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“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” Thomas Jefferson

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Attack on Raw Milk and Small Farms

One of our members over at the Homesteading Today forums is currently under attack for selling raw milk cheese. Now mind you they have been doing so for 30 years, have never had a case of illness from their cheese and have a substantial client base that is happy with their product. Here is a news article on their story. You can follow their saga on their blog here. One of the members over at HT came up with the idea to "Sponsor a Cheese" to help out Morningland Dairy and to help show that people are willing to stand up for our family farms. Here is her idea:

Sponsor A Cheese, Save A Dairy!
I'll assume most of us are aware of the assault against Morningland Dairy that began back in August, and has resulted in anti-raw milk pencil pushers (and toadies of corporate dairy concerns) demanding that the dairy destroy all their cheese in stock (SIX MONTHS WORTH OF PRODUCT!) -- despite the fact that all FDA testing done at the dairy proved that there is absolutely NO contamination of their healthy food.

So... I had an idea. Here's what I am going to do, and if you'd like to do the same, I certainly encourage you to join the Un-Cheese Party!

Here's the low down:
If Morningland can't sell the cheese because the Missouri Milk Board and the FDA are against wholesome food, they may well lose their family business of THIRTY YEARS. (And through all those years they are able to boast that NO ONE has EVER been made ill by their cheese!)

I'm not going to let that happen if I can help it.

I'm going to "sponsor" a few pounds of that embargoed cheese. I invite anyone else who is interested to join me in our

CYBER-SPACE UN-CHEESE PARTY!


I've got a call in to Ozark Jewels, to find out exactly how many pounds of cheese are in the cooler, and I'll let you know how much there is.

Here's how to SPONSOR A CHEESE:

The average price per pound is $5. You can send your sponsorship checks or money orders directly to the dairy. Just let them know what the money is for, and a note of encouragement would certainly be appreciated.

Morningland Dairy
6248 County Road 2980
Mountain View, MO
65548

Now, folks, this is a PARTY, so INVITE YOUR FRIENDS, your neighbors, your mere acquaintances to join us!

Plaster the message on other boards you frequent, put it on your Facebook Status, make a YouTube video and hey! maybe it'll go viral!

We have to stand together as raw milk consumers and producers, or we WILL see the day where we can't even grow food for our own consumption!

(see the thread, "Another threat against raw milk" for sample letters to write to your politicians to make an even bigger impact.)

Let's get Morningland back on its feet -
SAVE THE CHEESE!!!


All I can say is that I am in and will be sponsoring a cheese. If we small farmers don't stand together pretty soon there won't be any of us left as they find ways to shut us down and take what we have "for the common good". Blessings from the farm, Kat

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Making tough decisions

Homesteading requires making tough decisions at times. We are coming close to having to make one of those tough decisions within our goat herd. I have a doe that still has not given us any offspring nor milk. When we bought her, she was supposed to be pregnant. She wasn't. We really didn't consider that too big of a deal because she was wild as could be and didn't want to have anything to do with us. So it gave us time to work with her. She is now a loving wonderful doe. We thought we would finally get a baby out of her since last season she was bred to our buck. Yes, we know he bred her and then no heat cycles. She should have kidded this month. Guess what, no baby...no milk...and she has returned to her heat cycles. So this breeding season will be her last chance. I am going to talk to my vet this week and see what he thinks we should do. Maybe some lutalyse will help, I don't know. I do know that we can't feed a non producing animal. It is a hard decision, but one that homesteaders must face from time to time. I know some say I could sell her and that would be fine if someone just wanted her for brush control or as a companion animal. She still is not trusting of strangers and is really only loving with me. My husband and daughters can work around her, but she is skittish. She is a beautiful nubian and I hate this part of this life. I have another goat that I would have no problem putting in the freezer, but she gives me half a gallon a day while nursing triplets. She is a pain in the neck though. So here is praying that the vet and I can figure out this issue and we can get the problem solved so that Tea doesn't have to go to freezer camp. The fact of the matter on a homestead is that livestock is just that....livestock. It needs to be earning its keep or it doesn't need to be there. Even my dogs and cats are expected to earn their keep. I don't keep animals just for the fun of it, I keep them to provide for us and when they are not doing that then they are just a drain on the homestead. Making these decisions is one of the hard parts of this life and something that everyone thinking about this lifestyle must face. It wouldn't be fair to sell this animal to someone thinking they could use her for milk production if she can't get pregnant. Well, we will see what the vet says and what spring brings us. Blessings from the farm, Kat

Update on the Fall Garden

I mentioned earlier that I was going to rethink my garden strategy by planting more in the spring and fall and less in the summer. I have been planting, planting, and planting. Every square inch of my garden is full and I have lots of little seedlings. That is all I have due to the heat we are still experiencing. Seedlings have come up grown a few inches and are simply sitting there. My lettuces have been in the ground now for 2-3 weeks (spaced out planting) and just a few are poking there heads out of the ground (mainly the Oakleaf). Even the radishes look really pitiful. I am afraid if we don't get some cooler weather soon that I may lose my pumpkins as the heat is really getting to them. I can't believe here we are at the end of September and still in the high 90s during the day. This time of year I usually have the windows open and am enjoying cooler temps. I would be happy to see high 80s. We aren't even experiencing any fall color this year, the leaves are simply turning brown and dropping. It makes me wonder if this is going to be one of those years where one day we turn off the AC and the next day have the fires going in the fireplace. Yep, I have seen that before. I also remember a Christmas where the high was close to 80. My aunt determined to have a fire on Christmas day turned the AC as cold as she could get it to go and then had my uncle build a fire in the fireplace. Well, at least the squash is going like gangbusters right along with the okra. The sad thing is that we don't like okra very much. It is ok on occasion but we have enough okra in the freezer to eat okra at least twice a week during the winter and I am still picking like crazy. I am running out of folks to give the okra to. I think I will be canning some squash this week instead of freezing it. I don't really like to can it as it can get really mushy, but space is limited in the freezer. The one thing about gardening is that each year is different and brings with it its own challenges. I just pray that we get enough variety to get us through the winter, we can't eat squash and okra all winter! Blessings from the farm, Kat

Monday, September 13, 2010

ALERT! Senate Bill S.510

Anyone interested in making their own choices about their food supply should contact their senators and strongly encourage them to vote against this bill. This bill is an attack on food freedom in this country. This bill requires that all farms have hugely expensive machinery, which small family farms cannot afford to have. The kicker is that Big Ag already has this equipment, yet they still manage to send out poisoned food to the public. All this is designed to do is put a monopoly on the nation's food supply into the hands of Big Ag companies like Monsanto. This machinery has not stopped tainted food from making it to the stores and your table yet, so why should anyone think that it will in the future. Can anyone say egg recall, peanut butter recall, spinach recall, etc. etc etc. And those farms had the equipment in place to stop that food from leaving the farm. Another thing this bill does is to put the food delivery systems under the department of Homeland Security. Wow, the potential for evil is there. That would strip the states of ever speaking out against the federal government. Think about the stand that Arizona has made against illegal immigration and the uproar the feds have gotten themselves into over it. In the future under this bill, Homeland Security simply stops all food delivery to Arizona. When the people of Arizona start to starve then they will give in to the government's demands. And then there is the little matter that it is estimated that this bill will cost us 825 million dollars in the first year alone. We all know how government estimates go.......they grow like weeds. We can't afford this bill in so many ways. If we don't speak up now....well then.....enjoy your fake food. I don't know about ya'll but I am fighting this tooth and nail. Agriculture and the diversity of such has been a major backbone of this country since its beginning. Don't jeopardize your lives and your freedom of choice by letting this one slide under the radar. This is one of the last steps before total slavery to the federal government....control the food supply control the people. Are you ready for your chains? I'm not.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Progress on the Book

I posted at the beginning of the year that I have decided to write a book about our journey toward self-sufficiency and a more agrarian life. The book is coming along, pretty well. Somedays it is hard to get motivated or the time to write much. I was hoping to have at least the first draft done by this winter, but I don't think that will happen. It has been a busy summer and like I said sometimes hard to be able to sit down and work on it. I have several chapters done though. So maybe we are looking at spring to finish with at least the first draft. Blessings from the farm, Kat