December 2010
Dear Friends,
Let me take this short time to wish you a blessed holiday season. I hope you are able to get all your tasks done in time and still preserve your treasured traditions while remembering to be flexible and keep your expectations reasonable.
I’ve been quite involved with trying to prevent legislation that I believe is detrimental to our ability to grow and consume healthy food in America.  It can even effect the ability for Herbalists, Homeopaths and many other holistic practitioners to practice their craft. With that in mind, I’d like to talk about courage to face off with very powerful industries to preserve the ancient arts of healing so that some day it can be blended with modern medicine.
My husband and I have a friend and business associate who is an innovative certified organic farmer in New Jersey. He was one of the first in his area to construct a corn maze and provide hayrides; customers can pick your own fruits from his fields and orchards. He has fresh vegetables from his garden and a beautiful building where he sells his bountiful harvest. It is one of those farm stands that is so inviting, decorated with the best of every season, you just cannot pass by without stopping.
About a month ago on a cold autumn day as this famer brought his delicious and highly anticipated cider to a farmer’s market; he was met by employees of the Board of Health. They confiscated his cider and dumped it out in public. Why did they dump perfectly good cider? Because it wasn’t refrigerated! It didn’t matter that the ambient temperature that day was colder than most refrigerators, or that cider doesn’t go bad. Cider either turns hard or ferments into vinegar, any idiot knows that that takes months (even weeks if you actively ferment it). When our farmer friend protested against the destruction of his cider, he was told, “ You let us dump it or you’ll receive a fine”. So he acquiesced and surprise, two weeks later there was a fine in the mail with his name on it. This is something that we who live in rural areas are hearing too often.
- “FDA Raids Amish Farm for Raw Milk”, Alarming: Swat Raids Ohio Farm Co-op!
- https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/swat-team-raids-ohio-co-op
- Raw Milk Crackdown
- http://dailycaller.com/2010/04/26/raw-milk-crackdown/
- But it is happening in cities too:
- FDA Raids Organic Store with Guns Drawn
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/08/03/swat-team-raids-raw-milk-farm-rawesome-arrests-owner/#35446a71406f
- It is not just farmers but also healers like myself who believe that good food herbs and vitamins can maintain health. Tyranny in the USA: The true history of FDA raids on healers, vitamin shops and supplement companies http://www.naturalnews.com/021791.html
The silence is deafening! Where is the resistance to this despotism? You won’t hear about this on mainline news because it is seldom covered.
The holiday season is not a time to put courage in your back pocket. Think of the courage it took Christ to take on the whole Roman Empire, or the Israelites to escape into a barren wasteland, or for Gandhi to rally his people to peaceably resist the tyranny of Great Britain or for those of African decent who lost everything due to slavery including their heritage. They created a new heritage through Kwanzaa, which honors the unity of family and community.
We have these holidays because of courage of our ancestors rather than in spite of it
It is my opinion (and I hope I’m wrong) that as you read this, the far-reaching bill S.510 will probably have passed the senate (for the second time). This bill gives the FDA the right to raid without a warrant and they’ve already shown their propensity to go after the natural growers and healers.
So in parting, please be kind to your elders, children and pets; remember to take time to help those in need because we all need each other.
I pray that you and yours are well and enjoy family, friends and festivities. Let courage be your companion anytime you witness injustice, prejudice, or cruelty. Be the one who is willing say what everyone else is thinking!
Love and Light, Lori
