Do You Know Michael ?

By Donna OShaughnessy AKA The Midlife Farmwife

 

You should. Michael Schmidt is fighting the fight the rest of us wish we had the courage to fight. Some might think its only about the right to drink raw milk but it goes so much deeper than that. Please read the details of his story here.  http://thebovine.wordpress.com/  Michael is leading the way against big government. Governments which believe that it is their job, and in our best interests, for them to tell us in general how to run our lives and specifically what we can and cannot consume. And although Michael lives in Canada, I don't think he would mind a quote from one of our country's great leaders, Thomas Jefferson, who said:

“Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have. The course of history shows us that as a government grows, liberty decreases.”

We are somewhat fortunate here in Illinois in regards to the sales of raw milk. It is allowable by law as long as the farmer jumps through a few hoops as stated by the Illinois Department of Public Health. Hoop number one requires the consumer to come to the dairy farm, the dairy farmer is not allowed to bring the milk to the consumer.  Hoop number two requires the consumer to bring his own container to the dairy farm. Hoop number three prohibits the farmer from  advertising the raw milk he is allowed to sell.  In other words we are being told, "its OK to sell raw milk but you need to be wery wery quiet about it."  

No wonder farmers and consumers are so cautious about selling raw milk in this Don't ask, don't tell"  government mentality. Miraculously there is no law stopping our current customers from advertising our raw milk. They can tell all their friends, their neighbors, their postman, the bus driver. They can Blog it, Text it, Facebook it or Twitter it, yet we the farmer who raises the cow and is responsible for the quality of the milk, is prohibited from advertising. That's the one consistent thing about our government we can always count on, its inconsistency.

So back to Michael. His struggle has been much harder that ours here on South Pork Ranch in Central Illinois. The raw milk limitations his government has suffocated him with are much more stringent. He has risked and lost far more. On day 23 of his hunger strike Michael Schmidt looks exhausted. He is willing to die for this cause. How far would you go to change a law that threatens your freedom of choice? Take a moment or ten and read about this special person at the link above. Let me know your thoughts.

And as far as our little farm goes, starting several days ago we began advertising our raw milk sales. We believe we have the right to tell others about the raw milk we are told it is legal for us to sell. After several years of being relatively quiet about the excellent product we and our cows provide we have decided we can show our support for Michael Schmidt's troubles by speaking up ourselves. I personally plan to do all I can within my own powers to change the Illinois law which prohibits farmers from advertising our raw milk sales.

I've never tried to change a law before, but at 52 I figure its about time.

http://thebovine.wordpress.com/