This is what I love about the blogosphere. I find out about the endangerment of raw milk access by reading a blog based in California. Tana at I Heart Farms alerted me to the work that Meadowsweet Farm (based in Lodi) is trying to mount to keep raw milk accessible to the public. You know Meadowsweet--you can get their pastuerized milk from the Co-op and the CNY Regional Market. Currently, there is limited access to raw milk in New York State and even that is threatened to decrease if the government doesn't hear different voices. So, if you have time tomorrow, attend the hearing in Waterloo and let them know you how you feel.
Below you'll find an excerpt from Tana's blog and you can hear the moo straight from the farm by checking out the Meadowsweet site here.
NEW YORK
Michael Ruhlman alerted me to Meadowsweet Farm in Lodi, New York, about an hour and a half southeast of Rochester. Meadowsweet Farm, owned by Steve and Barbara Smith, no longer sells raw milk products to the public, but to members of its LLC, a form of community supported agriculture that allows them to bypass the bureaucracy and mindless, uninformed restrictions that the state of New York would impose on them if they were doing business with the public.
The Smiths write: "Since March 2007, the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets has been trying to pressure us and Meadowsweet Dairy LLC out of business. For example, they have conducted numerous inspections, seized products, ordered the destruction of 260 pounds of raw dairy products, attempted to search our house, issued letters threatening fines and penalties, and have now issued an order requiring us and Meadowsweet Dairy LLC to show cause why the Department of Agriculture and Markets should not shut down the operation and levy fines. That show-cause order is now set for a hearing and a show down looms over whether the State’s police power extends to a group of private citizens who produce and consume their own food of their own choice."
January 22, 1:30 PM
Seneca County Court
48 West Williams Street
Waterloo, NY
Comments