We went out last Thursday for the last time. They were so busy that it took us over an hour to get through the line. For 5 years they have been here in Vineland - 4 of which we have bought from them, promoted them among friends, conversed with them, watched them grow. Okay - I get sad when I see a Convenience Store close down, for goodness sakes! I think of the family affected, the financial difficulty they might be in and on and on and I am sad. Now I am glad to report that I was actually happier coming home from seeing them than I was on the way out there. All that I had heard was true. The Health regulations were getting far from what you would say was just about safety for the consumers. They were asking them to renovate, change, spend millions of dollars to upgrade things - and for what reason? To them it seemed like an unending list of demands that would only lead to more and more. They have friends, for example, that will be closing their Mennonite Smokehouse this month. These folks had just spent $3 million dollars to get everything up to "standard". Now they are demanding that they add Nitrates in to their meat. One main reason people buy from them is because there are no nitrates. They can not give in. They are closing. There are others - meat butchers, chicken farms - that will be closing within no time, that Franz (owner of Good Shepherd) knows personally of. He believes that it is systematic attack on the local/mennonite farms. It is all under the guise of healthier/safer meat but I think most people know by now that the ecoli etc. risk is nonexistent within smaller farms. It is the corporations that have to be afraid of that.
Though it is very sad and I wonder if we will go vegetarian (atleast a bit more anyway) or if I will just succumb to grocery store meat and watch as my girls develop early like their peers (??? I know this isn't proven yet but it sure is a great possibility) - all this is sad, but I was so encouraged by Franz and Denise - "We are just moving on to another ministry - He has it all figured out (God, she meant) and it's going to be okay." They are going to settle down in their 'home country' and have a small farm. "Never again retail", Denise says. Who can blame her?
He's got them covered...
Sarah jane
Though it is very sad and I wonder if we will go vegetarian (atleast a bit more anyway) or if I will just succumb to grocery store meat and watch as my girls develop early like their peers (??? I know this isn't proven yet but it sure is a great possibility) - all this is sad, but I was so encouraged by Franz and Denise - "We are just moving on to another ministry - He has it all figured out (God, she meant) and it's going to be okay." They are going to settle down in their 'home country' and have a small farm. "Never again retail", Denise says. Who can blame her?
He's got them covered...
Sarah jane
