Farm To Consumer Legal Defense Fund

This week I wanted to do something a little different and introduce you to one of One Straw's favorite resources. It's the Farm-To-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF). Since you support our small, independent farm, we know that access to thoughtfully grown, real food is important to you and thought you might be interested in their work (and the discounts they are currently offering).

We joined this organization a few years ago. Their goal is Food Freedom, which they are working towards by "protecting, defending, and broadening the rights and viability of independent farmers, artisanal food producers, and their consumers." On the ground it means they work to influence state and local policy on issues such as meat processing and raw butter, provide legal support to farmers facing regulatory issues or needing to draft agreements, alerting members when pending regulations need urgent action, and providing educational resources for farmers, homesteaders and consumers.

As farmers we joined first because we believe in Food Freedom and want to financially support an organization actively promoting the rights of farms and customers like ours, and second to have the security of their 24 hour hotline for legal representation. We're very happy to say that to-date we have not needed to call on this resource and we hope to keep it that way, but we're glad they're available in case we ever need them.

If you're interested in supporting the work of the FTCLDF, now is a good time to join as they're currently in the middle of their membership drive. The drive lasts until March 15 and they're offering some really great discounts on print resources.

One of the discounts I thought you'd be interest in is through Chelsea Green Publishing, which has an extremely wide variety books on all topics pertaining to food and sustainable agriculture. Surprisingly there are still a couple of books by Joel Salatin, our farming hero/guru, that we don't have in our farm library so I think I'll be doing a little birthday shopping with the discount :) Many of Joel's books are "how to" tomes for farmers, but he also has quite a few of interest to all food-minded audiences and he's quite entertaining. We always suggest reading Joel if you're interested in the real-food world!

Well, that got a little long (one of my sometimes regrettable propensities!), but hopefully you enjoyed learning a bit about one of the organizations/resources we feel is important for the farm and food community at large. I really wish that Food Freedom was not an issue, that we could all just buy the food we want from whomever we want, that we did not need an organization working to promote legal access to real food. But we do...there are so many issues to overcome...and it feels good to know someone has our backs!

On that note, thank you for being part of the real-food world with us! Every time someone demands something better than the industrial standard by voting with their food dollars, the scales tip towards a greener and more nourishing world. And for that, we can all be proud.