I have always wanted to go to Alaska. Next July, I’ll finally be going. And I’ll be taking one of you lucky readers (and a guest of your choosing) with me.
Win A Trip to Colorado With Me ($2600 Value)
If you could spend two minutes of your life to do something to make it easier for you to support your local farmers, would you? If you could donate money to a well-managed fund that helps provide small farmers with the legal counsel they need to respond to overzealous government regulators, would you? I would. And I do. My absolute favorite non-profit to support is the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. And because I wholeheartedly support their cause, I am co-sponsoring a fundraiser for the Fund from now to December 16th. It’s a raffle. The prize? An all-expenses paid trip for you to attend Chef Monica Corrado’s cooking school with me at Sunrise Ranch, CO this coming February.
Major Victory as Jury Rules in Favor of Private Food Rights
I am doing my happy dance. Vernon Hershberger, the Amish dairy farmer recently on trial in Wisconsin for providing raw milk to his community, was acquitted last week by a jury on three of the four charges against him. The state of Wisconsin charged Hersbherger with operating a farm store without a retail food establishment permit, operating a dairy farm without a milk producer license, operating a dairy plant facility without a license, and violating a hold order that the state’s department of agriculture placed on food on his farm during a 2010 raid. Hershberger was acquitted of the first three charges and found guilty of the fourth. His acquittal marks a huge step forward in the food rights movement because it upholds private contracts between individuals and counters overbearing government regulations.
Is Your Choice Of Food A Fundamental Right?
You grow a garden; you expect to be able to harvest the food from that garden and eat it. You raise a cow; you expect to be able to milk that cow and consume the milk. You raise chickens; you expect to gather eggs and eat them. It’s uncomplicated, simple, a fundamental right. Perhaps you wouldn’t feel this way if you lived under some other form of government, but here, now, in America and other democratized countries, this is what you expect. According to Wisconsin Judge Patrick J. Fiedler, you do not have a fundamental right to consume the food you grow or own or raise.
Who Will Defend Our Farmers?
These days, our farmers face a growing threat. It’s not drought or colony collapse disorder, either. It’s our government. The very government created to protect their liberty is instead launching lengthy undercover investigations into their practices, raiding family homes at gunpoint in the early morning hours, and passing financially impossible legislation that doesn’t scale down to small, artisanal producers.
Who will defend our farmers? Who will fight their legal battles in court? Make persuasive arguments for their constitutional rights? Give counsel when overly zealous government enforcers want to take liberties with warrants and court orders? The Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund, that’s who.