The very model of a post-modern raw milk dairy farm

From David E. Gumpert on The Complete Patient blog:

“Sally Fallon has long been the whipping girl of raw milk opponents, portrayed as uncaring of victims of illness from raw dairy and an advocate of crazy safety ideas, like the one that the good bacteria in raw milk from grass-fed cows kills off pathogens.

When the head of the Weston A. Price Foundation had the temerity a couple years back to suggest that food safety investigators look into the possibility that tainted water rather than raw milk might have been responsible for a Pennsylvania  man’s serious illness from campylobacter, lawyer Bill Marler practically pushed for tarring and feathering. “Denying (illnesses) does not alter reality,” he proclaimed on his blog. “Ms. Fallon Morrell, have you no shame?”  

Diet for a smaller planetary population?

From Concerned Citizen, on the Lyme Disease Sentinel blog:

“We are being told by government to eat low fat, low salt,high grain, low or NO meat and other animal products. We are being conditioned to think that animal foods are bad for us and that an unbalanced diet of mainly vegetables and grains is what we must eat for optimal health. It is crucial to note that indigenous groups throughout history thrived on unrefiined salt, organ meats,animal products,berries, insects, roots and tubers and some greens.

Harvard raw milk debate Feb 16th

David E. Gumpert on The Complete Patient blog:

“It’s a tad awkward writing an assessment of a debate in which I was a participant…so here are a few random reactions to the raw milk debate at Harvard Law School Thursday evening. (If you missed it, you can view the recording on YouTube; it should be up shortly.)

* The two opponents–Heidi Kassenborg of the Minnnesota Department of Agriculture’s dairy division, and Fred Pritzker, a personal injury lawyer–handled well the audience’s clear pro-raw-milk leaning. Kasselbon said upfront, “I am probably not going to be able to persuade you.” Pritzker asked for a show of hands of those who favored raw milk, and was good humored when most everyone raised their hands.

Raw milk debate at Harvard Feb 16th

From Natural News.com:

“(NaturalNews) Demand for raw milk in the U.S. is soaring, and federal and state regulators are having an increasingly difficult time trying to fend off scrutiny of their outmoded, disproven propaganda about the so-called benefits of pasteurization. So in order to facilitate a dialogue about this popular and important issue, which is now at the forefront of food politics, Harvard Law School will be holding a raw milk debate on February 16, 2012 from 7:15 pm – 8:45 pm.

If you live anywhere near Harvard, you will not want to miss this riveting debate in person, which will feature Sally Fallon Morrell, author of the popular cookbook Nourishing Traditions and President of the Weston A. Price Foundation, and David Gumpert, author of the bookThe Raw Milk Revolution. These two advocates of food freedom for all will expose the flawed arguments of the anti-raw milk crowd, and draw attention to the incredible health benefits that can be gained from drinking clean, grass-fed raw milk.

Raw milk fan from Peace River, Alberta

Lisa Lundgard from Peace River Alberta was in town for the rally Nov. 23rd at Queen's Park.

Lisa grew up on pasteurized milk until her parents met Sally Fallon when she was in Grade 9. She’s been happily drinking raw milk now for 10 years. That’s her cow Sassy, in the picture. Thanks to Lisa for the photo. Lisa has been visiting for a week at Glencolton Farms in Durham.

NPR raw milk debate: WAPF’s Sally Fallon versus food lawyer Bill Marler

From David E. Gumpert on the Complete Patient blog:

Lawyer Bill Marler and the WAPF's Sally Fallon

“It continues to amaze me how controversial and provocative a topic raw milk is. Every few weeks, it seems, more media outlets are writing and broadcasting about it. In media lingo, raw milk “has legs.”

Most recently, a Washington, DC, NPR station promoted a debate between Sally Fallon of the Weston A. Price Foundation, and Bill Marler, the product liability lawyer. The two debaters threw brickbats at each other, including not a few exaggerations and half-truths.

For instance, they traded jabs about the illness outbreak affecting six children attributed to Organic Pastures Dairy Co. five years ago, in 2006. Fallon continued to say, as she has on a number of occasions, that the two children who became most seriously ill had eaten spinach (the outbreak occurred in the midst of an outbreak of illness from raw spinach) even though the genetic imprint of the E.coli 0157:H7 isolated from several of the children was different from that of the spinach oubreak. I’m not sure why she dwells on that particular inaccuracy, which upsets the families involved no end.

Raw milk lovers are fans of their “illicit” commodity — how surprising is that?

From the Market Report on TBD.com:

“Liz Reitzig will gladly tell you who she’s not. “I don’t consider myself a fringe person at all,” she says. The Bowie resident is just a coordinator for a group of people who like to drink raw milk, a group that happened to be infiltrated by the FDA during a year-and-a-half sting operation that ended last week with a farmer in handcuffs for selling raw milk across state lines.

The sting is the latest lump in the regional saga of raw milk—that is, milk straight from the cow that has not been pasteurized. Proponents of the product tend to call it “real milk”; state and federal health agencies call it a threat to public health.

It was four years ago today that Ministry of Natural Resources officers raided Glencolton Farms over raw milk

Michael Schmidt has chosen these pictures to represent this decisive event in the history of raw milk in Ontario:

First block all traffic in or out of the farm

“The Politics of Food” — WAPF Wise Traditions 2010 conference Nov. 12-15

One of many magic moments from last year's Wise Traditions conference. That's WAPF president Sally Fallon in the middle.

October 12, 2010-WASHINGTON, D.C.— The intense debate generated by proposed food safety legislation, ongoing government opposition to raw milk, and raids by agents with guns drawn on private food clubs in California and Ohio, has vaulted the subject of food politics into the eye of consumers and policy makers. Should small farms be regulated? Are the USDA dietary guidelines improving health or causing disease? Do citizens have a right to the foods of their choice?

A new era of [raw milk] activism

The following article, by Sally Fallon Morell and Michael Schmidt is from the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund news:

Sally and Michael raise a glass to eventual raw milk victory. FTCLDF photo.

“All truth passes through three phases: first it is ignored, second it is violently opposed; third it is accepted as self-evident.” The words of philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer describes the traditional nutrition movement in general and the raw milk movement in particular. Today the best gauge of our progress in the raw milk campaign is the fact that we have moved from the first to the second stage. The recent raids on raw milk producers in Wisconsin and Minnesota, unfounded allegations distributed to the media, the Wisconsin governor’s rejection of raw milk legislation passed with overwhelming support—actions all aimed at sending conscientious farmers into bankruptcy and denying nature’s perfect food to those who need it—indeed, the phase of violent opposition has begun. [Editor’s note: That’s “violent” as in raw milk is being violently opposed by people who perceive it to be a threat to their perceived “interests”.]