Trading with the Amish

About a year ago, the Gruff Lord (Michael, the blog-owner to you) suggested that we get some of our produce from the Amish--good, organic, natural produce. So an older gentleman in our community, Fred, and I began to go to an Amish farm so we could purchase fresh, raw milk, free-range chicken eggs, farm-raised bacon and any other goodies that these kindly folks were willing to part with for agreed-upon prices.

It’s been a wonderful thing. The milk, butter, eggs, meat are tasty, fresh, and healthy. Not only that, but Lydia and Joaz sell them to us for much less than we would have to pay in any local organic grocery or health food store. We know, we’ve priced it.

Joaz and Lydia have kept their farm free of chemicals--insecticides, pesticides, fertilizers--for the required three years. This year, they can begin to sell their produce as officially organic. In a nearby town, a new food coop has opened, the Lost River Community Coop, that sells predominantly organic produce. So they have a great market for their home-grown veggies, besides us and all the other “English” who drive out to buy the produce.

Slowly but surely, people are becoming aware that standard American food products are rotten and poisonous--full of chemicals and nearly totally lacking nutrition. Turns out “junk food” is more junk than it is food. And that includes ALL processed foods.

Fresh milk that could be full of enzymes is pasteurized, thus killing all of the health-giving enzymes. So why bother drinking it? Same with butter--but even worse than butter is the pack of chemicals that food companies came up with to surplant natural butter--all the “I can’t believe it is butter” crap. This kind of “food” not only fills you up with chemicals which will eventually kill you, it gives you nearly nothing nutritionally. A modern American can be fatter than one of Joaz’ pigs, and yet have malnutrition. Only in America!

Both Fred and I have studied Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions, a cookbook, but also an entire course on traditional nutrition in itself. A person can spend hours reading Nourishing Traditions and learn everything he needs to know about nutrition. Those of us in the Sally Fallon school want a traditional 19th century diet of natural, wholesome, healthy foods.

Which is why Fred and I go and buy our goodies from the Amish.

If you are fortunate enough to live near Amish farms, you might want to take a drive out to their neck of the farming lands and see what kind of trade, barter or purchase you can arrange for these good natural foods. We have found the Amish to be wonderful people, kind, good-humored, hard-working. The children are polite, helpful and fun to be around. As we have gotten to know Joaz and Lydia and their kids a bit better, we find we are doing small things for them--research on the web, print-outs of this and that, information about the evil NAIS bill--and they do small things for us--toss in a pound of bacon for free.

A friendship gets established. Connection and relationships. These are good things to have when the SHTF. It isn’t all guns. It’s also butter. If you don’t already have your own cows and goats and small farm, get your good butter from the Amish.

More on this topic as I find the time.
Handmaiden