farmer

History of Harassment: The Little Chilliwack Dairy

alice-jongerdon

With The Little Chilliwack Dairy back in the courts again it seems appropriate to revive this article about Alice Jongerden, written in 2010 by Chad Hershler. Hershler does a very good job of presenting the history of the Home on the Range cowshare and when the harassment by Fraser Health began. As most of us know there is a terrible fear by the general public of raw milk (which is encouraged by Big Dairy, Big Phrama and other corporate groups), which in modern times is becoming more and more blatantly irrational and counterproductive to understanding microbiomes, holistic health and ultimately becoming fully conscious of how we care for our bodies. British Columbia is the only place in the world that has declared raw milk to be a hazourdous substance and banned it outright. All other G-8 countries permit certified raw milk dairies where the cows are grazed on pasture — not crowded into factory farms, fed GMO grain and injected with antibiotics constantly. As a matter of fact the Queen of England drinks her milk raw, and there is no way she would be allowed to drink it if they thought it might kill her.

Raw Milk: A Healthier Alternative?

By Chad Hershler published Oct 1, 2010 in VanMag

Alice Jongerden wanted to give her family a healthy start, so she bought a cow. Then another, and another. Now she finds herself at the centre of a court battle over public health

The day after I visited Alice Jongerden at her Chilliwack dairy, I found myself rushing into hospital. A few hours before, my daughter had turned pale and started vomiting. No one—not the nurses, not the paramedics—could explain what was obviously a violent reaction to her 18-month vaccinations. “She’s still breathing!” the nurse said, as if this were the only concrete reassurance she could give. Driving the winding highway into the emergency department—we’d insisted on the ambulance and this trip—I found my mind wandering back to Jongerden. Blame it on anxiety.

A happily married mother of five and devout Christian, Jongerden has the laugh of a woman who doesn’t care if you’re laughing with her. With the help of two full-time workers, some part-time staff, and her husband Bert, she spends between 70 and 80 hours a week tending a 22-strong herd on 40 leased acres in the heart of Chilliwack dairy country. In exchange for feeding and milking the cows, and bottling and distributing their milk, Jongerden—or, more properly, her Home on the Range Dairy—receives $18.50 per gallon from each member of the cow share that owns them, on top of money for whatever extras (butter, yogurt) she makes from the leftovers. Profits have been slim, with upfront expenses for equipment and maintenance fees and cows (a new cow goes for between $1,500 and $2,000), but member contributions allowed Bert to quit his job two years ago to take care of maintenance, deliveries, and quality control and for the Jongerdens to focus on the cow share and on home-schooling their two oldest full-time.

Michael Taylor – Food Terrorist Extraordinaire

Michael Taylor – Food Terrorist Extraordinaire

Recently my father forwarded me this short, too the point overview of this whole raw milk fiasco from The Sierra Club's GRAPPLE: With Issues and Ideas. It is good to see this issue gaining mainstream traction, with more people realising the connections between Monsanto, Big Dairy, the USDA and M ...

Lost in the System: LA County Jail Tortures Local Dairy Farmer!

Lost in the System: LA County Jail Tortures Local Dairy Farmer!

This is just in over the weekend from www.NaturalNews.com. This is really crazy. But you know what the sad thing is? This is the sort of thing that happens every day to minorities and poor people who have no one to stand up for them. Now it is starting to bleed into more upper-class, white-bred ...

Wave Of Suicides Among Indian Farmers

Wave Of Suicides Among Indian Farmers

Alex Rossi, India correspondent reports on the most recent surge of suicides in India. This has been going on for more than a decade now. I remember how shocked I was when I first learned of this terrible situation, since then it has only gotten worse. Monsanto and other corporations in the Big Ag w ...

Rally for Food Freedom Nov 2nd

Rally for Food Freedom Nov 2nd

Please join us Nov 2nd with Michael Schmidt and this rally for food freedom and to get corporate agenda's out of our local food systems. Around the world the situation is getting increasingly insane. Michael Schmidt speaks in this interview about his personal history, growing up in Germany, studying ...

A Most Basic Right – To Choose What we Eat – Denied in Canada

A Most Basic Right – To Choose What we Eat – Denied in Canada

Michael Schmidt is “willing to die if it’s necessary” for responsible food freedom. That’s what raw milk farmer and activist Michael Schmidt said today at a Queen’s Park news conference in response to a question from a Toronto Star reporter. Of course dying for the cause wouldn’t b ...

Protect Our Local Raw Dairy Farmers (& Cows!)

Protect Our Local Raw Dairy Farmers (& Cows!)

I'm compiling this post this from various emails we've received today. The images are by Heather Passmore and are posted so you can use them however you think best--print them out to hand out at #occupyvancouver or post them as your profile photo on facebook, use them on your blog, email them to fri ...

Vancouver’s Fresh Milk Family

Vancouver’s Fresh Milk Family

Last weekend we headed out to our local community dairy's annual farm picnic (www.ourcows.ca). I was pretty excited as we'd only been out to the farm once before on a cold rainy day, which was fun as well--at the time there were about 7 young calves and a litter of puppies--but it is always nice to ...

The Battle to Save the Polish Countryside

The Battle to Save the Polish Countryside

From the Winter edition of Wise Traditions the Journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation. Pig Business is a real money maker for industrial ag corporations. Please read the whole article here. Article is by Sir Julian Rose. Poland is a country that is accustomed to fighting rearguard actions to f ...

The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer

The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer

Wednesday is the day I pick up my raw milk from a local urban drop point and it is also Real Food Wednesdays over at Kelly the Kitchen Kop's blog. She has a great round-up of all kinds of real food related posts and recipes every Wednesday from the realfood blogosphere. I have come to really look fo ...