Some Cheesy Bits

Well I just opened our second wheel of hard cheese for this winter, Yum! So far it has been better than the first, a softer more consistent texture. It has been a winter of more structured cheese experimentation.  In early November I made the years first Gouda. In the weeks to follow I made seven more, one right after another.  I knew this would result in a glut of Gouda ready to eat in a few months, but I wanted to  improve and begin mastering one cheese at a time. I wanted to make one cheese in the same way each time and see if I had a consistent product in the end. I hope to find many things I can improve upon, as well as things that have worked out pretty good.

Making hard cheese can be a daunting endeavor. The small variations in the ingredients, in time, aging, and temperatures can have such dramatic results in the end. It is remarkable that milk alone can be turned into so many completely different tastes, textures and aromatic smells. The more that I experiment with cheese making, the more I understand how all of the different types of cheese may have developed over the century’s.  A simple accident when trying to make one type could have very easily created another, much to the cheese makers surprise and/or delight. I am sure some of the Gouda wheels that I think I have made are really some other kind of cheese by now. The wonderful thing about this is that I doesn’t really matter what the cheese is called, it almost always tastes good. My hope as I continue to make cheese and learn more about it, is to perfect the consistency and replicate what makes the cheese taste so good.

Unfortunately this cheese we have made can only be enjoyed by ourselves and those that we give it away to. We can not sell it because we do not have a $30,000+  inspected “cheese making facility”. I can certainly understand the merit of this for large-scale production, but something as small as our operation gets lost in the fray. There needs to be some way that  small producers can create their low quantity, high quality products without the need for investing in a factory. Rural Vermont has been doing work on a tiered regulatory structure that would be more inclusive to small producers. So if some day you would like to come and buy some of our cheese, get involved with Rural Vermont’s campaign.  For now we will keep experimenting so when the day comes our cheese will be even better!

Evan

Aging Cheese

Letter to Mr. Wendell Berry

Dear Mr. Berry:

I had trouble sleeping tonight. It could be on account of the big moon outside or that my mind keeps coming back to Mr. Dean Pierson. He was a dairy farmer in Copake, NY. A few days ago he shot all 51 of his milkers then took his own life right there with them in the barn. Corporate control of our food system is literally breaking the backs of farmers. Maybe he had deep emotional troubles. But I wonder if things might have turned out differently for Mr. Pierson if he had been getting a fair price for his milk. Here in the northeast, farmers have been getting paid around a $1 per gallon for their milk for a while now. The price of equipment and cows is way down on account of everyone getting out at the same time. The situation is bleak.

My name is Lindsay Harris. Since I was a very little girl, I knew I wanted to farm with animals. I got my chance just over 3 years ago. Now I own a tiny dairy farm in Northern Vermont. I milk six Jersey and Guernsey cows. I hope to be milking 12 or so by next year. All the milk is sold un pasteurized, directly to my neighbors.  I also raise beef, pork, eggs and big garden. I also teach classes on how to make cheese, butter, yogurt etc.

Since I’ve been farming, I’m learning many things. The difference in the quality of food I can grow vs. something I can get at the supermarket is remarkable. I’m learning that people don’t pay enough for their food or more importantly, don’t value their food enough. I’m learning how this low food value encourages endless housing developments and strip malls and highways to be built on farmland. And how animals, the environment and family farmers are disposable.

And that “food safety” is no longer a farmer’s ethical obligation, but an instrument of government and corporate control that is wielded against the small farmer. It is an issue to be “dealt with” though processing, chemicals, regulation, media spin and litigation. And I learned that corporate marketing of food has created and encouraged the vast disconnect between people and their food. And that government regulation has forced small farms to compete with giants and their subsidies for a tiny market share – effectively regulating us out of business.

I’ve read some of your wonderful stories and books, Mr. Berry. I’m sure you know much about these issues. And I’m sure you know there is some good news too. The fact that I can get $10 per gallon and sell six cows’ worth of my raw, grass-fed milk is amazing!

A few years ago, when I started farming, I was hand-milking one cow. It was illegal in Vermont to sell more than 6 gallons of raw milk per day or to advertise. I was approached by a local family farm advocacy organization called Rural Vermont. They have been fighting for economic justice for family farms for the past 25 years. They came to me and to many other diary farmers to find out what they could do to help us make a living. I got involved in the fight to allow farms to sell more raw milk, and we won! Now we can sell up to 40 gallons per day and advertise. Because of this law, I was able to start a new dairy farm as so many are going under.

Now I serve on the board of Rural Vermont. Recently, much of our work has focused on reforming regulatory barriers. In addition to the new raw milk law, we’ve also won the allowance of on-farm slaughter of poultry and larger stock and prevented NAIS from gaining traction in Vermont. We continue to work on allowing more composting, appropriate taxing of working land and identifying and removing barriers between farmers and consumers. We also educate and connect local farmers, processors and consumers.

We are beginning a campaign called Free Enterprise Farming, where we hope to bring about a tiered regulatory structure. This would mean small farms who sell direct to consumers would not be subject to the same rules as say, Kraft foods. For example, I would have the right to sell my homestead cheeses and farm-cured bacon to my neighbor (which I’m not allowed to do now). Rural Vermont is in the spotlight nationally because of its successes in these types of reforms.

There is much interest in and momentum behind what we are trying to do. We feel we are on the cusp of a new era where main-stream America values food and small farms again.

I’ll get to the point, Mr. Berry. I am writing to ask you a big favor. Your writing has profoundly influenced and inspired many of us around here. Would you do us the great honor of speaking at our 25^th annual meeting this coming summer? I think the impact of your voice at our meeting would go a long way towards lifting our spirits and inspiring our mission!

It’s too late for Mr. Pierson. But we still have a chance to restore dignity to the wholesome act of working the land and tending stock. Please help us Mr. Berry!

Respectfully yours,

Lindsay Harris

Hinesburg, Vermont

Grass Fed Food is Safe Food!

I’ve been thinking a lot about “food safety” lately and what that means. Here is some biology for you….

When a cow eats a diet heavy in corn and/or grains, it turns her rumen unnaturally acidic. This condition is called ACIDOSIS. The cow’s rumen, like our digestive system has multitudes of beneficial bacteria that help her digest her food. When she has acidosis, many of these natural, beneficial bacteria are killed, leaving acid-resistant, disease-causing bacteria to thrive.  Ecoli H157 is one of these. These dangerous bacteria are shed by the cow and can contaminate meat or milk. Since the bacteria are already resistant to acid, they can survive in our digestive systems and make us sick.

A grass fed cow is different. Her rumen is healthy and in balance. Bacteria shed by the healthy, grass fed cow are sensitive to acidic conditions. If we happen to ingest some of them, they are easily deactivated by the acid in our stomachs. Healthy cows = healthy people!

Feeding grass is not just good for our health, but its good for the health and welfare of the cows. Acidosis is a horrible condition. It causes painful ulcers, lameness and frequent, severe infections due to overproduction. The average productive life of a commercial, grain fed cow is just over 2 painful years! The same cow in a grass dairy could produce for 12 or more healthy, comfortable years.

You can’t get grass-fed milk or dairy products in stores! No way does organic mean grass fed! Please seek out your local grass-fed, raw milk dairy and do the right thing for yourself and for Bessy.

Happy eating,

Lindsay

Grass Fed Cows are Healthy Cows!

NPR’s Story on Grass Based Dairy Farming

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121205338

Seven Days needs a reality check!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121173780

Above is the link to a story that ran on NPR’s Morning Edition today. (This was Wed, Dec 9th – stay tuned Thursday for a related story.)  I was milking when I heard it and it got me all excited. Finally! Why is it legal for the dairy industry to lie about how their products are produced? Other food producers get busted right quick for making false claims. Depictions of dairy farms are always these beautiful pastoral scenes with clean, “happy” cows grazing. Bull crap! Almost all commercial cows in this country know a short, filthy, painful existence where they never, ever get near a blade of grass.

Even the hip, Seven Days perpetuates this ridiculous fallacy. The title of their front page article this week is “Passing on the Pasture” (meaning passing dairy farms to the next generation). But the article refers to Vermont dairy farms in general, not just pasture-based farms.  They mention “technologically advanced” farms, code for confinement systems. Now, I bet that there are a higher percentage of Vermont cows grazing, then in other states, but it is certainly not the norm, even here. The entire Seven Days article has fake grass drawn in throughout (but no photos of cows on actual grass) and on the front page, fake grass drawn in below a photo of a group of Holstein cows in a confinement operation. Bull crap!

Mainstream consumers are beginning to identify grass-fed products as desirable. They are willing to pay a premium since grass farming is solar farming! It results in higher quality, lower yield products with lower environmental costs. Consumers are learning that cheap, confinement produced food comes at a high price. You may not pay much at the store for that gallon of milk, but you’ll pay in the degradation of your air and water quality, hugely increased carbon emissions, and higher taxes to subsidize commodity farms.

Why does confinement dairy get to pretend that your gallon of milk is a grass-fed product when its no such thing? Their marketing sure has got everyone brainwashed, especially over at the Seven Days! Shame on you…

Lindsay

Please Welcome Timothy!

Timothy, our new Brown Swiss calf was born on Wednesday evening.

Choosing Between Raw Milk and a Dead, White Liquid

Choosing Between Raw Milk and a Dead, White Liquid.

Thank you Rural Vermont! (We are #1!)

We are so excited to be the very first state certified, raw milk dairy in Vermont!

This means we can sell lots more wonderful milk and deliver it too.

We finally got the senior Vermont state milk inspector, Susan James to come out to our place. The new law went into effect July 1st and we had been ready for our inspection since then, but the Agency was slow getting their act together.

Ms. James was very thorough and checked everything carefully. She was also really nice and had many compliments for our operation. We had a nice chat afterward about cows, farming, milk and all that. It was fun to meet her and really fun to pass our inspection!

We now have the potential to just about quadruple our business! When we get there, it will mean the difference between struggling and making a living for our family. We have many to thank for this opportunity, especially the people at

Rural Vermont!

(www.ruralvermont.org)

They are committed to economic justice for family farmers. This work is translating into real opportunity right here on our farm. We could not be more grateful. We just sent them a $100 donation – but they need much more! Please join us and showing your appreciation for their very important work and send them a bit of dough. They fight for the common sense right of the people to raise, trade and eat REAL FOOD within our own communities. It sounds unbelievable that this is something that needs to be “faught” for – but this is the unfortunate reality we find ourselves in. Most people don’t even know these basic things are illegal. For example, I can sell you a gallon of milk, but take a spoon and dip out some cream and sell you that? no. that is considered processing and is illegal under Vermont law. CRAZY. I can understand why these laws are needed on a large factory scale. But these laws  shut out small farms when they can’t sell a pint of cream or cut of meat to a neighbor. These laws force small farms to compete head to head with giant factories and their government subsidies. No wonder small farms, once the life blood of our communities are almost gone.

Rural Vermont is all about reversing that trend. With their work on the raw milk laws, they just created two more jobs right here on our farm. Now we have the opportunity to make a living while being responsible stewards for the land, air and water. We can treat more cows and calves with the proper care and respect they deserve. We aren’t forced to sell our milk for a pittance on the wholesale market. And our customers now have more choice of what to feed their families!

Please join Rural Vermont today!

115 Barre St. Suite 2

Montpelier, VT 05602

www.ruralvermont.org

Thanks everybody.

Meet Bunke!

Grandma delivers Bunke to the farm!

We are so excited to meet our new pup!

Bunke rests up after his long day

Time to go to work!

Flow meets Bunke.

Blacksheep Rowdy Yeats – Bunke’s Dad!

Bunke is an English Shepherd. He comes from a long line of excellent working farm dogs. English Shepherds are known for their intelligence and versatility around the farm. They can do everything from babysit the kids to stand down large bulls. They will bond with and protect all the animals around the farm and can get the cows where they’re going. They make fine pets and companion animals as well!

Bunke is only 9 weeks old, but we can already see hints of his smarts and strong instincts. We have high hopes for Bunke!

We got Bunke from a breeder in Rock Springs, NY. Check out Blacksheep Homestead on the web:

http://www.geocities.com/blacksheephomestead/

Read more about English Shepherds here:

http://www.farmcollie.com/

Open Farm Day! Sunday September 13

On Sunday, September 13th Family Cow Farmstand will hold an open farm day from 11AM to 3PM. The event is organized by Rural Vermont and includes many different farms around the state, all of whom produce and sell raw milk.

We will have samples of our milk and other products out for you to try. The cows will be near by for introductions, and visitors will be able to see the barn where we milk and pastures where the cows graze! We hope you can come join us and learn about our farm!!

What: Open Farm Day!!!!

When: Sunday September 13th from 11 AM to 3PM

Where: family Cow Farmstand: 2386 Shelburne Fall Road, Hinesburg