If Not You, Then Who?

In the past couple weeks alone, I’ve received several messages about the government raiding and shutting down farms because of the issue of the bird flu. The FDA recently put out a paper to all state governments to buckle down on raw milk sales. Small farms that are trying to get quality fresh, unprocessed, whole milk out to consumers are paying the price for this government overstep.

I’d be lying if I said this didn’t at first make me a little anxious. It would have been easier in a sense to just stay milking for pasteurization or simply sell all but our beef cattle. It would have been potentially more peaceful to have my husband keep working off the farm and be the stay at home mom my heart sometimes yearns to be. It would have been less risky to not change everything on my family’s farm.

But easy isn’t always the best path.

Because of the herdshares, my sister and husband have been able to come back to the farm. We get to serve people directly and have the joy of connecting with our consumers in ways that are never possible in commercial dairy. Our lives and the lives of our owners are better for raw milk. It’s adding to our health in ways we never imagined possible. We’re connecting with the old way of doing things: the way things were meant to be. It is worth the challenges. It’s even worth the challenges from our government.

In Michigan, they legally have no right to come on to a herdshare farm. Herdshares are unregulated by the governing authorities. In a herdshare, we don’t sell raw milk to the public. We sell part of our herd. Our owners are owners of the milking herd of cows. Hence the name herdshare. In Michigan, this makes it legal for the owners to drink the milk from their herd. To differentiate from raw milk intended for pasteurization and milk for herdshare owners, the milk for the owners is called fresh, unprocessed, whole milk. Milk for herdshare owners cannot per Michigan laws be processed in any way. No skimming the cream, no making butter, no making cheese or yogurt or the like. That would fall under FDA regulation for milk processing therefore needing to be pasteurized and FDA inspected.

Everything we do here at MarGro Farms is by the books. Painfully so. People have opted for other farms where they can skip the buy in or can get dairy products. And, honestly, I understand that! But we wanted to make sure we could avoid all issues with “Big Brother” so we’re playing by their book to the best of our ability.

And, yet, farms that are trying to get high quality, low risk, fresh, unprocessed, whole milk to consumers are being harassed.

The messaging is so very mixed on the issues with raw milk and the avian flu. Two dairy workers have gotten sick from working on farms with sick cows. Obviously it’s the raw milk’s fault, right? These are big dairies that send their milk out for pasteurization to my understanding. Not your local small herdshare farm. Do we know that they’re drinking the milk raw? No, we don’t know that. Sick cow’s milk is dumped per the guidelines for dairy farms and the avian flu. The avian flu remains not to be a threat to humans, so why harassing raw milk farmers anyway?

The raw milk movement is rapidly gaining steam as people are sick of being sick and tired. They are trying to regain their health or optimize the health of their littles. So much of the food on the shelves today is full of poisonous junk. In an attempt to get back to an ancestral diet, people are consuming more whole foods including red meat, eggs, and raw milk. Good, clean, high quality raw milk does wonders for our health. It improves gut health, the immune system, vitamin and mineral stores, and so much more. People are waking up to this and are rapidly fleeing the grocery store for milk and sourcing directly from their local farmer.

It sure seems to be scaring big gov and big dairy.

The bird flu regulations seems to be directed at scaring people away from sourcing raw milk and scaring famers away from providing it.

Not us.

The Lord knew the other day that I needed some encouragement. In my Bible reading plan I was set to read Matthew 10. Let me share a passage with you here:

So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the house tops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 10:26-34

Not to be guilty of eisegesis, I do what to first and foremost acknowledge that this is NOT about raw milk or standing up to the government for anything shy of the gospel. This is about Jesus and him coming to earth to pay the price we deserve for our sin and being risen from the dead. This is about Christians not being ashamed of the gospel! This passage is about us sharing Him and His light to the world. We need to care more about what God thinks than man.

But it did have me thinking, “who am I fearing?” Our aim at the farm is to glorify God and serve others. I believe we have been given the opportunity to do so through the heardshares. We prayed long and hard before starting the herdshares. Through them, we have been able to enrich people’s lives and diets and share the gospel. I believe we are currently doing what God has called us to do. His plans may eventually change for us, but right now this is where He wants us.

So who should we fear? God or government?

If we are doing what we believe God called us to do and abiding by our state’s herdshare laws, we have no need to fear the government. They may still try to come scare us, but we are doing not just what we believe is right, but we’re doing it right too.

I do see this as an opportunity for us all to stand up for what is right. I get it, we’re not Jews living in the Germany of the 1940s. But our rights don’t just disappear overnight. It’s a slow fade. And if we’re not up to talking about food rights, how much less are we going to shy away from bigger issues like the right to life for the unborn, stopping the mutilation of minors, and the free spreading of the gospel.

If there’s ever a time to stand up for what is right and our rights, it’s now. We do live in a country where there is free speech. Let us take advantage of that while we have it!

We can’t keep waiting for someone else to champion a cause thinking that surely another will talk about it. We can’t live like it’s too risky to stand up for the truth. Truly, if we all live like this, no one will speak up.

If not you, then who?

Courage begets courage. If we see another standing up for our rights whether it’s for raw milk, the gospel, the unborn, or whatever it may be, we are more likely to stand up too. We can be the first to say, “we fear God not man,” and others will come alongside us. Soon there will be enough of us that they can’t stifle our noise nor our rights.

So in conclusion and answer to all those that have sent me the latest farm raid or the FDA’s statements, yes, we have heard it. No, we’re not afraid. We’re doing everything right and standing up for our rights.