Goodbye, Clear Spring Creamery

Yesterday was my last day working at Clear Spring Creamery. No more milking cows, no more fencing, no more bottling yogurt, no more farmers markets, no more delicious milk.

Mark and Clare, as well as their kids, Paul and Paige, were a joy to work with for the past five months. I learned an enormous amount through their example and their guidance. They were always very generous with their time and their home, and I really enjoyed getting to know them.

I'll write a longer post later with my reflections on this summer... but for now, I just wanted to say how grateful I am that I had this opportunity.

And that I will miss the cows.

The Great Raw Milk Debate

I've been asked a few times now several variations of the following questions: Do you get to drink raw milk on the farm? And can you get me some?

The answers are no and no. But the topic has come up often enough that I think it's worth discussing.

Raw milk is a topic that can be pretty polarizing. People feel strongly about it from both sides - from the public officials who cite it as one of the leading causes of dairy-related illness to the moms who drive for two hours to purchase it where it's legal. Since the FDA banned inter-state raw milk sales nearly thirty years ago, illegal raw milk sales have skyrocketed. Now, many raw milk lovers have to get their dairy fix using methods that more resemble a drug deal than anything, from joining secret milk clubs to buying their milk labeled as pet food.

The sale of raw milk is illegal in Washington, D.C. and in the state of Maryland, where the dairy is located. Hence, no raw milk for us. We milk straight into the pasteurizer, where the milk is pasteurized at the lowest possible setting, which some people believe makes a better-tasting milk than ultra-pasteurization, where milk is heated for just a couple seconds at extremely high heat.*

According to Clare, one of the biggest differences between our milk and store-bought variety is actually the fact that we don't homogenize our milk. Homogenizing milk is the process of breaking up the fat molecules so they stay suspended in the milk. If you let unhomogenized milk sit long enough, the fat drifts up to the top, creating a layer of cream with the milk underneath. (Check out the picture.) Clare believes that homogenizing not only makes milk harder to digest - she's had lactose-sensitive customers who can drink the farm's milk with no ill effects - but also ruins the taste.

Here's my two cents about the raw milk debate: cows are dirty, dirty, dirty creatures, and they have an unfortunate tendency to get manure all over themselves. When we milk, we dip the udders in disinfectant and clean them off before putting on the machines; we also use a filter to catch any pieces of dirt or hair or what have you that sneak in.

But mistakes happen. Just this week, one particular cow with a sick sense of humor took a huge dump on me right as I was getting ready to put the machine on her. It's entirely plausible that in a situation like that, manure could make its way into the milk supply... and it only takes a little bit to make people sick, if that little bit has some E. Coli hanging out inside. Hence, I am inclined to view some judicious pasteurization as a good thing.

Additionally, while many pro-raw milk folks tout the various health benefits that raw milk supposedly provides - benefits they say are destroyed by pasteurization - Marion Nestle goes to great lengths in her book What To Eat to explain that the jury is still out on those claims. According to Nestle, the body of scientific knowledge for raw milk benefits is somewhat shaky, with studies going both ways on the issue.

Which brings us to the question of taste. Having never tasted raw milk, I can't comment on how Clear Spring Creamery's milk compares. But I can say definitively that this farm's milk gives your average grocery store milk a good spanking every day of the week, and is the best milk I have ever - EVER - tasted. Frankly, I really don't see how raw milk could taste any better.

That being said, I feel that anyone seriously dedicated to drinking raw milk should go to great pains to research their suppliers. That means going to the farm, asking questions, getting a tour, meeting the cows, and so on. Raw milk buyers need to hold their suppliers to the highest possible standards if they want their dairy to be E. Coli-free.





*A quick pasteurizing tutorial: Pasteurization, named for Louis Pasteur who came up with the modern process in 1862, is the process of heating a food at a certain temperature for a definite length of time and then cooling it.

My First Week at Clear Spring Creamery

Hello, dear readers.

I've officially finished my first week and a half at Clear Spring Creamery, and what a week and a half it has been.

In the last ten days, I have learned about milking, feeding calves, putting up fences, using four wheelers, herding cows in the direction you want, bottling milk, flipping cheese, and driving delivery trucks. I've learned the difference between a cow and a heifer, the secret language of udders, and why you don't use milk for the first three days after a calf is born. And trust me, you will hear about it all... eventually.

The last few weeks have been pretty rough - hence the lack of posting - but I'm confident that my life will settle back down into a routine in the coming weeks, and I'll be able to focus on learning about the business of cows.

Clear Spring Creamery: The Deets

So as I may have mentioned , I was hired by Clear Spring Creamery as a farm apprentice for 2012. All to the good, but what does that actually mean?

I had a phone conversation with Clare the other day, which answered some of my questions.

When do I start?
February 27, most likely.

Who works at the farm?
Mark and Clare Seibert own and run Clear Spring Creamery - the land has been in Mark's family for a long time. They have two kids, a few part-time (and I think one full-time) workers around the farm and in the creamery, and volunteers who help staff the Dupont Circle Farmers Market in DC. I will be the only intern, however. 

What will I be doing?
The day will be divided more or less in half. We start at 7 AM with bringing in the cows for milking, and then moving them to their new acre of pasture for the day. After cleaning up (Clare assures me that I should reserve a few items of clothing only for milking, because they will apparently be unfit for anything else) and having an early lunch, I'll work in the creamery for the rest of the day, where I'll learn the ins and outs of pasteurizing milk, making cheese, bottling yogurt, and wearing a hairnet. My dad got me an artisinal cheese-making book the other day, and I'm excited to try out a few things.

I will also be working at least one farmers market, possibly two - if I remember correctly, there is one on Saturday and possibly one on Thursday.

I'll get two days off a week. They're flexible with those, but it will most likely be Sunday and Monday. 

Where will I live?
In a private camper on the farm that has its own bed, bathroom with shower, kitchen (including a fridge, stove and sink, although no working oven - there will be a large toaster oven, though), A/C and heat. I'll need to bring along my own linens and towels. Clare said that there's a smattering of cooking equipment there, but I'll probably bring along some of my own.

The farm itself is located in Clear Spring, Maryland, about two hours north of DC. The town of Clear Spring isn't all that great, honestly - it seemed like a pretty depressed area to me - but the Appalachian Trail is about twenty miles away, Frederick is about the same distance, and there are other parks and so forth within driving distance. Besides which, I'm pretty good at entertaining myself... usually with books.

Additionally, there is wireless internet at the house. My cell phone coverage may be spotty, but if I need to, I have access to their land line. Meals can either be on my own or with the family. 

What's the pay?
I'll be getting the same deal I had at Brightwood Vineyard and Farm this last year - room and board (I'll have a food stipend to use at the farmers market, as well as access some of their own products), and a stipend of $200 per week - much of which I hope to stick safely away into my savings.



In case you can't tell, I am doltishly excited about this opportunity, and in no way insensible to my good luck in landing it. Because I'll probably be leaving in August to start grad school (assuming I'm accepted), I know I wasn't Mark and Clare's first pick. They were honest with me about that, which I appreciate. In the end, the guy they offered the job to took another job, and - lucky me! - I was still available.

Even when I was looking at other farms, Clear Spring Creamery was my first choice of those I visited back in November. Mark and Clare are extremely personable people, and I felt very comfortable around them. They didn't mind my millions of questions, which is always a good sign. Additionally, they have no off-farm income, which means I'll be able to see how a successful, sustainable farm business operates - a big draw for me. And let's be honest... the housing is phenomenal.

So long, 2011. Hello, 2012!

 
Ah, January 1. The beginning of brand-spanking-new year. I broke open 2012 by sleeping in until 11 and then spending all day in my pajamas, drinking tea and reading terrible fantasy novels. An auspicious beginning, to be sure.

I'd feel more guilty about my hedonistic indulgence, except that I got some wonderful news yesterday that makes me feel as though it's perfectly okay to spend all day without so much as even looking at a pair of pants.

To wit: I got a job!

Remember the folks at Clear Spring Creamery? Well, a few weeks after visiting them back in November, I got a message from them that said, more or less, "We'd love to hire you, but you're leaving in August and we need someone for the full season" - an attitude I completely understood. Undaunted, I launched into a job search that focused more on internships with non-profits around DC. I had a few interviews in the last few weeks - most notably with Beyond Pesticides and the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF). While both were paid internships, I wouldn't have made enough money to actually support myself. Despite that, I was really hopeful for the OFRF position, where I would have been doing lobbying work for the Farm Bill, and learned a ton about both nonprofit work and the legislative process.

Then yesterday, I got an email from Clare from Clear Spring Creamery, asking if I was still interested in the paid internship position with them.

Um... yes please.

Although working with a nonprofit and lobbying for the Farm Bill would have been highly educational, and living in DC would be wonderful for many reasons, I must admit that working in an office has never been one of my favorite things. Not that I can't do it, or hate it beyond measure, but if I'm being honest with myself, I just don't enjoy it nearly as much as working on a farm.

And also, being in a position to have room and board covered and put some of what I'm making into savings isn't too shabby a proposition either.

I'll be talking with Clare tomorrow to hammer out some of the details, so I'll post more about the internship itself later.

All I have to say for now is that if this year continues the way it's going, then I have absolutely nothing to fear. Let's kick some ass, 2012!