If They Could See Her Now--Sally Fallon's Farm a Model of Raw Milk Safety
Sally Fallon has long been the whipping girl of raw milk opponents, portrayed as uncaring of victims of illness from raw dairy and an advocate of crazy safety ideas, like the one that the good bacteria in raw milk from grass-fed cows kills off pathogens.
When the head of the Weston A. Price Foundation had the temerity a couple years back to suggest that food safety investigators look into the possibility that tainted water rather than raw milk might have been responsible for a Pennsylvania man's serious illness from campylobacter, lawyer Bill Marler practically pushed for tarring and feathering. "Denying (illnesses) does not alter reality," he proclaimed on his blog. "Ms. Fallon Morrell, have you no shame?"
I thought of those and other such accusations against Sally Fallon as I listened to her describe her milk and cheese production methods at her 95-acre Maryland farm, the P.A. Bowen Farmstead, yesterday. She was hosting the fifth anniversary celebration of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, which she was instrumental in establishing. She and husband Geoffrey Morrell purchased the farm a couple years ago, and they have been busy since then restoring it and turning it into a world class cheese production facility. The center pieces are the ten Jersey cows that provide the milk for the blue cheese, cheddar, and "dreamy creamy" cheeses.
What struck me as Fallon went through a video of the milking and cheese making process was her emphasis on safety. Actually, that is initially apparent just by looking around. The milk parlor is so clean one could eat off the floor. The ten Jersey cows grazing in a shady pasture are immaculate.
The cows are milked only once a day, which she says results in a richer milk, highly suitable for cheese. than if they were milked more. They are coddled, with a brushing-massaging machine and the playing of Mozart music as they are being milked. She showed how the milk is immediately tested for mastitis via something called the California Mastitis Test that indicates elevated somatic cell counts. By showing sub-clinical mastitis--signs of mastitis before they become visible via symptoms--Fallon is able to take quick action to deal with a cow, and to segregate its milk by using it only to feed calves.
She noted that she sends her milk off for lab pathogen and other testing once a month, even though Maryland regulations require only annual testing. She is setting up the farm to do in-house listeria testing, since listeria can be a problem in raw cheese production facilities.
While Fallon and family consume the milk, strict Maryland laws make it illegal to sell or even privately distribute raw milk. (For a look at the farm and facilities, there is a slide show on YouTube.)
Why all the emphasis on testing? In actuality, the Weston A. Price Foundation has long been an advocate of strict safety standards, and Fallon has been a big booster of the Raw Milk Institute (RAWMI) launched by Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures Dairy Co. (despite statements indicating skepticism about whether raw milk was the culprit in certain outbreaks). But there is something else at work as well, according to Fallon. Given the growing federal intrusion into food safety via the Food Safety Modernization Act passed last year, "We want to have records in case the feds do" begin involving themselves in raw dairy testing and safety requirements, she said.
By the way, I bought some of the blue and cheddar cheeses on sale at the farm store, and can attest that they are wonderful. And kudos to Fallon and others, including Cathy Raymond and Maureen Diaz, for not wilting in the 104-degree heat yesterday. Everyone looked as if they had just run a marathon once they walked across the road from the parking area to the farm, but not only did the picnic lunch come off without a hitch, even the ice cream survived. About 140 people celebrated the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund's fifth anniversary, and heard Pete Kennedy, the organization's president, describe how the organization is not only representing raw milk producers, but taking on other kinds of cases as well, like the Food Sovereignty case in Maine and a zoning case in Michigan in which a farmer is being challenged in his farming under zoning laws.
So if Bill Marler and his pals at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are looking for raw dairy models of safety and sanitation, I think I know of one in rural Maryland. Don't worry. They really don't want to know about success models.
This site's mission is to provide news and analysis about food rights and raw milk. Increasingly, our access to privately available food is under attack by government and industry forces that seek to impose their choices on us. The Complete Patient seeks to provide up-to-date information and encourage the development of community to maintain traditional food acquisition options.
Sally and Mark are my present day heros and I admire them, yet not perfect . Models are wonderful and not that I would ever strive to be one, but kratf werks is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCKybI5BjEY
Have a cow, as Bart would say.
I'm signed up to take Sally's online food courses. A birthday gift from my husband. I can't wait to get started on Tuesday the 10th. It's going to be fun to learn what I've been doing wrong all these years!!
"Denying (illnesses) does not alter reality,"
Remove the word "illnesses" and insert safety.... Denying (Safety) does not alter reality, this is what those against the consumption of raw dairy (among other foods) have screamed. As many have pointed out, it would be suicide for a farmer not to be as sanitary as possible.
Congrats to Sally, and best of luck in her new cheese making enterprise! It sounds like she is striving to be a model.
From my understanding, the most important thing once-a-day milking changes is not the milk solids, but the milk alkalinity.
The way it was explained to me, by a dairy scientist, is that because the junctures in the mammary glands move closer to the blood stream (as they do in late-lactation) the milk becomes more "blood like." Blood has a slightly alkaline pH, while milk normally has a slightly acidic pH. Once-a-day milk will still be slightly acidic, but (in my experience) in the 6.8-6.9 range, whereas normal twice-a-day milk has a pH in 6.6-6.8 range.
Though the Somatic Cell counts will still be normal, this higher alkalinity can adversely affect the activity of rennet, since rennet is very pH sensitive. One solution to this problem is to pre-ripen the milk longer than normal, prior to renneting, so that the lactic acid development can assist with coagulation.
I have also been told that the increases in solids which occur from once-a-day milking are mostly increases in whey proteins (which aren't captured in the cheese anyways).
Also, a useful (and modern) way to measure Somatic Cell Counts is with the Mas-D-Tec, that measures the conductivity of milk. Since mastitic milk is higher in chlorides and minerals, it has increased electrical conductivity, and this device has an almost instantaneous read. The California Mastitis test (and its slight varient, the Wisconsin Mastitis test) are older methods that are known to sometimes have human error problems, and are inefficient at testing individual quarters for subclinical mastitis.
Here's the link. It is a bit pricey, but probably worth the investment in the long-run: http://www.masdtec.com/masdtec.html
Of course, these are just suggestions, not criticisms, and it sounds like Sally has done a great job with her farm and cheese facility! I hope this information is of some help.
RE: Got Milk? You Don't Need It article by Mark Bittman NYTimes 7/7/12
Raw milk doesn't seem to be in Mr. Bittman's or others' vocabulary or radar:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/07/got-milk-you-dont-need-i...
Chris Lewis
It seems his negative symptoms disappeared without drinking raw milk. Maybe the absence of pasteurized milk in the diet, not the addition of raw milk, is what is healing.
I agree. No single food is a cure-all for everyone. Different people have different needs, and different sources of aversive reactions. But it's also true that the subject of raw milk is not politically correct for many at The New York Times.
David, seems a bit unfair that you claim that I do not want a solution to people getting sick. You may not agree with me, but seriously, you do not really believe that. Here are some suggestions that we are sending out to all states:
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/07/real-raw-milk-facts-makes-legislat...
Don’t forget about the portfolio. http://www.realrawmilkfacts.com/PDFs/Raw-Milk-Legislation-Portfolio.pdf
If I do say so myself, it is a nice set of documents.
Bill, what do these suggestions have to do with raw milk safety? I see very little here that helps to clarify the issues surrounding milk hygiene and quality.
If you really wanted to make a good suggestion, we do more research into understanding the root causes for dairy cows to shed STEC.
I don't always agree with David's neo-liberal biases, but I think he's right on this one.
Bill Marler, just to be clear, I said you (and other raw milk opponents) weren't interested in success models for raw milk safety and sanitation. I didn't say you don't want a solution to people getting sick. Important distinction that I won't dwell on, but suffice it to say, there are always going to be instances of people getting sick from food, and if the standard is that a food can't be sold because someone might get sick, then you've set the bar at a level where it's possible to veto any food you happen to have a bias against.
More to the point, what I was getting at in my post is the importance of judging people by their actions rather than their words. Sally Fallon has said some things about raw milk and raw milk safety that, like you, I don't agree with. But in the end, I believe it's important to judge people by their actions rather than their words. I was impressed during my visit to her farm Saturday by her actions in acknowledging the importance of raw milk safety, taking serious actions above and beyond regulatory requirements, and in the process serving as a model to other raw milk producers, many of whom hold her in very high esteem.
The article you link to in Food Safety News, listing the conditions under which you would "allow" raw milk, are interesting words. But your actions, at least those I am aware of, have all been geared toward sabotaging or rejecting sincere efforts to allow the private sales and distribution of raw milk (apart from retail sales). I am thinking in particular of Wisconsin and Minnesota, where the anti-raw-milk lobby has worked like crazy to reject, though I suspect from the fact that you are sending a "legislative kit" around the country, you are engaged in a national campaign.
The way it looks from here, you have this list of conditions under which raw milk can be made available, but if there is, in your judgment, any deviation from it, in the slightest, you have an excuse to reject and sabotage. Maybe the question I should be asking is this: Is there any legislative effort in the recent past or upcoming to support private availability of raw milk that meets your conditions and thus deserves your support?
Even though the speaker in the vid at the below posted link never mentions raw milk (which is a shame), maybe you should send this along with your other information to all the "States": http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_eisen_meet_your_microbes.html
Call it a "field guide to microbes and other interesting ideas concerning microbes".
He talks about manure tea (he called it poo tea). I give it to my plants. Never thought much about using it myself. =8-0 And the fecal transplants for C-Diff aren't new. I posted information about that a couple of years ago (on my own forum). So people are curious about microbes, good and bad. Maybe we should all be taking a closer look.
And I don't remember reading anything in David's article where he said anything about you NOT wanting a solution to people getting sick. Not a factual statement on your part at all.
From Cris' link:
Another lie and gross misrepresentation from the US government- soymilk is NOT dairy and for many it tastes awful. Isn't soy gmo?
As for most with chronic heartburn/GERD/reflux etc. Most often it is the whole of the routine diet consumed on a regular basis that is a major contributor to the symptoms. SAD comes to mind, which includes over processed dairy.
"Osteoporosis? You don’t need milk, or large amounts of calcium, for bone integrity. In fact, the rate of fractures is highest in milk-drinking countries, and it turns out that the keys to bone strength are lifelong exercise and vitamin D, which you can get from sunshine. "
This statement is true. He neglected to include that bones require the other nutrients found in foods for bone health, it isn't just Vit D and calcium, if one is decreased the body compensates from other areas. They work in conjunction with each other.
@ Sylvia: Soy is definitely GMO. Just about as bad as corn in that regard, percentage wise. I thought you might like to read this article about how a Danish farmer reversed illness in his pigs by changing their feed to a non-GM variety. Interesting stuff here:
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/GM_Soy_Linked_to_Illnesses_in_Farm_Pigs.php
Seeing as how it links to animals, I think it's appropriate to post it here. If not, David can haul it off!
Thanks D. Smith. I will share the story.
It reminds me of my friend who stayed at my home in Tampa,FL years ago, after his place was damaged from a hurricane. He lived off of frozen meals, cooked absolutely nothing. He did make coffee. He also lived off anti-ulcer medications that were not effective. Had chronic stomach pain. I don't recall how long he had been at my place when his GI symptoms subsided (they never went totally away-could have been the Mountain Dew he sucked down daily), his brother commented that his GI problems decreased greatly at my place. He ate real food at my place. He was there not quite a year and reverted back to his 'normal' diet at his place, with resumption of GI issues.
@ Chris Lewis: There are a lot of people who feel the same about milk and other foods as Mark Bittman, but for those of us who grew up drinking raw milk it just seems ludicrous to go to the store and buy deadified (my own invented word) white water being passed off as milk. The producers have to add in the synthetic vitamin D so they can "advertise" the junk as having some useful purpose. In reality, that kind of milk has no useful purpose as far as your body is concerned. It just goes in one end and out the other without contributing a thing to your health or even to your sustenance. I have to shake my head when I see people buying boxes of "nut milks". Those things are SOOOOO bad for you because of the additives. I don't frown on nut milks if they're homemade, especially for people with allergies or whatever, but buying it in a box won't improve your health one bit. To me, it's sort of like buying powdered eggs in a box - that are on the shelf right next to the fresh farm eggs. It just boggles the mind.
But, the fact is everyone has their own ideas about food and I'm not here to change their minds. I just think misinformation and re-arranged facts won't help people make proper nutritional decisions. But at some point common sense must play a role (such as buying boxed, powdered eggs!). I mean, really?
The NYT and many other papers of like kind and quality are just rags. They only print what is currently popular and they print it as if it were factual. That's their job. Which is why we need to dig deeper for real information and facts. Much deeper.
OT:
http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/hsn/nutrient-drink-might-boost-memory-in-...
http://healthrevelations.com/tag/souvenaid/
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-uridine.htm Maybe a beer will improve memory.... or maybe there is something to the colostrum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colostrum
D. Smith,
Excellent TED talk...thank you!! We are indeed "BacteriaSapiens".
I envision, in a very short time, that small raw milk farmers will complete for low bacteria count numbers on a national scale. Each proudly demonstrating their ability to transparently and consisently produce extremely clean and delicious raw milk. I see this already happening as I discuss raw milk safety and see how proud each farmer is of what they do. The evidence is clear, the lab tests varify the results of hard work and being clean. This completely connects to food safety and in turn consumer trust and health. This can not be industrialized. Thank God!!
I just wish that Bill Marler would acknowledge the hard work of high quality raw milk. When coliforms are at less than 1 and SPC are at less than 500....that beats pasteurized milk anytime.
The most telling thing that beats pasteurized milk....is pasteurized milk itself. It is the most allergenic food in America....people can not eat the stuff. Market dollar voting could very well show pasteurized milk the exit door with a swift-kick to the backside on the way out. Dairies are going bankrupt left and right in CA with milk price below $14 per CWT and falling. Hay costs higher than ever.
It is dairy torture by processor profits and consumer lactose intolerance. Pasteurized milk is easy to over produce...but damn hard to sell because it causes GUT illness. Simple as that.
Bill Marler,
Your advise to only allow raw milk to be sold on farms is a very short sighted vision. I always took you for a visionary with a longer view. How about high standards and systems that help farmers do better??? That is truly visionary. Your vision is pro-processor, pro-allergies, pro-asthma, anti farmer and anti consumer. Under your vision, few people could have access to raw milk. Your vision is expensive, dangerous and is un-green and requires moms with cars filled with car seats, ice chests and pissed-off kids to travel miles and miles to get their raw milk. Your vision denies people a living green choice in the market place. Before denial of choice and cars filled with pissed-off kids...lets try investment in and enhancement of standards first.
Your vision does not work. All it does is motivate the grass roots to dislike the FDA and you even more.
I always thought you wanted to be considered a good looking savior with a vision. You should consider attending one of our RAWMI training days. We talk all about illness and pathogens...but we also show farmers exactly how to reduce this risk and control the quality of their precious raw milk.....and create a food which protects against: bone density loss, asthma, excema, ear infections, GERD, IBS and Crohns.
I would absolutely love to have you come and join us sometime. You can even milk a cow with us and learn how we control every aspect of cleanliness from Grass to Glass. All of your concerns are addressed 110%. ( plus much more ) ....with raw milk there is no hiding place or excuses. It is innately and inherently ethical and good. Something not well understood by the FDA or processors.
Mark McAfee
@ Mark: well, I'm gonna try this once more. Every time I want to "reply" to someone, my post ends up heaven knows where. So I'll give it one more shot and hope this ends up under your comment. At that link about the microbes, there's another interesting, short (5 min) vid about halfway down the page on the right-hand side, from a lady whose last name is Green. She talks about microbes and stuff too, and how we are really doing ourselves in, somewhat, by the way we build things too airtight. At the end of the vid she talks about how what we really need is ventilation systems in hospitals, etc., which provide "architectural yogurt". I thought that was an interesting term. The theory is immensely intriguing!
Mark, when is any mention of pathogens and the illnesses they cause going to added to the RAWMI website.?
Mark,
A promotional tool may be, in a nutshell: If you are going to teach, then teach it all.
Informing of the potential of all foods being contaminated, what you are doing to prevent contamination and offer the most healthy product. A comparison of what you do and what the majority of dairies, similar in size to your dairy, in the US are doing and be specific on what the differences are. Pictures are great. Also inform of smaller dairies and the huge cafos. Compare what your labs results have to be by-law to what all other dairies have to be. Inform on what the facts are in relation to outbreaks for both raw and boiled dairy. Also show the relation to raw/boiled dairy to other foods.
If people see what the facts are, they can make informed choices and hopefully avoid illness with all foods. I think the consumption of boiled milk will decrease when eyes are opened to what they are really getting.
Mary, please don't take this personally, but... how many more times do we have to tell some of you people that ALL foods carry some degree of risk? There is no such thing as a completely safe food and you need to accept that as fact and stop bombarding us with scare tactics. You can get sick from eating a grape, kissing someone, or just breathing.
There are pathogens everywhere and the way to deal with them is NOT to insulate yourself, but to expose your self to those risks. There is a reason why humans normally won't eat plastic and synthetics, unless it's fabricated, advertisied and marketed as healthy. Milk, I'm not so worried about. Maybe someone can come up with organic, garlic milk? www.doomandbloom.net/2011/12/garlic-as-an-antibiotic.html
They don't mention cows or chickens, but you can bet they make your life and health better too:
http://healthland.time.com/2012/07/09/study-why-dogs-and-cats-make-babie...
@ Ora Moose: I don't know, Ora, I'm torn on that issue about exposing babies to animals in an indoor environment. As they get older it may be a good plan, but as little babies I think it's better to expose them to other children, not animals, as far as building immunity, etc. The reason I say this is because my youngest grandbaby recently had a bout with what the doctor's could only call a form of bordetella, which they suspected came from a cat. My daughter-in-law refuses to give up her cat (even though my son and I are both allergic to the blasted thing), but the doctor told her it might be in the best interest of the baby if she ditched the cat. She did take it to her parents for a while, but when baby was about six months old she brought the cat back to their house and my grandbaby got sick again and now has some lung damage, or so the doc says. Normally bordetella is more prevalent in dogs, but any mammal can transmit the pathogenic host. In this case feline bordetella.
I grew up around animals of all kinds and I love them (except cats), but they were outdoors whenever I was around them. My Mom didn't permit animals in the house (except an occasional visit from one of the dogs for a minute or two). Consequently, I'm the same way - animals belong outdoors. Besides, it's much easier to keep my house clean, since I run my business from my home - and clients expect my home to be clean even if their's looks like a junkyard. That's just the way people are.
I suppose it's a mixed bag of opinion, but I can't say I agree 100% with the article in that last link you posted.
http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/superbug-dangers-chicken-linked-8-m...
It's the drugs, foods and the environment they are raised in. An easy fix...feed what is natural to them, open range environment, etc. If you keep doing the same thing, you'll keep getting the same results...
Mary Martin,
You will be happy to know that the RAWMI training content contains a substantial amount of Bill Marler data and information. After all he is the shark that will eat your lunch if you screw it up with raw milk safety. It is essential to know thy challenges and thy enemy. In the end...Bill is not our enemy at all...he is a catalyst and a stimulant for change and improvement. Not a very fun pathway for change...but none the less a stimulant and catalyst.
There is no possible way to get the attention of raw milk producers unless illness from raw milk is shown and deeply discussed in an open and honest training enviroment. Good progress can only come from an honest redress of the facts. Not made up stories or hope....but real facts and real data.
At RAWMI training we also talk about the real data on national statistics on all foods. When compared to raw milk...my political statement and lesson is learned. Stats on raw milk illness are borderline irrelevant especially when considering the life saving value of a strong immune system and the discontinuance of toxic killer drugs for asthma, IBS, Osteoporsis and Crohns etc...
The truth is buried underneith the need to protect markets. When was the last time anyone spoke of the 8 kids that died from allergies to pasteurized milk??? Never mentioned. It is as if the pasteurized milk industry would prefer to blame the kids for allergies as if it was a separate individual defect or problem with the kid and not a defect of their own making.
Does not happen...pasteurized milk allergies kill kids far more than milk pathogens in the USA. My data shows 8 to 0 on the deaths from pasteurized milk allergies verses any source of raw milk deaths for any age group at any time in the last 50 years from raw milk!!
Raw milk is absolutely the place to see the pure political climate and the miss use and abuse of data to scare consumers with a desparate pasteurized milk market system.
The truth is the truth and RAWMI teaches the pure truth so that the farmer is prepared to prevent illness and feed his customers with the lowest risk raw milk possible.
Raw Milk is a rising emerging market and raw milk producers are heros for all the kids with weak immune systems. They are damned heros if they are ignorant and or poorly trained.
I look forward to presenting a recap after July 23rd and the RAWMI training day in Oregon.
Mark
@ Mark: I couldn't seem to locate your email address, but I wanted to share this with you. I think you will find it to be hilarious. Once the link opens, click on the content and the print will become larger.
http://s1014.photobucket.com/albums/af268/idabooda/?action=view¤t=...
As you said, the truth is the truth!
I refuse to enter the endless, and irrelevant debate on the safety of raw milk.
All that matters is that I have an inalienable right to choose what I put into my body, and that government has no legitimate say so in that decision. Doing other wise makes government illegitimate, and a criminal aggressor which I have the right to defend myself from.
Have you all forgotten why we instituted government? From the looks of the world the graduates of the government indoctrination centers were never taught this central fact, and are too dull to discover it on their own.
I refuse to enter the endless and irrelevant debate on the meaning of the US Constitution.
Government is an expression of class rule -- the rule of one class (or a coalition of classes) over the other classes. The US Federal government, for example, was founded as an alliance between military generals and bankers (i.e. Hamilton and Washington), that has oppressed farmers, artisans, workers, and slaves (and their ancestors) for over two centuries now.
Bill I have never seen any evidence to support your assertion that this country began that way. We in the beginning did not have standing armies and we did manage to defeat 2 national banks. (Washington was not banker agent by any evidence that I have seen but Hamilton certainly was.)
I do agree that we have slowly been taken over by bankers, and the undermining of our military is high on the list of the bankers priorities. They have implemented all 10 planks of the communist manifesto upon this country in order to destroy it and to control it.
http://www.libertyzone.com/Communist-Manifesto-Planks.html
I think farmers, artisans, workers have oppressed themselves by allowing government to become so powerful. There are only 535 of them and there are over 300 million of us. If the people would educate themselves this "oppression" could be ended tomorrow. But most love their servitude....
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." ~ Goethe
"It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere." ~ Voltaire.
Washington was a military general, IW. He led troops (a standing army, if you will) to crush the Whisky Rebellion as one of his first acts in office.
You need to stop reading the right-wing quackery & conspiracy theories, and educate yourself on the real history of this country:
http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-1492-Present/dp/0060...
I am aware of this Bill, and know a heck of a lot more history than most people. Your point is a non sequitur as far as I can see. That was the law back then (and today) and governments usually enforce the law. So what's your point especially when the people sat by and allowed it? (By their vote and their inaction.)
What is enlightening is that Washington pardoned those involved. (Yes an evil founding father. Don't tell anyone.)
You should read some of the one star reviews of the book you suggested. A very large number of readers believe the book supports left wing quackery & conspiracy theories.
I unlike you realize that this left/right thing is an illusion created by the oligarchs to divide us (it has worked wonders with you) I do not belong to either false dichotomy. They are both built on false premises and amount to the old tactic of limiting the debate to only things you want discussed.
You're one to speak, IW, wanting to limit the debate to merely issues of personal choice and not talking about broader social-level issues such as democratizing the entire food system, providing small farmers with fair prices, or the uneven distribution of land ownership in modern America.
How how I limited the debate? Have I somehow magically kept you from typing?
Bill I would not want to democratize anything in politics at anytime. Mob rule does not suit me in any way shape or form. I value my rights and abhor mob rule. As far as democratizing a person's free choices in life, it IS already that way except where government interferes with free will.
The way for farmers to make a living farming Bill (I am a small time farmer BTW) is to legalize freedom.
Almost every thing I want to do as a small farmer is either blatantly illegal, or regulated to the point that I can not afford to do it, and if I could it would jack the price of the product up so high that my target market could not afford to buy what I produced.
Yes the lack of access to land concerns me greatly also. I don't believe in stealing the land of others that have honestly obtained their land though. The railroads are a group that got much land unethically and much land is unconstitutionally tied up by the Feds. There are hundreds of thousands of acres of national forest here in MO that cloud be used to produce local food by the multitude of unemployed.
What is occurring makes sense, when you understand that the banksters that run this country, want wide spread poverty, and hunger so that we will accept the solutions that they offer. Just another spin on the Hegelian dialectic merry go round. :-)
I think TJ had great foresight then he made this comment about land:
"Whenever there are in any country uncultivated lands and
unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been so
far extended as to violate natural right." ~Thomas Jefferson
As one that has had the government outright steal 3 properties from me over the years I have strong personal reasons to make things right.
@ Inalienable Wrights: It is my personal opinion that one of the biggest problems in America is this "cultivated land" you talk about. If we had less cultivation (read: planted crops) we'd have far less problems in several different ways. Now, let me state that I am not against farming, not at all. But if we were doing less farming and more ranching (read: pasture grazing of animals) the upshot would be terrific in terms of less damage to the land, more meat and milk in production on green grass, etc. I realize that some grain crops are totally necessary, but I think America is one country that has just gone completely bonkers with this idea. Did we learn nothing from the Dirty Thirties? Apparently not, except how to plant shelter belts of trees, which is fine, but it would be so much easier on the animals, the farmer/rancher and on the earth itself if we weren't doing so much till cropping.
I don't know - maybe it's just me. I grew up with a small amount of grain farming (enough to help feed animals in winter) but otherwise we were a pasturing family and so were all the neighbors in our area. It just makes so much more sense not to dig up the soil and deplete it of its natural minerals year after year, and then - to have to cater to behemoths like Monsanto, DOW Chemical, etc., - just irks the hell out of me. We've given up our land and our freedom in one fell swoop.
D. Smith - farmers are learning, grass fed beef is growing in this area so no grain is consumed, and a precious few have learned not cut hay as with strip grazing you can have enough left standing in the fields to make it unnecessary. There are a lot of folks interested in no till vegetable growing, and you can do all sort of things to conserve soil when you grow on a smaller scale. I see very little reason to grow grains - people would be healthier if they did not eat any.
The downside of all of this is that quality food is going to cost the consumer at least twice what they pay for factory food, and many do not have that in their budgets. One way to free up that money up would be to get rid of the offshore banking cartel that prints our money called the Federal Reserve. Then we would not have to work 3 months a year to pay them the interest on that money, that we euphemistically call the income tax. What a radical idea. :-) Have people not work as serfs for offshore bankers and instead use that money to make their families healthy.
@ Inalienable Wrights: I sure do agree with you about the money situation. I just read in the headlines today that each working american has to toil until today (July 15th) to earn what we have to pay in taxes. It used to be we had to work until April 15th and now we've added three months to that because of the *stimulus plan* our leaders were so fond of passing.
And I guess there are people who think no grain is the best option, but truthfully in my part of the country it's nearly impossible to get through an entire winter without feeding some grain. The last couple of winters haven't been that bad, but with very little rainfall so far this year, what little extra hay and alfalfa was put up is now gone and people are wondering what to do next. So grain is sometimes the only answer in some situations.
And I'm one of those people who has no problem eating grains because I follow the WAPF foodie wisdom when it comes to eating grains. My body just loves a good homemade sourdough bread. So with people, it's all in what you can tolerate I suppose.
I love living in the part of the country where there are four seasons and I wouldn't change that in any way (used to live in southern CA and am glad to be back in the hinterlands!) but sometimes I wish I lived in an area where there is enough warmth all year to do the *12 Aprils* idea. If you haven't already seen this, it might be worth your time to watch. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it inspiring. It's only 16 minutes and well worth it. I may have shared this here before, can't remember. Scroll down to the second photo of the cow and that's your video to watch.
http://www.ecocentricblog.org/2011/03/07/old-time-farm-solutions-12-apri...
When I start eating grains in small amounts I am going to join you and learn how to ferment grains before consumption. :-)
There is no reason why we shouldn't be able to chose what we put in our bodies.
http://www.usconstitution.net/constframedata.html
http://www.usconstitution.net/declarsigndata.html
Lists of what some of the Founding fathers did for a living. They came from all walks of life. Broom and Few were small farmers.
We ourselves are the only reason we are not free to do so. There is no one else to blame. Ex slave Frederic Douglass says it best:
"Find out just what the people will submit to and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress."
All I have to say is I wish Sally would move up here to NY State by me, where raw milk and dairy is legal. I travel an hour each way to buy my raw dairy, eggs and grass fed meats each week and it's well worth the trip. There are other farms closer that sell raw milk, but it's not grass fed. The farm I go to is very well kept. The aside from the cheesemaking facility being immaculate, the barn is just as immaculate. The barn is cleaner than some houses I've been in and not one spec of dirt on any of the cows. I've seen the filthy conditions in the barns and feeding lots at a few factory farms and it was disgusting to see the cows cooped up in the barn all day laying in their own crap. That milk SHOULD be pasteurized and maybe even the pasteurization wouldn't do any good. Thank you Sally for spreading the good word about REAL food and dairy. Your Nourishing Traditions cookbook has become a bible in my kitchen.