Learning how to milk a goat

From Weed em and Reap:

Shouldn’t everybody know how to milk a goat. Photo via Weed em and Reap.

“Once upon a time there was a woman who bought a goat.

She was so excited to get FRESH milk every day!  She woke up early one morning, and with butterflies in her stomach she put her goat on the milking stand, poured some grain in the feeder, and started to tug. Nothing.  ”Hmmmm”, the woman thought.  She tugged and tugged.

After 30 minutes and approximately one teaspoon of milk later, the woman started to cry.

Alan Chadwick’s heritage, America’s oldest organic farming program, could fall victim to government austerity

From jmark at Civil Eats:

Image via Civil Eats blog.

“The U.C. Santa Cruz Farm & Garden  Apprenticeship changed my life. In the winter of 2005, I was burning the candle at both ends and burning myself out. I was working too hard, moving too fast, and my doctor had warned me that I was at risk of chronic fatigue. Then, that spring, I found myself living on an organic farm perched above the waters of Monterey Bay. Before I moved to the farm, my to-do list as an environmental campaigner had been packed with conference calls, protest organizing, and press conferences. After arriving at the farm, my biggest priorities became keeping the onions free of weeds, thinning the young fruits on the apple trees, and waking up early to cook for 35 other aspiring farmers.

Michael Schmidt to speak at Institute of Holistic Nutrition (IHN) in Toronto July 5 and Mississauga July 6th, 2 pm

The following is an introduction by Sarah Dobec, IHN’s Nutrition and The Environment instructor:

MICHAEL SCHMIDT: RAW MILK, BIODYNAMIC FARMING AND THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE.

“Bernard is right; the pathogen is nothing; the terrain is everything.” — Louis Pasteur

Photo of Michael Schmidt with his cows via IHN

Michael Schmidt has a master’s degree in agriculture and has been a biodynamic farmer for over 33 years. Born in Germany, he came to Canada in 1983 and has been instrumental in massive changes towards the awareness of the cultural importance of agriculture. He is leading the fierce battle to legalize raw milk in Canada. He has been making headline news across Canada ever since and has received international recognition for his efforts to legalize raw milk.

July’s first IHN Guest Speaker talk will introduce you to the man and his mission. Michael’s wish to change Canadian laws that prohibit the sale of unpasteurized milk and by extension preserve our individual rights was made into a documentary called “Milk Wars”. The documentary recently won the prestigious James Beard Foundation Award (The Oscars of the Food Industry) in New York City.

Rural Vermont questions raw milk rules

From Sylvia Fagin at VTDigger.org:

Photo via VTDigger.org

“Last week Rural Vermont, a farm advocacy group, and the Agency of Agriculture engaged in an intense dialogue about how to protect farmers who sell raw milk from having to monitor the actions of their customers.

On Feb. 10, the agency advised Rural Vermont that continuation of its “Raw Dairy Processing Classes” could result in legal action. Rural Vermont suspended the classes to avoid placing farmers at risk.

In these classes, which Rural Vermont has conducted since 2009, farmers and Rural Vermont staff teach participants how to make cheese, butter, and other products from raw milk.

Raw milk farmer Michael Schmidt and the right to “eat what we want”

From a recent story about raw milk farmer Michael Schmidt on The Waldorf News site, WaldorfTeachers.com:

Picture via Waldorf Teachers.com

“Michael Schmidt talked with us during a regional biodynmamic conference in January [in Wisconsin]. He told us about his raw milk campaign and shared the recently released documentary about his work entitled “Milk War.”

Michael Schmidt’s grandfather was part of the Agriculture course with Rudolf Steiner in 1924, his family fled their ancestral biodynamic farm in Germany in the middle of the night from occupying Russian troops at the end of World War II, and he has fought tirelessly for the rights of farmers and consumers in Ontario for the better part of a generation.

Milk Marketing Board among potential advertisers in Toronto high schools

From today’s Toronto Star editorial titled “Keep Ads Out of High Schools”:

“Toronto’s public school board is considering a plan to put television screens in the hallways of 74 high schools. For the average teenager, spending more and more hours every day in front of a TV, computer, smartphone, iPod, or videogame screen, this won’t seem like much of a change. But it is.

It begins to commercialize our public schools which are, for the most part, one of the few remaining commercial-free zones.

A report by school board staff, prepared for a trustee meeting Wednesday, touts the “student engagement opportunities” of big screens in schools – including showing school messages or the time remaining until the next class. Setting aside the fact that existing PA systems and a clock achieve the same ends, the company behind the screens—Onestop Media Group Inc. – is not an educational organization.

Michael Schmidt lectures on raw milk at Rutgers University in New Jersey, U.S

This just in from raw milk man Michael Schmidt:

Ontario raw milk farmer Michael Schmidt at one of his Queen's Park news conferences in Toronto.

“Organic Crop Production 221: Special Guest Lecture Michael Schmidt.

Michael Schmidt has been a biodynamic farmer for 33 years and hold’s a master’s degree in agriculture.  Born in Germany, he came to Canada in 1983 and has been instrumental in massive changes towards the awareness of the cultural importance of agriculture.  He is leading the movement to legalize raw milk in Canada.  He just won his 16 year long battle against the Ontario Government with a landmark ruling which legalized cow sharing.  As a result of the ruling, he is now helping and defending troubled cow share operations across Canada to receive legal status as in Ontario.

Yard 2 skillet: bloody backyard chickens

Backyard chicken enthusiasts who are keen on experiencing the whole process have been signing up for a new kind of workshop. This excerpt is from an L. A. Times story titled “A Bloody Lesson for Backyard Chicken Enthusiasts“:

Instructor Jordan Dawdy, 33, helps Elizabeth Lameyer, 23, cut off a chicken's head at the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture's "Yard to Skillet" workshop in Columbia, Mo. The town began allowing urban residents to raise chickens in February. (Eva Dou, For The L. A. Times / September 25, 2010)

Reporting from Columbia, Mo. —

Fluffy, white broiler chickens pecked around the backyard while a group of two dozen people — a set of knives laid out before them — eyed them warily.

Cowshare College with Michael Schmidt this Saturday October 23rd in Durham

Learn the art of cowshare farming from the master, Michael Schmidt:

Touring the barn at Glencolton Farms with Michael Schmidt and David E. Gumpert

Michael Schmidt will lead the workshop and topics to be covered include the biology, safe production and handling of raw milk; the legal framework currently required for a cowshare program; and developing, maintaining and managing cowshare member relationships.

Michael Schmidt, raw milk, men and women, at Ontario’s Glencolton Farms

Disclaimer — This report is not based on exhaustive anthropological fieldwork:

While Michael Schmidt has been the public figurehead in the legal battle over raw milk, a lot of the behind-the-scenes work at the farm is being done by women, many of whom are young apprentices.

Glencolton Farms is a place where men and women work together to create a healthy farm organism and to provide a source of nourishing raw milk for the many farm share holders who depend on it for their sustenance.