Another great review of the “Milk War” movie’s Vancouver debut last weekend

This one is from Hella Delicious:

Ex Home-on-the-Range agister Alice Jongerden takes questions after the screening.

“After looking forward to seeing Milk War for several weeks it was really exciting to have such a great turnout! The Rio Theatre was a really perfect place to have the event with a stage for the music as well as popcorn for the hungry.

Raw milk “Milk War” movie will be screened in Vancouver Feb. 6, 3pm

Hella D. on the upcoming Milk War movie screening in Vancouver:

From the November 2006 raid at Glencolton Farms -- by Ministry of Natural Resources personnel

“Written and directed by award winning journalist Kevin O’Keefe
Produced by Declan O’Driscoll
Gemini Award-winning actor Colm Feore narrates

Raw milk helps on the road to recovery

Hella D. shares a little of her own journey back to health and how important raw milk has been in that. But first, a little video from an earlier post about making kefir:

“….I started making raw milk kefir around a year ago when we finally took the plunge and went on the GAPS diet. Around the same time a place finally opened up for us to join our local cowshare, which is now Our Cows. These days if I don’t get my daily kefir, my digestion just isn’t happy.

Deconstructing the Milk Man mythology

Hella D just posted this hilarious if raunchy little video, complete with the following exegesis:

“Wow this video is just too funny! Beware the milkman–they are always so healthy and in shape from all the good raw milk they drink and hard work they do. I guess they just can’t help but be good and wholesomely sexy, with a strong libido to boot.

Raw milk — the Vancouver experience

Hella D shares her personal experience with raw milk along with some history of the Our Cows cowshare:

I'm guessing this must be raw milk being filtered for cosmetic use at Our Cows. Photo via Hella D.

“We live in a small apartment overlooking a couple main roads, right next to two gas stations in Vancouver BC. When we moved here one of the first things I did was to try to find a farm that would supply us with raw milk. Living in an apartment in a city without a place to grow your own food or have any access to a farm is a very precarious situation. We are fortunate to have a long sunny balcony where I grow herbs and a wonderful friend is letting us garden in her backyard this year, but food secure is something we are far from being.

Global “honey laundering” affects U.S.

Jessica Leeder writes in The Globe and Mail:

STICKY SITUATION: A Chinese beekeeper checks honey production at his bee farm in Jiyuan city, central Chinas Henan province. (Photo: ZUMA Press) Caption from Mother Nature Network

““If we lose our honey industry in the U.S., there’s going to be massive food shortages like we haven’t seen before,” said Richard Adee, a South Dakota beekeeper who owns 80,000 honeybee colonies, the largest operation in the U.S.

Vancouver screening of “Milk War” movie, a fundraiser for legal defense

From Hella D.’s blog:

Poster for the event. From Hella D's blog.

“Our local Cowshare is working hard to raise money for the legal fees incurred by Fraser Health’s attack on our right to access milk directly from our cows. One of our cowshare members, Noriko has been working really hard and set up a screening of the recently released film “Milk War” at the Rio theatre February 6th, 2010. Tickets are only $15 in advance or $20 at the door.

“The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer” by Joel Salatin — book review

From Hella D’s blog:

Joel Salatin with pastured laying hens. Picture via Crozet Gazette

“…In October, I was also really lucky to get a loan of the book The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer by Joel Salatin from a cowshare member when we were at the Contempt of Court trial against our local community dairy, which is now being run by Michael Schmidt.

What an exciting read! It is one of those rare books that I get that I actually try to read slowly. The last one I read like that was Masanobu Fukuoka’s book The One-Straw Revolution and I would say that in many ways these books are very similar. Both are written with the integrity and passion of people with their hands in the earth and who really know what they are talking about.

How Hella found raw milk; Michael Schmidt’s Edmonton Declaration

Hella D. on Michael Schmidt’s “Edmonton Declaration”:

Michael Schmidt with Gordon Watson in Vancouver earlier this fall. Photo from Hella's blog.

“The centralisation of our food system is currently the greatest danger to the food security of our nation.”

Since I am on the topic of raw milk this week I have to post this very important statement from Michael Schmidt. It was presented at a news conference on the steps of the Alberta Legislature, November 8th, 2010, this declaration is a powerful call to arms to support the small farmer and bring back small farms, and a rejection to recognize officials who refuse to even enter into a discussion:…” [News Flash via Facebook: Debate between Michael Schmidt and a public health representative at the National Farmers Union conference in Saskatchewan this week is ON]

“Shame on you, Fraser Health” — report from Hella on the state of B.C. raw milk

West coast food rights advocate Hella D has been following the Alice Jongerden / Home on the Range case. And she was there at the recent court proceedings. The following is a repost from her blog:

“I am very sorry that I haven’t gotten around to posting this previously. I have been hoping to hear the judge, Justice N. Smith’s decision in favor of our x-agister Alice Jongerdon, but who knows when that is going to happen. In the meantime, I attended the trail of Fraser Health vs Alice Jongerdon on the 14th October, 2010. This was definitely a new experience for me, as I prefer to avoid institutions of every kind, but I will admit this was an important experience for me.

The whole atmosphere is geared towards intimidating the guts right out of you! It was also great to see a range of ages represented in the attending members of the cow-share. There were even a few kids! One of the other cowshare members remarked to me that it is probably good experience for the kids, so they will learn not to fear the institutions. My worry would be that they would take them for granted as a necessary part of life–but I digress.