If the questions of food security and who controls our food are central to these culturally and politically destabilized times, then this kind of story thread is or should be of vital interest to all of us. Thanks to permaculture teacher and author Peter Bane, for mentioning the pioneering spirit of Sedgwick Maine in his local talk on the need for localized control over food security last Saturday.

In March, 2011, in a bid for Home Rule, tiny Sedgwick, Maine (pop. 1196) passed an ordinance allowing anyone to sell any kind of sustenance to anyone else, without the onerous burden of conforming to state or federal laws.

Sedgwick, Maine is First Town to Declare Total Food Sovereignty, Opposing State and Federal Laws

From Mike Adams of naturalnews.com:

“This ordinance creates favorable conditions for beginning farmers and cottage-scale food processors to try out new products, and to make the most of each season’s bounty,” farmer Bob St. Peter told the website FoodFreedom.com. “My family is already working on some ideas we can do from home to help pay the bills and get our farm going.”

“Tears of joy welled in my eyes as my town voted to adopt this ordinance,” said Sedgwick resident and local farm patron Mia Strong. “I am so proud of my community. They made a stand for local food and our fundamental rights as citizens to choose that food.”

St. Peter, who is a board member of the National Family Farm Council, a food freedom advocacy group, notes that small farmers have a much tougher row to hoe, especially in today’s economy, so they need the ability to sell their products more freely.

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By March 2013, Brooksville, Maine became the ninth town in that state to pass such an ordinance.

Brooksville becomes ninth Maine town to defy state on sales of local foods

But now, the blowback begins. As of April 23, 2013 from the Bangor Daily News:

Maine farmers speak out against local food sovereignty movement

You might want to pay especially close attention to these stories. What tiny producers and buyers are calling sovereignty, is, according to larger producers, and, most likely big ag and corporatized governments, both state and federal, an invitation to “anarchy.”

Uranus square Pluto at work (2012 through 2015). David v. Goliath. The forces of revolutionary individualism “squaring off against” the forces of the powerful status quo.

The next time period to feature the exact square between these two planets: mid-June through the first week of July, 2013.