A Summary Perspective by Tricia Moore
Last month I attended my 5th Weston A. Price Wise Traditions Conference. These conferences are a highlight of the year for me, and a favorite vacation. They are regenerating, uplifting, educational and consciousness-raising. The annual Wise Traditions experience is also a prelude for maintaining physical, mental and social health in the ensuing winter and New Year.
Three WAPFers from the Contra Costa-Tri-Valley WAPF Chapter attended the conference this year, as well as many members of other Bay Area Chapters.
I had recently found the time and motivation to become a Chapter Co-Leader with our long time, experienced Leader Myra. Therefore, I was thrilled to be able to attend the annual Chapter Leader pre-conference luncheon and meeting on Thursday afternoon.
The sharing of ideas and activities from Chapters all across the country (and a few internationals) was inspiring. A Chapter Leader of 16 years from Vermont described the gradual transformation of her small rural town. This ambitious chapter started a ‘free’ school for kids and helped establish local businesses based on the WAPF principles. A Chapter Leader from Kentucky started a Healthy Food Club called Farm Match connecting farmers and consumers all over the state. No corporate middlemen.
We were also introduced to WAPF’s new 12 Spoons Restaurant Rating System. You can locate restaurants incorporating nutrient dense foods. You can also add and rate restaurants that you think should be on the list, and receive benefits for participating in this activity! See westonaprice.org/12spoons
The NourishingOurChildren.org website on WAPF’s homepage was emphasized as a growing and popular educational resource for parents. Because of the infant formula shortage beginning in February 2022, the site saw a huge increase in traffic, and raw milk sales have soared 1000% since that date.
Speaker Leslie Manookian from the Health Freedom Defense Fund (which also grew out of WAPF) spoke to the Chapters about the importance of our work to build local food sheds and natural health organizations, based on imminent ominous global agendas. In her main conference talk, she enumerated recent legal wins in Health Freedom, and emphasized the importance of community actions and local law suits. Her non-profit HFDC filed the winning suit that rescinded the mask requirement on airplanes. Thank you Leslie!
Thursday evening was another pre-conference event, the fundraiser dinner and program for the FTCLDF (Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund). This group also grew out of WAPF, to legally support farmers and producers who are harassed by local, state or federal Departments of Agriculture. This year’s program included a power point presentation about farmers who have put their businesses, lively-hoods and lives on the line to promote raw milk and butter, small farms, cow shares, regenerative agriculture and cottage industries.
Senator Frank Niceley of Tennessee, a local rancher and a historian, shared his efforts to legalize raw milk and butter, cottage industries, and most recently Ivermectin (for humans), in his state.
The core of the conference began on Friday Morning, with 3 days of over 50 lectures and workshops, evening panels, movies, nutrient dense meals prepped by WAPF chefs, a Saturday night banquet (1500 people this year!), and almost 200 vendors with demos, freebees and hefty discounts.
During the Banquet, MC’ed by Sally Fallon, various awards were presented to stellar doctors, activists, farmers, etc. Our Karen Hamilton-Roth, longtime Chapter leader from Marin County was awarded for her thriving chapter and activism. We also met and applauded our amazing chefs. And as usual, there was an excellent Keynote Speaker, Catherine Austin Fitts of the Solari Report.
The 3 days of educational seminars varied greatly in content, from MDs and researchers who taught from their area of specialty, to the ‘how to’ of making fermented foods, to innovative farming practices, to physical strengthening for health (all ages), to Sally Fallon’s workshops on the history and ancestral principles of Weston A. Price. You can purchase these invaluable recordings of the whole conference (or individual sessions.) Go to westonaprice.org.
Next, the popular Farm Tour was all day on Monday, for those lucky individuals who signed up early enough! Two busloads with 100 people visited local farms, varying from small homesteads to large ranches, all practicing regenerative agriculture.
We visited the beautiful farm of Senator Nicely in the rolling countryside of east Tennessee. Up on a hillside with a panoramic view of the farm, a couple of his children served us a delicious hot meal of local pork and beef sausages, homegrown heirloom veggies, salad and dessert. Then we toured the farm (as well as a 2nd one) riding on hay wagons. On the final stop at a small raw dairy we were treated to glasses of delicious cold raw milk. Yum!I really appreciate that WAPF is the hub for emerging ideas and a number of start-ups like FTCLDF, Health Defense Fund, Campaign for Raw Milk, Nourishing Our Children, etc. Next year’s 2023 conference is returning to the Western part of the country, after some years in the East, Midwest and Texas. WAPF is considering the states of Utah, New Mexico and Nevada. I strongly encourage you to attend next fall if possible, closer to our ‘neck of the woods’, for an exceptional experience!