Land of the Free is now becoming land of the Lost

I had to add this picture as something to smile about cause lately I am so sad over all that I am hearing.

Awhile back I heard about a woman being arrested for having a garden in her front yard...seems a neighbor thought it lowered the valve of the properties...then I hear about an Amish man being arrested on his farm at gun point for selling raw milk...Then a community who fought a man who had chickens, not only was his chickens poisoned but his property allowed to flood when the city didn't clean out the drainage areas around his property, then decided to take his house for the land as they wanted the area for a wetlands.....ended up just recently to have died either by suicide or murder...not sure what occurred & no one is talking...then the family who were hauled into court & told they had no right to own a cow...then lastly the 2 farms where all the pigs were shot cause they had the wrong color hair & were considered to be 'Old World' pigs which are now illegal to have in that state....

I am sure many of you will not agree with what I have to say but I am really upset over this.....The only one I know of right now that came out ok was the woman with the garden, the town backed down & she is allowed to return home & have her garden but the others have been damaged beyond belief.

Now most of you know I am a simple woman, educated yes but not overly political & even with all my smarts I just don't get any of this.  Has someone decided they are the Powers to be & can make rules as they wish?  Have some people gotten so high on their power over others they are now taking it a step farther & actually taking laws into their own hands?......I wish I could say yes or no to this but honestly I just don't know why these people are in any form of power in the first place.

Over the years with the movement to go back to a simpler life style it seems all types of people are coming out of the woodwork to make what we want to do a crime....I do know that big business has stepped in & with money changing hands things we take for granted or as our right are now being seen as criminal.  We can't eat what we want without someone saying its wrong, we can't live the way we want cause someone out there feels we need to be paying someone some where for the right to even be on our own land......Growing crops of any kind can get you in to big trouble is your crops pollinate someone Else's fields or your crops can be taken away from you if you have cross pollinated crops from a farm who is growing for a big business......you can have your children taken away form you if you give them raw milk or refuse to have the required shots for them to start school.

If the City, County or State decide they want your land for a wetland or natural preserve you can be arrested & held at gunpoint if you refuse to leave....

Everyone says we have 'given rights' being Americans but the problem is those rights are not concrete rights nor is there anything that says what the true rights of an America are besides the right to bear arms & even that one is being tested.  so what is our true rights???

No longer can we raise our children as we see fit without someone somewhere deciding we are doing it wrong & the children would be better off in foster care...Want to fly the flag?...can't do that in certain areas anymore....isn't that a natural right of an American? guess not.

Before I get hate mail I do want to say I understand that some laws are very important but when has owning & milking a cow for your family become more important that keeping drugs off the street?...I hear more about this type of thing that I do the important things like drug bust & house invasions......when did veggie gardens in the front yard become such a horrible thing that we need to jail the person doing it?  Was the law about the 'Old world' pigs/wild boars ect really meant to kill all pigs on farms & not the ones running wild in the woods & state?....I read the documentation on that & was shocked not to see how this was defined....it was left open so any pig anywhere in the state can be targeted & the owners arrested & jailed for having illegal pigs.....Now honestly does going on to a farm & forcing the farmer to shoot all the pigs & piglets make sense to you?...plus they had to let them rot, couldn't butcher them as food......

is that really the answer to all these offenses to just go in with guns, scare the families, treat them like criminals, arrest them & pretty much take everything away from them?

It seems to some that this is the answer...you don't do what I want I will make your life a living hell.  I am seeing this more & more & just haven't gotten any idea why its occurring besides the power trips.  when did life in America become something like a Nazi war camp...Ok please don't yell I just have no other words to express this so you can understand how I feel about it all.

I have lived in a third world country that had more rights than we do when it comes to farming, farm animals & eating what we want.....No one comes in and raids them for owning a cow or eating fresh veggies they grew in their own garden without pesticides or chemicals.

I am just so heart sick over this & fear for the future of our children, grand children & great grand children...The land of the Free isn't so Free anymore....M'

This old chick has finally come out of her coop

                March 2012 Me & Sis in Prescott AZ (I made both dresses)

Ok, first let me say 'sorry' for being soooo slow on keeping my Blog going.  Its not that I don't think of writing its just getting to it...lol

We had such a mild winter up here in Massachusetts that my 'kids' got to be out a lot more than they are used to & actually didn't mind the small amounts of snow.  The July babies seemed to think it was fun to run around  while the old girls stayed in the shop clucking about the silly youngin's.  I did have more chest/lung colds this last winter with the chickens...seems I would bring one in the house, get it well & then would have to do it with another...so all winter we had at least one chicken in the bathroom getting steam treatments & vicks on the beak.  thank goodness none died but there was a few times I didn't think they would pull through.

I had a slow easy winter trying to get my shoulder healed so I could use it now that its nicer outside.  So very little heavy work for me......I didn't even get much sewing done this time around since even using the scissors at times got to be too much, but I did work on my knitting loom & am still trying to get the patchwork sweater together......Its been nice in the late evenings to sit & work on it in front of the TV.

Thomas has been a BIG blessing since he came back from his folks in Feb, he took care of the kids for me, cleaned the big coop & had hauled in wood for the woodstove for me.  I think after Afghanistan he needed the break & to spend time with his dad.  They always have a good time together so I am glad we could get him there for a visit.

While it Prescott we got hit with a snow storm of 16 inches in just over 24 hours..lol...Ok I thought the desert didn't get snow like this!!!  but it sure was pretty & since I didn't get much snow at home I enjoyed it.

 I got to go see my little sis in Az in March, she got me tickets to fly in & we had a great time.  Some of you know I am a silversmith & up here people don't care for my jewelry, they want the high end gold or the easy beaded stuff.....Well in AZ especially in Sadona & Prescott the metal smiths are doing a lot of the same ideas I am doing using finished stones with raw stones.  I can't tell you how happy it made me to see I had other artists going in the same direction as I am.  I even got accepted into the Prescott Art Guild so I can show my jewelry & sell it at their gallery.

I made this necklase piece for my little sis, its copper, brass, silver, sea shell & black cultured pearls & was able to make the chain part for it also & brought it with me for her.

Since the last few days have been nice, I have spent a lot of time outside getting things done.  2 days ago I cleaned the backyard where the chickens hang out & get their toys out from under the tarps so they can play on them & raked up the yard for them.  I don't know if they noticed the nice clean yard but they did notice the toys & have been playing on them.  yesterday I took the hedge trimmers & took down a huge mess of wild roses in the side yard, I didn't get to them last year so they were out of control to the point you couldn't walk through them.  While out there found a giant tree limb that had broken from the forest behind us that will need to be cut up.  I have decided to work on my mothers small garden & pond this year as well, it got set aside last year & is a mess...can't even see the small pond cause its full of leaves & who knows what else.  I also raked out the front flower beds & Lauria was out with me to help.  She is my crooked neck hen who has to stay in the house with me so I try to get her out when I can so she can enjoy the sun, grass & take a dirt bath.

Needless to say she was quite dirty by the time I brought her in the house...she found a nice cool dirt area in the daffodils & had the dirt flying.....time to get her in the bathtub!

In about a month I am taking my best friend to Kona Hawaii for 10 days.  It took me 22 years to save the money to do this for her, but while Thomas was in Afghanistan I saved all the money I could so I could do this, as I know since we are getting older, we may never get to do it if I don't do it now.  I got us a hotel room on the beach with a kitchen so we can cook instead of eating out...already checked to see where the open air markets are so we can get fresh veggies & fruit.....I  may get my fishing lic while there so I can fish for her.  I don't eat fish but have no problems catching, cleaning & cooking fish for her.  Neither one of us is big shoppers so we plan to spend every day at one of the cool beaches looking for shells & snorkling.  I also rented a car so we can go to the Helo side & see the volcano's.  I know it will be tons of fun & very relaxing for both of us.

This year its my turn to host the Sister's Reunion so I got the tickets for the girls for the 2nd week in Sept.  Up here its too humid in Aug & Oct you never know what the weather will be like, but Sept is apple picking time & I want the girls to go with me one day to pick & then make big apple pies.  Thank goodness we are close enough in size that if they need sweaters they can wear mine.  Which I am sure since little sis is in AZ & big sis is in Calif they will get chilled.

So it will be a good busy spring & fall for me but to be able to be with the ones I love it will be wonderful.

I am still working on my chicken book, little sis edited it for me & I am going through making all the changes.  The publisher I wanted to use upped the price to over $30 per copy so am going back to self-publishing since I can't see someone paying that kind of price for the book.  I hope to have it completely done within the month so I can take it to a copier & get one done so I can see if I like the way it looks...wish me luck!

Well I think this is long enough so will close for now.

have a wonderful chicken day....M'