency we offer, mostly because it's transparent).Now that it's Easter time, the SMALL FARMS I follow are out there telling their customers that their hams are "uncured" and contain NO nitrates/ites because they use "celery" and therefore it's healthy....either they are directly saying it's healthier or are very heavily implying it. But they are literally say "NO nitrates/ites included" in their emails and social posts.Which is actually 3 lies. ‼ Lie 1. It's not uncured. Celery-derived nitrates/ites are chemically the same BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE. No literally. There's more. Since the USDA will not classify celery-derived nitrates/ites as being a curing agent (which makes zero science-sense) they will also not regulate it's use and so it's basically it's like the wild wild west.Not only that, but I have had butchers personally tell me that they then use MORE just to be "safe"!And the fact that nitrate/ite levels in meats using celery-derived nitrate/ite compounds is at least the same as synthetically sourced nitrate/ite was actually found to be true by researchers. So again, the chemical will behave the same, like a curing agent, regardless of how it came to be. Chemistry. Lie 2. It's just some celery - you know, the green leafy vegetable that is good for you. Well, yes but no. That's just like saying high-fructose corn syrup or glucose syrup is corn. 🌽Yes, but no. Yes it was derived from corn but after extensive further processing and concentration. If you told me "here's some corn for you to eat", I would imagine a cob of corn or perhaps a bag of frozen corn, I wouldn't think you were handing me a spoonful of glucose syrup. Same with the celery.They are not rubbing the meat with a stalk of celery, they are highly refining and processing the celery to extract out the naturally-occurring nitrates/ites and concentrate them which they then use as a substitute for pure synthetic nitate/ite curing salts. The entire point of adding the celery-derived nitrate/ites is for the nitrates/ites, not for flavor or nutrients or color or anything else. Nobody is even pretending there is any other reason for it's use except to act as a cure. Lie 3. It's healthier. I feel like we proved the point as far as celery nitrates/ites are the same chemically as synthetic ones and your intestinal tract also can't read, so just like my intestinal tract, it is what it is.The nitrosamines are created and probably cause colorectal cancer. But, wait, the celery option itself actually gets even a little bit worse. Okay, so it's true that nitrates/ites naturally occur in foods - especially leafy vegetables or any veggies with higher water content (because nitrates/ites occur in water) so then the veggies themselves concentrate that, some a little more than others, and we eat it, but that is seemingly okay. Kind of like how nicotine is naturally occurring in some veggies and actually might be good for you in small doses of that raw form, but I'm doing my best to stay focused here. Just remember, the problem seems to be the heating up of the nitrates/ites in a protein-rich environment, not necessarily the nitrates/ites themselves.Okay so what else are veggies that are full of water going to be full of? That's right - pesticides, herbicides and whatever else is floating around in or dissolved in all that water they are drinking or being splashed with. Celery currently ranks #16 on the EWG's pesticide contamination list (again, they don't look at any of the other -ides) and, here's the kicker! Non-organic celery is used to make celery-derived nitrates/ites even for organic products! 3So along with those celery nitrates/ites comes the concentration of whatever else was in that celery. I mean, at this point, if we didn't have this godsend of an option with our butcher of "D. None of the above".-------> we would choose synthetic over "celery". <------- Now at this point I should just leave well enough alone and send you on your merry way to digest all this info but I'm not really a professional like was indicated earlier so before we go, I'd like to show you this label and you tell me if it's telling you the truth and can be trusted or if it's deceiving you: It's hard to read but under the white banner it says "No Nitrates or Nitrites Added" and then in the asterisk at the very bottom in the white it says "except those naturally occurring in....celery powder" which you'll see below was added. 🤣 what?? so which is it? added or not added?That would be like if the Snickers or whatever candy bar said "no sugar added except for those naturally occurring in corn" instead of "high fructose corn syrup". 🤯And, of course, it says "uncured" in giant letters as part of the name, which it chemically is not Again, the back is hard to read though it does say you can have "peace of mind" eating this (more like, I'll give you a piece of my mind Applegate).A close-up of just the ingredients is included. Notice that the celery is not organic even though this is an organic product. It's not just celery. Some butchers will say "vegetable" or use carrots or beets or some other veggie or combo of veggies but it's all the same - a veggie being highly processed to extract and concentrate nitrates/ites to then be used as a better sounding cure. Could actually be worse depending on how much those other vegs concentrate bad stuff. Okay so they both said "no nitrates/ites added" but also then added the concentrated form of celery nitrates/ites which is chemically exactly the same as the synthetic nitrates/ites and behaves exactly the same way....as a cure.Okay and here's a picture of our label - what do you notice? The label says "uncured", the ingredient list does not include any vegetables or any asterisks that say "except for..." so it really is uncured and there really are no nitrates/ites added. Just good meat that was in a salt & sugar brine and then smoked the old-fashioned way using a smokehouse and hardwood chips! No water injections or reforming either. Just a smoked ham. That's right - actually no nitrates added. Congratulations! You have just unlocked a new set of decoder glasses complete with a ring! 👓💍This is a big deal, as the "Celery in Meat" ring + glasses are both are very hard to collect. This got much longer than I expected so I am going to save the butcher story for next week. I am also a little concerned I'm on the verge of starting a cult with all these secret super powers I am giving you so stay tuned for part 2 as to why and how we ended up here - clean meat, raised organically on our small farm and processed well. No way are we going to work so hard on raising the best meat we can (hand-fed pastured pigs!) only to have questionable ingredients added at the butcher! Hard pass. Of course if you want to eat meats with nitrates/ites in any form - great! If you aren't worried about nitrosamines, great! If you don't think I'm right or my references are not trustworthy, that's all fine. Of course, you probably shouldn't expect to be invited to present at the Annual Convention of Chemists, aka ChemCon, but that's fine, you've got better things to do anyway. 🧪 I just want you to be able to have the CORRECT and trustworthy information you need to make those decisions. And right now, "uncured" meats and "celery" are a huge pile of lies, deception and greenwashing. This really might be the worst example of greenwashing I can think of, specifically because we assume the word celery = better and we assume we can trust all these small farms. It's actually worse even than meat being able to be labelled "Product of USA" no matter where it's from because at least small farms aren't doing that to their blindly trusting customers. Ugh, it all just makes me so sad and frustrated. Also a small pro-tip, according to my chef friend, celery is best left out of broth making too as it brings some unpleasant flavors with it (nitrate is that you??). So keep celery in its place: Bloody Marys and we'll all be fine and live forever. Hmm, a drink actually sounds really good right now. Thanks for being a part of our little farm and I hope you really can trust us - I don't think we are self-deceived (although that's the thing about being self-deceived) and we do our best to be as transparent and honest as possible, but you'll never get the full story until our reality show becomes reality. ❤ Your farmer & founding-member-of-the-Church-of-the-Flying-Anticelery-Monster friend, Stephanie Schneider

Holiday & Sale Updates & Deadlines

Since the weather refuses to co-operate I've been trying really hard to get all the products online but whooo boy! It's a big task. I've added a TON though and am actively working through all the candles. It's day 8 of the 12 days and today all candles, melts & diffusers are 20% off!! I love these new candles made from upcycled wine glasses, check them out here! I'm working through the milkhouse candles now - my success here will depend on my level of success in the physical farm store, if we are busy, you won't see much more added, if we are not, they should keep showing up! We have something for all the candle lovers out there:🐝100% beeswax only.🐝100% beeswax with essential oils.🕯️Diffusers with essential oils only.🕯️Soy-wax with high quality fragrance oils.🕯️Electric candles with built-in 6 hour timers, they are even dipped in and made from wax so they look really legit but without the fear of fire or forgetting to blow them out. And without the pain of turning them all on every day! I love them. We have every shape and size: taper, tealight, small and large pillars, toads, mushrooms, fox, corn and more! Even the DIY candles are on sale today! So no matter your candle preference, you'll want to stop by the farm store for some free sniffs today! Open 2-6pm Table Centerpieces Unfortunately, we are woefully low on holiday centerpieces for your table (you guys are learning from all of our selling out in past years!). We have some beautiful pork tenderloins that make a great centerpiece especially when wrapped with bacon (or use a pork roast and make the family-favorite (and easier-than-pie) Bacon-Wrapped Kalua Pork which will IMPRESS). We have hams, but we may need to combine a few smaller ones to get to your desired poundage. No whole beef tenderloins but we do have filets (again, bacon wrapping is pretty spectacular) pair them with a whole side of one of the wild Alaskan salmons and you'll have the perfect surf & turf! Deadlines Until Christmas, ignore the online default deadlines (every time I try to override them, I screw something up): we will ship non-meat orders ASAP until the 23rd (flat $9, free for orders over $179). To bypass the store's limitations, follow these steps. Order MEAT and we'll ship this week if you are ready with Monday the 22nd being our last ship day (and a risky one for some of you, especially since the meat will arrive frozen, so plan accordingly!). Thank you so much for shopping small! Ironically, it makes a WORLD of difference to not just our little farm family but to all the small businesses you buy from through us too. We have 100s in our little farm store that we'd love to show you. ✨ Holiday Sale