06/05/2026
Beautifully said, Kalyn.
I have some really big feelings about the way Eliza is treated. She has not only been a huge inspiration in my life, but has personally reached out and held my hand through the hardest moments I’ve faced this last year.
If you ever question why I run a tight ship… this. This is why.
Yall may not realize there is a human running this “page”, but there is.
And she deserves peace.
Eliza, we love you. Enjoy your summer. Your break. As long as you need.
We’ve got you.
I’m going to put the link to Eliza’s post so you can go to her page and read it, but I wanted you to see the picture that caused the report and see that it was clearly labeled from a licensed dairy.
I have very LONG personal thoughts on this that I wanted to share, so buckle up.
I don’t know who reported Eliza to the VT Dept of Ag for her 7 year old picture of legally produced cheese. I don’t know if it was a fellow farmer jealous of her success. I don’t know if it was a busybody terrified of the devil’s lettuce. I don’t know if it was an animal rights activist thinking they finally had something she could get in trouble for. I don’t have any idea who it was, but whoever it was they’re about useless. They wasted time and resources for absolutely nothing. Eliza has always been abundantly clear that her dairy animals are for personal use only.
I’m also pretty disappointed in the Ag agents. Looking closely at the very same picture they used to question her they could’ve clearly seen it was labeled by a licensed producer. The fact they didn’t just zoom in and skip a farm visit does lend credence to Eliza’s feelings that it was a fellow farmer who reported her. They wouldn’t rush right out if the complaint was from some random crackpot. So odds are it IS another producer, and one the agents already know well enough to hurry and investigate their claim. That or they are the laziest ag agents ever and can’t even look closely at a picture they’re using as evidence to investigate a supposed wrongdoing. Both options are not good looks. 🤷🏻♀️ I’m also a little grossed out that they thought her large financial investment and high attention to quality dairy production meant she absolutely had to be selling it. That nobody would go to those lengths just for their own family’s food. It says they think personal use farmers are dirty, lazy and cheap.
I try not to hate on the Dept of Ag employees too much, cuz they’re just doing a job, but when I was reported a few months back by an animal rights activist I was really disappointed that they told her I was “throwing up lots of red flags” and “not being professional”. I don’t have proof they actually said that, but the way he got quiet when I said I assumed she was lying and that no WV Dept of Ag employee would ever speak negatively about a WV farmer to an ARA from New Jersey leads me to believe they probably did say it. Which is in and of itself unprofessional on their part. There is nothing in any of the Dept of Ag paperwork that requires me to be pleasant and accommodating to an ARA nutjob accusing me of abuse and demanding people call the police on me.
Some of y’all keep telling us to stop engaging with these people. But that never worked for me. I tried ignoring them in the beginning…they posted that my silence was because I knew they were right and had no defense. I tried quietly blocking them…they came from other accounts and said I only blocked them to hide my guilt. I tried educating…they brought in their friends to cause chaos on ALL my posts and report me repeatedly sending me to FB jail all the time. You know what finally shut them up? Openly mocking them and letting them know how amused I am by their ignorance. After 2-4 comments they usually figure out I’m just gonna keep laughing at them and never actually get upset, so they tuck tail and go bother somebody else. It’s highly effective and earns me money. Why would I go back to the old ways that had me constantly worried that somebody would actually believe these crazies and think I was a bad person doing bad things?
Here’s something else I really wish people would think about. Those of you who eat meat, but don’t wanna see where it comes from and so want us to keep it hidden, how do you think new farmers learn? If you silence those of us openly sharing what we learn and experience, where will the younger farmers find the information to start? Family farms aren’t common like they used to be. I didn’t grow up on a farm. We had pets and a garden, but I’ll be honest my Dad was winging half that s**t and doing some of it very badly. 😳So back before FB when I was researching all the farm things I wanted to learn, all I had was books from the library. Do you know the only bit of knowledge I remember from one very common goat raising book? Drowning unwanted bucklings at birth in a bucket of warm water because they aren’t worth feeding. Read. That. Again. One of my earliest pieces of farming advice from a *popular published book in the library* was to drown baby goats cuz they were worthless. Is that really the advice you want newbies starting with? Does that feel like the kind of farming you want to see grow? Is holding baby livestock under water until they stop fighting really how you want your food produced???
I have no idea what my plans are with social media. Without getting political it seems the Dept of Ag in many places is slowly being overrun with young people with big dreams but little practical farming experience. I do foresee a point when it might be in my best interest to take myself off their radar and just do my thing quietly. In some ways it feels unethical to stop trying to share the things I learn to help other people, but at some point I have to think about what’s best for myself, my family, and my animals.
So to the fine upstanding citizen who reported Eliza for a legal cheese pic, I’m sure karma will be coming soon, and it’s prolly going in dry. 😘
To any Dept of Ag employees reading this, you know we already distrust the government, choosing the crazies over the farmers ain’t ever gonna win us over.
To any meat eaters who wanna hide from the realities of where their meat comes from, it’s ok if you can’t watch, but please stop vilifying the people who actually do the work you can’t.
To those of you who have our backs and support us, we truly appreciate it more than you’ll ever know. ❤️
To other farmers and those considering farming, I don’t actually know what to tell you. Every day the hate for the people who raise the food seems to grow. I don’t know if you’re better off to share it so we can normalize where food comes from again, or keep it quiet and just feed your own families and let the haters eventually try to feed themselves. I guess only time will tell which is the better option 🤷🏻♀️
