Final report — Alice Jongerden concludes her 27 day raw milk fast

Alice Jongerden after her 27 day fast

Mother’s day was the last day of my fast. How could I turn down the special, – made with love – bowl of soup? After 27 days of milk, Real Milk, I thought it was time for a taste of something else. It was worth it. Although, interestingly enough, I am still loving the milk, and the way I feel when it is all I have, so I have decided I will continue to enjoy it most of the day, and slowly add other foods.

In the 4 weeks of my Real Milk Only fast I lost 16 lbs. People often would ask me why I was doing it…and for all the reasons I mentioned, the biggest reason was simply ‘because I choose to, and can’.

Raw milk podcast with Alice, Jackie, and Randy Shore of the Vancouver Sun

Podcast followup to that raw milk story Randy wrote for the Vancouver Sun recently:

Alice Jongerden, from her time as agister of “Home on the Range”. Photo Paul Henderson.

Host Randy Shore welcomes raw milk activist Jackie Ingram and farmer Alice Jongerden of Home on the Range Dairy. Do the health benefits of raw milk outweigh the potential risks? Are the benefits proven? What about the risks?

Listen to the Vancouver Sun podcast at this link.

Alice Jongerden — milk fast day 16

Alice Jongerden, former agister of BC’s Chilliwack based “Home on the Range” cowshare, started on a raw milk “fast” a couple weeks ago. So how’s it going?

Alice Jongerden. photo by Shannon Mendes, Vanmag.com

For all of you who are wondering…yes I am still on my milk fast.   Whatever happened to blogging daily… Well, Day 16.  I am still feeling just as wonderful today, as I did at day 4.  I am enjoying the balanced energy I have.  No afternoon lags, yeah. 

I have had a few people mention to me that I could add coconut oil to lose weight quicker, so here are my thoughts on that.  First, I am all about Milk these days.  REAL MILK!  Fresh, raw, unpasturized, from our cows grazing in their natural habitat!  Milk is a perfect food.  Full and complete, if it is from a healthy cow, eating a healthy diet.  I am not taking any supplements.

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.

“Fresh Milk Food Politics” — Raw Milk Myths Versus Science (Part 2)

Thanks to Raoul Bedi, BASc, for writing up these detailed summaries of the proceedings from the April 6th “Fresh Milk Food Politics” event in Vancouver.

Alice Jongerden with Local Food Advocate Raoul Bedi (Photo by R. Bedi, http://www.biofield.ca )

I – Introduction:

In Part 1 of this report  about the recent “Fresh Milk Food Politics” Vancouver 2013 conference (www.freshmilkfoodpolitics.com ), we saw how numerous individuals and organizations, in the Raw Milk and Food Security movement, are independently displaying leadership, vision, and excellence in their work and activism. And that by collaborating together somehow the resultant synergy is exponentially more powerful, productive and effective.

“Fresh Raw Milk & Fighting for Food Freedom” in BC — a talk with Alice Jongerden, April 18, in Vancouver

From Banyen.com

Alice Jongerden (right), Michael Schmidt (left)at a rally outside the Fraser Health office in Chilliwack, September 2012. Photo via The Valley Voice.ca. Click image to go to source

BC raw milk pioneer Alice Jongerden will be speaking about raw milk and food freedom this coming Thursday April 18th, 2013 at Banyen Books and Sound, in Vancouver. Free admission.

“Join Alice Jongerden of Home on the Range Organics to gain an understanding of the political challenges she has faced as a local dairy farmer. She will share her passion for food freedom and access to fresh (raw) milk, and explain the related national and provincial laws that undermine our civil liberties. Canada is the only remaining G8 country where the consumption of fresh milk is still banned.

“Fresh Milk, Food Politics” conference: “a milestone for the movement”, pt. 1

Four Raw Milk Heroes at the Vancouver Real Milk Food Politics forum on April 6, 2013. Great conference . Sold out . The energy is high. ( Right to Left) Alice Jongerden former agister of Home on the Range Farms, Jason Gratl ,(Lawyer for Our Cows , Chilliwack), Michael Schmidt , and Mark McAfee (largest legal raw dairy operation in California). Click image for more photos on Facebook.

By Raoul Bedi , BASc

I – Introduction:

The Vancouver Fresh Milk Food Politics conference (www.freshmilkfoodpolitics.com) on April 6, 2013 was, according to Ontario Raw Milk farmer, agister and pioneer, Michael Schmidt a “milestone” for the movement in Canada. What made it a success? It was not just the fact of the seats being, more or less, sold out. Or the thought-provoking and professional lectures from the various leaders in the field of Raw Dairy and building Sustainable Food Systems. It was something more. It was the synergy or joyful coming together of many of the diverse strands of the BC and Canadian Food Security collage, for a time, all under one roof. It is not often that so many leaders and activists in the field, in Canada, join together to find common cause under one roof as we did on April 6, 2013 at the Ukranian Cathedral in Vancouver.

Go ask Alice — interview with BC raw milk pioneer Alice Jongerden, who will speak at the “Fresh Milk, Food Politics” symposium on April 6th, in Vancouver

Michael Schmidt, Alice Jongerden, at a rally in BC November 2, 2011. Photo by Tirra Del Giudice. Click image for more pictures from that event.

The Bovine: There’s a major raw milk symposium in Vancouver April 6th and you’re one of the speakers, Alice. Could you tell us a little about what you’re going to be sharing with the participants at that event?

Alice Jongerden: I will be sharing my story and discussing the Challenges of Farming, Losing the Family Farm, and what is needed to bring it back and how that can be done.  Also highlighting herdshares, and why they make sense.

The Bovine: Perhaps you could start by telling us how you personally got interested in raw milk, and how that interest led to you becoming agister for the original “Home on the Range” cowshare farm in Chilliwack.

Michael Schmidt in B.C. re charges

Michael Schmidt was to appear in B.C. court to face contempt charges, along with fellow raw milk advocate Gordon Watson, Feb 13 – 15th. As yet we’ve had no report on the outcome of those court proceedings. However the story excepted below has appeared in The Urban Diner. It’s by Fernando Medrano:

MIchael Schmidt addresses a group in B.C. during his visit there this past week. Photo via The Urban Diner.

“It’s after-hours at Woodland Smokehouse on Commercial Drive, the setting of a small gathering of people here to meet Ontario’s Michael Schmidt, Canada’s most visible advocate of the burgeoning raw milk movement.

“Fraser Health wins round one in raw milk battle”, says Chilliwack Progress

From Robert Freeman, in the Chilliwack Progress:

“The Fraser Health Authority won the first round in its case against distribution of raw milk by a Chilliwack cowshare group in BC Supreme Court on Tuesday.

But Gordon Watson, cowshare spokesman, vowed to be his “prickly, cantankerous worst” when the courtroom battle resumes on April 2.

“The lawyer for Fraser Health got an order stating that its officers can go onto the farm property at any time, without a search warrant. But so what?” he said in an email to The Progress. “Under the Public Health Act they could have done that anyway, if and when they had good reason.”