Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Gwen Giffen" <ggiffen@1st.net>]

> Gwen,
>   where in Ohio Are you? That Amish Dairy Farmer is
> "local" to me-- he belongs to a family farm group I am
> involved with! The Farmer was willing to GIVE the guy
> the milk--the agent shoved the cash into  his hands,
> or left it on the table--

I'm in eastern OH, near Wheeling, WV. Please tell that farmer that there are 
a lot of other farmers rooting for him. Our Farm Bureau council has been 
keeping up with stories like this. We have made suggestions for resolutions 
for our county to vote on, related to it. I think the ODA's actions in the 
past few years is bordering an agenda that I'd like to know exactly what is 
behind it. Our USDA can't even get it together enough to manage itself right 
now - don't know how they're going to service the NAIS. Our local office 
didn't even know they were supposed to assign GPS coordinates when I called 
them! And the ODA seems to have a bottomless pit of money for lawyers to 
prosecute small farmers in the state. I for one, would like to know WHY.

>  I think that we need to be encouraging people to secure their OWN milk 
> supply at every opportunity we can do so.  People are just sheeple, doing 
> the minimum.

I agree, and I have suggested to many people to get their own goats. 
However, most people are not going to do this, and many, many people would 
love to buy raw milk. I've seen health care practices and laws change within 
my lifetime, and I come from a political family used to challanging the 
system. It does work sometimes, and it is amazing and quite worth it when it 
does. There is no need for me to compromise my small farm before I even get 
it running much by catering into the ODA's litigation; and if and when it 
ever becomes legal for me to sell raw milk, I just might.

Gwen