Community Food Security is Our #1 priority NOW!
Let's build it
Welcome to Raw Milk Mama, a newsletter about food freedom, our food systems, and how to create local food security in our communities. As always, I appreciate any and all paid upgrades. I am a solo writer bringing you real, sometimes difficult, news from the front lines of our food system. Sign up here for weekly posts, or keep reading…
War. Riots. Protests. Solar flares and electrical grid collapse. Elections. Climate change. Disease. Famine. “The Economy…”
It’s all there.
Some of it is real, some manufactured to keep you in a constant state of crisis.
But the thing that REALLY needs your focus right now–that none of the talking heads will tell you–is YOUR community food security.
This is not alarmism.
This is prudent preparation for any of the myriad of things that ARE happening now and the things that are likely coming.
As Congresswoman Harriet Hageman states in our recent podcast interview:
“I'll give an example of Sudan, and Sudan has been in the throes of a civil war for several decades now. And one of the first things they did in Sudan is, they rounded up all of the people who lived in the country, and they moved them into refugee camps. They urbanized them…
And over 90% of all the food consumed in Sudan is imported. So whenever that government wants to control the masses, whenever he, whenever there's an uprising, whenever there's an effort to say, you know, this guy is really not very good for us. We live in abject poverty, and life is really bad. Whenever there is even the hint that there is going to be something, an effort to get rid of him. What does he do?
He starves them.
He controls the food supply and by controlling food supply, controls the masses.
Now, is that an extreme example? Yeah, sure is. But it's a contemporary one, and we've watched it play out for year after year after year after year after year. The UN can talk all they want about the humanity, and they can talk all they want about global warming. They can talk all they want about climate change. And this is an existential crisis, ignoring the very crises that are happening in real time before their eyes, because you have dictators, despots, and tyrants that control the food supply. That is why we cannot allow our government to control our food supply, whether it is our fruits and vegetables, or it is our meat, our lamb, our pork, whatever it is, we do not want to vertically integrate, because what you then do is you have concentrated the power in the food supply [into] the hands of a very few people.
In addition to which is destroying the economy in all of these rural areas. Which would just be absolutely devastating where I come from, it's an ag state. It's entirely ag. There's very little industry other than that, because that's what we have there. We have the North Platte River. We have the North Platte Project. We have beautiful irrigation water. We have a climate that allows us to grow crops and raise cattle….and we're very proud of that. And we're constantly feeling like the government is working against that. And for me, that is such a seismic shift in terms of what government should do, the way that our Constitution is written, the way that our Government was formed, the foundation of by and for the people.
Our government should never become our enemy.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Folks, this is real and timely.
Yes, we have an election coming up. And maybe the apocalypse will happen tomorrow or next week due to the sun flares. But it doesn’t matter who gets in office if the same 4 meat packing companies completely control the food you’re eating and the people who are producing and processing that food.
It’s time to get your heads out of the sand and start.
Wherever you are, start.
Growing a few veggies is the best entry point for most people. And it’s important. Vital.
Why? Because by the time a crisis hits, it will be too late to LEARN these things. You’ll already have to know. And starting now with whatever you can–one plant–will get you started.
Or maybe it’s chickens for the eggs. Or something else.
Whatever it is, just start.
We need to bolster our community food security like never before.
So get out there and find out who else in your community is engaged and working on it.
Connect. Learn. Grow. Find each other.
We can do hard things. And yes, I guarantee it’s going to be difficult. Learning new things frequently is. But I also guarantee that you CAN.
Take a listen to Congresswoman Harriet Hageman’s wisdom about our food systems and then let’s get to work. She’s right about all of these serious threats to our food security. And it’s beyond time to wake up to these tangible threats and take action.
Action looks different for different people.
Find your place in the ecosystem.
Want to be part of a community working towards the same goals?
Sign up here. We’re going to support each other in these fabulous journeys to avert disaster.
Let’s go.
25 ways to build Community Food Security
$1-50 range
Buy seeds and plant them in your yard, a friend's yard, anywhere you have access to. Just start. Don’t worry about being perfect.
Support apps like SAGE that help people come together to grow food.
Buy locally produced food from a farmer near you (you have no idea how much that purchase means to them!)
Take a gardening workshop or class.
Donate to a local non profit that provides support to farmers.
Donate to the FOR FARMERS movement that provides private mini grants to farmers.
Get involved politically to change your state and local regs.
Support farmers taking on industrial ag and WINNING.
If you’re part of an HOA, work to change those policies to allow for chickens, goats, bees or whatever else you want to grow.
$50-300 range
Take a permaculture course and learn more about the ecosystem where you live and eat.
Host your next event at a local farm (you have no idea how much that means to them!)
Donate to or help build garden beds for a local urban farm/garden.
Learn about food forests and apply what you learn locally.
Start to stock your freezer by sourcing from a meat farm near you.
Buy a bunch of books about gardening and farming so that if our communication networks go down, you still have the information.
Purchase (or graft) 1 or more fruit or nut trees and plant them.
$300-1000 range
Help fund a local organization’s campaign to change state or local regulations around food production.
Support a case that has a chance of winning.
Invest in shared infrastructure or land with others who have the same goals.
Plant an herb garden or herb spiral.
Support legitimate small farms kickstarters.
Donate more appreciably to movements like “For Farmers” or other private grant opportunities for farmers.
Spend more of your budget locally.
Invest in a permaculture design for your land and learn how to create year-round, edible crops.
$1000+
Contact me and let’s get creative!
About Raw Milk Mama: I believe that we can reclaim our food systems through direct action. But it takes your participation whether you’re growing food, processing, or willing to support those who are. And sometimes, it takes taking direct action or calling on your state or federal elected officials.
I’m dedicated to helping people understand our food system and how we each fit into it..
Here’s how you can be part of it:
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Thank you so much for doing all of this. I am doing much of it already in my little corner lot. I feel this is such a big big thing as if you don't help yourself than others cannot! We all have skills in one area of this and as ONE we can get through this with the minimal of suffering. I feel connection with the Creator is the most important aspect of all of it. The Earth and connection with her and the Elemental Kingdom is another part and LOVE in action. Love you Liz, Sharon