Cowshare College for farmers at Michael Schmidt’s Glencolton Farms May 1st ’10

May 1st, 2010 will be a history-making day for raw milk in Ontario as farmer and raw milk advocate Michael Schmidt hosts a one-day cowshare college for farmers who want to learn the ways Michael has developed, of producing raw milk.

A bright and shining farm -- Glencolton farms after a thunderstorm

The Canadian Cowshare College is a full-day workshop that gives participants the basics for developing their own cowshare program.  Aimed at producers, it covers the safe production and handling of raw milk and the logistics of cowshare programmes.  Participants will learn what makes a viable programme, how to structure and run a cowshare, as well as how to recruit and manage relationships with cowshare members.  At the end of the session, participants will receive a certificate of completion.

Watch Michael Pollan being interviewed on Kentucky Educational Television

Found a link to this on Colin Farrell’s blog “From Curiosity to Knowledge”:

Michael Pollan on television -- click image above to go to page where you can watch the video of this interview with Kentucky Educational TV.

“Several times each year, the Kentucky Author Forum brings a distinguished writer and interviewer to the Kentucky Center for the Arts.

Their conversation is taped before a live audience to air on KET and on PBS stations nationwide as Great Conversations. (Some programs from previous seasons air in Kentucky as Kentucky Author Forum Presents: A Conversation With…)

The series showcases a diverse and fascinating array of authors and interviewers from a wide range of fields—from politics, science, and education to public affairs, journalism, and the arts.

Wisconsin assembly panel approves bill allowing sales of raw milk at farm gate

This just in via Cathy Raymond — a story by Rick Barrett of the Journal Sentinel:

“State legislation to allow the sale of raw farm milk to the general public moved a step forward Tuesday.

By an 8-1 vote, the Assembly Committee on Rural Economic Development recommended approval of Assembly Bill 628 that would allow raw milk sales direct from farms licensed by the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

The legislation is expected to be voted on by the full Assembly and Senate before the session ends in April.

Under the latest version of Assembly Bill 628, raw milk sales could only take place at farms where the milk was produced.

Study finds high-fat high-calorie foods behave much like cocaine in the brain

Check out this latest research on food addictions — from Sarah Klein via Health.com:

“SUNDAY, March 28, 2010 (Health.com) — Scientists have finally confirmed what the rest of us have suspected for years: Bacon, cheesecake, and other delicious yet fattening foods may be addictive.

A new study in rats suggests that high-fat, high-calorie foods affect the brain in much the same way as cocaine and heroin. When rats consume these foods in great enough quantities, it leads to compulsive eating habits that resemble drug addiction, the study found.

Doing drugs such as cocaine and eating too much junk food both gradually overload the so-called pleasure centers in the brain, according to Paul J. Kenny, PhD, an associate professor of molecular therapeutics at the Scripps Research Institute, in Jupiter, Fla. Eventually the pleasure centers “crash,” and achieving the same pleasure—or even just feeling normal—requires increasing amounts of the drug or food, says Kenny, the lead author of the study.

A “Twilight of the Psychopaths” could be good news for improved raw milk access and food freedom generally!

Here’s a story from Dr. Kevin Barrett, excerpted from a recent post on “The Canadian”. It’s titled “Twilight of the Psychopaths“:

New York city police department mugshot of Mark David Chapman, the man who killed John Lennon (1980).

““Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That’s what’s insane about it.” – John Lennon, before his murder by CIA mind-control subject Mark David Chapman

When Gandhi was asked his opinion of Western civilization he said it would be a good idea. But that oft-cited quote, is misleading, assuming as it does that civilization is an unmitigated blessing.

Civilized people, we are told, live peacefully and cooperatively with their fellows, sharing the necessary labour in order to obtain the leisure to develop arts and sciences. And while that would be a good idea, it is not a good description of what has been going on in the so-called advanced cultures during the past 8,000 years.

Wisconsin raw milk symposium notice on mainstream farming news website!

This is from Agri-View (the number one ag paper in Wisconsin):

Hopefully this will attract more than the usual raw milk suspects! Agri-view screen grab.

“The Second Annual International Raw Milk Symposium will be held on April 10, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Monona Terrace, Madison.

Farmers, consumers, legislators and health officials are invited. The cost to attend is $60, with a $10 discount for early registrants. The optional lunch of local foods is $32.

Raw milk still flows on Haida Gwaii

Here’s an excerpt from a recent story from The Queen Charlotte Islands Observer:

“Raw milk is still flowing on Haida Gwaii even after a recent BC Supreme Court ruling banned the sale of it in the province.

“After all the cows aren’t taps and don’t turn off when the going gets tough,” say Lisa Graham Knight, who runs a small cow-share co-op from Maude Island.
She isn’t certain what the ruling will mean for her program. “I have not been contacted by Northern Health or the Ministry of Agriculture BC, but I am expecting an interruption, as this ruling was in the Supreme court,” she told the Observer by email.

Campylobacter in Indiana — from raw milk — the politics of being a victim

Here’s the latest on the American scene, from David E. Gumpert, of the Complete Patient blog. An excerpt:

“The campylobacter outbreak in Michigan and possibly other states affecting Family Farms Co-op just keeps getting worse and worse. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has put out an alert saying that 12 people have been confirmed ill from campylobacter “associated with raw milk.”

And today, the Family Farms Co-op announced that its supplier, Forest Grove Dairy of Indiana, is halting distribution. “Forest Grove Dairy has experienced increasing pressure from FDA over the past week, and notwithstanding the private nature of our herd lease and share arrangement, these pressures embody serious risks,” Family Farms Co-op said in an email to its members. The effect is to leave more than 250 families without their regular supply of raw milk.

Got a raw milk dealer on speed dial?*

Interesting to see references to the upcoming April 10th international raw milk symposium in Wisconsin cropping up all over. Like in this story (excerpted below) from The Village Voice, titled “Raw Milkies Make Noise”:

Picture from Village Voice blog

“The raw milk movement appears to be gaining steam, if recent articles in the Times and The Brooklyn Paper are to be believed. Proponents of the movement — called, unsubtly, raw milkies — believe milk that hasn’t been pasteurized is “nutrient dense,” to the point of being able to cure conditions from asthma to eczema. Detractors, on the other hand, warn that it can kill you….”

“….The issue is about to get global attention at the 2nd Annual International Raw Milk Symposium in Madison, Wis. next month. Here in New York, the Weston A. Price Foundation is hosting a lecture entitled “Real Milk: What’s the Real Deal?” on March 27 at the Subud Chelsea Center.

Perhaps it’s time for Whole Foods to adopt Google’s “Don’t be Evil” mantra

Whole Foods has been in the news on a couple of topics lately regarding food freedom and indirect suppression of consumer voices. First here’s an excerpt from David E. Gumpert’s recent Complete Patient post about how the talk about Whole Foods bringing raw milk back into their stores, once insurance and production standards issues had been sorted out, seems to be ringing false:

Home page of Organic Consumer Association, another group that's impacted by Whole Foods.

“Forget all that talk about Whole Foods developing raw milk standards and bringing unpasteurized milk back to its stores in California, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Connecticut.