Hi All,

I'm lost as where to find out some more info on a question I have.

Example: I have some folks stay at my farm (sleep & eat) I teach them some skills they are wanting to learn ( butchering, milking, etc) I ask no money but they give me a donation. Is this legal?

We would be eating home butchered meat, The only thing I see refers to it being legal for a non-paying guest's eating home butchered meat. But I do not see any definition of what non-paying guest means. If they give without me asking does that make them a paying guest?

Any ideas? Even if it is just pointing me in a direction to look would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Ginger

-- ginger (gingerbreadnut@yahoo.com), April 29, 2002

Answers

I souldn't think so. But there are a zillion really stupid laws that we would not thought of. I can't even guess where to start looking on this one? Sorry. But I am anxious to hear how this goes...

-- Novina in ND (homespun@stellarnet.com), April 29, 2002.

Call your local Ag. resource center. They should be able to point you in the right direction if not tell you the answer themselves.

-- Erika (misserika129@hotmail.com), April 29, 2002.

I would think that as long as you are not charging for the actual meals you would be fine.

-- tracy (murfette@stargate.net), April 29, 2002.

I was watching 'The Good Life' on HGTV sometime last year where this guy had build tree houses and wanted to rent them for a weekend get away type thing... Anyway he wanted his homeowners ins. to cover it since other types were too expensive. Well, homeowners didn't cover so the guy asked a friend who happened to be a lawyer and he told him homeowners would cover if the people were non-paying guest (or 'personal friends'). To insure that he didn't get taken advantage of, he sold t-shirts with his 'camp' name on it for like $100 and the stay was free. He had effectively stepped into a legal loop-hole. Something like this might work for you. For instance, you serve home butchered meat to other friends and family. Just go into the 'T-shirt' business.....

-- Michelle Thomas (mpthomas83@hotmail.com), April 29, 2002.

I am in Pa. we are not alowed to sell butchered meat for human consumption unless it is inspected and your facility is inspected and meets all the codes. I sell rabbits to some folks live and then butcher them for them as a favor. So you charge for your knowledge and give them a meal.

-- Don Amon (peacelane@certainty.net), May 01, 2002.

I agree with Michelle.

When I was away at school, I used a simlar scheme to avoid being charge with selling beer without a license. Raffles are legal in the state I was living in.

I sold raffle tickets which loosing tickets could be turned in for FREE beer. Every 1/2 hour or so we would raffle off a bottle of something. I never did this to make money, only to break even and have fun with close friends. In the dorm room we used bottle caps from the returnable bottles and charged 25 cents a cap. Numbers were marked inside each cap.

If believe if you only charge for something like T-shirts or a "class" then let your "new friends" stay the night on the property and/or share a meal with your family then you can not be charged with a crime.

I have friends over once in a while and feed them chicken/lamb from my freezer. Unfortunately they never leave me any money ;-( BUT that could be because I make them work!

-- BossNass (Chrisnass@hotmail.com), May 01, 2002.

Seems to me I heard of the "T" shirt idea getting shot down. You can't charge an unrealistic price for an item and "give" something else away of greater value. The udea your charging for a lesson or knowlege, selling your experience should cover you better. Too hard to quantfie your worth vs the grey area surrounding the meat. Now that area might not be so grey especialy if someone were to get sick. I'd say this was serious enough to buy a couple hours of legal expertise. What's true here might not fly there.

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), May 01, 2002.

Ginger, I think you may be setting yourself up for a lawsuit. If you are going to run a B & B, call your state association of B & B's and prepare to do it right. Sure wouldn't want to see you and your family in trouble. Good luck, LQ

-- Little Quacker in OR (carouselxing@juno.com), May 01, 2002.

Laws differ in all states. It would be best if you contacted your local health department, they could give you the proper answeres.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), May 01, 2002.

As far as you have found out, if you don't charge, they aren't paying. You still need to protect yourself from lawsuits. Find a lawyer interested in homesteading classes. It shouldn't cost you anything if it doesn't cost him/her anything. As far as charging for something, type up an instruction booklet on what you teach. A different one for each project. You are charging for the course booklet. I like the donation better though. Especially if they donate and work.

-- Robin Downing (Southpawrobin1@aol.com), May 02, 2002.

I think they can still get you in violation because of your " intent". Selling t-shirts at high prices or rabbits and slaughtering them for free will eventually get you in trouble. If your intent in doing something is to circumvent a law they'll find a way to get you. You might get away with it for awhile but sooner or later you'll get found out and the punishment will probably be more than if you had done things correctly from the beginning.

Either way a lie is a lie ( white or any color) and one lie leads to another untill you're so far over your head the light you see in the distance is a freight train.

-- Ken in Maine (kenjan@pivot.net), May 02, 2002.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the replies. I had a feeling there was not going to be an easy answer for this. I'm thinking of just taking a pig to the local butcher that will be for the guests to eat. Seems like a simple enough solution. I suppose there is always a lawsuit to worry about with anything these days. Hard to get blood from a turnip though. LOL

Don, just a word of warning. During my hunting around for info. there was a man in Miss. Slaughtering his own animals for moslam religious rites and he then allowed the people to take the meat. His claim was he was selling them a religious service and giving them the meat. The law said NO. He was charged. They said if he had been doing the rituals on their animals it would be OK, just not on animals he had raised. In Ga an animal has to be on the property of the said owner 60 days before it is said to be his. ie you can't sell a man a goat one day then slaughter it for him the next.

I suppose this is another prime example of what happens when the masses make the laws for everyone. It definitely excludes those of us doing things a little different.

Thanks Ginger

-- ginger (gingerbreadnut@yahoo.com), May 02, 2002.