Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.


Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Prohibition

Is everyone watching the PPS special, Prohibition by Ken Burns? Are you watching with a big glass of booze in your hand? Wow what an eye opener.

I'm not sure which was worse - that we were such a nation of boozers before... or that the constitutional amendment banning the sale and transport of alcohol actually happened. The final segment airs tonite and I"ll be glued to the TV for sure.

A couple things jumped out at me - besides the glaring hypocrisy... I thought that the temperance movement to get anti-alcohol "education" into the schools was just stunning. While some of the curriculum provided in the text books was true-ish... the flat out lies were just shocking. Makes you wonder what is being taught to kids these days...and who's agenda is being worked.

The other thing that was interesting to me was the unintended consequences of well meaning folks - the rise of organized crime, the justice system being both overwhelmed and corrupted, and the millions and millions of tax free dollars that benefited no one but the "criminals" who learned to work the system.

The best quote from last nite's segment from Winston Churchill who refused to aid the US in its fight with illegal booze coming from Canada or the Caribbean... he said something along the lines that "Prohibition was an affront to the whole history of mankind."  I'd raise a glass to that for sure.

Of course it also made me think about how some folks think that their way is the only way - well meaning or not. Anybody else shake their heads when the media started talking about those poor folks who got sick from listeria from commercially grown, harvested, and distributed cantaloupes?  It seemed to me that locally grown produce would not have had such a widespread reach and would have been more contained than the current outbreak which spans many states.  I guess all their "best practices' that "they" know how to better than the rest of us didn't really work out the way they thought.

But heaven forbid if you wanna grow some food in your own yard. In an updated report I read that the charges had been dropped 'for now' - but its also the end of the growing season. I'm guessing that they are waiting for her to plant a few seeds next spring so that the SWAT team can swoop down and haul off this obvious criminal.

And what about all you soon-to-be criminals out there harboring good ol' light bulbs.... the electric police may be gunning for you soon. Hopefully you won't be billed for a broken bulb when the EPA has to come out and sweep up the mercury. Or get a headache from the CFL's like I do... but the real tragedy was the folks who lost their jobs here in the States when the manufacturing plants went dark. Guess who still makes those good old bulbs? Right. China.

Of course you know my feelings on the Gestapo-type tactics that your government is using on farmers who are selling the most dreaded of all contraband... raw milk. While I can kinda get that raw milk on a large scale could be unwieldy... that you don't have the right to consume milk from your own cow on your own land? That just ain't right.

To me it sounds like the New Prohibition is on food.

Ecclesiastes rightly says that "there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecc 1:9) and looking back at Prohibition and looking just over the horizon at the coming "food prohibition".... I think that old Solomon was right.

Get out there and get those gates and fences up, Farm Pirates... next they'll be coming in and hauling off the goats and the chickens and handing us food stamps for our government approved "food."


13 comments:

Robin said...

Our country is heading for more then food prohibition!! We are heading right towards a very scary new type of socialism!

I think that I better run out and get myself a truck load of light bulbs :) Hey, we can always go visit Tami in NC and get some bulbs. They are manufacturing them there!

Blue Feather Micro-Farm said...

Just stopping by to say HI! i haven't seen that special yet but it might have to be one I pick up on DVD. We obviously haven't leanred a darn thing from that lesson. Sad, huh?

Autumn said...

This "New Prohibition" keeps getting tighter and tighter. I keep praying for the government to realize about how wonderful local foods are, but I'm starting to wonder if it is a useless cause. The best thing to keep doing is to spread the news, keep farming, and pray.

Gingerbreadshouse7 said...

I tell you the world is already in chaos, someone is already stealing from my garden...we had one cantaloupe to begin growing late and we were watching and waiting for it to ripen...we started to take it up one evening but decided to give it one more day...wrong move..next day someone took it away..two legged animal..we have an idea who, but time will tell.

small farm girl said...

OOOOOhhhhhh!!! Good post! That is soooooo true. I never thought of it that way. What an eye opener.

Big Onion said...

That last link you posted had me grumbling at my computer, where the judge said that people don't have the right to eat the food they want, or even raise their own dairy cows.

We're overly regulated in so many different ways that it takes away what it originally meant to be an American. Our forefathers are rolling over in their graves.

I'll have to catch a re-airing of Prohibition. Totally forgot it was on.

Ohiofarmgirl said...

You are so right, Robin. The new type of socialism is just as bad as the old kind! Sheesh. I'm heading for NC just as soon as I run out of regular old bulbs! And thank heaven for American jobs.

Hey BFMF! Haven't learned one damn thing...

Autumn - you are just right, we have to keep spreading the news. Folks don't think it affects them.. until it does.

Ginny - thats just terrible! And what a disappointment for all that work. I hope you catch him.

Thanks SFG - we're all in this together, for sure. Post post post, baby - I love the way you rant!

Ohiofarmgirl said...

Hey Big Onion - can you believe it? The founding fathers would have never even thought to include "and the right to eat your own darn food" it would be like saying 'and you can breathe your own air.' Oh say.. I'm popping over to see your progress!
:-)

Chai Chai said...

Challenge met - bravo. I'll toast you with my nightly margarita!

Although you failed to work in the Not-So-Bad-Lands.........

Heiko said...

Good post and well said. Some guy recently said heroin is worse than alcohol both interms of damage to the health of the individual as well as to society as a whole. This is me as a former wine merchant agreeing with it. Prohibition of anything is not the solution to the problem, but often makes it worse. Thousands get killed every year in gang wars over illegal drug dealing. And don't get me started on food prohibitions! Herbal medicines are practically being outlawed in favour of the crap multinational pharma wants to intravenously feed us with.

Ohiofarmgirl said...

Hey CC - I watched last nite half in the bag - whooot! And I'm not determined to learn how to make my own wine. Chuck and his Two Bucks wont have anything on me! And where can I get a still...

You said it, Heiko, the noose is tightening for sure. The very end of the program talked about how it was easier to get a drink during Prohibition than it is now. Per my comment to Chai Chai above, please be on the lookout for my soon to be available vintage "Barnyard Brawl" - you can be my Euro distributor. Ha!
;-)

Mr. H. said...

Wish I could watch those types of informational shows. Our only two channels are filled with crap.:(

Yes, how much longer before "they" decide that it is unsafe for you and I to produce our own vegetables and dairy products/eggs...it's coming.

Tracey said...

OFG - you're my gal! You and I so think alike. I am afraid where this country is going (gone). The encouraging thing is that there are more people that think like us between the two coasts than those that don't. Having lived in Ca for most of my life and now in Michigan (loving it!), I knew more liberals than I could never understand (it was at the point of almost being afraid to voice my opinion but "almost" is the operative word (hehe). Here in Mi I feel at home finally. I refuse to cave to regulations and gov control. My husband and I are prepared for the battle that will ensue in the future.... I hope everyone else is ready to fight for the rights our forefathers stood for. I don't doubt that it will come down to some sort of struggle for our rights.

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