On Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:40:52 GMT, Robin Nuttall
wrote:

Tara Green wrote:

I'm thinking that was elegy's point.

I used to get conflicted when at the farmer's market here. I wanted to
support the farmers and buy the local (reatively) produce, but I wasn't
thrilled about supporting the Amish (primarily because of their animal
husbandry dealie).

Whoa. Way to tar with a very wide brush. I'd venture to say that
many/most Amish in the U.S. do not own mass dog breeding facilities, and
have excellent animal husbandry skills. I live in Missouri, the puppy
mill capital of the world, yet the Amish in this area do not mass
produce puppies. I've been in a lot of Amish country around here, which
is mostly dairy cattle, woodworking, etc. Their animals are kept in
incredible condition. Amish come to our Farmer's market. One operates an
organic dairy with the best milk I've ever had in my life, another has a
huge produce stand. One brings fresh baked goods. I'm more than happy to
patronize them because me, I don't look at a single person of a certain
ethnicity, lifestyle or faith and condemn them wholesale. I believe the
term for doing so is called racism.

Here in Ohio, some Amish do mass produce puppies. Other than leaving
their horses standing for hours in the sun, without water, while they
conduct business (and of course other than the puppy breeding), I have
no first-hand knowledge of their animal husbandry, so I can't speak to
that. I also don't condemn people wholesale based on ethnicity,
lifestyle or faith either, and I doubt very seriously that elegy does.
However, I will not support Amish puppy millers.