I have been through there on Rt. 81 coming back to Virginia from N.C. I am from Western N.C. so I know alot about that area and the people. It is beautiful country mostly all mountains. Not much work there the living is very frugel. My family are mountain people, carpenters and factory workers. They grow everything and mostly can and freeze everything. They grow their own meat. They also grow a cash crop. Tobacco was the crop in the 70s and 80s
Now they grow either field corn or tomatoes. Church is a big part of their social life. I would say 85% probably listen to country music. The people are extremly nice and are very country. Most come from Irish or scottish decendents. They are very crafty and artsy people. The mountain crafts and wood carvings depict the mountain culture. It is alot slower life style then what you would be use to inless you are amish.(just a little humor)It would be a great place to live if there was work. One more thing the fog on that mountain is deadly. we always tried to either be off the mountain or at our distination on the mountain before dark. I hope this helps some. Ive never tried to describe a place before

Thanks for the info.
We live in a very rural mountain area now so that would be the same for us. I am a teacher and my husband is a carpentar.
Do you know how the schools are?
Tara

I understand it is now illegal for one to consume raw milk from their own animals, and free range chickens are illegal also(passed Feb 8th). Here is a legislative link for Virginia:
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?061+men+BIL

Also:

WESTON A. PRICE FOUNDATION
ACTION ALERT
January 19, 2006

VIRGINIA INDEPENDENT CONSUMERS AND FARMERS ASSOCIATION (VICFA) DAY,
GENERAL
ASSEMBLY 2006

Wednesday, January 25, 2006
General Assembly Building, Richmond, Virginia
8:30 a.m. gathering

Help lead government, give ourselves a greater voice, and be one of the
VICFA
members and supporters who gathers in Richmond, VA to speak to the
legislators

at our first annual VICFA DAY. Please put this date on your calendar
and plan
to go to Richmond for the day. We welcome other groups, like Weston A.
Price
Foundation, Peace and Justice folks, JA and Lynchburg Libertarians, and
any
others who support our efforts to restore freedom to farmers and
consumers, to
join with us on that day. [Since we first scheduled this day, we have
learned
that the Ag Committee meets on Wednesday mornings at 8:30, so try to
get there
early so we can make an appearance en masse! We will make sure some
VICFA
members remain in the lobby to rendezvous with those who cannot get
there until
8:30]

Please help spread the word.

AGENDA

We will meet in the lobby of the General Assembly Building at 8:30 a.m.
to
briefly discuss the day's plan and distribute buttons and Talking
Points (copied
below, under Directions) then organize into groups for visiting
senators,
delegates and their aides. Each group will appoint a primary speaker.
Plan to
stay at least till noon, though we encourage everyone to stay the
entire day.
(Directions below)

Need a ride? We'll try to help out. Write to editor@vicfa.net or
vicfavoice@earthlink.net

Looking forward to seeing you all there,
Deborah Stockton, Editor
VICFA Voice

Logistics: Getting There and Eating

Allow at least a half hour for parking and walking.

You might want to bring a bag lunch. The Gen. Assembly building has a
cafeteria,
and eateries abound in the Capitol Square area, but if you hit them at
the wrong
time you could be waiting in line for an hour.

The General Assembly building is in Capitol Square in Richmond. The
Capitol is
undergoing restoration and there is no public parking on Capitol
Square. There
are several parking areas within walking distance of the G.A. Building.
Downloadable maps of parking areas are available on the General
Assembly website
http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j
=59227541&u=545159
as well as the rates for these areas, though some parking lots listed
might no
longer exist.

"Mapquest" directions from the west:
I-64 E becomes RICHMOND-PETERSBURG TURNPIKE / I-95 S.
Take the US-33 W / BROAD ST / US-250 W exit- EXIT 74C.
Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto US-250 / US-33 / E BROAD ST.
Turn LEFT onto N 10tH ST.
N 10TH ST becomes CAPITOL ST.

General Assembly Building: 910 Capitol St (on the other side it's on
Broad
Street. Enter the building from the Capitol side).

Directions according to the General Assembly Website:
I-95 North
Exit 74 C onto Broad Street going west. Turn left at 10th Street, cross
Broad
St. and look for parking.
I-95 South
Exit 74 C onto Broad Street going west. Turn left at 10th Street, cross
Broad
Street and look for parking
I-64 East
Exit 74 C onto onto Broad Street. Turn right onto 11th Street and to
one block
to Marshall Street. Turn left onto Marshall and go one block to 10th
Street Turn
left onto 10th Street, cross Broad Street and look for parking.
I-64 West
Exit 190 onto 5th Street. Turn left onto Marshall Street. Turn right
onto 10th
Street, cross Broad Street and look for parking.
I-195 (RMA Downtown Expressway)
Exit 7th Street-9th Street. Turn left onto 9th Street. Turn right onto
Broad
Street. Turn right onto 10th Street and look for parking.

Talking Points for HB124 and the fundamental right to choose your own
food

VIRGINIA INDEPENDENT CONSUMERS AND FARMERS ASSOCIATION TALKING POINTS

1. Freedom of food choice should be legal. Virginia consumers are
denied raw
milk, homemade pies and cakes, on-farm processed meat and poultry. The
freedom
to opt out of government-licensed food is certainly as important as the
freedom
to opt out of government-licensed education or government-licensed
medicine.

2. Food safety is subjective and based on faith. Virginia
encourages hunters
to gut shoot deer on a 70 degree day, drag it a mile through the
sticks, rocks
and squirrel dung to display it prominently on the hood of a Blazer and
parade
it around town in the afternoon sun, then bring it home and string it
up in a
backyard bird-roosting tree to hang for a week before cutting it up to
feed
their children and friends. But jams, jellies, pies, canned items,
beef, pork,
poultry, rabbit and dairy products require government-approved
processing
facilities. Ultimately, the food safety issue comes down to
trustworthiness: a
local farmer or government agent.

3. Selling food does not make it harmful. So far, Virginia allows
complete
freedom for food items to be given away. If unregulated food were as
inherently
unsafe as bureaucrats and industrial foodists allege, then donated food
should
be prohibited as well. Clearly, these current regulations are
contrived to
destroy market access rather than protect the public welfare.

4. Freedom from licensure is granted to small components of other
heavily
regulated economic sectors: elder care (three), child care (three),
farm use
vehicles (within 40-mile radius), home education (religious exemption).

Recognizing inherent accountability in relationship-based commerce and
small-scale transactions enjoys both legal precedent and common sense.
To deny
one tablespoon of milk from a dairy farmer's mother is simply
tyrannical and
nonsensical.

5. Government-licensed food has a questionable track record.
Irradiation,
pasteurization, genetically modified organisms, pesticides, herbicides,

chemical fertilizers, gas-ripening, factory farming, MSG, rBGH,
feeding chicken
manure to cows: these are all government scientifically proven safe.
Yeah,
right.

6. Decentralized and locally-based food systems are less vulnerable
to
bioterrorism. Every government report on this topic agrees in the
weaknesses of
a centralized, long-transport, far-flung food system. Giving neighbors
the
freedom to interact in food commerce creates the ultimate food security.

7. Community-based food commerce stimulates local economies by
keeping
dollars circulating nearby, creating rural and agricultural value, and
providing
superior nutrition for the populace. This is true rural revitalization
and farm
preservation.

For more information see
http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j
=59227541&u=545160
or call Christine Solem or John Coles at 434.973.6505

*****************************************************

Bill Sanda
Executive Director
Weston A. Price Foundation
bsanda@westonaprice.org

I don't know what the outcome was.