Farmer's Markets

If, like me, you buy produce from local growers, from farmer's market, please take some time to research HR 875, HR 814, HR 759, and S 425. I got the email alert, looked to see if this nonsense could possibly be real and it looks like it could.

Congress drives me nuts; and if the people in power (from both parties) who only want to protect us from our own decisions, continue to gain power, this could become reality. Get mad. Get real mad whenever you see such things, or watch your freedoms further erode to big corporations.

Goodbye Farmers Markets

Say Hello to H.R. 875

Americans have power; but only if they are informed, research things, and find out what's being proposed. Do I trust the Democrats to look out for my interests? You have to be kidding!

This attempt to block (or making it more difficult) small growers from selling direct to the public through roadside stands or farmers markets uses ignorance and fear. We can't be trusted to make our own choices. They must protect us.

Except keep in mind the recent peanut butter that caused deaths and illnesses. Any of that come from a farmer's market? You know it did not. When was the last time you read about an outbreak of serious illness from broccoli bought at a stand in the park? This is, as the article suggests, an attempt to limit our freedoms and force us to buy the kind of food grown on corporate farms (imported sometimes from Mexico) and through their outlets like big grocery stores.

Hopefully if enough Americans express outrage, this kind of thing can be stopped before it gets anywhere. This is the same alliance, formed between do-gooders and corporations, who want to stop you from being able to buy supplements and vitamins as a free choice. It seems they never give up.

The government should inform the public, yes, but stopping us is the opposite of freedom. Farmer's Markets besides a source of good, fresh food, are also socially important in many area. If the government seizes the right to go out to all these farms and inspect how their carrots are grown, they will shut down a lot of it through intimidation.

In the Coast Range of Oregon, near where I live, there used to be a spring that had been channeled into a concrete drinking fountain that also had a spout on the side. Clear water ran through it all the time with a nice parking lot for people to stop while they got their water. When we moved out here, we learned why it was there with the first sip of our well water. These wells go down into an ancient lake where the water varies from drinkable only by the heartiest of souls (Farm Boss) to the kind that kills the plants you water with it due to excess salt.

Then after a state budget got voted down, it was decided they would no longer test the spring water (it had always been fine) and that they had a legal responsibility to 'protect' the public. Instead of putting up a warning, they destroyed the fountain. Makes typical government sense, right? If people had gotten sick from the water, they'd have quit using it; but that's never enough for the government.

Now, you know what people do? They park along the road, take their containers across the highway and fill it from where the spring comes down off the hill.

So if you value your farmer's markets as they are, research these measures. If you agree that they threaten local sales of vegetables, write and phone your Congressmen as soon as possible. They only respond to pressure!