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.