The parallel-panel approach you use looks really good for smaller plantings, but it’s cost-prohibitive for us at the farm scale. We’re using a single panel down the middle of the row, letting the plants vine up it and using bed-lengths of string to hold them on. This lowers the cost and works better for the hundreds of feet of tomatoes we do. In past we’ve just used string between T-posts alone to support tomatoes, as many farms do, but feel it’s too unstable, so we’re trying the one panel approach to provide some central stability. We’ll see how it works.

Do you string them along the outside, too, to support the outer branches as they bear fruit? In the past we’ve used either cages, or just string, and are assuming we’ll still need to string them on the panels once they get branchy and heavy. What’s been your experience?

I also looked at several other ricotta recipes. I heated the milk very slowly, over more than an hour, and only gave it an occasional stir until it reached about 180. I then brought up the heat a bit to finish it off. I had no sticking at all.

Since it was a half gallon, and I don’t have any fancy measuring cups that do 1/8 cup, I just converted; 1/8 C = 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar. This being my first time, I think I may have overstirred a bit and/or left it on the heat a little long after adding the vinegar; next time I think I’ll take it completely off the burner (I have an electric stove). It’s a little rubbery in texture. I also had forgotten your advice to add herbs directly to the butter, I will do that next time. But I found that 1 1/2 Tbls of butter for the half gallon amount is a little much. I think next time I’ll do 1 Tbls or even try it with none and fresh chopped herbs rather than cooked.

I have lots of whey left over, and for now that’s going to go into dog bowls in the morning. I may save some as stock later on.

The flavor when still warm is pretty darned amazing, and I don’t get any “goaty” tinge at all.

My plan for tonight is to stuff some large shells with a mixture of the ricotta, some of your fresh spinach which I had previously destemmed, blanched and frozen, and mushrooms and herbs. Should be yummy!

approx. 15 cups spinach
2 cups bean sprouts
a bit of grated coconut (optional)
1 c. yogurt
clove of garlic
a bit of fresh ginger (grated)
1 tsp. each of fennel, anise, and cuman seed
juice from 1 lime
salt

Steam spinach and bean sprouts. Blend in food processor with coconut, adding yogurt until the consistency is thick and smooth. Fry ginger, garlic, fennel, anise, and cumin in a pan with a bit of butter or oil until fragrant. Mix the spices with the spinach and add lime juice and salt.

Finally found a reasonable egg source, btw, although this time of year I’m sure makes it easier! A group of Amish farmers have gotten together to be able to get their eggs graded and legal for sale at markets and in select stores. $5-6.50/dozen is the going rate. Not certified, but pretty widely trusted. One of the farmers also does pigs and the only way you can order his pork is by mail! (Maybe remind your customers who want you to have a cell phone it could be worse!)

I don’t really disagree with anything you say, but the core point here is how the BCHD is managing this particular (and others) instance. They’re putting a single-minded focus on raw milk before collecting necessary proof (and apparently neglecting to pursue other possibilities given that focus), and taking every chance throughout the local media environment to present raw milk as an inherently and uniquely dangerous product different from anything else. I doubt that would happen with any other product (can you imagine the same media blitz from them for soda or ground beef as a whole?), but they feel comfortable issuing blanket warnings that reflect poorly on all farmers and all sources of the product regardless of context or evidence. As we already wrote above, they’ve very quickly backed off their initial claim and it still seems there’s no clear idea what the source is, but they’re still repeating the same “raw milk is evil” mantra with nothing to back it up that relates to this specific incident. Regardless of how policy and personal choices fall on the spectrum of protection vs. freedom, I consider this inappropriate behavior that would have them in contact with corporate lawyers if they did it to a corporate food product rather than one produced by individual small farmers with little power or time to fight back. Whether or not children are involved relates to the parents’ choices, and has nothing to do with the reputations and practices of the farmers directly involved or indirectly smeared by this behavior. And if it does turn out to be a specific farm source of raw milk, that still doesn’t justify the blanket overreaction any more than treating an outbreak from any other product as a reason to ban or smear that product rather than deal with the specific circumstances involved.

Lizi,

We can’t be drawn into a discussion about the relative health/safety merits of raw vs pasteurized milk. The internet is full of these discussions and it’s not worth our time. We’ve made it clear that we support the rights of adults to purchase and use raw milk, and that we personally do not do so or allow our customers to do so; there are many options out there for those who feel otherwise in either direction.

The point of the quote you cited above is that the profit margin on milk is quite small, and the financial risks quite large. As a full-time self-employed business, the income we can/could make on raw milk doesn’t begin to pay for the potential liability and legal costs of dealing with a situation like the current one, which could quickly swallow our farm and farm business if it involved us. No matter of ethical good feelings changes the basic economics of this reality; good intentions and brotherly love don’t pay for health insurance, retirement savings, mortgage payments, labor costs, and lawyers. This is why we have the policy we do; the possibly small decrease in nutrition and/or quality from home pasteurization or cooking is a more than adequate tradeoff for the fiscal and legal security of keeping our farm business a going concern. No customer, however loyal, stands to lose anywhere near as much as we or any farmer do if or when something like this happens.

We can’t wait for our milk supply to return, so we can get started on all the dishes that fresh cheese allows (like your suggestions above). We’ve used our feta as a reasonable substitute for paneer, as it has a solid, chunky texture that holds together. I do want to make the real thing some time, though.

Everyone,

This evening we used two member recipes from last week, the koftas and the lemon balm pesto, for a very nice dinner. Made fried rice using baby carrots, new radishes, garlic & onion scallions, eggs, and the lemon balm pesto, and topped it with fresh-ground goat koftas made pretty close to the posted recipe. Very nice combination.

A couple other uses for it, now or with blanched later on:

> Shakes. A great way to start the day for those either on the go or whatnot. Here’s some inspiration for options. http://www.rawlicious.ca/Rawlicious/Menu.html

> Indian food. Palak paneer is our personal favourite, but you’re not limited to that. Paneer can be substituted for with other fresh cheese, like a haloumi or I think curds would work well. Ricotta and cottage cheese are the right flavours but wrong texture… you generally want chunks. We fry the cheese in a bit of oil and then toss into a bowl of water. Gets ride of most all the oil that way and adds a lot of depth of flavour. Get an onion/garlic (or other alium) mixture happy, ideally with ginger and certainly with Indian spices of choice, then add the spinach and chopped tomatoes (we started with dried tomatoes we lightly reconstituted) and potentially some extra liquid because once reasonably cooked you want to puree. Our extra liquid was yogurt, so use the term liquid broadly! Once hot/pureed adjust seasoning to taste, add the paneer in and then eat with flatbread and/or rice. Look up recipes online for other tips etc.

even if the facts come to prove that his milk was to blame, as it does appear, i don’t think that changes most or any of our (customers’) opinions. raw milk has risks, just like any food. people make mistakes, we are only human. most people drink raw milk for decades without any ill effects, and will attest to the myriad of health benefits.

i sort of do wonder what your take is on that facts that i shared to counter your statements about the safety or risks of raw milk. i don’t like how the CDC cherry picks facts and presents them to make it sounds like raw milk is any less safe than pastuerized dairy. “outbreaks” is not an accurate barometer of safety as an outbreak of raw milk might involve 3 people (usually it is less than 10) and of course with pastuerized milk it involves hundreds if not thousands. also to note is raw milk outbreaks are less likely to result in serious complications and hospitalizations, they are usually rare and sporadic in the number of consumers who actually get ill from the exposure. dairy in general is actually not a “risky” food when you look at the statistics compared to other foods. compare that to other outbreaks where are very large percentage of those exposed get sick, very sick.
i guess you just gotta go with your gut. which i respect. it is an opinion. but the facts really do not support the idea that raw milk is any less safe than most other foods we consume.

until i get another hook-up, i will not drink pastuerized milk from the store.

And yes, safety will always seem to be over-reacting, because we don’t always suffer the individual consequences of unsafe behavior, and we aren’t very well equipped to reason statistically. Raw milk does present a hazard – the presence of microbes that most people won’t notice, but will be much more likely to make some (the old, young, or immunocompromised) very ill and will cause illness in previously healthy people.

The question is one of cost and benefit. How many *preventable* illnesses/deaths are we willing to accept in the service of “individual choice” on this or any issue? The fact that at least two of the victims are infants changes the equation significantly IMHO.

We don’t have time to respond more fully to your concerns, though I appreciate your sharing. I accept your critique of the “be stupid” line and have changed it to “take risks with”.

I’m going to stay out of the pro/con argument on the benefits of raw milk, but this story clearly demonstrates one of the main reasons we don’t handle or recommend it to others; the liability risk for our farm of being tarred by association in a situation like this. The possible health benefits to our customers just aren’t worth it to us as a full-time family farm with everything to lose and little to gain from allowing consumption of raw milk from our farm.

Finally, I agree that another angle rarely questioned or reported is the in-home handling of food products and what impacts that has on food safety issues. A topic for another time.