Samuel Fisher, owner of Golden Valley Farms, is being persecuted by the U.S. government all because his family raises their own animals, slaughters the meat on the farm, and sells that meat to the community. Mr. Fisher is a mild-mannered, father of five who owns and operates a 100-acre cattle farm in the heartland of Virginia. The farm began five years ago selling milk, cream, and yogurt, before they began to butcher and sell their own meat. Now the farm is under attack by government operators who are trying to shut the farm down and stop the man from feeding his own family.
(Article cross-posted from Natural News)
Amish farmer who feeds hundreds of people in the community, under attack
“This ain’t right. We had all this meat. We worked hard to get it in the freezer, process it, package it,” said Mr. Fisher in an interview with Townhall. “The next day. They came with a search warrant, went through everything, the house, every building, the barn. They just raided through everything. We can’t touch it. We can’t sell it. We can’t feed our family. We can’t give it away, can’t feed it to the dogs. We can’t do anything with it. They just took it to the dump.”
Mr. Fisher raises and butchers his meat on site and sells it directly to his customers. His farm feeds about 500 people in the community. The Golden Valley Farms membership program allows individuals to own part of Fisher’s herd of 100% grass-fed golden Guernsey cows.
Without warning, an inspector with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) paid Golden Valley Farms a visit on June 14th. That day, the government decided to penalize Mr. Fisher for selling meat that was not processed by a USDA-inspected facility.
Innocent farmer is raided, his property seized, for the “crime” of feeding his family and community
When Fisher began selling meat, he went to a USDA inspector and sent the meat to the designated USDA facilities. The butchering and processing through the USDA were slow and cumbersome. Mr. Fisher was unable to ship the required quantity of animals at one time and could not operate economically and in a timely manner to satisfy his customers. “By the time the meat comes back, you might be running low on certain cuts of meat, but what you order from USDA was not accurate to that. You might run out of some stuff long before other stuff because you had to order it so far in advance.”
His customers prompted Mr. Fisher to process the meat on the farm, without a USDA inspection. When the USDA surveyed the customer base, the majority (92%) responded that they wanted the meat processed on the farm, without interference from the government. “You have to keep going because people are depending on this stuff as their medicine. I want this world to have the opportunity of finding real food,” Mr. Fisher said.
Fisher said that the lockdowns in 2020 forced him to wait 8 to 12 months to schedule the butchering process. At that time, his customers were stocking up on meat as stores were running out of supply.
“All of a sudden, we had a lot of need for meat,” Fisher said. “Well, there was no option taking it to USDA facility, so that’s when the trigger was pushed to do it ourselves. Customers were buying mostly from our own meat, not so much from the USDA. Then the pandemic came and there was no other option but either not have it available or process it ourselves. So, we started processing ourselves. We put additions to the building and made a processing room and we certainly like it now.”
Mr. Fisher’s customers preferred that the meat be processed on site. “They own part of the business. They own some of the herd,” Fisher explained. “My thinking was […] We can butcher their cows, process it, and sell it to them. I told the state all of this, but they said, ‘No, there’s no way around that. You can’t do that.’” Fisher said the inspectors asked permission to search the farm. Mr. Fisher denied their request. “And, they told me, ‘We’ll be back,’ and left,” Fisher said.
The state targeted his farm from there forward. They came in and took pictures and lied to the courts, claiming that Mr. Fisher was selling raw meat and was a public health risk. When the state returned to his farm, they raided the freezers and packed a U-Haul truck full of their meat. Mr. Fisher was ordered not to feed anyone again, not even his dogs or his own family. None of these customers have ever gotten sick from his products. Many depend on the products for their health and food security.
But this didn’t matter to the all-powerful state. When Mr. Fisher continued to feed his family and sell food to his community, the state came in with criminal charges and seized his farm. He now has no choice but to fight back against a rogue government.
Sources include:
Why One Survival Food Company Shines Above the Rest
Let’s be real. “Prepper Food” or “Survival Food” is generally awful. The vast majority of companies that push their cans, bags, or buckets desperately hope that their customers never try them and stick them in the closet or pantry instead. Why? Because if the first time they try them is after the crap hits the fan, they’ll be too shaken to call and complain about the quality.
It’s true. Most long-term storage food is made with the cheapest possible ingredients with limited taste and even less nutritional value. This is why they tout calories so much. Sure, they provide calories but does anyone really want to go into the apocalypse with food their family can’t stand?
This is what prompted the Llewellyns to launch Heaven’s Harvest. They bought survival food from multiple companies and determined they couldn’t imagine being stuck in an extended emergency with such low-quality food. They quickly discovered that freeze drying food for long-term storage doesn’t have to mean sacrificing flavor, consistency, or nutrition.
Their ingredients are all-American. In fact, they’re locally sourced and all-natural! This allows their products to be the highest quality on the market, so good that their customers often break open a bag in a pinch to eat because they want to, not just because they have to due to an emergency.
At Heaven’s Harvest, their only focus is amazing food. They don’t sell bugout bags, solar chargers, or multitools. They have one mission – feeding Americans in times of crisis.
What they DO offer is the ability for people to thrive in times of greatest need. On top of long-term storage food, they offer seeds to help Americans for the truly long-term. They want them to grow their own food if possible which is why they offer only Heirloom, Non-GMO, Non-Hybrid, Open-Pollinated seeds so their customers can build permanent food security on their own property.
