OT: Raw milk frustration

[Guest guest]

Bear with me, please, I just HAVE to vent.

 

I bought this wonderful book on home cheese making by Ricki Carroll. The

instructions are easy to read, and the book is very well-written and

inspiring. I bought some supplies and wanted to try making my own

cheeses. Here's the deal, though. I can't.

 

Ohio has about the strictest laws in the Union about direct raw milk

sales to consumers. The farmers are too afraid to sell it to you (or

even give it to you, for that matter) unless you're licensed, for a very

simple reason - their penalty is losing their farm (some fun details

here: http://www.realmilk.com/update-oh.html).

 

To make things worse, my family can't do cow dairy, so it will have to

be goat or sheep's milk, and while goat milk can be bought at the

nearest health food store for the mere $20/gallon, sheep's milk is not

available at all. At the same time, my family loves cheeses and I love

to cook, so why not try making my own?

 

I tried the good old wink-wink-nod-nod way " I need the milk for my pets

and soap-making " at farmers' markets but got nowhere. I contemplated

going to Pennsylvania, where it's legal to get raw milk, but the nearest

goat dairy is about 5 hours drive from me. At this point it seems like

my only option is buying a couple of goats and/or sheep.

 

I bet I'll be the first person in the world to be translating

multi-million dollar deal documents while milking a goat. )

 

Cheers,

Nika

 

PS. There's not much point to this message besides to express my

frustration. Although I don't agree with them a single bit, I do

somewhat understand how these restrictions came about. It's just that

I'm SO tired of being " protected " from taking risks, even when all the

risks are my own!

 

N.

[Guest guest]

" I'm SO tired of being " protected " from taking risks, even when all

the risks are my own!

 

Nika,

 

I'm COMPLETELY with you. It's hard to find raw milk out here in

California too (and aren't we supposed to be liberal tree huggin'

hippies?) And I haven't found any non-homogenized.

 

I remember I used to be able to find Raw milk at the market in Ohio (I

think in the 80's or it may have been CA.)

 

Doesn't the 'freedom' we talk about mean we are FREE do what we want

to ourselves? I too am tired of the 'Nanny Nation' mentality.

 

David 'Bring' back personal responsibly' Daniels