After working for years as a nurse and engineering consultant, Anita and Jim McHaney had plans to move out of the city when they retired. They spent several weekends scouting various potential property locations until they finally settled on one they loved. It was a 10-acre plot of land and they thought it was the perfect location to start up their own farm-- Berry Ridge Farm.

The two of them had plans to earn some extra income by growing a variety of goods that they'd take to local farmers markets to sell on the weekends.

They've grown a variety of crops, things like beets, greens, kale, and more. The farm was being run by just the two of them and they say that they were selling out frequently when they would attend farmers markets to sell their goods. However, selling fresh produce alone wasn't allowing them to break even and they always had plans to incorporate a variety of pickles into their business plans.

They had a plan to sell a variety of pickled items,...

which might have included items like pickled beets, carrots, okra, or peaches. The problem? The current state legislation prohibits any other pickled vegetable from being sold in the manner in which they run their business. Specifically, it's the Cottage Food Law which permits entrepreneurs in the state to sell a variety of goods that they've grown or made at home, without having to submit to commercial kitchen requirements that other restaurant service establishments might have to.

As it stands right now, the rules only permit pickled cucumbers from being sold out of an individuals home. And that means that Anita and Jim are prohibited from selling a variety of their pickled goods at the farmers market.

If they get caught selling prohibited pickles, they could face a $25,000 fine...

To try and change the rules, they've launched a lawsuit with the help of a firm that agreed to take on the case pro bono. They are suing Texas Department of State Health Services so that the pickle definition can be updated to include other items.

There is a lot of demand for pickles in Texas, Anita admits that they hear about people making requests for other pickled items quite frequently when they attend farmers markets. Anita says that many people ask where the pickled beets are, the pickled okra and other items, little do many of them probably suspect that there is such a hurdle to be overcome for farmers who might be looking to get those goods in the hands of the people.

For those in Texas right now who want to sell pickled items aside from cucumbers, they are required to obtain a food manufacturer license. If you want to grow and pickle some beets and sell a few at the farmers market, the state isn't ready to permit such an exchange so easily just yet.

“You’d think that it would be easy, but it’s not. Every time we thought we had figured out what we had to do to meet all the rules, we found another one,.... It turns out it's just very difficult to meet all of the rules to make a pickled beet.” admits Anita McHaney.

Anita and her husband don't want to face a potential fine that could be thousands of dollars, so for now they've put the pickle plans on hold, and they are instead focusing their efforts on the legal fight ahead of them. They say that without being able to pickle a variety of other produce that it's limited their ability to turn a profit and the farm isn't in operation any longer.

Violating their economic liberty...

One of the attorneys for the family recently told the press, that the Supreme Court of Texas has previously upheld the right of people in the state to earn an honest living without being subjected to unreasonable interference from government.

There isn't any reason why pickled beets or carrots should be treated any different than pickled cucumbers.

The McHaney's have tried to get an answer or some explanation from various officials. They have written a variety of certified letters to authorities to try and get some justification as to why the current rules were so nonsensical, they never did get their answer.

Well, they're going to get one now.

Even the representative who is said to have originally authored the law behind the current pickle problem, himself admits that he doesn't understand why the state, if intentional or not, has construed pickles to only mean cucumbers.

Pics:
Pixabay

Sources:
https://www.texastribune.org/2018/05/31/how-texas-definition-word-pickles-prompting-lawsuit-over-economic-libe/
https://www.today.com/food/texas-couple-sues-state-over-its-pickle-definition-t130382
https://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/texas-pickle-lawsuit/060618
http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2018/06/07/texas-couple-sues-state-over-legal-definition-pickle.html

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