The Local Eating Project Gets Serious, About Milk

The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.  --Joseph Campbell

Our most basic connection to Nature is through food. And less and less is our food resembling it’s true nature.

I don’t know if this disconnect is the source of all our societies problems. But, I know the conscious choices I am trying to make, such as eating locally and ethically, make me feel good.

Those choices are narrowing. Terms like “organic” and “free range” and “natural” are deceptive. “Organic” farms can be as industrialized as factories and “free-range” might mean that chicken has access to a tiny doorway to an outdoor pen, if only he could get around 20,000 other birds to find it.

And, the government certainly has the ability to limit my choices further. As I’ve been trying to expand my local sources for food, I’m finding that government regulations are hard at work limiting my ability to find local food produced in an ethical, natural, and minimally-processed way.

The most obvious example is milk. Say I’d like to find a local source of milk. 30 years ago, (when I was in college), I would have had about 3800 dairy farms to choose from in Illinois. But, according to the latest numbers I found from July 2012, I’m down to 780. I’m guessing that that number has dropped in the last year and a half even further.

Now, that’s not the end of the world. But, what if I want to buy raw, unprocessed milk, from well-kept cows?

The good news is, there are still small farmers producing and offering milk that hasn’t been ultra-pasturized, homogenized, or otherwise altered. Government regulations limit raw milk distribution (as opposed to in Europe, where the industry is strong and you can purchase raw milk from vending machines). But, I can still buy it directly from farmers.

The bad news is...you guessed it. This choice may not be a choice for us much longer.

New rules are being proposed and will be voted on soon. Legislators are citing reports that bacterial illness is a higher threat from raw milk than from other foods. Raw milk supporters cite that there have been far fewer reports of illness caused by raw milk than by pasteurized milk, produce, meat, and other foods. The reports are there, but how they are interpreted really depends on your stand on consumer choice.

The new legislation will not make raw milk in Illinois illegal. Rules will require raw milk dairy farms to have their milk tested monthly for pathogens, provide specific wording on labels and signs, and keep strict logs. Most farms are fine with this; even already doing this.

However, there are two additional rules that pretty much change the game.

•All dairy farms selling raw milk shall be required to obtain a Grade A permit. For larger farms, this may be no big deal. But for a small farm, the minimum $20,000 investment to upgrade floors, pipes, containers, etc. could never be recouped.

And...

• Only unsolicited sales are permitted and cannot exceed 100 gallons per month.

Huh??

Basic math. Even if the farmer is charging a $10 a gallon for this milk, that equals...$1000 income per month? Before feed and expenses? And possibly paying back a $20,000+ loan for facility upgrades?

Another dairy farm out of business.

I’m not commenting on the studies, benefits, or statistics. I make conscious decisions, and I expect you do too. I am, however, curious about what is driving this legislation. Safety studies? Perhaps. But given the fact that tobacco farmers are still in business, I wonder. Big business? After all, demand for raw milk is actually growing as consumers are becoming more health conscious. Could it be that my choice in this matter is being eliminated so that my food dollars can be redirected into the industrial food system the government generally supports?

I know many of you don’t give a rat’s tail about raw milk. But many of you do support small farmers, or economic diversity, or local agriculture, or just plain having a choice about what you eat. I hope you’ll stay with me as I offer more info on this. Please, comment below. I really want to hear your thoughts.

Riverside Farmers Market...in Winter!

Kudos to the folks organizing the Riverside Farmers Market for working to keep it going in the winter.

In this area, there isn't much to choose from in local produce. But, hopefully if we all support ventures like this, those that do produce food locally, even if it's kept from the warmer months (like root vegetables and squashes) might line up to truck it out to Riverside during the frozen months.

Here is a list of vendors I visited with at the market February 5th:

Chocolate Twist
River Valley Mushrooms
Bailey Honey
Lyons Fruit Farm
Lou's Old Fashioned (canned foods, like pickled and jams)
SenTEAmental Tea
Lovin' Tails
Katic Breads
Primo Pizza
Jake's Meats

I first stopped and bought some lunch meat ham from Jake's Meats. My girls like that for lunches. Then I visited:

The mushroom guy. Look at all those fresh mushrooms! All types. Here he is measuring out my 'shrooms.

Then I picked up some foccacia.

And finished by picking up a jar of Lou's Old Fashioned strawberry rhubarb jam.

The fact that this market is in the historic train station makes it all the cuter, and easy to stop at when getting off the train.

The market will be open the first Wednesday of every month, from 2:30 - 6:30pm. Come by and support it! Remember, what you feed will grow...

The Dill Pickle Food Co-op

January in northern Illinois is a tough time to eat locally. The natives have been a little restless (yes, teenagers are not as excited about local, organic, non-processed food as you would think), and I have succumbed to actually purchasing some fresh produce recently that's clearly not local. A Costco opening a celeriac root's throw away has not helped. But, I'm still committed to searching out local sources to fill my pantry; yes, even in February.

In doing so, I found something pretty interesting. Popping up around are the newest "co-ops". I did belong to a co-op years (20??) ago. About a dozen families grouped together so we could buy in bulk from a distributor. This was before Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, and the only real way to get natural and organic food in the quantities we wanted.

But, this is a little different. These new co-ops are more like grocery stores. They try to be as full service as possible; meat, produce, dairy, grains, bread, etc. They do offer a lot of the same food you might buy at a Whole Foods. However, the emphasis on local production is much greater.

Over the weekend, Eva and I traveled to one of these co-ops in Chicago. On a Sunday, the drive was pretty quick, and we could park right outside the door. The door to the...

This is the Dill Pick Food Co-op, at 3039 Fullerton. It's open 9-9 everyday. While members get a discount, even non-members can shop here.

First stop....produce. (Eva is clearly overwhelmed with the selection of anise and bok choy.) Produce is a big interest of mine. And I was not disappointed.

I was not disappointed because I was not expecting a wide variety of locally grown produce in February. But, there were plenty of root vegetables and squashes available, with the location and miles traveled clearly labeled. Yay! An educated choice!  Among other things I bought a big three pound bag of Rainbow carrots from Harmony Valley Farms in Wisconsin (this was about $10). Eva lobbyed for fuji apples, and won. Not local. But, here is a pic of the clear labeling that let me know where things came from.

Moving on to meat and dairy. Here, we get a little more info about the producers. Info about how the animals are raised, in addition to location and distance the product has traveled.

Here is a label enlarged for your viewing pleasure. Good info, right? I bought a gallon of milk.

Just like in a big grocery store, canned things were in the center. I tried to keep my eye out for locally grown. Here are some tomatoes produced by Tomato Mountain Farm in Brooklyn Wisconsin. I was a little scared off by the $5 price tag (this is a 16 oz. jar). I know a lot of tomatoes go into a jar, but I still had to pause. Balancing budget with local can be a struggle.

Finally, here is conscious consumer we spotted in the bulk aisle. (yes that's me.) The producers and locations were not labeled as well in this aisle.  I was a little bummed about that. Maybe someday...

As I said, these co-ops are popping up more and more, and I have a lead on one opening even closer to me! More info coming soon!