Farm Fresh Raw Milk For Sale in Vermont

March 14th was a great day for Vermont! Currently in Vermont dairy farmers can sell up to 25 quarts of raw milk per day. They CANNOT advertise, sales must be via word of mouth and no signs can be hung at the dairy. For those who may not remember, there are 4 quarts in a gallon. So 25 quarts equals roughly a bit over 6 gallons. A newly freshened cow (one that has just given birth) gives that amount per day. So with current law in Vermont, a farmer is only allowed to sell, by word of mouth approximately one cow's worth of milk. Vermont is the only state in New England to limit raw milk sales to 25 quarts.

There has been significant discussion and debate regarding the health benefits versus risks of selling raw milk. Some states allow raw milk sales with advertising, some allow sales at the retail level in stores, and some even allow milk to be shipped via Fed Ex. In Vermont, what had been proposed with this new bill, the Farm Fresh Milk Bill, as it has been called, was a stringent third party certification and testing program, coupled with the allowance to advertise milk sales and give the informed consumer the choice to buy raw milk. I won't use this space to go into lengthy discourse pro or con raw milk but I will say the bill got a very favorable response from lawmakers.

Unfortunately as time ran out to fix a complicated issue of jurisdiction, they moved to strike all which means to completely change the bill as it is currently worded and instead worded it to increase the volume of milk a farmer can sell to 50 quarts a day as well as advertise! More info will be available as to its status as well as sound files on their website Rural Vermont. Hats off to all involved in moving Farm Fresh Milk forward in Vermont!

New York City trip

Well it's been a while since I last posted as I traveled to New York City to visit cheese shops and get together with some long missed friends. While there I had the unusual treat, for me anyway since I don't get off the farm much, to dine at Momofuku noodle bar. Having seen the chef making his well-known steamed buns on Martha Stewart I was intrigued to try them. Little did I know that it would only be a few weeks later! They were better than I had imagined, just right thickness, perfectly done, and oozing with the heritage breed pork juices from the meat inside. As heritage pork raisers ourselves, I was thrilled to see New York city chefs spreading the word, just from a taste standpoint alone. Fun!

After dinner, my friends from Cheese by Hand took me a few blocks away to meet up with Anne Saxelby of Saxelby Cheesemongers, a fantastic cheese booth in the Essex Street Market on the lower East side. She had just done a tasting to die for............my favorite foods! Beer, cheese and BACON! What is not good with bacon? The pub hosting, Jimmy's No.43, is on East 7th Street. Walking down a set of stairs I entered an underground small pub with low lighting graced with the smoky smell of hearty bacon-and of course, beer. What a great time! And fantastic place to host.

While in NY I also required bringing home bialys and lox. Those in hand in my cooler bag, I returned home on the train to another week of meals courted by lox. Oh............and did I mention the Patriots did get creamed by New York? Much to the chagrin of my husband.