By Whitney Donohue
Moapa Valley Progress
Quail Hollow Farm owners, Monte and Laura Bledsoe met with Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) officials last week along with Commissioner Tom Collins after a SNHD inspector threatened to shut down a Farm-to-Fork Dinner at the farm on Friday, October 21 because the meat for the dinner had not been USDA certified. The meeting, scheduled by Collins’ staff, was meant to resolve issues arising from the incident and avoid future problems.
According to SNHD officials, the reason that the event had come to the attention of the SNHD in the first place was because it had been an advertised event and was open to the public as a paid dinner. If guests had not been paying for the dinner, it would not have come under the eyes of the district, officials said.
“If no money is exchanged, then there is no expectation of sanitation in Nevada,” stated SNHD official Susan LeBay at Wednesday’s meeting.
But LeBay said that, with appropriate lead time, district staff were willing to work with the Bledsoes to find a way to do what they wanted.
“There is usually a way to work around a lot of things,” she said. “Some things you can’t go around. But if you are open about public events and come in and talk to us about them, we can discuss with you and we will try to work with you to get to what you want.”
But the Bledsoe’s take from the meeting was that, for much of what they wanted to provide in a Farm To Fork dinner, there was no way to resolve it.
“From this meeting we learned that for the future, even if we obtained all required permits, we would never be able to serve our farm-raised meats to the public unless we had them shipped off to some distant processing plant to have them USDA stamped and certified,” Laura Bledsoe stated in an interview. “Imagine taking our fresh untainted meat and sending it most likely out of state to join hundreds of other meats of unknown origin and health to be butchered and wrapped by ‘a professional’ and then shipped back to our farm.”
At the meeting, the Bledsoes expressed frustration at the distrust and backroom tactics which they felt had been employed against them by the health district.
Laura asked why, after the meat had been rejected by the inspector for consumption at the public meal, she had not been allowed to keep the food for a private family gathering that was planned for the following night. She pointed out that they weren’t even allowed to feed it to the pigs on the farm. Instead they were required to throw it all in the trash and then throw bleach over it. She said that this was heartbreaking.
LeBay responded that the reason for this was that “…at that point I was not sure that was what would happen to the food. We have had people in the past who, after we required them to throw the food away, they have taken it back out of the trash and served it to people. We have to ensure that doesn’t happen”
“So what you are saying is that you didn’t trust us and so you just didn’t give me any other options but to throw it away,” Laura said.
“We had a situation here where we had meat that didn’t come from an approved source,” LeBay said. “It was prepared with temperatures all out of control. I had to make a judgement call. It is possible that I over-reacted and, if I over-reacted, I apologize for that.”
The Bledsoes also brought up concerns about how, in the past, they had suspected the SNHD staff of influencing their buyers.
Laura referenced a portion of the phone conversation withLeBay on the night of the incident where she said that the district had “been watching the Quail Hollow Farms” for a while now.
“We have not received one word of any questions or concerns about our operations from the SNHD before this.”
Laura said that the farm sells produce to hotels and large restaurants. In the past they had dealt with hotel buyers who had been hesitant to purchase Quail Hollow produce for fear of what the SNHD might do to them if they did.
“Here we are with a storage room full of ripe produce that we thought we would be able to sell to them and, at the last minute, they are scared to work with us because somehow the SNHD has cast a doubt or suspicion on us,” Laura said. “I’d just ask that if you have a problem with us, please let us know. We would love to resolve the issues rather than have you spread problems behind our back. This is our livelihood.”
The SNHD staffers in attendance pledged to communicate with the farm if issues came up in the future.
In the meeting Tom Collins insisted that there needed to be a middle way in the codes to allow home-based agriculture of this kind. “We need to find a way to bring back these sustainable farming practices and allow them,” Collins said. “There needs to be a fix to this situation.”
Collins said that he was determined to find a way where the Bledsoes and other producers like them could provide there services while working within the laws.
“I don’t ignore the laws, I work to change the laws to bring folks like this into compliance,” Collins said. “ For the most part, people in this community live honest lives; just like everywhere. We need to try and help them to live honest lives.”
The Bledsoe’s are forming a council to work on reforming laws to make it legal to purchase raw milk in Nevada and also to introduce legislation allowing cottage industries in the state.
In the meantime, Monte and Laura say that they plan to learn as much about the laws affecting them as possible so that there will not be a repeat of Friday’s events.
![ElectionAd [Recovered]2](https://mvprogress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/4-24-2024-FC-ElectionAd-Finalv3.jpg)
18 thoughts on “SNHD Meets With Owners Of Quail Hollow Farm To ‘Resolve Concerns’”
Laura, It sounds like you need to add to your very diverse doings, the ability to process your own meat to code, or to find someone who can. In this last issue of Mother Earth news there was an aritcle about mobile butchers. They come to your door with everything needed to process what ever you have. Not only would this solve SNDH’s insane need to control but it would create a job or two.I know alot of people here raise their own beefs but then have to take them somewhere. Our area would greatly bennefit from that sort of service.
Laura, It sounds like you need to add to your very diverse doings, the ability to process your own meat to code, or to find someone who can. In this last issue of Mother Earth news there was an aritcle about mobile butchers. They come to your door with everything needed to process what ever you have. Not only would this solve SNDH’s insane need to control but it would create a job or two.I know alot of people here raise their own beefs but then have to take them somewhere. Our area would greatly bennefit from that sort of service.
SNHD. DUH, sorry, have not had caffien yet!
SNHD. DUH, sorry, have not had caffien yet!
People watch the news. people are getting sick from food all over and most of the time it comes from approved sources. what makes you think the food is any better at this little farm? also, you can butcher your own meats for home use but not for sale to the public. try to understand that health dept is inplace to keep the food safe for all our vistors in clark county. you need the thank the SNHD for the job they do.
People watch the news. people are getting sick from food all over and most of the time it comes from approved sources. what makes you think the food is any better at this little farm? also, you can butcher your own meats for home use but not for sale to the public. try to understand that health dept is inplace to keep the food safe for all our vistors in clark county. you need the thank the SNHD for the job they do.
Very true food guy “most of the time it comes from approved sources” Susan LeBay, the health inspectors supervisor stated in an interview a few days ago that the more hands that touch our food the more potential there is for dangerous pathogens to produce. It makes more and more sense to go directly to the source of our food and view for ourselves how it is grown and produced and cared for so that we can make an educated decision as to the quality of food we eat.
Very true food guy “most of the time it comes from approved sources” Susan LeBay, the health inspectors supervisor stated in an interview a few days ago that the more hands that touch our food the more potential there is for dangerous pathogens to produce. It makes more and more sense to go directly to the source of our food and view for ourselves how it is grown and produced and cared for so that we can make an educated decision as to the quality of food we eat.
Food guy, the SNHD, just like any other entity, will serve the hand that feeds them. Big time producers use these entities as lapdogs to eliminate their competition. Tyson Meats is on of the WORST. They push legislation against small farms because it ensures their income. So they put pressure on the FDA and the Health Department to “inspect” these local little guys, which really means they bully them, just like they bullied the Bledsoes. Actually, the Bledsoes got off fairly unscathed. Usually they confiscate THOUSANDS of dollars of equipment, produce, product, etc. and tie these farmers up in lawsuits and legal craziness, which many times the farmers win, but the damage is done. The farmer can’t afford to rebuild their livelihood, thus the competition goes away. Don’t believe me? Follow the bread crumbs, my friend. Research articles like this on a national level. You’ll be shocked at what you find. If the SNHD had nothing but purely divine intentions, then why did they 1. Neglect to council Monte and Laura about what they needed to do to stay within the bounds of the law when they told them DAYS before the event they would have to get a permit for the dinner, which the Bledsoes did. (didn’t they say that…..“There is usually a way to work around a lot of things,” she said. “Some things you can’t go around. But if you are open about public events and come in and talk to us about them, we can discuss with you and we will try to work with you to get to what you want.” LeBay’s words, not mine.) I should think that would’ve been PLENTY of time. 2.Show up to the dinner AS IT WAS ABOUT TO START. Makes it pretty hard to steer them onto the SNHD’s straight and narrow in time for their dinner. 3.Behave in the manner they did. Monte and Laura have been gracious. They haven’t fully publicly revealed the way both of these women behaved, which was much less than noteworthy. As a matter of fat, if I treated someone that way in my job, I’d be fired on the spot. Seems a bit contradictory of an entity that’s all too willing to be helpful. The proof, as they say, is in the puddin’. Legislation has got to change, but we as the public, with whom the power is SUPPOSED to prevail have GOT to demand that the entities that were created in our best interest can’t be used any longer by the highest bidder.
Food guy, the SNHD, just like any other entity, will serve the hand that feeds them. Big time producers use these entities as lapdogs to eliminate their competition. Tyson Meats is on of the WORST. They push legislation against small farms because it ensures their income. So they put pressure on the FDA and the Health Department to “inspect” these local little guys, which really means they bully them, just like they bullied the Bledsoes. Actually, the Bledsoes got off fairly unscathed. Usually they confiscate THOUSANDS of dollars of equipment, produce, product, etc. and tie these farmers up in lawsuits and legal craziness, which many times the farmers win, but the damage is done. The farmer can’t afford to rebuild their livelihood, thus the competition goes away. Don’t believe me? Follow the bread crumbs, my friend. Research articles like this on a national level. You’ll be shocked at what you find. If the SNHD had nothing but purely divine intentions, then why did they 1. Neglect to council Monte and Laura about what they needed to do to stay within the bounds of the law when they told them DAYS before the event they would have to get a permit for the dinner, which the Bledsoes did. (didn’t they say that…..“There is usually a way to work around a lot of things,” she said. “Some things you can’t go around. But if you are open about public events and come in and talk to us about them, we can discuss with you and we will try to work with you to get to what you want.” LeBay’s words, not mine.) I should think that would’ve been PLENTY of time. 2.Show up to the dinner AS IT WAS ABOUT TO START. Makes it pretty hard to steer them onto the SNHD’s straight and narrow in time for their dinner. 3.Behave in the manner they did. Monte and Laura have been gracious. They haven’t fully publicly revealed the way both of these women behaved, which was much less than noteworthy. As a matter of fat, if I treated someone that way in my job, I’d be fired on the spot. Seems a bit contradictory of an entity that’s all too willing to be helpful. The proof, as they say, is in the puddin’. Legislation has got to change, but we as the public, with whom the power is SUPPOSED to prevail have GOT to demand that the entities that were created in our best interest can’t be used any longer by the highest bidder.
@Food guy: Really!? Watch the news. You don’t, if you did you would realize that the more it is touched the more chances there are for contmaination. Like the cantaloupe that just KILLED 28 people. It was SAFE at the farm. The contamanation happened during the processing. It was being washed improperly. The farm workers eat it WITHOUT any problems. Too much goverment in our business. We should be able to choose what and where we eat.
@Food guy: Really!? Watch the news. You don’t, if you did you would realize that the more it is touched the more chances there are for contmaination. Like the cantaloupe that just KILLED 28 people. It was SAFE at the farm. The contamanation happened during the processing. It was being washed improperly. The farm workers eat it WITHOUT any problems. Too much goverment in our business. We should be able to choose what and where we eat.
I guess Clark County doesn’t allow “Farmer’s Markets” where all kinds of local growers can bring their uninspected produce and sell to the public. Sreems that the Bledsoe’s were victims of just another sorry set of Government regulations.
I guess Clark County doesn’t allow “Farmer’s Markets” where all kinds of local growers can bring their uninspected produce and sell to the public. Sreems that the Bledsoe’s were victims of just another sorry set of Government regulations.
I am a Registered Environmental Health Specialist (a.k.a. health inspector) in New Jersey with 25 years experience.
Public Health regulation, in my opinion, has reached the point of diminishing returns. Too many degreed and “credentialed” (don’t get me started)public health officials parrot what is told to them, either because it comes from a state or federal entity or worse, because they are fulfilling some grant requirement though up by some out-of-touch policymaker.
Sometimes “resistance is fertile” (not an original quote.) Continue to resist obvious stupidity or blind authoritarianism whenever you encounter it. If you can cut their funding, so much the better….
I am a Registered Environmental Health Specialist (a.k.a. health inspector) in New Jersey with 25 years experience.
Public Health regulation, in my opinion, has reached the point of diminishing returns. Too many degreed and “credentialed” (don’t get me started)public health officials parrot what is told to them, either because it comes from a state or federal entity or worse, because they are fulfilling some grant requirement though up by some out-of-touch policymaker.
Sometimes “resistance is fertile” (not an original quote.) Continue to resist obvious stupidity or blind authoritarianism whenever you encounter it. If you can cut their funding, so much the better….
Mary Oakes should have never been allowed on their property without a search warrant. The farm owners have a 4th Amendment right.
As for the food, as long as the guests are made aware that the meat isn’t USDA approved, then it’s their choice to eat it or not.
Mary Oakes should have never been allowed on their property without a search warrant. The farm owners have a 4th Amendment right.
As for the food, as long as the guests are made aware that the meat isn’t USDA approved, then it’s their choice to eat it or not.