No, I am not going to lurch off into a detailed analysis of animal husbandry out in the verdant Shenandoah Valley. It is too late in the day, and I’m permitting myself a glass of vino tino to welcome in the Happy Hour rush in the Galley.

If this were a morning release, it would have all the fancy stuff. This is late, so I’ll just trace how the spinner got spun, the arrow came around a couple of times, and finally stopped on the wedge you see above labeled “Pork.”

That would normally mean turning to Holly and telling her to come up with a cool recipe to feed a dozen or more, drawn from her group of proteins.

A decent story could wind together the Chinese takeover of part of the American pork industry; the efforts of some valiant small farmers to keep their craft alive in a changing world; the preservation of an ancient breed on a lush coastal island; and the way those animals are now being raised right here in Virginia.

Waynesboro, Virginia.

That used to count as local when HQ was down at Culpeper, and we’re pleased we got to know the place when it was close. I can still do bulk orders—like the one for this porchetta dish I’m going to do for Labor Day.

And Holly would talk about that, and about Clay & Linda Trainum, the fine people at Autumn Olive Farms who are helping preserve the Ossabaw breed.

That is the one descended from hogs introduced by the Spanish colonialists three or four centuries ago and left in isolation as the plantation failed to adapt in the wild. The Trainums have pursued a six-year breeding program, crossing the hardy English Berkshire with the Ossabaw to produce what they hope will be the “Perfect Pig.”

It is a great story, and we’ll get to it presently, since the arrow spins across those five food groups regularly.

But this story is a narrative all its own. I have followed the logistics trail from Waynesboro all the way back to McLean, where the product is also sold at our Organic Butcher.

So, that is it for a Tuesday.

Time to start thinking about dinner!

Copyright 2026 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com