My Blog

Inside this edition was… Manure Spreader Blues….Birds for Bug Manage..Secure Manure Handling..Colorado Dairy's CSA…..Hmmm.

Following a year of customers coming as much as me at my personal vegetable CSA & Farmers Marketplace asking for raw milk and my feeble attempts to get it to them via a small dairy farm with a few jerseys…illegally I might add (or more to the point told by State officials it was illegal)…this CSA idea seemed the ticket and my first exposure to what would become known as the Cowshare Arrangement in Wisconsin…

Now, following 11 years and 5 months of keeping that concept alive through 1000′s of families whom have benefited from various versions, several nonprofit organizations and dozens of lawyers opposing hundreds of State officials, a few Secretaries of Agriculture…and the Health services of Ontario large size swimwear, finally a verdict.

Michael Schmidt brought home the dawn of personal choice as it relates to our food…and all the hours, tears and sacrifices of both sides of the border were laid to rest.

Tim Wightman Giving a Tour of Clearview Acres Dairy

Laid to rest alongside the ghosts of farms lost, the relationships interrupted, the crushing pain of the depth of the resistance, all tightly knitted together in the view of a farmers calling…and like Atlas…it felt as if we carried the world on our shoulders.

His Worship Paul Kowarsky realized the cooperative, private, nature of cowshares. The world is no longer on the shoulders of the few.

This however now begs the question……will our coproducers…cowshare members accept the responsibility woven within the decision given by His Worship.

Signs of the affirmative are appearing..but the biggest gift in this decision was not the obvious we have been looking for all these years.

It was the ability to shape the futures of our children, through cooperation and measured action.

We now have the freedom to act for the benefit of the many, and remove that burden from the few who have protected it so eloquently.

Thank you Michael, and thank you to Michael's family..and many thanks to the cowshare members, and may the best come from your efforts.

If you need anything just give us a call……

I'll be right over.

Tim Wightman is a founder and board member of the FarmtoConsumer Legal Defense Fund and its education and charitable arm, the FarmtoConsumer Foundation. He is the author of the Raw Milk Handbook, a handy resource guide for farmers interested in producing quality raw milk, and who wish to implement testing and safety standards. A lifelong farmer, Tim is on the forefront of our nation's transition back to a local farm economy. His Wisconsin farm, Clearview Acres was among the first cow boarding programs. It no longer exists due to legal bills and emotional challenges of being on the leading edge. Currently a consultant for Midwestern BioAg for Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, Tim works with other farmers on ecological ways to grow profitability. In this role, he helps clients to mineralize their pastures, increase soil fertility dress flower, and improve herd health.

Tim was profiled last year in a Huffington Post article by Julie Moulden, How Small Farmers are Saving the World.

The FarmtoConsumer Legal Defense Fund is selling a DVD about Michael Schmidt, all proceeds go to support Michael

Tags: dress flower, large size swimwear
This entry was posted on Friday, April 6th, 2012 at 9:35 am and is filed under Publishing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.