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.

Saga of the little Chilliwack dairy

From Michael Schmidt:

Some of the members of the Little Chilliwack Dairy that could.. Photo via Michael Schmidt

Preface

In a surprise move Fraser Health lawyer Susan Beach took sick leave and Gordon Watson’s and my 55,000 dollar contempt of court hearing was “indefinitely postponed”, agreed on by all parties.

Susan Beach is the second lawyer having been bestowed with the responsibility to erase the little Chilliwack dairy, who needed to remove herself. Guy McDonald had to do the same a few years ago due to a mysterious illness.

This begs the question, is this Little Chilliwack dairy, “that could, would and should” in fact making Government lawyers sick?

B.C. raw milk activist launches civil suit

From Home on the Range Farms.com:

VANCOUVER – another front in the fight for freedom of choice with respect to food has opened with the latest salvo from Gordon Watson, a co-founder and shareholder in the Our Cows herdshare in Chilliwack.

Watson, who faces charges for contempt of court along with Ontario raw milk activist Michael Schmidt, initiated a civil action in December against the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health Authorities. He alleges that health authority officials overstepped their statutory obligations in shutting down Our Cows, formerly known as Home on the Range, resulting in Watson losing property.

Watson seeks declarations affirming his right to milk from animals he owns either personally or jointly with others, damages totalling $31,002,000, and costs.

Alice Jongerden speaks out at “Occupy Vancouver” rally, about raw milk laws, Michael Schmidt and food rights

See photos from the demonstration below, as seen in the Vancouver Sun:

Michael Schmidt’s B.C. raw milk farm “Our Cows” searched by health officials

From Robert Freeman in the Chilliwack Progress:

"Our Cows" members share a day on the farm. Photo from Hella D blog. Click to go there.

“A search warrant was executed by health officials last week at the Chilliwack dairy farm at the centre of the raw milk controversy in B.C.

Nothing was seized during the Aug. 25 search, but Fraser Health Authority spokesman Roy Thorpe-Dorward said photographs of the farm on Prairie Central Road are being reviewed to determine if a permanent court injunction issued last year against distribution of raw milk is being obeyed by the current farm owner. 

Raw milk developments in B.C. — not necessarily court, but court if necessary

From Gordon Watson in British Columbia:

Here’s your comic relief for the day, fans of REAL MILK

Lately I’d been reminded that a section of the Milk Industry Act referred to farms being able to retail raw milk to the public in British Columbia. That section was a vestige of the Act as it was before 1996. Up to 1996, the act had 3 sections explicity saying that a farm could be certified by the Province to retail raw milk to the public. But when I wrote to the Milk Marketing Board, asking how to go about doing that, they replied saying they had no idea what I was talking about

I used that point in my letters to officials, arguing that that proved there was still a statutory duty to accomodate those who want raw milk, as set out in the Report of the Royal Commission on milk marketing, upon which this Act is predicated.

Up ’til August 13th 2011, it used to say:

B.C.’s Fraser Health Authority conducts search of the Chilliwack cowshare farm

The following is from an email sent to Fraser Health in response:

August 29^th 2011

Tim Shum,    Regional Director,  Fraser Health Authority

Emailed to  Tim.Shum@fraserhealth.ca

On Friday August 26^th 2011 upon learning that he had executed a search of the farm in Chilliwack,  I called Inspector George Rice, explaining that,  since the Warrant apparently was predicated upon concerns about my private property – ie, milk produced by cows in which I have an interest – and that my right to make full answer and defence to a charge begins the minute I get notice of such potentiality, then I am entitled to a copy of it as well as the Information to Obtain immediately.   He refused to co-operate, telling me to direct my inquiry to you.  In a voice mail later the same day,  you asked me ‘to clarify my relationship with Home on the Range dairy’.    The short answer is :  Four years ago Alice Jongerden and I started the cowshare known as “Home on the Range” because the government was failing to accommodate those of us who want fresh whole pure raw milk from grass-fed cows. Spelled out at section 40 (3) (q)  of the Milk Industry Act is the statutory duty upon the Minister of Agriculture to make “ … just and equitable provision for the sale of milk from approved raw milk dairy farms ..”  But since September 14  2010,  she has run it as a buying club,  dealing strictly in various foodstuffs  other than raw milk dairy products.  I have nothing to do with that business

Fraser Health smear campaign against B.C. raw milk and Home on the Range

From Hella Delicious blog:

A glimpse inside the Our Cows raw milk cosmetics operation in Chilliwack B.C.. Photo via Hella D.

“This letter was sent to the Editor of Burnaby Now, to set straight some of the disinformation that Fraser Health has been slinging about in order to strike fear into our hearts of good, local, homegrown raw milk.

“Go ask Alice” — controversial B.C. raw milk agister sheds some light on the Home on the Range / Our Cows story

Hella Delicious has the scoop:

Alice Jongerden. Photo via Hella D

“I had the opportunity to have dinner with Alice Jongerden, and she told me some of how she came to be our cow’s caretaker. She originally started with just one cow because she wanted fresh milk for her kids.

Unfortunately, that cow was dry and she didn’t get any milk. After a while she decided to sell the cow and get another one. This one gave too much milk. Soon she had milk coming out her ears and started sharing their cow with other people.

More people started coming and asking Alice to milk their cows for them as well, soon Alice had to ask another family to help out with caring for the member’s cows. After about a year they decided to find a location for all the cows to be together.

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.