I am finally Off my Duff. I am finally back, finally reviving my poor little blog. I've been keeping my little black blogbook all along, jotting notes for things to include. If I had a buck for every time I've thought "Oooh, that is SO going in the blog" ....well, I probably wouldn't be here because I'd be sipping absinthe in a garret in Paris and writing The Novel. So I've been waiting for the First Day of the Month or the First Day of the Week or some such.
Well, it's the fifth day of the week and the 20th day of the month - "Dr. Phil" is just beginning, does that count? But the TIME is RIGHT. Now....in the past, when I've had a Momentary Lapse, I try to stuff in everything that's happened in the intervening, resulting in overly-long posts. GOOD NEWS, I'm not gonna do that. I'm going to start NOW, put in a couple highlights - and continue putting one foot (finger? keystroke?) in front of the next.
Last Wednesday I went to the Raw Milk Rally on the Square. The law to make the sale of raw milk LEGAL had passed through both Houses and was on the Governor's desk. I won't even discuss the ridiculousness of the NEED for such action; it sticks on my craw on several levels. A kindly dairyman brought a great cold milk can full and was serving it out. This is me, PUBLICLY defying the law and drinking a full glass of rich, sweet, creamy FRESH milk, in Defiance of the Law.
Well - the Guv vetoed it!! So what that means is, it is now illegal for a family dairy farm to sell the fresh milk from their herd. The Guv said some BS about how he's "protecting the health" of the citizenry.
WARNING: small soapbox. Given MY choice, I would rather have milk from cattle who are cared for by the farmer and his family; who spend their days socially grazing outdoors on grass; who are milked by very clean milking machines into sterile holding tanks....&c &c. The alternative is milk from factory farms where the cows do NOT go outdoors but live in concrete barns or holding pens. Their feed is prescribed, and full of additives like hormones to keep the cows producing LOTS of milk a lot longer than they would naturally. They also get antibiotics to keep them healthy, vitamin D is added to the milk (they don't get any sunshine).
The thought of multigenerational family farms being forced to close breaks my heart. The fact that the top prize-winning cheeses were made from raw milk is not lost on me. Furthermore, I resent being told that the guvmint is safeguarding my health. I'm 67 and I KNOW there is a potential for illness from raw milk. I KNOW smoking is bad for my health. I KNOW I can get disease from hangerbers from icky places. I KNOW I can get splurged crossing the street.
Having had the opportunity to enjoy raw milk a few times in the last few weeks, I was bitterly disappointed that my chance to buy it if I so choose has been removed from me. I mean to try to find a way to obtain some now and again; now it's the principle of the thing. And I HOPE those In the Know can figure out a way to try this again.
The other thing I've done recently was attend Costume-Con 28 in Milwaukee with my dear friend Jen. In a word it was five days of great fun at a nice hotel. I "dressed" now and then, and LOVED seeing the incredible variety of costumes made by Those Who Sew. I have to admit, I got lost driving to Milwaukee (missed a turn shown on my mapquest and wound up in Whitefish Bay) but in this 21st century I just whup out my cellphone, called Mr Dearling and managed to get there. I may expound at greater length in future because I do have some splendid pictures; at this point, suffice it to say there was some truly brilliant....
Well, it's the fifth day of the week and the 20th day of the month - "Dr. Phil" is just beginning, does that count? But the TIME is RIGHT. Now....in the past, when I've had a Momentary Lapse, I try to stuff in everything that's happened in the intervening, resulting in overly-long posts. GOOD NEWS, I'm not gonna do that. I'm going to start NOW, put in a couple highlights - and continue putting one foot (finger? keystroke?) in front of the next.
Last Wednesday I went to the Raw Milk Rally on the Square. The law to make the sale of raw milk LEGAL had passed through both Houses and was on the Governor's desk. I won't even discuss the ridiculousness of the NEED for such action; it sticks on my craw on several levels. A kindly dairyman brought a great cold milk can full and was serving it out. This is me, PUBLICLY defying the law and drinking a full glass of rich, sweet, creamy FRESH milk, in Defiance of the Law.Well - the Guv vetoed it!! So what that means is, it is now illegal for a family dairy farm to sell the fresh milk from their herd. The Guv said some BS about how he's "protecting the health" of the citizenry.
WARNING: small soapbox. Given MY choice, I would rather have milk from cattle who are cared for by the farmer and his family; who spend their days socially grazing outdoors on grass; who are milked by very clean milking machines into sterile holding tanks....&c &c. The alternative is milk from factory farms where the cows do NOT go outdoors but live in concrete barns or holding pens. Their feed is prescribed, and full of additives like hormones to keep the cows producing LOTS of milk a lot longer than they would naturally. They also get antibiotics to keep them healthy, vitamin D is added to the milk (they don't get any sunshine).
The thought of multigenerational family farms being forced to close breaks my heart. The fact that the top prize-winning cheeses were made from raw milk is not lost on me. Furthermore, I resent being told that the guvmint is safeguarding my health. I'm 67 and I KNOW there is a potential for illness from raw milk. I KNOW smoking is bad for my health. I KNOW I can get disease from hangerbers from icky places. I KNOW I can get splurged crossing the street.
Having had the opportunity to enjoy raw milk a few times in the last few weeks, I was bitterly disappointed that my chance to buy it if I so choose has been removed from me. I mean to try to find a way to obtain some now and again; now it's the principle of the thing. And I HOPE those In the Know can figure out a way to try this again.
The other thing I've done recently was attend Costume-Con 28 in Milwaukee with my dear friend Jen. In a word it was five days of great fun at a nice hotel. I "dressed" now and then, and LOVED seeing the incredible variety of costumes made by Those Who Sew. I have to admit, I got lost driving to Milwaukee (missed a turn shown on my mapquest and wound up in Whitefish Bay) but in this 21st century I just whup out my cellphone, called Mr Dearling and managed to get there. I may expound at greater length in future because I do have some splendid pictures; at this point, suffice it to say there was some truly brilliant....
STEAMPUNK!
Talk about cool glasses! I mean, this is really top-of-the-line stuff. And my fascination with all things Steampunk was revived and energized, and I'll keep y'all up on where I go with that. In the meantime, I have...
Turned 67, given loads of museum tours, spent some time in the 19th century, given a few programs "in character" for senior centers, enjoyed the end of winter, enjoyed the start of spring, enjoyed my cats, enjoyed Mr. Dearling, seen "The Lion King"!! and most recently reconnected with my first-born grandson, who hasn't fallen far from the tree. I'm going to go collect him even as we speak........
But I am BACK and mean to stay that way.
13 comments:
Hi DH! I missed you. :-)
I missed you too!
Amen on the milk - irks me no end that I live surrounded on all four sides by dairy farms, but can't just...buy their milk. Oh no. First, it must be put into trucks, shipped two hundred miles THIS way, reprocessed (several of the farms do their own pasturization on-site), siphoned into plastic jugs, sealed, trucked BACK the two hundred miles to the supermarket, where I can "safely" buy them. Whatever. Stupid in the extreme. And expensive. We go through eight to ten gallons a week around here...I'd dearly love to be paying less than supermarket prices and still giving the farmer three times what he gets from the wholesaler...oh wait, I'm sorry, am I crowding you on your soapbox...? 8^D
Thank you for going to the raw milk rally and BOO! to the governor for vetoing the bill. My land & water conservation committee of the county board visited a dairy farm last fall, one of the kind that puts a couple hundred cows in open-sided sheds and never lets them graze on actual grass. I shall email you photographs of the two (2!) 3 million gallon (3,000,000 gallons!) manure storage lagoons that are right next to the cow sheds. You cannot imagine the smell.
The reason we were there was to ADMIRE the operation. This is one that follows all the laws and ordinances. Let us not discuss the ones that do not...
Yay! you're back!
And about time it is, too! Off to update me own. . . cuz I still owe you more pics of the Great Sespe Wilderness.
Glad you're back!
Darn hippies! Can't have your milk and drink it too. :P
As for your birthday. WHEN?!? You didn't have a party? You didn't go on a pub crawl? You didn't tell me or invite me out? FOR SHAME!!!
Have a good one. I'm glad to see you up and blogging again.
Glad to have you back! As a fellow Wisconsinite, I, too was disappointed in the Governor for vetoeing the raw milk bill. It's been a month of disappointment for me, as our City Council (Eau Claire) also just voted "no" on having urban chickens.
And happy belated birthday!
Sarahmeowmeow
I am so glad you are back!!!
Glad to see that you're back! I was afraid something horrible had happened to you, Mr. D or Liliane....
The NYT had a big article on raw milk a few months ago. I think in NY you have to know a farmer and get on his bootleg milk list....
YAY!!!!!!! :Swoon: :Thud:
Oh my, you do make me smile, ma'am! I must concur with your rant on raw milk, having had several dairy farmers in the family. Looking forward to those splendid photos. :-)
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