Tumbledown Farm .9 Acres (give or take an acre or two)

U.S. Senator Richard G. Lugar
306 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1401

Dear Senator Lugar,

This is the first time since grade school that I have written to one of my elected representatives. (At least that I can recall.) I figure it has been too long coming. If I and my neighbors had stayed fully engaged, perhaps our country would be in a better place today. Before I get to my concerns, please let me begin by thanking you for your service and your integrity. I am pleased that Indiana's Senior Senator is known for his collegiality and willingness to set aside partisanship. I hope that somehow you and our new President will find a way to forge both a deep friendship and a working relationship that will transform our nation. We need you and your experience tied to his youth, intelligence, and energy now more than ever. Please reach out and make it happen.

I will grant that your experience in the matters about which I am writing is far deeper than mine, but I hope you will hear my plea as someone who has no political or partisan axe to grind. I'm just an Indiana citizen with a deep interest, as a father of two girls and an avid gardener, in the following issues:

1) Smart Energy Independence. Please make common ground with the Democrats to make this happen soon. I think you could lead some of your colleagues on the Republican side to make this a new day for our country. We have stupidly squandered valuable time. These are real investments in the future for my children and are some of most effective dollars we could spend right now, regardless of the stimulus they will provide. Please support the upgrading of energy efficiency for federal buildings and please do not give away money to the oil companies for more oil exploration (the oil companies have had record profits recently); please invest in renewable energy.

2) The Indy Star had a front page article today titled “Crimes of Desperation.” Some of our citizens, even in Indiana, the great heartland of our country, are hurting so badly that they are resorting to theft of soap and food. Please make sure that the programs for access to food are fully funded for the next year or so, especially while this downturn is hurting so many. I once worked with a program that used WIC and I know it works to get poor kids the food they need. Please make sure it gets the funding it needs right now. And, as someone interested in agriculture (as I know you are), please do it without hurting farmers or taking away funds that were slated to be used for farm programs.

3) Finally, as you will see if you visit my web site, I have a deep regard for family farms and I'm convinced that more, smaller farms is the real key to our future. We need more, smaller food producers—not fewer, larger food producers. Just look at the recent peanut and salmonella fiasco. Big doesn't ensure safe. In fact, a big company will hide things and hurt people that a small, local producer who sells directly to a few people would never dare hide. Small farms are our future and there is a growing network of folks who are demanding local (INDIANA) and sustainable foods. I've heard about the Nelson Amendment to provide supplemental funding for the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program. Please support the Nelson Amendment!

Well, that's all from me for now. I just wanted you to know how passionately I feel about some of these issues. Please confirm our hopes and dreams. Please join with this new President in ways that surprise the folks who are living in the past, fighting old political wars. Together you and this President could transform the U.S. at this very time of crisis.

I hope you will.

Sincerely,

Greg Glover
The “Tumbledown Farmer” (tumbledownfarm.com)
Gregory L. Glover
Tumbledown Farm
6634 Rosebud Lane
Indianapolis, IN 46237