Kelly the Kitchen Kop interviewed me back in 2010 for her Healthy Food blog.   November 18, 2010.

Last year when I met Kristin Canty at the Weston A. Price conference, she totally impressed me as a get-it-done person.  If I were a farmer, I’d LOVE having Kristin on my side in the fight to save Morningland Dairy farm, Estrella Family Creamery, and others like them, and to stop FDA tyranny against dairy farms.  She’s an absolute sweetheart and I enjoyed getting to know her more at this year’s Wise Traditions conference, too.  I can’t wait for her movie, Farmageddon, to come out!  Today Kristin was sweet enough to share her story with us, including how she originally got into the Real Food movement…

Sniffing, coughing, wheezing and crying all night screaming “Mom, I can’t breathe!”  This was a normal night for my son Charlie when he was three and four years old.  Doctors told me he was allergic to “the world”, which meant grass, dust, trees, flowers, bees and animals.  Hard to stay away from all of that.  He had deep circles under his eyes, a red nose, didn’t eat much, and had a moderate middle ear hearing impairment due to fluid in his ears.

I had high stress levels as I followed him around with an inhaler and made sure he got his medicine every morning and every night.  The medicine however, didn’t help much and was very strong for a small child.  I finally stopped giving it to him.  I spent my time spraying dust mite killer around my house and vacuuming.  I had HEPA filters in every room.  I tore up the carpets, got rid of our pets, took down the curtains, and wrapped his bed in plastic.

I started doing some research and was so lucky that research led me to the Weston A. Price Foundation, Mercola.com and raw milk.

After drinking several glasses a day of raw milk for a few weeks, Charlie’s allergies started to abate, then they disappeared completely.   Charlie is 15 now, and a six foot tall healthy hockey player who has zero reaction to grass, dust, trees, bees or flowers,  doesn’t need a bed wrapped in plastic and can sleep with our dog as his pillow at night.

Two years ago I was asked if Sally Fallon, the President of the Weston A Price Foundation and the author of Nourishing Traditions, could give a speech at my house as a fundraiser for both the Northeast Organic Consumer’s Association (NOCA/MA) and theFarm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund.  I said yes, but had no idea what the FTCLDF did, so I had to research it before my event.  I went to their website and saw a page for farmers that said, “What To Do If Your Farm Gets Raided.”

I was horrified that a legal defense fund had to be set up because so many farmers were being raided.

I read about a Mennonite farmer, a private food buying club not too different from the one I belong to, and a small private dairy that had started a member’s only club,  and other homesteaders and farms that had all been shut down in raids by government agencies.    No one ever became sick from any of the foods provided at these farms or co-ops, yet their food and often cell phones, computers and other items, were taken away from them, in some cases at gunpoint.   What country was I living in?   I was sure that if Americans knew that this was happening, there would be outrage. Don’t we have the right to consume the foods of our choice?  Don’t we have the right to choose where our food comes from?   Why are we allowed to consume alcohol, sugar, chemicals, tobacco, high fructose corn syrup, MSG, and many prescription and non-prescription drugs that can all be dangerous, but not raw milk full of healthy probiotics?

I worked hard for a while to try to get some news outlet to cover this story…to care.  I couldn’t find anyone to pick up the story.    So, long story short, I decided to try to tell the story myself.  I set out with a talented crew and traveled the country to film the farmers and the consumers that had been attacked, as well as some farming experts and some government officials to try to tell the whole story of a steady loss of freedom to consume foods directly from farmers we know.

I hope that you watch, and I hope that you care.

I hope that what you see isn’t a glimpse of what’s to come…of  the America we are turning into, but rather a short mistake that will stop very soon and turn itself around.  After watching, even if you don’t want to ever drink raw milk or eat pastured meats, or chemical/gmo free vegetables,  I hope that you believe in my freedom to do so.   I hope that we can come to realize that America’s farms, farmers, and homesteaders deserve a place here, and should not be under attack by our own government.