Organic Pastures Recall October 2015

Photo from here. This article says the recall has been lifted but apparently not according to the latest from OPDC themselves.

I've been trying to live my life away from the real food community that looks from the outside to be imploding in it's own drama.

The Fermented Cod Liver Oil gate has made a lot of folks turn on Sally Fallon and the Weston A Price foundation and now a new foundation is forming, basically WAPF 2.0. Apparently my old nemesis Anne Marie Michaels of Cheeseslave is back and saying she made a million dollar company and is now broke, but never filed for bankruptcy nor paid anyone the $$$ she owed. This is all hearsay. I cannot even be bothered, honestly. It all sounds like business as usual.

Because this is happening and no one in that community really cares. So here you all go:

http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-organic-pastures-raw-milk-recall-20151019-story.html

Mark McAfee is facing another recall...

http://abc30.com/food/organic-pastures-dairy-recalls-raw-whole-milk/1038683/

One article says the recall has been lifted, but apparently not today, according to OPDC themselves.

Basically, business as usual, not much has changed.

Have a great day folks!

Fermented Cod Liver Oil Myths Debunked?

If the raw milk fantasies and WAPF's support of a known felon aren't enough to make you scratch your head as to why people still support Sally Fallon's Weston A. Price Foundation, I'll give you another reason.

Fermented Cod Liver Oil. Yes, it is as nasty as it sounds. It was recommended by everyone, and I mean everyone in the Weston A Price Foundation, as THE superfood supplement that must be taken, especially by childbearing women and their children.

Dr. Kaayla Daniels, otherwise known as the Naughty Nutritionist, calmly looks to science to see if WAPF's and David Wetzel of Green Pasture's claims are valid. The paper is very thorough, and is a doozy to read.

http://drkaayladaniel.com/are-you-hooked-on-fermented-cod-liver-oil/

Here is another account by another former FCLO fan, Dr. Ron Schmid:
http://www.drrons.com/cod-liver-oil-too-much-of-a-not-so-good-thing.html

Happy Reading!

Sharon Palmer of Healthy Family Farms Plead Guilty to 14 Felony Counts

The "Rawesome Three" from left to right: James Stewart, Sharon Palmer, and Victoria Bloch. Ripped from David Gumpert's apologist blog, The Complete Patient

"Sharon Palmer, 54, initially faced 38 felony charges but pleaded guilty this month to 14 counts, including theft, money laundering, securities fraud, conspiracy to commit a crime and special allegations, said prosecutor Chris Harman."

This blog has been asleep at the real foodie watch wheel, because this happened in August 2014. Read all about it here from the Ventura County Star.

Notice, James Stewart of "Rawesome" fame is still wrapped up in the courts as well.

Apparently Palmer was sentenced back in November 2014. We are following up with the Ventura Senior District D.A. Chris Harman, and are also looking into who actually owns (and more importantly who runs) Healthy Family Farms at the moment.

Healthy Family Farms still sells meat and egg products in several Los Angeles area farmer's markets including the famed Santa Monica Farmer's Market.

Last Post

It's been a year since I have last posted. I am so glad I am not obsessed with food and WAPF like I used to be. It definitely was unhealthy, both mentally and emotionally. There is still work to be done, but I am glad this blog has had over 20,000 views and it continues to tell the tale of the waywards: Rawesome, WAPF, Cheeseslave, Healthy Family Farms (STILL OPERATING), Organic Pastures Dairy, and Raw Milk.

Adieu!

Ann Marie Michaels of Village Green Network Comes Under Fire

 
Ann Marie Michaels of Village Green Network came under fire this week for using private google analytics to prove her point: stay with our blog network and make $, or leave us and go it alone while losing your audience and sponsors. Since we have had our own issues with Ann Marie in the past, we felt that her dubious use of another bloggers private Google Analytics should be shown to the general public.

Kimi Harris, the blogger whose Google Analytics were used as Ann Marie's example, fired back to prove a point: stick with your principals and make your own way. We applaud her! Her open letter can be viewed here:

An Open Letter:  

I have emails from some of you expressing concern and care for me since Ann Marie choose to talk about me and my stats on a forum – stats that I didn’t realize that she had access to, nor that I would have thought she would avail herself to if she did, and certainly never imagined that she would publish online. First, thank you so much for your concern for me. As disheartening as it was to feel that the story of my blog was being used to try to compel others to stay with a certain blog network, your emails of care were balm to my view on humanity.  

We are currently working with Google to try to take care of the issue with Ann Marie having access and control to my analytics. But meanwhile, I didn’t want to talk to you about that situation, but rather use this situation to explain the story of my blog in thehopes that it would encourage you as you continue to work on your own blog and make decisions regarding it. My hope is that it will address both the dubious use of my stats, but also hopefully allow me to encourage you in your blogging journey.  

It is true that my blog has not grown a lot during the last couple of years, but that actually is to be expected and has very little to do with leaving her network. It has been simply a matter of where my priorities and energies have been the last three or so years.  

Blogging friends, it is so important that you know who you are – what your goals are, what you want your blog to be, what values you bring to your blog and what you hold as most important. You need to hold onto that tightly. For me personally, that has meant an extended period of time investing more of my energy into my family first.  

My mother in law passed away over three years ago of cancer, and it was during her illness that there was (I believe) a mutual understanding that the blogging network and myself were going in different directions and with different values (and that’s okay, wedon’t have to have the same goals or values).  

After quitting the network, we were in a very sad time as we grieved my husband’s mother’s early death, and got ready to have our next daughter. My labor with her was wonderful in many ways, but there were moments that were very scary too. After weknew that both of us were going to be okay, I held my newborn girl in my arms, and a flood of relief, gratefulness, joy and love filled my whole body. I didn’t want to waste a minute of her life, or take that gift for granted.  

We have seen death more than once in our family, and it helps put things in perspective. It helps me not make growing my blog top priority when it would be to the detriment of my family.  

Since she has been born, we have been on a road filled with giggles, and long nights, and sweet snuggles, and tired days, and lots of love and hard work. During this time I had new opportunities because of my blog, including getting a job blogging for a large website, and writing two books. This, along with a very focused time on my family, and a whole whirlwind of tragic situations with several close friends, has meant little to zero social media, interactions online, and very minimal posting for much of these years on my own blog. That has naturally meant that I haven’t grown quickly in the last few years. While I have been blessed with thousands of new readers, certain aspects have even dropped (like my Alexa ratings) simply because I haven’t been as proactive in certain things.


And that’s okay. I haven’t regretted any decision I’ve made, and it becomes clearer and clearer that staying true to what I think is right for me is the only way to survive and thrive long-term in the blogging world.


You see, I feel all of the decisions I made above were in line with what I valued most, what helped me grow as a writer, and what helped my family thrive. And that’s what’s important. Be true to yourself – your values, your goals, and your overreaching vision for your life.


If you feel that staying with this blogging network, or that one, is the best fit for helping you be true to who you are, and what you want to accomplish, then go for it! But if you want to strike out on your own, or do something different, please don’t let my blog story discourage you from that choice! Most of the successful bloggers I know did so without any type of official blogging network, so please don’t think that my story somehow demonstrates the “need” to be part of one (And I found another network that worked with my goals and values well, so now I have that too).


I just recently had the heart to really start loving blogging again, and am learning new things about how to blog more effectively, and yes, even have a Social Media presence! It’s a new season for me, and I am grateful for it. Being true to who you are, and what you want for your life can look differently at various times in your life, and that’s okay.


I hope that we can all learn what it looks like for us to embrace who we are, what we bring to the table, and how we can remain true to our values and ourselves as we seek to become professionals in our field.


Once again, thank you for the emails, and also for letting me share a little bit of my heart with you.


Kimi

Weston A. Price Foundation: Buy our Endorsed Products to make Raw Milk Baby Formula...until a baby dies.

Below the Belt? Sally does know how to incite ire! Image via JD Mumma

Dear Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF):

When a baby dies from e.coli 0157:H7 induced Hemolymic Uremic Syndrome, from your promoted, marketed and endorsed Raw Milk Baby Formula, the nonsense will stop. You, however, seem hell bent on it happening.

Now, why am I coming out in public with this belief that a young child or infant will probably die from drinking raw milk? WAPF advocates and endorses and markets a raw milk formula. And you've come under the scrutiny of the pro-human milk and breastfeeding blog world these past few weeks, that's why. For good reason.

You've gotten into really hot water for asking, "Is Breast Always Best?"
Pretty much every breastfeeding advocate has responded: YES. and IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT THE MOTHER EATS.

I will not mention who or what or why this phenomenon has originated from because I don't want to give you any more "controversial" web traffic that you so crave. :-P Suffice it to say, WAPF's founder and leader, Sally Fallon Morrell, has been spouting this nonsense since the dawn of WAPF. Her adoring PR machine on the interwebs has kept it going into the 21st century. A notable exception is a WAPF PR machine heavyweight: Jennifer McGruther of Nourished Kitchen on her FB page.

What has been your, WAPF's overall response? Meh. The usual. You are wrong, we are right. We shouldn't even be really discussing this. Here is our stance. Read it and feel ashamed for your lacking diet and buy our products to make raw milk baby formula. Don't believe me? This blog post sums it up better than I can:

THE WESTON A PRICE FOUNDATIONS DANGEROUS BREASTFEEDING ADVICE SHOULD NOT BE IGNORED.

I'll add this: AND because it leads well meaning mothers to feed their infants Raw Milk.

And I repeat, only when a baby dies, will this raw milk nonsense stop. Not because you, Sally Fallon, or WAPF, will ever admit that raw milk is dangerous for babies. Nope. But if a baby dies, raw milk will hopefully be legislated out of existence. Even then it will continue on the black market because the fanatics will still find a way. But hopefully, if a baby dies, people will think twice before giving their children raw milk.

I pray that such a horrendous thing will never happen.

Good day,
Farm Muckraker

My favorite responses these past few weeks:
~Debunked has fabulous images of indigenous women tandem breastfeeding:
https://www.facebook.com/debunkedmisinformation
~Unlatched has the best summary of why this cannot be ignored:
http://unlatched.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/the-weston-a-price-foundations-dangerous-breastfeeding-advice-should-not-be-ignored/
http://unlatched.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/hey-weston-a-price-foundation-language-matters-how-not-to-be-a-breastfeeding-advocate/
~Just say no to booby traps:  
http://www.bestforbabes.org/from-karo-syrup-to-goat-milk-the-formulas-may-change-but-the-booby-traps-remain-the-same
~To tickle your funny bone, this is a FANTASTIC read: 
http://farmersdaughterct.com/2013/04/05/goats-milk-really-a-response-to-wapfs-claim-that-homemade-formula-is-better-than-breast-milk/
~A shout out to Jodine Dale Chase of Human Milk News for sharing the huge interweb response on her Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/HumanMilkNews

And the heavyweight of breastfeeding advocate heavyweights:

~Dr. Jack Newman, via his Facebook page:

"I have been getting a number of emails and questions on Facebook regarding the Weston Price Foundations recommendations for infant feeding. I answered thus, with a few additions, to one of those requests:

If the Weston Price Foundation says that home made formula is better for the baby than the milk of a vegan mother, they really don't know what they are talking about. As long as the mother is vitamin B12 sufficient the mother's milk of a vegan mother is far superior to any formula, home made or otherwise. One dose of vitamin B12 is enough to render the mother B12 sufficient for many months, even years. Studies also show that mothers who are malnourished still produce adequate milk and it shows once again that if the Weston Price Foundation says any formula, even homemade made from raw milk, is better than the milk of a mother whose diet is anything but what they think is ideal, they also don't know what they are talking about.

I should add that even if any formula were as good as breastmilk (impossible), breastfeeding is so much more than breastmilk and the special, intimate relationship of breastfeeding cannot be duplicated even by the "best" formula fed in a bottle."

If any reader cares to know what happens to a child whose body is completely ravaged by e.coli 0157:H7 from drinking raw milk, please read (and DONATE) to the latest public case: Kylee is Getting a Kidney on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/kyleekidney 

For those of you who care about Kylee, please leave kind and respectful words for this family. Please. They need a huge outpouring of love and comfort.

If you are a raw milk advocate and think it's cool to harass a family that has and is going through crisis, you'd better think twice. You will be blocked and damned for eternity. In fact, you should put your money where your mouth is and donate to this family because your propaganda is why families like this expose their children to raw milk in the first place.  

Buy off your shame, please. I dare you.

 

Value Added Agriculture

See that dollar sign as the dot for the i? Clever!

Hey party people! (That's your warning: it is about to get irreverently sarcastic up in here!)

I check in on the Complete Patient Blog from time to time. You know, it's like that poorly written, miss one day, (heck miss a month!) and you can keep up with the storyline. It's daytime drama...yet you just can't. stop. watching.

So today I was surprised to see comments from both Victoria Bloch (who recently told her side of the story here) and Aajonus Vonderplanitz, presenter extraordinaire of unhealthyfamilyfarm.com.

Heavy hitters in the Rawesome/Healthy Family Farms drama, no?

Victoria's was a glowing report of HFF and Sharon as per usual. Aajonus' was the hardline reproach of Palmer/Rawesome that we are used to...

BUT WAIT:

"Four months ago, an investigation for my law suits against Palmer and Stewart turned up veterinarian Daniel Drake who has documentation that Palmer bought non-organic goat's milk from his herd and peddled it as organic and as produced on the farm for at least 1 year. Palmer acquired a huge batch of non-organic goat's milk cheese from his elderly parents goat farm in Utah and sold it as if it were grass-fed and from her goat's.
By the way, Palmer only paid approximately $3k for the nearly $21k that she promised and contracted (in 2008) to pay for the cheese. Palmer has never contacted the elderly farmers, who really need the money, to pay them even though I understand that Palmer won a windfall lawsuit of $1M plus recently. In an email from September 2011, Palmer claims she dumped the cheese because it went bad. However, another past employee of Palmer's said that she knows Palmer sold the cheese. Even if Palmer had dumped some of the cheese because she did not take care of the cheese, does not release her from her contract. She received the cheese and she owes the $18k. Additionally, she peddled it as grass-fed from her farm to gain outlandish prices. Neither Dan's or his parent's goat farms are organic and certainly not very grass-fed."

Read all about it here.

If you want to get into the nitty gritty and have 10 minutes to spare you can read this beaut of a document. Of note is Roger Prince's interview. I prefer Aajonus' nuggets o' wisdom myself. And hey, doesn't he claim he played a character on a soap opera once upon a time?

Yup. We know by now it is a classic he said, she said argument. But if there is paper proof of some of this stuff it will be interesting.  I'm thinking I'd like to be a juror in the civil suit against Palmer filed by Vonderplanitz that will be starting come February 2013.

And David Gumpert, forget not that hundreds of customers are peeeeeeeeeved that we were supposedly sold grass-fed, pastured and organic meats, eggs, milk and cheese at premium prices only to find out they were likely not. They were sold as value-added agricultural goods, but were supposedly just plain 'ole agricultural goods.

See. My. Point?

Oh, yes, and stop getting all in a frenzy about "public health officials" and how the public distrusts these people people that actually work for them. Last time I checked, they got their degrees from universities, are evidence based scientists, and care very much for the public and their health. Especially little children who get e.coli 0157:H7 and come breaths away from death. The value added raw milk they drank did this to them, and none of your hard hitting journalism will take that fact away.

Having said that, will I get a flu shot? Probably not. Because although I don't drink raw milk anymore I still like to live dangerously.

Much Ado About Nothing at Rawesome or Healthy Family Farms...or is it?

Think what you will: I still don't want to eat eggs or young chicken or beef or sheep from who knows where when I bought them thinking they were coming from the farm/farmer I bought them from. 

That is IF she was/is outsourcing.  

You all know I'm not omnipotent. I'm just one person with a loud mouth and opinion. There is no going back for me, however. I found out too many ugly things, most of which I have written about here. here.

here.

I just wish someone with authority would care enough about outsourcing to look into it. For now, Sharon Palmer still has a farm and still sells at farmer's markets. The next court date for Palmer is in Ventura on September 12, 2012. That ought to be interesting.

http://www.thecompletepatient.com/article/2012/september/8/rawesome-case-disappearing-act-two-defendants-la-county-case-settle-small

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Ventura-dairy-farmer-pleads-guilty-over-raw-milk-3848930.php

E.coli 0157:H7 Survives in Raw Milk! No Way!

Sally Fallon-Morell of the Weston A. Price Foundation would have you believe that raw milk kills pathogens...to the point that it renders raw milk completely safe to drink? I don't know. She doesn't clarify that last part, but she certainly has said it kills pathogens a lot. In my last post I showed how she still claims this as of 2011 and exposed the network she has created to carry this message.

This subject was covered extensively almost 3 years ago on the Ethicurean blog

Click the link here and download the latest raw milk e.coli news coming out of Oregon, and tell me you want to feed your young child raw milk again. I certainly don't. When that mother's voice describes her daughters hospital trials, and breaks up and trails off at the end...you know she has shed many tears for her daughter. I cannot even fathom the agony and the heartache. It probably will not end when her daughter eventually leaves the hospital, however. HUS, unfortunately, can cause a lifetime of health problems:

"Among survivors, at least five percent will suffer end stage renal disease (“ESRD”) with the resultant need for dialysis or transplantation. But, “[b] ecause renal failure can progress slowly over decades, the eventual incidence of ESRD cannot yet be determined.” Other long-term problems include the risk for hypertension, proteinuria (abnormal amounts of protein in the urine that can portend a decline in renal function), and reduced kidney filtration rate. Since the longest available follow-up studies of HUS victims are 25 years, an accurate lifetime prognosis is not really available and remains controversial. All that can be said for certain is that HUS causes permanent injury, and it requires a lifetime of close medical monitoring." http://www.marlerblog.com/legal-cases/the-e-coli-o157h7-bacteria-and-hemolytic-uremic-syndrome-hus/

Then flip to the uninformed statement that many raw milk supporters keep saying and keep believing, despite lack of peer-reviewed scientific evidence to support their claims.

On The Bovine blog today they posted a video:


39 seconds in, a woman says, "E.coli can't even SURVIVE in, uh, raw milk. It can't."

If you think raw milk can kill pathogens, and that e.coli can't survive in raw milk so that raw milk is completely without risk to drink, then please read this excellent paper by Dr. Amanda Rose: www.rawmilkwhitepapers.com

From the Amanda Rose:
"Like a whole lot of other foods, raw milk can be contaminated. The temperature of the milk and the type of pathogen both matter to the discussion. The research is really not as simple as advocacy groups would suggest.
And then there is the FDA. The had a FAQ with the question “Does raw milk kill pathogens?” Their answer: “No.”

Life and research should be as simple as these two sides suggest.

I got heckled by one side at a symposium. Then my little white paper was just weeks old when a surprising review of it appeared in the journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation written by Ted Beals, M.D. [PDF]. I actually had a lot of respect for Beals’ testimony here in California a couple of years ago and recommended him as a speaker for the aforementioned symposium, so I was surprised first to read his review. I wrote a detailed response to his review at the Rebuild blog.

I have continued to be surprised that he has not backed up his review with citations from the scientific literature. I write this update about one year since I first asked for citations. In the concluding paragraph of his review of my white paper, he essentially accuses me of cherry picking and argues that “raw milk does kill off pathogens in realistic real-life situations. That fresh raw milk has the properties to kill off pathogens is no urban legend, it is proven science.”

If you see Ted Beals at a raw milk conference, you might ask him for the citations that support his conclusion because I have had no luck. The “proven science” remains locked in the WAPF chambers in Virginia."

Before you go on to send Dr. Rose hatemail, read what she says here. She staunchly defends a consumers right to purchase and consume the food of their choice. She firmly believes, however, as do I, that the consumers need to have information that is correct when making the decision to buy and consume said food.

Sally Fallon-Morell, The Weston A. Price Foundation, and Raw Milk

Sally Fallon-Morell, above: "The funny thing is we now know a lot about raw milk and raw milk will actually get rid of bad bacteria by itself. There are a lot of components in raw milk that kill pathogens."

This is an attempt to tell my friends on Facebook why I post so much about Raw Milk. It is also an attempt to not make myself go insane with rage when raw milk supporters and leaders of the movement make themselves look foolish when they callously disregard the illness of a two year old who drank raw milk (more on that later) like they do here in the comments section.

Here is my response to a raw milk supporter who says there are no real raw milk leaders in the raw milk movement.

First of all, let's state the obvious: is it possible to have a movement without leadership?

chirp... chirp...

Second, and watch out: Here comes my Sally Fallon-Morell (from here on out Sally Fallon) rant about raw milk. Which will one day be followed by how Sally Fallon Makes Her Money (still gathering the evidence, not yet angry enough to post said evidence, but man do we have one good heck of a page turner on that one)

Sally Fallon-Morell says "Cheese!" at her state of the art cheese making facility that she makes from the raw milk from her state of the art milking facility that comes from the cows on her newly renovated farm. Whew! Read all about it here. By Jill Nienhiser for Farm Food Blog

The Weston A. Price Foundation, with it's leader Sally Fallon, advocates raw milk formula for babies. Her baby, WAPF, grew out of her desire to evangelize the nutrition info disseminated in "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" by Dr. Weston A. Price. Nowhere in that book does Price mention feeding raw milk to babies. She was a board member of PPNF, The Price Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, for twenty years before she left that organization to pursue a more politically active role in the food/nutrition arena. I'm not making this up.

Since its inception in 1999, WAPF has been espousing the health benefits of raw milk for mothers and babies. It runs a chapter based organization. How do you think a majority of people find their raw milk herd shares??? These chapters help connect raw milk seekers with raw milk producers.

David Gumpert's blog, The Complete Patient, is quoted in Wise Traditions, WAPFs pseudo scientific quarterly journal, as a source for raw milk news. He writes the occasional article for them in their raw milk update section. He also wrote, Raw Milk Revolution, the top selling raw milk book according to Amazon.com

Mark McAfee, "owner of the largest raw milk dairy in the world" has a symbiotic relationship with WAPF. He boosts raw milk and so do they. A friend from my past involvement in WAPF-LA recently titled he and his wife: "Mr. and Mrs. Raw Milk" and I think that's an apt description of how WAPF members view him.

Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farm: Would you deny that he's not a leader in the "Real Food Movement"? Star of such tomes as Pollan's The Omnivores Dilemma and the movies Food Inc. and Fresh. He calls Mark McAfee his raw milk hero in his most recent book, Folks, This Ain't Normal". Joel is a card carrying WAPFer and I doubt the two would have connected without WAPF. Salatin also wrote the forward for Gumpert's Raw Milk Revolution.

Search "raw milk" at Amazon.com and see what comes up. First, as mentioned above, is Gumpert's venerable Raw Milk Revolution. Second, a little book called The Untold Story of Raw Milk by Ron Schmidt. Who is the publisher of that book? Sally Fallon's Newtrends Publishing, Inc.

Lest we not forget the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund, WAPF's legal arm. They've got their knees deep in raw milk litigation, no?

A lot of arrows in the Raw Milk activism world point to Sally Fallon's WAPF that she created to promote her political agendas, and the ones that deviate most from Weston A. Price's teachings and writings are raw milk and anti-soy.

If you would like to take a peek at what she advocates:
http://pediatricalternatives.com/sally-fallon-morell.html

I was at this talk and had my Nourishing Traditions book signed by Sally Fallon-Morell herself.

She devotes more than enough time to raw milk, but here is why I do not think she should be a leader of any movement, no less one that advocates feeding raw milk to babies:

FIVEFOLD PROTECTIVE SYSTEM IN RAW MILK
1. Destroys pathogens in the milk.
2. Stimulates the Immune system.
3. Builds healthy gut wall.
4. Prevents absorption of pathogens and toxins in the gut.
5. Ensures assimilation of all the nutrients.

PROBLEMS BREASTFEEDING?
Use our homemade formula based on raw milk
Added lactose and whey to approximate human milk
Added cod liver oil to ensure adequate A and D
More Info: www.westonaprice.org/faq/320-faq-homemade-baby-formula.html

In the video above she spins her tale: "Raw Milk will actually get rid of pathogens itself

The End.

E.coli 0157:H7 in your Raw Milk

This week has reinvigorated my interest in Raw Milk Politics, especially surrounding E.coli 0157:H7.

Why? It seems an unlikely topic of obsession for me since we have removed dairy from our family diet temporarily for health and dietary reasons. However, I wrestle with raw milk because, like a lot of raw milkies, I frankly prefer the flavor of raw milk over pasteurized. I often wonder if I will ever drink it again?

I also read "Poisoned" this week and learned quite a bit about e.coli 0157:H7, and it answered many of my lingering questions about the subject.

Bill Marler is that ambulance chasing personal injury lawyer according to some in the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) crowd. I've also seen this reference many a time in the comments section on The Complete Patient blog. What doesn't hold water for me is their total disdain for him. This is the guy who gets financial compensation for those who have gotten seriously sick from tainted food, whether it be Cargill, Odwalla, Jack in the Box, or your mom and pop raw milk farmer. He has done his fair share to try to clean up the system. Far from being an ambulance chaser, he is internet and marketing savvy and knows how to put his agenda out there. "Poisoned" shows his personal and family life, political savvy and work ethic, and ultimately, his humanity. I hope you will consider reading it. It is well written and I could hardly put it down!

After reading it I learned that the author, Jeff Benedict, lives the life I dream of! His homesteading wife, Lydia, convinced him to write a book about food politics and food borne illness. That this author comes to admire and befriend Bill Marler and chooses to make him the central character in his compelling true life story is telling of Mr. Marler's character:



Yesterday, and probably not-by-coincidence on her birthday, Mr. Marler's Food Safety News published the story of Mary McGonigle-Martin. One of Marler's more famous (infamous?) raw milk cases involves Chris and Mary Martin vs. McAfee of Organic Pastures Dairy Company. I've extolled Mary's virtues on this blog before here and here, but now she really has gone and done it with this article. The reason there is so much mis-information regarding her son's illness are the blatant lies told and spun by the likes of Mark McAfee and Sally Fallon. They've been told, warned, and asked to stop repeating these lies.  Once and for all Mary called them out this week publicly on Food Safety News.

Seriously, Sally Fallon and WAPFers, it's time to put the lies about the Martin case behind you and move on. One lie, specifically, is that Chris Martin ate spinach and that is how he contracted e.coli 0157:H7, because his case happened to occur at the same time as the Dole Spinach outbreak. Marler also handled most of the e.coli 0157:H7 cases against Dole for that spinach outbreak, and has said numerous times that if the evidence showed that Chris was part of the spinach outbreak, he would have been included in Dole spinach litigation and not raw milk litigation. However, the Chris's case centered on the fact that Chris consumed OPDC raw milk. The second red herring promulgated by Fallon, which can be found here, is that Chris was given anti-biotics which is given as the explanation as to why he developed HUS from the e.coli infection. Yes, antibiotics, especially certain types, are contraindicated in suspected e.coli cases. But the fact remains that about 10% of e.coli 0157:H7 cases go on to contract HUS. Chris Martin contracted a severe e.coli 0157:H7 infection from drinking raw milk and developed HUS, whether antibiotics were at play or not is a side argument and distracts from the original vector: raw milk. The third red herring is that this case was settled out of court, and McAfee and the raw milkers, including Fallon, have insinuated that this is because there was not enough evidence to bring it to trial or some other such rot. What if the opposite is true? Could it possibly be that it was settled out of court on a sum that cannot be disclosed, because like most personal injury cases settled out of court it are financially favorable for the injured client? Hmmmmm...

Chris Martin in the hospital. fighting for his young life.

I think this passage is worth a reprint here:
"Victimized again by falsehoods

My experience with these characters has been appalling. My son's near-death experience was hell to pay for my mistake, but I was not prepared for the second victimization. Rather than acknowledge the tremendous harm done in the first Organic Pastures outbreak, and then  search for the reasons this happened to avoid future problems, they chose a different, rather slimy path to muddy the truth and deflect any culpability.

Their reaction was morbid. The lies began immediately about our son's case and some of these falsehoods could be found on the Weston A. Price Foundation website. I wrote to Sally Fallon requesting that she remove the distortions. Instead of honoring my appeal, she injected these pathetic fabrications into Ron Schmidt's updated version of his book. This whole matter was very twisted and patently shows how they would hawk their souls to convince their followers that raw milk is always safe to drink.        

People who choose raw milk for themselves or their families believe they are making an informed decision. They believe the benefits outweigh the risks. They have read the Schmidt's book or literature endorsed by WAPF. However, a truly informed decision should also address the potential health consequences. Until both sides are presented and considered, any decision to consume raw milk is based on propaganda and ignorance.

I was ignorant and I have spoken to many others who have become ill or who have had children that became ill after consuming contaminated raw milk. Sadly, they all believed the risks were minimal, which brings me to bottom line: would any mother's choose raw milk for their children if they knew that it could seriously harm or even kill them? Never!"

Mary was gracious enough to recommend Nourishing Traditions, despite the history of lies told by the likes of Fallon and the WAPF crowd.

"One final thought about Sally Fallon: despite my believing she is completely irresponsible promoting the consumption of raw milk to infants and children, her cookbook "Nourishing Traditions" does have excellent information.  This book is like having your grandmother in the kitchen passing down generations of food preparation wisdom. Food fermentation, both dairy and vegetable, is a focus for obtaining beneficial bacteria. Sally Fallon writes that people can obtain beneficial bacteria from kefir and yogurt made with pasteurized milk, so I'm not sure how or why the hyper-focus on raw milk emerged. So, if you are looking for a healthier way to eat, follow the suggestions in her book and just disregard everything you read about raw milk."

Mary and Chris, in more recent and happier times.

 Over and over again Mary has shown the courage of a mama lion. I've got your back, Mother Mary. Call me anytime.

On being banned and SUE-age

Via Stuck in Customs who does not endorse the content of this post

I received a threat this morning of being banned from another blog (whose author rhymes with "Rumpert") if I don't follow a two comments max per post. I think that is reasonable and I respect someone who is able to lay a boundary.

I just don't appreciate when I am asked not to speak about the boundary. I spoke about it on the blog and here. Oops!

I was banned from commenting on AnnMarie's Cheeseslave blog and Facebook page last week. The funny thing on that one was I never brought up this blog or it's content, she did. So then naturally I defended myself. I guess she didn't appreciate my viewpoint. I was asked to stop "bothering" Jenny McGruther of Nourished Kitchen awhile back. If they don't want to hear what I have to say, so be it. I am starting to think of these as badges of honor that I can put on my brownie sash.

Another wise truth teller is threatening to make t-shirts. Threaten. It's a good word.

I was also threatened with SUE-age by one of Palmer's supporters on Gumpert's (yeah, that one that rhymes with Rumpert) blog today.

"Some claim to know the whole truth of Sharon and her outsourcing behavior, criminal background and everything in context and have chosen to continue to slander her, try to poison the community with out proper facts, I encourage you to stop now, unless you have verified information that has been clearly authenticated." This person doesn't use THEIR legal name, of course.

I got a call awhile back from someone in Palmer's community that my name was used in connection with a proposed slander lawsuit. I haven't been served yet. Too bad there is not much they can take from a family with young children living on a single income with no property. We have enough family and friends to support us and the worst case scenario would be that we would end up homeless. That won't happen. That said, I also wouldn't want to go through the legal process.

In my heart, I am not afraid. A beloved mentor told me when I was young, "Kristi, you are a truth teller and a shining light in this world. Some people do not want to hear your truth and will stop at nothing to silence you. Telling the truth is good, but you also have to use caution and protect yourself." If someone is a lawyer who reads my blog and feels I am being naive, please advise. If you have been a part of a slander suit and feel I am being naive, please advise. kristi dot cakes at gmail dot com.

Otherwise I will get on with my regularly scheduled activities: taking care of my children, feeding my family wholesome food, and spending an inordinate amount of time on the Internet for no good reason. Cheers y'all!

A Tale of Two Sharon Palmers

Sharon Palmer of Healthy Family Farms, via Edible Ojai

Here is the story the Healthy Family Farms apologists would like you to hear. It is the same story I heard about a year or so ago: http://www.ediblecommunities.com/ojai/spring-2012/sharon-palmer.htm 
 
Two things from this lovely pastoral farmer profile that I would like to point out: 
1) Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms in Virginia and hero of the real food movement (what, you haven't heard of him?) recommends in his book, You Can Farm, that as a new farmer it is wise to not keep pets because their feed bills add up and when you are getting any new business off the ground you need to cut out all unnecessary expenditures to ensure that your business will be economically sustainable and viable. Not that the act of rescuing isn't noble, but Sharon Palmer rescues many animals and that means more mouths to feed.

 2) "A longterm frustration for Sharon has been finding high-quality feed. For example, she believes soy to be much too challenging to a chicken’s digestive process to produce a truly healthy bird. After a long search she finally found a supplier that custom mixes her own soyfree, non-GMO recipe including high-protein whey and pea, flax, essential minerals, etc." This is the same long term frustration of many local animal farmers and ranchers, especially if they produce at the scale that she once did. If she has found a feed supplier that is doing all of these things than I am sure that that feed supplier would be a huge success and in demand amongst the local farming community. Unfortunately, no one can figure out the name and location of this supplier.

The second tale that hit my inbox yesterday paints a far more sinister image of Palmer, from a bonafide local news article:
http://m.vcstar.com/news/2012/mar/20/expert-testifies-on-sales-pitch-given-farm/

This is testimony coming out of the Ventura District Attorney's case against Palmer, Stewart and Otting that paints a picture of Palmer as the main player in a scheme to bait others to help her buy her farm:

"Frank Huber, an investigator with the District Attorney's Office, described how criminals use a "straw buyer," an individual who lends his name and good credit rating on a bank loan application. A criminal also will use so-called "silent seconds," money concealed from bank officials and used as a down payment on the loan....The focus of Tuesday's testimony was how the bank loan was obtained. Huber said that in his opinion, duping the bank and in some cases not being straightforward with people about a business venture constitute real estate fraud."

Another important point for both myself and Palmer's apologists:
"Huber said his concern isn't about the farm operation but only about fraud that was committed.
"It was about being ripped off and a bank being ripped off," he said."
My concerns about potential consumer fraud at farmer's markets and apologists concerns that she is being targeted by "the powers that be" because she is independently providing food, specifically raw milk, outside of government regulation...neither of our concerns matter in this case. It is about real estate fraud.

My question to the Sharon Palmer apologists is thus:
How can you reconcile these two very different women named Sharon Palmer?
One wants to grow healthy food for her community, and
The other allegedly ripped off members of her community for her own gain: "He said the Hetheringtons were promised 12 percent interest on their $60,000 investment and were sent an unsigned promissory note through an email. ...
Investors allegedly weren't told that their money would be used as a down payment on the farm or that it would be concealed from bank officials.
Huber said none of the investors have been repaid. One investor, Michael Kirrene, testified he was promised 9 percent for two months on his initial $25,000 investment. Kirrene invested $125,000."

Take Home Points:
My intro to criminology teacher taught me a valuable lesson through countless examples:
"If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is." People have, can, and will try to scam you in this life. It is your obligation to protect yourself and do your homework.

What I have learned:
I would like to highlight that the Edible Ojai farm profile was written by Joanie Blaxter, who was at one time a WAPF co-chapter leader for Ojai/Ventura County (I cannot confirm the current status of the Ventura WAPF chapter as they are no longer listed as a chapter on the WAPF website). AnnMarie Michaels and Victoria Bloch are also Sharon Palmer supporters, and were both chapter leaders of the WAPF Los Angeles chapter when my curiosity in this matter began. Victoria Bloch is a current co-chapter leader of the Los Angeles WAPF chapter, and AnnMarie is a current co-chapter leader of the Las Vegas WAPF chapter.

I would caution people to learn how to source food from farmers and farmers markets on your own and not to take anyone's word for it, even, in all likelihood, the good intentioned WAPF chapter leaders. Like I keep promising, it is my goal to write a Farmers Market Consumer Guide. I promise to float it around to the knowledgeable farmers and farmer's market managers: the food producers and distributors that have helped me make sense of Sharon Palmer's claims versus farm reality and the very people and markets who will be hurt WHEN this story is made more widely public (It is not a matter of IF anymore). 

Caveat Emptor!

Do you know the names of the pathogens that end up in raw milk products?

"Raw milk does have a checkered history of safety issues," acknowledged McAfee, alluding to the high incidence of milk-borne illnesses before the 1900s. But with modern sanitation, he believes "we know now how to produce very safe, very clean raw milk."
"We just don't know how it happened," said McAfee, who has since added new cleaning protocols.

Mary McGonigle-Martin, 52, of Murrieta, says she didn't fully grasp the health risks when her 7-year-old son Chris was sickened in the 2006 outbreak. Pro-raw-milk websites and conspicuous advertisements at her local health foods store convinced her that raw milk could be a safe, natural remedy for her son's chronic sinus congestion. She bought Organic Pastures milk after reading about the farm online. "That they tested the milk and they'd never found a pathogen -- the testing was what sold me," said McGonigle-Martin, a school counselor.

Even with sophisticated lab tests, E. coli can be much harder to detect in milk than in, say, ground beef, said Michael Payne, a UC Davis food safety expert. "I have zero faith that there exists technologies that currently allow for the adequate on-farm testing of raw milk for pathogens," he said.

Chris Martin developed HUS, experienced kidney failure, and at one point required a ventilator. "My choice almost killed my child," said McGonigle-Martin. For other parents, she stresses that drinking and serving raw milk is a personal choice that should be made knowing all the risks.

 "You better know what pathogens could be in the milk and what could result," said McGonigle-Martin. "If you can't name those diseases and illnesses, then you shouldn't be making the choice."

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_20183193/recent-cdc-study-reveals-dangers-raw-milk-but

Finally someone has the story right

"Harman added that Palmer is a 'wolf in sheep's clothing' who preys on people who distrust the government.

Stewart was 'rounding up people to put money' into the business, said Harman, adding that Stewart considers himself a 'sovereign citizen' not subject to state laws."
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/mar/08/judge-reduces-bail-for-santa-paula-farmer-with/#ixzz1ofCDIbpY

I hope that Sharon Palmer learned from her last criminal proceedings that fleeing the country to Mexico doesn't solve any of your problems...

Or you can keep reading the paranoid conspiracy theorists choice news outlet which I keep seeing re-blogged: http://www.naturalnews.com/035186_Sharon_Palmer_Rawesome_Foods_arrest.html

The truth hurts sometimes, people. I doubt that the District Attorney would have gotten involved in this without some complaint by the investors. I also doubt that Sharon will repay them as soon as is practicable.  According to this video, she says she's doing right fine financially.



Which Sharon are we to believe?
The poor single mother of 5 (at the time she had three children at home) who consistently and historically couldn't pay her feed creditors around town? or this Sharon Palmer, above, who is a victim of someone trying to take away her 3 million dollar property? And 2 million has been payed back into the property!?!? Why wouldn't the loan be re-payed and she'd be well on her way to paying back her personal creditors?
I'd say neither, because I've come to learn you can't trust a thing that comes out of her mouth.

I'm basically outraged, and why you should be too...

From a Healthy Family Farms Facebook post: "Here's an amazing, painterly photo of a Weston A. Price Foundation chapter leader and mom elsewhere in the country."
I would warn people like I, who once had the idyllic notion of farm life as pictured above, to take heed of the lesson in the story below.

The word is out, folks. Sharon Palmer of Healthy Family Farms has today been charged with "38 felony counts, including two counts of conspiracy, multiple counts of grand theft involving several victims, two counts of elder theft, several counts of money-laundering, violations of the corporate code relating to the offer and sale of securities, and tax evasion," according to an article just released by the Ventura County Star.


Healthy Family Farms formerly and may still sell in farmer's markets from Santa Barbara down the coast to Santa Monica. They are also a vendor last I checked at one of the biggest farmer's markets in the state of California, Hollywood Sunday Farmer's Market.


"Ventura County Senior Deputy District Attorney Chris Harman said Palmer faces a significant amount of time in prison based on the amount alleged to have been stolen, which includes $1,144,542.10 from Rabobank."


At first I was shocked, and then it all came to me in a wave. I remember trying to figure out how in the world a known felon like Sharon Palmer was gifted a farm. The private investigation report on unhealthyfamilyfarms.com had an interview that I remember precisely because of the amount of money people who are devoted to good food had invested in Sharon Palmer:


"Judi Dawn von Schleifer was also interviewed in detail and a detailed statement was prepared based on the interview. Ms. von Schleifer indicated that she was introduced to Sharon Palmer by James Stewart and that when she first met Ms. Palmer in August, 2008 and asked Sharon what she needed help with. Sharon replied, "I need money." She began fundraising efforts by identify and developing contact information for investors and determining the amounts that the investors would be willing to invest in an organic farm. This information was given to Sharon Palmer who made the actual arrangement with the investors as to how much they would invest and what return was being promised them. It was Judi's understanding that each of the investors were promised a 12 percent return on their money to be paid back within three to six months. Sharon indicated that she was "on track" to get a U.S. Department of Agriculture loan between $900,000.00 and $1,000,000.00. Judi said that she never saw any paperwork pertaining to the loan. Judi's fundraising assistance permitted Sharon to raise $500,000.00 to help in purchasing the farm." 

The article states that the felony charges are between Feb. 1, 2008, and April 1, 2009. This woman met Sharon Palmer in August 2008 and Sharon moved to her new farm some time that Fall.  

From The history and Facts presented by Aajunus Vonderplanitz on his website: "In about 2008, James Stewart and a small goat’s-milk farmer Sharon Palmer entered an agreement to purchase a 62-acres farm for approximately 2 million dollars. James Stewart and several Rawesome members invested about 1 million dollars. Member Larry Otting acquired a 1-million dollars loan for the balance to secure the property and leased the property to Sharon Palmer who completely runs the farm. They called it Healthy Family Farms (HFF)." This must be where Larry Otting comes in as a new defendant as per Aajonus' account he secured the loan. There is that amount of "$1,144,542.10 from Rabobank." which may be the loan. It will all come out eventually. 

It seems James was working with Sharon from the beginning. I knew that he was her partner in crime from the testimony given to me by one of our sources. I just had no idea it went this deep. But the evidence was there, on unhealthyfamilyfarms.com all along. I am outraged. A monster describes her best, if indeed these charges are true. She was able to manipulate so many people into thinking she was a victim, a single mother of 5 children (when in actuality she had 3 living at home, now 2) and that she had good intentions of raising good food. Let's face it folks. If these charges hold true, Sharon Palmer is a great con artist.


I have a few select words for James Stewart as well. His past with raw milk is not so clean. And now it appears he using the hard earned money of his Rawesome club members to con them as well. 

It looks like Aajanus is not so crazy after all. It was because of his website that I first decided to no longer buy from Sharon Palmer. 

And this I say to you: I wish this was the only case of fraud in the real food movement that I know about. Sadly, it is not. This is a huge case of fraud that we can easily wave off as one that is an outlier...not normal. Yet, think about it this way: out of 100 people, 3 will be sociopaths who will only care about their own gain and not care about the wellbeing of the whole. To think that the good intentions of the farmers market managers, raw milk supporters, Rawesome supporters, real food people, and her customers, employees, and volunteers were so badly manipulated... It is disgusting and despicable, if the charges are indeed true. 


Caveat Emptor definitely applies to the real food movement and to farmer's markets. 


Further Reading: My investigation into Healthy Family Farms in Three Parts: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3