What if you drank only lukewarm raw milk, and didn’t eat anything else?

Former Home on the Range agister, raw milk advocate, and speaker at the recent Vancouver conference “Fresh Milk, Food Politics”, Alice Jongerden, has decided to go on a milk fast. It seems that a milk fast is a diet in which you drink raw milk, but don’t eat anything. Simple enough. She’s been on the fast for a few days now, and sends this progress report to the Bovine:

Author Alice Jongerden, photo by Shannon Mendes, from Vanmag.com. Original caption  “Alice Jongerden’s Home on the Range Dairy raises its herd on the back 40 of a derelict farmhouse in Chilliwack. From there, the unpasteurized milk and other dairy products travel to depots around the Lower Mainland…” Click image to go to the October 2010 Vancouver magazine article about Alice’s backstory.

I recently read an article about a Raw Milk Fast, and was reminded of a conversation I had quite some time ago, from a lady who often enjoys her raw milk fast, her longest one being 45 days . I thought to myself…Yes, that is what I should do. A Raw Milk Fast!

Being constantly surrounded with raw milk joy and controversy, it seemed a logical step to take.

I love milk, but I seriously wondered if I could really enjoy having ONLY milk for a week or two or three. I wasn’t sure if I could even make it through one day.

In addition, usually I like my milk cold. But cold milk can be hard on digestion. So if I was going to start a milk fast, I knew that I had to get used to the idea of drinking lukewarm milk.

“Raw milk lovers reach agreement to ensure supply of bathing milk lotion”

We’re not used to getting our raw milk news from a cosmetics website, but this is what they write on the “New-Skin.net” blog:

“Their milk, however, will not be called milk on the label. Instead, the liquid will be labelled as “Cleopatra’s Bathing Lotion” and indicate it is not fit for human consumption.

Raw milk advocates gulp in Fraser Health’s face — Chilliwack Times

Yet another story from Michael Schmidt’s two days in the Vancouver area earlier this week, this one from the Chilliwack Times:

Raw milk farmer Michael Schmidt with former Home on the Range agister Alice Jongerden, raises a toast of raw milk outside Fraser Health offices in Chilliwack earlier this week. Photo:Chilliwack Times.

[Tuesday, September 28th, 2010] “Raw milk advocates and drinkers gulped down their unpasteurized goodness in front of Fraser Health’s offices in Chilliwack Tuesday morning.

Raw milk, Michael Schmidt — “Why we do what we do” — in British Columbia

A brief report and a couple of photos, courtesy of Gordon Watson, of Our Cows cowshare in Chilliwack, B.C. (formerly “Home on the Range”):

Raw milk fed babies with their cowshare mothers in British Columbia

This (above) is a photo which personalizes “why we do what we do” — beautiful milk-fed babies and their happy moms in the Sapperton Hall,  as cowshare members met our new Agister.

Alice Jongerden resigns as agister of Home on the Range raw dairy in B.C.

An excerpt from a recent post on The Green Man blog (from the Vancouver Sun):

“Farmer Alice Jongerden has resigned as livestock manager of a cow-sharing syndicate that has been the subject of lengthy prosecution by the Fraser Health Authority for distributing raw milk.

Fraser Health has been trying to shut down Jongerden’s Home on the Range dairy for violating the Public Health Act, which forbids distribution of unpasteurized dairy products. The health authority issued a cease-and-desist order in 2008 and secured an injunction against the dairy from the B.C. Supreme Court last spring.

Jongerden continued to milk and care for 20 cows until she found herself in court again this week facing charges of contempt of court.

B.C.’s premiere raw milk agister, Alice Jongerden, in court and in the news

How is the Alice Jongerden in Court story playing in the local B.C. media? Well, here’s an excerpt from one story by Jeff Nagel of B.C. Local News, as it appeared in the Aldergrove Star:

Agister Alice Jongerden, milking people's cows for them. Photo via The Aldergrove Star

“Public health officials are still trying to stop the flow of unpasteurized raw milk from a Chilliwack dairy farm to its 450 cow-share members across the Lower Mainland.

Home On The Range dairy operator Alice Jongerden faces a contempt of court hearing this week over allegations she’s violating a B.C. Supreme Court injunction issued in March banning any further distribution of raw milk.