Weston A. Price Foundation 2023 Conference
The past three years have been difficult for anyone who went against the grain and what the media suggested. I struggled to find like-minded people who preferred natural health over “health” given by a shot.
In fall 2022, I noted a journal on my chiropractor’s table in her waiting room. It discussed whole foods, farmers, and COVID-19 and avoiding the shot. I couldn’t believe what I was reading! I immediately asked my chiropractor about Weston A. Price and she gave me a brief overview of the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF).
A month later my husband bought me a two-year membership for WAPF.
I tried to locate a local chapter leader but couldn’t find one for my exact area. I decided to reach out to the Fairfax, Alexandria, and DC chapter leaders to get added to their email list for events. I did find a chapter leader south of me, but she didn’t have any events lined up and didn’t appear to be as active as the leaders north of me. A couple of weeks after joining, I received my first quarterly WAPF journal.
I also joined the WAPF Facebook groups. I was thrilled to see thousands of active members in the groups!
Once a year members of the Weston A Price Foundation meet to hear from speakers, shop vendor tables, and meet like-minded people from all over the world. I received my email about the conference in early February. I bought my ticket, picked out my hotel, and booked my airplane ticket by the first week of March!
I can’t believe how quickly those seven months between booking my tickets and attending the conference flew by!
From March to October, I attended as many local chapter meetings as possible. I attended the podcast event at WAPF founder and president Sally Fallon Morell’s farm. I also attended Sally’s “world famous” nourishing traditions talk at another local farm.
Me with Sally Fallon Morell, President of WAPF
Thursday morning at 4:30 am on October 19th I flew out of Washington DC to Kansas City. The chapter leader’s lunch was the first event on the conference agenda. When I signed up for the conference in March, I wasn’t a chapter leader yet. So, I missed the button to check for the chapter leader’s lunch. However, I was graciously allowed to join! The food served at lunch was rack of lamb, creamy asparagus-mushroom risotto, roasted beet-sweet potato-apples atop a bed of arugula, local sourdough bread, TONS of ghee, and grass-fed butter, and for dessert, crème brulé. Local kombucha was the drink served with the meal. That was my first time trying lamb! I was thrilled to find out how fatty the meat is.
Enjoying lamb off the bone with Yolanda, the curator of the WAPF Conference menu!
Sally welcomed us and then we heard from some other WAPF leaders.
My big takeaway was hearing what works for other chapter leaders and what doesn’t. I found out I can be as little or as much involved with the foundation as I’d like!
The meeting felt like one big family. I was never alone. People were constantly introducing themselves and striking up a conversation. I met Yolanda who oversaw all of the preparation for the conference meals! What an amazing woman! I’d like to say we hit it off immediately, and, she’s local to me! I’ll definitely be reaching out to her for my chapter meeting ideas that involve food.
After a brief break, I went back to the Kansas City convention center for the Raw Milk celebration dinner. The raw milk dinner was extra, but, in my opinion, very much worth it! The purpose of the dinner was to: support the efforts to make raw milk available everywhere, learn about these efforts, honor a dairy farmer who is doing impressive things, and meet like-minded people.
The raw milk dinner consisted of herb-roasted chicken thighs and legs, lettuce with blue cheese dressing from Sally’s farm, local cheeses, local sourdough bread, pâté, deviled eggs, bone broth, raw milk, and kombucha. There was also a dessert table.
My raw milk dinner plate, complete with raw milk!
During the dinner, there were multiple speakers. One of the speakers was a farmer, Esther Arkfeld, who runs a dairy farm in Iowa and has fought hard to get raw milk legal in her state. Farm-to-direct consumer transactions are now legal in Iowa. Esther said during her talk, “A quote that really stuck with me during this fight is, "Freedom requires participation" by Joel Salatin. “
The Conference
Friday morning I woke up and lifted weights before 6:30 am. By 8:15 am I was walking into the convention center for breakfast.
I chose to purchase all of the meals for the conference. Since I am very strict on my diet and what I put into my body, I opted to pay the extra to eat three meals a day that I could trust.
Everything’s Better With (Raw) Butter. -Me!
For Friday, Saturday and Sunday, breakfast was organic sprouted and soaked oatmeal with organic toppings, soy-free, hormone-free pastured hard-boiled eggs, pastured breakfast sausage, organic whole yogurt and broth.
Every morning I sat with different people. I got to meet farmers, small business owners and authors such as Hilary Boynton. Hilary wrote The Heal Your Gut Cookbook.
The first speaker I listened to is a biological dentist, Dr. Blanche Grube. I chose this topic due to my extensive dental history. The description for Dr. Grube’s talk from the conference agenda was:
“Dr. Blanche Grube will tell us the story that started in the mid-1800s when the dental surgeons, who were also medical doctors, were dismantled by the dental craftsmen who found using mercury dental amalgam to be a cheap and easy way to fill teeth. And so began the American Dental Association and the mandate to have hundreds of millions of mercury amalgam fillings to be implanted in people’s teeth.
Next came the work of Dr. William Hunter, Dr. Frank Billings, Dr. Edward Rosenow and, most importantly, Dr. Weston A. Price. While studying oral health and how it affects whole-body health, Price assembled a team of experts in all branches of medicine and dentistry. His impeccable work on the toxicity of root canals is confirmed by recent research. Implants were intended to be the answer to toxic root canals, but evidence-based science is showing that they too, can harbor harmful bacteria and the nano-particles translocate to other parts of the body! “
Dr. Grube’s talk was so informative and eye-opening that it prompted me to schedule a long-delayed dental appointment with a biological dentist as soon as I got home!
The other talks I attended on Friday were: Natasha Campbell-McBride on the Gaps Diet, Mike Thompson’s “Science for Sale”, and Sally Fallon Morell’s “The Contagion Myth”.
For the past two and a half years I’ve been going down the no virus rabbit hole. Sally, Dr. Cowan, and Alec Zeck all spoke on the germ model versus the terrain model.
If you haven’t started researching these two models (Germ vs. Terrain), I highly suggest you do!
Lunch was beef organ/ground beef chili with red kidney beans and vegetables. Dinner was BBQ pulled pork with baked beans, slaw, and cornbread.
Lunch with raw butter on the side. Yum!
Saturday, during breakfast, I chatted with a phenomenal woman about toxins. She had gorgeous natural-colored hair. I’ve been dying my hair for over 20 years and I believe that my discussion with her was the Godwink I needed to go all natural!
I loved meeting so many amazing people who are natural health focused!
The talks I attended on Saturday were: Martha Carlin: “The microbiome: the ultimate information superhighway”, Anthony Jay: “Fluoride: A story of manipulation”, and Tom Cowan: “New biology medicine parts 1 and 2”.
Some of the incredible people I spent time with during the conference!
During dinner, Sally led the awards banquet and introduced the evening’s keynote speaker. I met some new friends throughout the day who I got to know more about throughout the dinner. Over 1200 people attended the banquet! Sally said this was the most well-attended conference yet! The meal included smoked salmon with cucumber and caper crème franchisee, smoked beef ribs, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and sourdough bread.
Awards banquet dinner plate
Sunday was the final day of the conference. Since I’m still learning all that I can about the germ model versus the terrain model, I attended Alec Zeck’s talk called “Reframing the Infectious Disease Paradigm”. Alec does a great job of breaking down the virology myth and explaining what actually makes us sick.
“Just like the tree shed their leaves, maybe we are shedding toxins.”
It makes sense seasonally! Twice a year our bodies shed the bad stuff.
Throughout the conference I made sure to walk through the vendors booths. I believe there were over 100 vendors? I learned even more by chatting with them about health! I was able to meet people I’ve been interacting with on social media for the past three years. I loaded up on books, stickers and a few pieces of clothing.
My haul of books from the conference! If you buy any of these books using the link below, it helps my Blog! Thanks!
Sunday night I treated myself to a fancy steak dinner at a local steakhouse that was within walking distance to my hotel. This was the only meal I ate out during the entire trip! I am so thankful I purchased the meals for the conference. I knew exactly where my food came from and knew the ingredients were clean. The breakfast package cost $55 and was definitely worth it! My ticket included three lunches and two dinners plus the conference for $440. Each meal was carefully planned and prepared. I couldn’t have been happier with what they offered!
The Farm Tours
On Monday, two buses filled with 100 people from the conference traveled to four farms in the state of Kansas.
The first stop was Hedgewood Farms, a 200-acre farm that focuses on chickens and hogs. We learned about broilers versus layers, that organic farmers need a 30-foot buffer from a farm that sprays glyphosate, grain makes cattle sick and their stomachs are meant for grass, and that hogs are monogastric so they can be fed grain.
Me and the little piggies at Hedgewood Farms
Next was Harmony Farms which is 80 acres. We met the sweet young family and learned about their chickens, goats, and cattle.
“You can’t buy happiness but you can buy dirt.”
Alfalfa treats for the cows at Harmony Farms
During lunch, we stopped at a dairy farm, George Farms. They produce raw milk, cheese and yogurt. We enjoyed a delicious lunch of burgers topped with raw cheese and salad.
Our final stop was Skyview Creamery. We broke off into groups and got to learn their cheese-making process, how they milk their cows, and enjoyed a tasting of their cheeses.
Raw cheese in storage at Skyview Creamery
The farm tour was an extra cost and I’m so glad I chose to attend. I learned so much about where our food can come from if we go to local farms. I was so inspired after the tour, that I immediately started looking up farms that are local to me that I could tour and learn from.
We need to support these local farmers as much as possible!
Conclusion
I’m so blessed I was able to attend the Weston A. Price Foundation conference this year. I met so many new friends, ate amazing food, and continued my education on natural health. I brought home what I learned with me and have been sharing it with my husband and friends. I’m planning my first chapter leader meeting with local members for early in the new year!
The conference was just what I needed to light a flame in me to pursue things I can do locally to improve my health and help others on their journey as well.
Next year the conference will be in Sioux Falls, SD on November 8-10th, 2024. I’m already starting to look at hotels, and flights and exploring the area!
I hope that you will join me in another life-changing event!
