What the government does.

We seem to believe the government is really interested in our lives, but are they?  Everything changes when the government is the one trying to survive.

I watched a video titled TOXIC FARMING tonight.  It was from last year, I think YouTube said it was a year old, but the person I am thinking of from the video (Jason Grostic) said his farm/ranch destruction by the government started the previous November.  I assume that meant 2022.  

By the end of the Vice News report, Mr. Grostic's five-year effort to create a successful healthy meat business was gone and his cattle were going to be destroyed by the government.

The Grostic property was the only one the government decided to test - both land and animals - for PFAS contamination even though the government knew many other agricultural properties had the same problem.  They all used EPA approved, free, wastewater treatment discards as fertilizer.  Some properties are still using the treatment plant waste as fertilizer.  All the other farms/ranches are still able to sell their food products because they were not tested for the same contamination.  

I am assuming the government is protecting itself.  This is what the government does.

We will not know why this was done to one family.  

If the government tested all of the affected properties, it would have deeply affected the entire State's income at many levels.  There are a lot of associated costs to any government action of this kind.  

It could have been a personal attack by a government employee, or someone associated with any government representative.  Mr. Grostic was a rising business and had worked very hard to reach that level.

There is just no way to know.

I tried to find out what happened after the video first aired but the website for Gostic Cattle Company was gone, it had a Hotmail address (which I will try to see if it is still valid), and the last post at the Facebook link was when the video aired.  I imagine their lives were devastated by the loss of their property and everything they had built.  I was hoping to find they moved to a better property and started again.  That would require a lot of money.  I don't think the government pays for the things it destroys.

I wanted to share this because our lives are not the same as they were in the past.  We cannot depend on the government.  And we have to realize that everything in our lives depends on the morality of the people in it. 

This is just one story.  I have seen and read about many others.  I have experienced devastation in my own life.  We have to find a way through things like this.  Together.  As Christians. 

I don't know if the Grostics are Christians, but they seemed like a good family.  I hope they found a way to a new future.

In Christ,

Deborah Martin

work2gather.us

New blog topics today -- no focus on my challenge :-) I hope!

I almost forget this entry because I was watching the second documentary I rented at Amazon yesterday, along with 8 Kindle books!!!  (You will have to search at Amazon videos for Urban Farmers as I couldn't find a website to link you with.)

I don't think I will be good at saving money... not really. I had enough, and only bought 99-cent books, one was only 49-cents!  :-)  The documentaries were the overspend, but they were only $1.99 each.  :-(



URBAN FARMERS was the first one I wanted to watch.  Rural people have more options than big city people, especially the poor.  This film was about New York City's food issues... food deserts, no land for farming, farmer's markets, CSA's, and whatever else they have there.  One thing I discovered in watching the film is the distance they have to go for farm products.  The CSA speaker said they get food from a 250-mile radius.  I was trying to decide how to apply that information to Oregon, and remembering Los Angeles issues.

Someone was smart enough to save the last piece of farmland relatively close to the main city.  I think that was Queens County Farm.  It's 47 whole acres.  Since it's a county property now, they do school field trips and more.

One other really interesting part for me was the online site Cornell University put together to connect the farmers and the people who want their products.  I still have to find it online and see what it is doing these days, but the idea sounded wonderful.  I am all for LOCAL emphasis.  I have been trying to advocate for emergency planning to know what food sources are around their region so they know where to go for food in a crisis.  That kind of website would be really good for everyone to think about establishing.

I thought they would have some roof gardens because the main movie photo shows green on top of roofs, but they didn't show any.  The CSA's are helping provide a lot of good food for the city people and helping the farmer's survive.  The Farmer's Markets are growing.  One neighborhood farm project was on temporary space, I think.  That is a real problem in developing food sources in places that are just not able to be developed at the time.  They work so hard and then they get destroyed by the owner of the properties.



A SIMPLER WAY was filmed by someone I support (slightly) at PATREON right now... I think.  I haven't found out for sure yet because he hasn't answered my messages.  I suppose he must be busy if he's doing films like the two I have seen, this one and one called LIVING THE CHANGE, also set in Australia.  I have decided he must live there. His name is Jordan Osmond.  I wonder if he will be able to build a Patreon page like a Kickstarter page... this will be interesting to watch, for now.

I checked for the website and found a link to watch it free (as of tonight...).  See what you think of young people trying to make a community from not much.

Here's my Earth Day offering for this post.  I didn't make a new post.  On social media I shared the three graphics I have on Earth Day issues.  I still remember my previous effort to share a Canva creation here... it was way too big.  I will have to do more of the size above... right?!

I spent a lot of time today looking through some of the Kindle books I bought.  Some classics like As A Man Thinketh and The Greatest Secret.  Ones on publishing books, social media marketing, building email lists, selling, etc.  I am trying to decide what kind of books I want to publish, and how to do it... with my current situation.  One comment in a book I was browsing today was that no one has time to read anymore... so the online books seem to be very short.  He has a formula.  :-)  I am still checking it out.  Amazon has a "short reads" section and the limit is 100 pages I think.  That was my first book goal... to do a short read.

I think I am done for tonight.

Until next time,
May GOD help us all to be better people,
and to reach the goals He has put in our hearts to accomplish.
May He protect us from harms we cannot overcome,
and help us to find our way through the valleys we must go through.

In Christ,
Deb Martin

work2gather.us
patreon.com/DebsRetirementPlan
etsy.com/shop/work2gather

for Tuesday, 2 FEB 2016 :: My BIG prayer request

It is actually Wednesday, 3 FEB 2016, but I thought I better share a Facebook prayer I entered yesterday...  I hope you will also pray for GOD to provide these things for me.  [  I couldn't get the quote function to work, so here it is as an indented bulleted list  :-)  ]

Tuesday, 2 FEB 2016 I filled in a prayer request on a John Hagee post and wanted to print it out for myself... so I am posting it here. I hope this is within GOD's Plans for my life...  :-) ================= I am praying for a decent house (as large as possible) with internet access on as many acres as GOD will provide on a major bus route in the Eugene OR area...to be purchased privately with very flexible terms from a Christian person...and help to move... and money to get me through the first three years. -- This is a lifetime prayer, near the end of my life prayer, and urgently needed at this time of my life... by the end of March 2016. ================== If you know anyone with the godly urge to help, and the financial means... this prayer will help me to establish Working Together better.... (http://work2gather.us)

I suppose you can support these efforts with purchases
at my Etsy shop (http://etsy.com/shop/work2gather)
and with my fiverr gift gig (http://fiverr.com/work2gather)... 

I will be creating a partial membership link to PayPal for Working Together  (link above), which you can also choose... and which would be the best option for me.  Building WT is what all my efforts have been about anyway.  Membership is the key to getting everyone at the same placed.  I think I will be going back to my original TRIAL membership for $5/year, which will only be a quarterly newsletter (in print OR by email).  We can build from there.

I have another faith blog to write for today...  please share this prayer request, if you can.