I'm angry. Very angry. I've progressed from oblivious to skeptical eye-rolling into 'what the hell are they thinking' and now into f#cking angry. Angry enough that I need to channel this into something or it will eat me.
I am mad that my government values corporations above people, I am angry that there is a 99%, I am angry that GMO's are not labeled, I am angry that I do not have the (fundamental) right to healthy food -even if i grow/milk it myself. I am angry that more people aren't angry. Maybe I just have too much time on my hands. Maybe I should be shopping online instead of reading Joel Salatin, the Complete Patient and the Food Renegade.
We have been privately protesting in our own way for a while now. Consumer disobedience, free range kids, GoodWill and used cars. Then we stepped it up; moved out of town, quit my job, learned how to can and grow my own food even if we might not be allowed to actually eat it (over my dead body-really, try to stop me).
What else can I do to protest what I feel is wrong about our country? The snide comments on Facebook are getting nowhere. Move my savings out of the big bank and into a local credit union this week as part of the national movement. Call Madison and file a complaint against Judge Fiedler's ruling (oh wait he resigned and is now working for a firm who defends Monsanto) okay call and ask politely for him to be disbarred. Call my state representative yadayada
I'm just angry :\
postscript: i spoke to the Judicial Commission and Lawyer Regulation offices yesterday and have their complaint/greivance forms online...but do i have the conviction to actually file against Fiedler? it is scarey to DO something.
Showing posts with label rant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rant. Show all posts
Monday, October 31, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
The Wall
...I have hit it and hit it hard! I have gone from suburban professional to local food producer and i know now that i have stepped out of the frying pan and into the fire!! We just rounded up our 75 meat birds and taken them to the processor, the 12 pigs have only 5 weeks left with us, the second batch of meat birds are in the brooder-2 1/2 weeks until they go out on grass. My 8 layers are reliably giving us 3 1/2 dozen eggs per week and there are 25 baby layers growing up in their tractor on pasture. The three calves are trimming the pasture down nicely and are VERY low maintenance. My (human) girls are in piano lessons with a flurry of ortho and MD apts coming up. My garden is growing like crazy- we have had lots of rain and heat- i can almost find the cukes between all the pigweed :). Dad has been wondering if I will come over to pick raspberries- and i really want to but... I.CANT.DO.THIS.ANYMORE!!! I (mistakenly, naively thought staying home would be bucolic, idyllic, just like all these other blogs I read) Not so much.
If we are to be a income producing farm, I need to do something much much differently. Or I need to just be a homesteader and produce enough for my family. I cannot farm like a hobbyist.
I love love love it out here. I love caring for these creatures. I love seeing animals acting as nature intended. I just cant do it for 12 hrs a day 7 days a weeks, etc etc.
balance balance balance- i'll let you know when i find it!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Personal Responsibility
My business partner and I did a very hard thing today. We confronted an employee about theft, fired her, then escorted her (crying) from the building. I am one part madder than hell, on part betrayed and two (or more) parts feeling very bad about the whole thing. We have had inventory problems and small discrepancies in the petty cash off and on for a long time. We chalked it up to mistakes, forgotten receipts, miscounts, etc. Hanlon's razor- 'Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity'.
(content deleted-hickchick)
I am sure she will continue to play the victim in her life. Poor me, look what the bad world did to me. I wish people would take more personal responsibility-as in 'I am where I am in my life because of the choices I have made' Enough rant, maybe I can let this go now.
(content deleted-hickchick)
I am sure she will continue to play the victim in her life. Poor me, look what the bad world did to me. I wish people would take more personal responsibility-as in 'I am where I am in my life because of the choices I have made' Enough rant, maybe I can let this go now.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Real Food Safety
(Just a random-real food picture. I've got summer on the brain)
We watched Food, Inc this weekend. I have to say I was not that impressed. For someone who has read a couple of Salatin's books and Micheal Pollin's work-it was all old hat. Intersting that it was rated R. My Dad and sister were concerned that I was allowing my 11 and 7 year old to watch-but the old R stuff was what happens inside the meat processing plants. I don't consider that R rated-just real life.
A more moving video was Life According to Monsanto. It literally blew me away. If Monsanto is half as evil as this producer make them out to be...first it made me want to cry and then made me so mad-mad at multinationals who place profit above humanity, mad at our government who is supposed to be there for US but is instead placing the fox in charge of the hen-house. 90% of our soybeans are now GMO 'round-up ready' and 70% of the processed food in your grocery store contains GMO food ingrediants-with no labeling and no real safety testing. I am seeing red just thinking about it.
In other fun news, we helped my DH's gandfather celebrate his 100th birthday today. His kids threw him a big party. He is amazing; still living in his own home, cooking for himself, doing his own laundry, no walker or wheelchair. Happy birthday grandpa Carl!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
I'd Like To Scream
We have the contract and title insurance in hand and today I met with an attorney who specializes in land contracts. It turns out Mr Nice Farmer failed to mention that he does owe quite a bit of money to the bank on this piece of land, there were all sorts of verbal promises made about upkeep of the driveway which did not make it into the written contract. So now I get to call him back and ask him WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Screwed
Yesterday the American public got fucked, how was it for you? I feel a little weird just typing the F-word, but there is no other way for me to really express how mad I am. You see, yesterday our supreme court ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections. It is 'a vindication of the First Amendment's most basic free speech principle'. Upholding free speech sounds very noble and good. Except corporations are not freaking people! Corporations do not have the guaranteed right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, they do not have opinions to express. Corporations exist for one purpose and one purpose only-to make money. The idea that Kraft or BP has the right to free speech is so ludicrous I can't even believe this case made it to the highest court in our nation. If the entire board of Monsanto wants to give to an election campaign -that's great, if they wish to encourage their employees to do the same -go for it! But a corportation or union needing First Amendment protection-get real! Maybe we should just get it over with and sell naming rights for our federal buildings--we could have the ExxonMobile Capitol Building, and Citibank White House. Then we would at least have some of the much lauded transparency in politics.
Well, I feel a little better for ranting. The American public will know slick advertising when they see it and use their head to form their own opinions.... hmmm, on second thought- we really are screwed.
Well, I feel a little better for ranting. The American public will know slick advertising when they see it and use their head to form their own opinions.... hmmm, on second thought- we really are screwed.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Not A Sucker
Pandemic, what pandemic? Have you heard about this? I happened across this entirely by accident and I don't think it has picked up any coverage by mainstream media here. I guess ABC and CBS do not want to loose all those advertising dollars from the drug pushers. This just makes me sick. Yet another reason to be a skeptic. I sure am glad I didn't have my kids (or self) vaccinated for H1N1, but now I know why the whole thing felt too much like a high pressure used car sales pitch, and following my gut instinct in the future will be a little easier.
My question now is this- in the future when there REALLY is a infectious disease threat how can we trust, who do we trust? Certianly not those who stand to profit by cramming drugs down our throats.
There is a sucker born every minute-but it is not ME.
My question now is this- in the future when there REALLY is a infectious disease threat how can we trust, who do we trust? Certianly not those who stand to profit by cramming drugs down our throats.
There is a sucker born every minute-but it is not ME.
Friday, December 18, 2009
GOT MILK?
Following this link from Homemakers Who Work? Sorry-I have a sick kid today--I will write a nice (maybe naughty) post this afternoon! Check back soon. Kris
This week I received an e-mail from my state professional association, it was a copy of an email sent to MY state legislators informing them that WI veterinarians are against the raw milk bill. What? When did I say that? Did I miss some poll? The e-mail got me going for several reasons. I am FOR raw milk; at least give us, the unthinking masses the chance to choose. I am also paying association dues to be misrepresented. The WVMA (and national AVMA) is also very much for NAIS--another topic you do not want to get me started on! The threshold has been broken-I am ticked, these blog rants are a way for me to blow off a little steam before I settle down and write a good logical, professional(but still mad) letter to the WVMA.
Wisconsin is agriculture. In fact the county in which I live used to be known for having more Holsteins than humans! Due to historically low milk prices (something on the order of $0.84/gallon) to the farmer-they are bleeding red ink this year. A combination of declining milk exports and high prices for feed have created an estimated 'average' loss of $47 per cow each month. Farms are going out of business (which by the way does not mean less milk produced-someone buys and milks those cows), which means people loosing their livelihoods, their retirement equity, and in most cases their homes. Farmers are not eligible for unemployment benefits.
The whole and local food movement has created a demand for raw unprocessed milk. Dairymen who sell milk fresh from the farm can make $4-7 per gallon, a living wage-unfortunately this is illegal in WI. The bill in front of the State would allow class A dairies to apply for a raw milk permit and legally sell unprocessed-straight from the cow milk, without being held liable for possible damages-unless obviously negligent. Bonus-they can pay their mortgage, pay their bills, and have something left over for retirement.
Yes, you can get sick from raw milk. It's going to happen. Listeria, brucella, e. Coli, Q fever-there are all sorts of nasties which can live and multiply in milk. But wouldn't you rather have permitted farms selling milk or black-market, under the table sales? To have a raw permit-the dairies should have scheduled bulk tank sampling and cultures, a Johne's negative herd. It is a win-win situation. People get the product they want, the state gets permit revenues, the farmer gets a financially viable business ( and oh yeah large animal DVM's have increased revenue from the additional testing as well as farmer who can actually pay their bills each month!)
The milk safety issue is an interesting one. There is the acute illness we can see and measure when there is a local outbreak of gastrointestinal disease, this is (relatively) easy to lay blame on contaminated milk (or peanut butter or spinach). But what about the chronic health problems which lead from a life-time of eating processed, dead foods? There is no way to measure something like that. As a person of Northern European descent, I believe my body is more capable of dealing with the occasional bacterium in a traditional food like whole milk than in highly processed dead food. I trust eons of natural selection and symbiosis over 100 years of 'progress'. Which is the safer food? Food scientists are really smart and we have come a long way, but I don't think we have come close to understanding the subtlety and complexity of nutrition.
Come on Wisconsin-at least pretend you care about your farmers more than you cater to agribusiness.
Some links to look at for more info www.realmilk.com http://rally4rawmilk.blogspot.com/
This week I received an e-mail from my state professional association, it was a copy of an email sent to MY state legislators informing them that WI veterinarians are against the raw milk bill. What? When did I say that? Did I miss some poll? The e-mail got me going for several reasons. I am FOR raw milk; at least give us, the unthinking masses the chance to choose. I am also paying association dues to be misrepresented. The WVMA (and national AVMA) is also very much for NAIS--another topic you do not want to get me started on! The threshold has been broken-I am ticked, these blog rants are a way for me to blow off a little steam before I settle down and write a good logical, professional(but still mad) letter to the WVMA.
Wisconsin is agriculture. In fact the county in which I live used to be known for having more Holsteins than humans! Due to historically low milk prices (something on the order of $0.84/gallon) to the farmer-they are bleeding red ink this year. A combination of declining milk exports and high prices for feed have created an estimated 'average' loss of $47 per cow each month. Farms are going out of business (which by the way does not mean less milk produced-someone buys and milks those cows), which means people loosing their livelihoods, their retirement equity, and in most cases their homes. Farmers are not eligible for unemployment benefits.
The whole and local food movement has created a demand for raw unprocessed milk. Dairymen who sell milk fresh from the farm can make $4-7 per gallon, a living wage-unfortunately this is illegal in WI. The bill in front of the State would allow class A dairies to apply for a raw milk permit and legally sell unprocessed-straight from the cow milk, without being held liable for possible damages-unless obviously negligent. Bonus-they can pay their mortgage, pay their bills, and have something left over for retirement.
Yes, you can get sick from raw milk. It's going to happen. Listeria, brucella, e. Coli, Q fever-there are all sorts of nasties which can live and multiply in milk. But wouldn't you rather have permitted farms selling milk or black-market, under the table sales? To have a raw permit-the dairies should have scheduled bulk tank sampling and cultures, a Johne's negative herd. It is a win-win situation. People get the product they want, the state gets permit revenues, the farmer gets a financially viable business ( and oh yeah large animal DVM's have increased revenue from the additional testing as well as farmer who can actually pay their bills each month!)
The milk safety issue is an interesting one. There is the acute illness we can see and measure when there is a local outbreak of gastrointestinal disease, this is (relatively) easy to lay blame on contaminated milk (or peanut butter or spinach). But what about the chronic health problems which lead from a life-time of eating processed, dead foods? There is no way to measure something like that. As a person of Northern European descent, I believe my body is more capable of dealing with the occasional bacterium in a traditional food like whole milk than in highly processed dead food. I trust eons of natural selection and symbiosis over 100 years of 'progress'. Which is the safer food? Food scientists are really smart and we have come a long way, but I don't think we have come close to understanding the subtlety and complexity of nutrition.
Come on Wisconsin-at least pretend you care about your farmers more than you cater to agribusiness.
Some links to look at for more info www.realmilk.com http://rally4rawmilk.blogspot.com/
Monday, July 20, 2009
A Goat Treadmill and The Grangers
This weekend we visited Old World Wisconsin in Eagle WI. It is a living history museum run by a non profit which depicts rural life in the 19th century. We have been there once before but I was looking at the displays with a different perspective this time around. I was completely dismayed by the skills we have lost in the past 200 years. I feel we have become fat, lazy and complacent; completely unable to take care of our everyday needs without running to the store to BUY something. (Hmm, or maybe it's just ME who is lazy and complacent?) It makes me really mad. I am slowly learning how to take care of my family without whipping out the checkbook. I saw so many great things this weekend. I think my favorite was one of the german homesteads with the summer kitchen and brick oven (think 2 doz loaves of bread at a time-and they fired it up 2 times each week to feed their 11 children!), I also saw a goat treadmill which could be hooked up to a small thresher or a stone for sharpening. Two years ago we attended farm power days there and saw a '2 horse power' treadmill in use.
Another interesting display I missed last time was about the Grangers or the Patrons of Husbandry, in the late 1800's farmers banded together against the monopoly of railroads to effect political change. It left me wondering if farm families have any political clout. I'm talking about power for the people working the fields, not agribusiness, not Monsanto, not the Beef Counsel. Does anyone speak for them? Or are people (farmers AND consumers) just tools for big business. Approximately $0.04 worth of corn goes into the average box of cornflakes. Where does the rest go? We all have to eat, why can't farmers organize another Granger style revolution? They deserve to make a living wage.
Then I read about the crazy stupid regulations being enforced at farmers markets in Ohio-no you cannot wash the lettuce-sell it dirty or get a fine. If a deer walks across your spinach field-destroy a 30 foot path of vegetation to prevent E coli. Read more at The Food Renegade. These are our tax dollars at work! Where do I go with all this stupidity. Burke's quote 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.' has me going, I am a good person but have been doing nothing-I need to DO SOMETHING.
Another interesting display I missed last time was about the Grangers or the Patrons of Husbandry, in the late 1800's farmers banded together against the monopoly of railroads to effect political change. It left me wondering if farm families have any political clout. I'm talking about power for the people working the fields, not agribusiness, not Monsanto, not the Beef Counsel. Does anyone speak for them? Or are people (farmers AND consumers) just tools for big business. Approximately $0.04 worth of corn goes into the average box of cornflakes. Where does the rest go? We all have to eat, why can't farmers organize another Granger style revolution? They deserve to make a living wage.
Then I read about the crazy stupid regulations being enforced at farmers markets in Ohio-no you cannot wash the lettuce-sell it dirty or get a fine. If a deer walks across your spinach field-destroy a 30 foot path of vegetation to prevent E coli. Read more at The Food Renegade. These are our tax dollars at work! Where do I go with all this stupidity. Burke's quote 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.' has me going, I am a good person but have been doing nothing-I need to DO SOMETHING.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
create or consume?
I have been thinking about something I read out there in the 'blogosphere' about being a consumer or a creator. This has struck a cord with me. Our culture is not sustainable as it is. We are a society of consumers, what has happened to us?? Are we all so weak willed that we follow the marketing masters suggestions with out a thought, without question. We must buy to feel pleasure, to feel worthy? I don't believe it. The recession (or worse) which our government is trying to buy its way out of, is our rallying call. The boom flush times we are coming out of is a completely false economy-based on credit and borrowing. I believe that the fluff has/is being stripped away and the economy we are left with will be the true state of the union. Get used to it! No more cell phone for everyone over the age of 10, no more Lincoln Navigators idling in the driveway, no more going out to eat every other night-let's get real! The 90's are gone and we have to find a new model for our culture, for our lives. We can't buy our way out of it and shouldn't try.
Reading the March 2009 National Geographic, there is an article about Alberta's oil sands. They have to move 4 tons of trees, topsoil and oil sand to extract 1 barrel of oil. I used to read these articles and think -what a shame, that's horrible, and go on to read a cute article about the sex life of whales or whatever. Yesterday the light bulb came on (CFL of course!) in my head- THEY (the big corporate bad guys) are doing this because I (jump in the car anytime I want-hardware store 2x yesterday) am paying them to do it! Everyone of who drives a car must take some responsibility for what is going on.
I'm feeling a little mad and a little feisty today and should probably be taking this out on the treadmill instead of you guys, but it also feels good for this repressed Norwegian to say what she feels! I am changing my life from consumption to creation, from dependence to sufficiency, from things to people.
Reading the March 2009 National Geographic, there is an article about Alberta's oil sands. They have to move 4 tons of trees, topsoil and oil sand to extract 1 barrel of oil. I used to read these articles and think -what a shame, that's horrible, and go on to read a cute article about the sex life of whales or whatever. Yesterday the light bulb came on (CFL of course!) in my head- THEY (the big corporate bad guys) are doing this because I (jump in the car anytime I want-hardware store 2x yesterday) am paying them to do it! Everyone of who drives a car must take some responsibility for what is going on.
I'm feeling a little mad and a little feisty today and should probably be taking this out on the treadmill instead of you guys, but it also feels good for this repressed Norwegian to say what she feels! I am changing my life from consumption to creation, from dependence to sufficiency, from things to people.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
untitled
I need a good rant so anyone who thinks I am this smart-have-it all-figured-out sort of person needs to get out now.
I am really good at stuffing my feelings down so nothing shows, sometimes so deep that even I can't tell what is going on. This decision to stay in town has really shaken me. From a rational point of view it makes sense, but my visceral reaction is despair and anger. Why is MY dream last! I don't WANT to wait 12 more years before having this chance. On the surface I am all calm and accepting but underneath when I loosen the lid a little to take a peak underneath I am PISSED. Mad at myself for not having the courage to take a chance. Yes the whole doing it for the kids educational and social well-being is a fine rationalization, a fine excuse-I'll just take one for the team-right? Allowing work and responsibility to come before dreams. I have this ache within myself I need to acknowledge. I may not act on it, but I DO need to acknowledge its existence.
I can stay here and be a 'Yardsteader' but I will always wonder if I copped out.
I'll finish with a quote which I love from the Lord of the Rings - the character Eowyn "a cage: to stay behind bars until use and old age accept them and all chance of valor has gone beyond recall or desire"
I am really good at stuffing my feelings down so nothing shows, sometimes so deep that even I can't tell what is going on. This decision to stay in town has really shaken me. From a rational point of view it makes sense, but my visceral reaction is despair and anger. Why is MY dream last! I don't WANT to wait 12 more years before having this chance. On the surface I am all calm and accepting but underneath when I loosen the lid a little to take a peak underneath I am PISSED. Mad at myself for not having the courage to take a chance. Yes the whole doing it for the kids educational and social well-being is a fine rationalization, a fine excuse-I'll just take one for the team-right? Allowing work and responsibility to come before dreams. I have this ache within myself I need to acknowledge. I may not act on it, but I DO need to acknowledge its existence.
I can stay here and be a 'Yardsteader' but I will always wonder if I copped out.
I'll finish with a quote which I love from the Lord of the Rings - the character Eowyn "a cage: to stay behind bars until use and old age accept them and all chance of valor has gone beyond recall or desire"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)