As such, a meeting at the Town Hall at Blue Hill, Maine took
place on Monday 6/18/12 which included members of the Town of Sedgwick
Community Self-Governance Committee, Neil Davis (1st Selectman,
Secretary), Bob St. Peter (Maine for Maine's Future), dick Greenfield, and Doug
Wollmar.
The panel identified that across the country, traditional
food ways have come under attack. For
example, the Wesleyan Church in Emily, Minnesota was told that in order to
continue church suppers that they have been serving for the past 20 years, they
would have to put in a $170,000 commercial kitchen. In Rochester, PA, the homemade pies being
served at the St. Cecilia Catholic Church Lenten Fish Fry were seized by a
state inspector. Meanwhile, in Keene,
New Hampshire, the police shut down a Cub Scouts' cotton candy booth and
homeless shelter's back sale because they didn't have the necessary permits. Likewise, the Maine Department of Agriculture
gave a summons to a Blue Hill farmer for selling unlicensed food at his farm
stand, including raw milk from his one cow.
Why is raw milk illegal? What
benefits are there to drinking raw milk?
According to Suzanne Nelson, the benefits are several. As she states below:
But I'm part of a rapidly growing underground in North
Carolina and across the country, because few people actually buy it for their
pets. Far more commonly, its devotees are people who have allergies, eczema,
autoimmune diseases, cancer, difficulty digesting processed milk, and parents
who say it has helped their children overcome behavioral and health issues. And
included among that bunch are those who think simply that it's the only milk
worth drinking. They call it "real milk." In their eyes, the stuff on
the grocery store shelves might as well be called a "milk-flavored beverage,"
the way Cheez Whiz is a "processed cheese food."
Do the localities of a state have to right to override the
state? According to the constitution of
the state of Maine, it does. For example,
Article 1, the Declaration of Rights states:
All
power is inherent in the people; all free governments are founded in their
authority and instituted for their benefit; they have therefore an unalienable
and indefeasible right to institute government, and to alter, reform or totally
change the same, when their safety and happiness require it.
This is an important clause, especially given the fact that
food is primary to our health. The foods
presented to us in grocery stores, at fast food chains, and most restaurants are
not produced in a healthy fashion. For example, many of the eggs you may buy
may come from chickens raised in horrific conditions through factory farms such
as DeCosta in Maine. For a disgusting
and sickening example, see the link below regarding how these chickens are
treated and raised.
There is a deep truth to the phrase, "you are what you eat." If you are eating genetically engineered
foods, or foods raised in factory farms, then you are probably starving for
real food. Indeed, perhaps the obesity
epidemic is more than just people not exercising and eating properly? What if our heavy children are starving to
death and they eat and eat to try and balance their systems.
As you can see, the benefits to buying local and to have food
processed and raised in self-sustaining ways are more than just ecological sense. In addition to affecting the Earth's health,
it also affects our health and the health of our family.
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