It is complicated…..

With all the discussion and debate on conscience rights, I feel the need to stop writing about farming and food and make a political statement.

If the government can force you to do something that is against your conscience, you are not free.

Period.

Seeing how any of the examples people give of this are all related to sex (gay marriage, distribution of birth control, abortion), I think this is a hidden way of taking away peoples freedom of religion.. or at least reducing the freedom on religion to something you can do in the privacy of your own home but don’t do it in public.

Let’s make the disclaimer that you will never have the right to murder someone even if killing them doesn’t bother your conscience.  Drunk driving is not a conscience issue, it is a’don’t be stupid’ issue.

If you want to live your life in a certain way (fundamentalist evangelical or homosexual), as an Albertan and Canadian, you should have the right to live the way you want… to the point that is doesn’t hurt someone else.

If what you believe offends me, that’s okay because I am an adult and I can deal with it.  If what I believe offends you, I hope you can be adult about it as well.  When someone confronts me about having a big family, should I charge to the HRC and claim discrimination?

But let’s not bring Big Brother with a big stick, ready to beat us into submission or fine us into bankruptcy, into this discussion.

I think we have taken human rights from actual human rights to the right of not having your feelings hurt.

If our society needs the government to step in everytime someone feels offended, I have little hope for us.

bakersgreenacres.com

That the first topic of debate in the Alberta election is prostitution is very interesting.

When you consider healthcare, bullying doctors, education, parental rights, Catholic education, oil revenues, property rights, government mismanagement, the environment, MLA pensions, you wonder why the PC’s would bring up prostitution.

A bawdy house in Edmonton? I know of one with 83 prostitutes that already exists.

Hoven Farms is now selling fresh cut bison at the Kingsland Farmers Market.

We are just starting with a few cuts (ground bison, rib eye steaks, sirloins teaks, round roasts) but as we move closer to summer, we will be adding more and more items.

Are there any cuts that you want?

Ever wonder how widespread GMO’s are?

The info is staggering. If you do not want GMO’s on your diet, you need to choose organic foods.

Let me rant for one minute…

The headline reads “RED MEAT IS BLAMED FOR ONE IN TEN EARLY DEATHS”

OMG!  Ban red meat! Ban beef production!  Beef farmers are murdering the world!

What  bunch of crap.

Here is what the article says…

Scientists added that people who eat a diet high in red meat were also likely to be generally unhealthier because they were more likely to smoke, be overweight and not exercise.

So in other words, eating beef causes you to smoke and not exercise!

The reason these people die earlier is that the beef these people eat is probably burgers bought from the local fast food place with a 400 oz pop and 2 lbs of greasy fries cooked in pure genetically modified corn oil!

To blame the beef in their diet is like blaming the gas in the car for someone speeding.

Lifestyle is the big issue.

Read the whole article here.

Get off yer butt and exercise!

We have a creek that runs through our land.

Sometime it seems like this creek, which breaks up on land and divides most of our 1/4′s in half, is a big inconvenience.  But back in the drought of 2002/2003, the bever dams had stored up enough water that we had no concerns about running our of drinking water for our cattle.

Since then, the dams have burst and the beavers have died out.  So instead of having generous amounts of water in the creek bed, it is an empty valley.  Empty of trees because the water drowned them out and they have not regrown in the last 10 years.

The few trees you see in the distance were directly behind a beaver dam so they were not flooded out.  I took this photo standing on the remnants of an old dam.

Aidan took out his cross country skis.  Here he is on the remnants of another dam.

So why the walk and the interest in the beaver dams?

I am little concerned about water this year.  I was hoping that there were some signs that beavers have moved back in.  As long as the beavers are not backing up water over roads, they are a good asset for the farm to have.  They had to the complex web of biodiversity that you want on a farm.

So now I am thinking…. what can I do to help the beavers?

At one of the old dams, there were signs that the beavers had started rebuilding the dam.  We will have to wait until the snow starts to melt to see if the beavers will be back.