A Year and a Day, Give or Take

Wow, has it been that long? Funny how time flies and projects like this get pushed to the sidelines as the focus shifts. Funny too how things come full circle in the fullness of time.

The past few days have brought a couple events that have spurred me to once again take up the proverbial pen and jot down some notes here for your consideration. Also, I plan to get some focus in this blog by narrowing it down to food and agricultural issues.

Consulting the Archdruid

Last week saw something of an inflection point over at the Archdruid Report, a blog that has given me much food for thought over the last couple of years. In at least three ways the ADR is the diametric opposite of CMD: It is regular (published weekly), has a large and engaged readership, and has an overarching theme (the various implications of peak oil).

Within this theme, the ADR has touched on a wild variety of subjects, from the failure of mainstream economics, to effective personal/local preparations for changing times (under the rubric of green wizardry), to the metaphysical dimensions of our current predicament. In his latest post, author and archdruid John Michael Greer charts the course for the next series of posts, straight into the topic of the American Empire, and what we can expect on the world arena as said empire continues its inevitable decline.

With this new trajectory of the ADR on the one hand, and the election year rhetoric casting more heat than light on the other, I feel it is an auspicious time for discourse on how to maintain civility, dignity, and liberty in a contracting civilization. Look for more on that in the coming days.

Food Fight Casualties

Almost two years ago I blogged on the plight of Pennsylvania farmer Dan Allgyer. He was under investigation by the FDA for, to put it in legal-like terms, the alleged introduction of unpasteurized dairy products, packaged for human consumption, into interstate commerce. On February 2nd, 2012, a federal judge handed down a permanent injunction prohibiting Allgyer from sending his raw milk to a private group of customers in Maryland and the District of Columbia.

To put it diplomatically, this is very disappointing to those of us who favor informed consumer choice, profitable small-scale agriculture, and sustainability. To put it bluntly, this is a crock of s#!+. As far as I know, this investigation and prosecution did not stem from any legitimate consumer complaints. It is part of a concerted, and expensive, campaign (dare I say witchhunt?) by the FDA to crack down on the rising popularity of raw milk. Is it for the benefit of public health or corporate bottom line? I leave it to you, dear reader, to investigate and make your own judgment. Here are a couple more links in case I haven't made my position clear:

http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/

http://farmfoodfreedom.org/