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Writer's pictureRich and Shelley McGlamory

Winner of LIFE






Colonel’s Blog, Earthdate 12 December 2023…

Hey Y’all!

Good afternoon and happy Tuesday from Free Missouri! The weather is pleasant but freezing in the mornings. Although the weather apps have been saying it is around 30-32, on the farm, it’s been in the upper teens to low twenties. The afternoons have been sunny and mid-50s. The animals are all doing very well, with nothing significant to report. The photos today are the new layers. They have made the transition from chick to pullet. A pullet is a female chicken with its feathers but that has not yet started laying eggs. The group of pullets is growing well and are now used to their chick shaw and they consider it home. We’ll wait for them to get a bit bigger and then will take them out of the pen they are in currently and move their shaw into an electrified poultry net. It will give them more room to forage and will be the way we move them around the farm throughout their life. We made a mad-dash to Tennessee Friday/Saturday to deliver a USDA inspected whole hog and whole lamb. Rebekah and Makaylah took care of the farm while we were gone. They even milked Happy Saturday morning! They did an amazing job ensuring everything was cared for properly. Sunday we recorded and edited a podcast for Monday, delivered some meat and eggs to Ava, and had friends over for dinner and conversation. Monday we studied YouTube most all of the day. I’ll leave you a link to the newest podcast below where we discuss ketogenic lifestyle and sweets.


In 1986 James P. Carse published a book “Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility” about the differences between what he called “finite games” and “infinite games.”  Finite games are like football or baseball. They have definite rules, boundaries, timeframes, and judges to reinforce them all. There are players and observers. The roles are clear, and the purpose of the game is to win. On the other hand, infinite games are different. There are no definite rules or boundaries, timeframes don’t matter, and everyone plays. The roles change according to needs, and those who are engaged manage the play without a judge or referee. Ultimately the purpose of the game is to keep playing. Simon Sinek used the concepts presented by Carse, applied them to business, and wrote the New York Times and Wall Street Journal Best-Selling book “The Infinite Game.” At its core, this is a description of two different strategies that can be applied to many aspects of life, from war to health. In war, the danger with a finite strategy is that the strategist begins to consider what “winning” looks like. Since, as Clausewitz famously penned, “war is the continuation of policy through other means,” there is an inherent danger in thinking there can be a winner. In a finite game, with the declaration of a winner, the game is over. In international politics, the game is never over. The players may change, the rules may even change, but the game continues…it is infinite. It is a DEEP trap for a strategist to fall into if winning becomes part of the discussion in war. How does this apply to health? Let’s discuss nutrition, and a ketogenic way of eating in specific. A ketogenic DIET infers there is a finite goal in mind. For example, “I need to lose 20 pounds, I’m going on a ketogenic diet.” This is finite thinking. There is a game, the players are defined, the rules are defined, the purpose of this game is a particular number on a scale, and the scale is the referee that determines when the game is over. When approaching the ketogenic way of eating as a finite game, as long as you adhere to the rules that make the DIET ketogenic, you will win. No question. You will achieve the desired number on the scale (within reason, of course). Upon reaching that number, the game is over. No more diet, no more ketogenic, back to the standard way of eating. What happens? You WILL increase weight back to the point you were before you started the game. No question. If you eat the way that got you there, you will go right back to that same place. From a strategy perspective, what is a different way to look at it? Let’s change the game from finite to infinite. There are now no timeframes. There is no referee, and no end to the game. The goal is to continue to play the game. In war, that leads to a strategy that recognizes the players will exist at the cessation of hostilities. The strategy becomes one of ensuring the greatest advantage when it stops and how to make that happen. Applied to a ketogenic way of eating, the infinite approach becomes a ketogenic LIFESTYLE. This change recognizes the fact that life continues past reaching a target goal on a scale. It allows for continued adherence to realize the health benefits of ketosis, rather than the limited benefit of a number on a scale. It takes away the concept of “cheating” since it isn’t a diet (a finite game with rules that, when broken, equals cheating). It is a way of living, a continuous state of existence, and as such, any derivation from the state is simply that. It is merely a detour, a bump, or a diversion in the road but the road continues. Health is an ongoing, infinite game. As Simon Sinek says in the book: “No matter how successful we are in life, when we die, none of us will be declared the winner of life.”


Episode 21 of the Dust’er Mud Podcast, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WxvCWvtz-s&t=3s


Local Farm Report for 8-11 December 2023

Harvest:

28 Chicken eggs

16 Duck eggs

7 1/2 Gallons of milk


Cheers!

Psycho & Shelley

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