On Wed, 07 May 2008 00:27:13 -0800, Jan Flora <snowshoe@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
>In article <WJudnal8JbnFG4LVnZ2dnUVZ_tyknZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
> jbohren <dontspamjeff_bohren@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>> Jan Flora wrote:
>> > In article <POGdndsUWrjyqofVnZ2dnUVZ_o6knZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
>> > jbohren <dontspamjeff_bohren@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Jan Flora wrote:
>> >>> In article <GuOdnZqFQ5jBkITVnZ2dnUVZ_ovinZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
>> >>> jbohren <dontspamjeff_bohren@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>>> Bob Officer© wrote:
>> >>>>> On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:19:57 -0700 (PDT), in alt.culture.alaska,
>> >>>>> jerry <GeraldCNewton@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>> My daughter who is married to a dairy farmer told me four weeks
ago
>> >>>>>> that they couldn't buy fertilizer for the spring planting. Now
it is
>> > [...]
>> >
>> >>>> I have a hard time believing that a dairy farmer doesn't have any
>> >>>> fertilizer. If anything, that farmer would have a tougher time
>> >>>> disposing of it. At least my family in Tillamook did!!
>> >>> Cow manure is good to spread on the hay fields, but unless you
drill it
>> >>> in, the nitrogen off-g*****. We windrow-compost our cow poop, then
>> >>> spread it, but still need commercial fertilizer to get the grass to
grow.
>> >>>
>> >>> There's plenty of fertilizer available, if you can afford it. We
paid
>> >>> $5250 for 15 tons of bulk 20-20-20 last year. This year, it'll cost
>> >>> $11,490 for the same stuff. That doesn't include driving our semi
to
>> >>> Anchorage to haul it. Or putting tags on the Mack, so we can drive
it
>> >>> over-the-road. That's something like $900, just for current tags.
>> >>>
>> >>> Fertilizer in Alaska is cheap, because Agrium still has some urea
in the
>> >>> warehouse. Farmers in Montana are paying $1500/ton this year.
>> >>>
>> >>> We may have to borrow money for fertilizer and fuel this year. In
60
>> >>> years, this family has never borrowed money for any reason. (That
>> >>> includes mortgages for houses. They build their own, out of
pocket.)
>> >>>
>> >>> Jan
>> >> In Tillamook, its liquified and then spread on the pastures through
>> >> irrigation sprinklers. I also remember the good old honey wagon.
In
>> >> fact I know a bunch of kids that ran that honey wagon down the
middle of
>> >> Main Street on an August morning...
>> >
>> > We don't irrigate on the Kachemak. It normally rains enough to grow a
>> > hay crop. Sometimes it keeps raining during haying season and makes
it
>> > hard to put up a good quality crop.
>> >
>> > You wouldn't have first-hand memories of the honey wagon on Main St,
>> > would you? *smile*
>> >
>> > Jan
>>
>> Its weird watching brown water coming out the sprinklers. But as far
as
>> being wet, I can't imagine Homer getting much more rain than Tillamook
>> (80-100 inches per year) . They also have some very stringent rules on
>> spreading manure in order to keep the fecal coliform levels down in
>> Tillamook Bay. Oddly enough, shortly after the restrictions were put
in
>> place, The bay's oyster farmers noticed that their oysters were taking
>> twice as long to get to a marketable size....
>
>Sometimes we get the rain when we need it. Sometimes we get it when we
>don't need it. But it's rainy here, when it's not snowing. I've heard
>that parts of Oregon don't get any rain at all during the summer, and
>I'm talking about the wet side, not the dry side.
>
>I've been through the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Yum!! I have a great and
>long-standing loyalty to that brand of cheese. I just found out that
>it's a big co-op!
>
>Oysters can't tell which nutrients they aren't supposed to like : )
>>
>> At least the Palmer Creamery is finally on track. Those Mat-Su
dairymen
>> should at least have a chance to stay in business without some
>> bureaucrat screwing it up.
>
>Yep. Those are my friends who pulled that off. Karen Olson wrote the
>grants and is doing the paperwork part of things. Rob Wells, Kyle Beus,
>Ray Hodge and a whole bunch of other valley farmers pulled together,
>found a building, found the equipment, found the tradesmen, a lot of
>whom are donating their labor, everyone worked really hard for the last
>year and they made it happen. I'm really proud of what those guys are
>doing, despite everyone telling them that it couldn't be done. And
>showing everyone the calloused indifference of the state towards local
>producers.
>
>Karen was the one with the vision to do Cheese Futures. The money she
>has pulled in with that program kept the four remaining dairy farmers
>from hauling all of their cows to the killfloor. Several of the farms
>were culling a few cows a week, just to have cash flow to keep the
>utility bills paid.
>
>If anyone wants to buy Cheese Futures, we're still selling them. I can
>email you an order form in PDF. The farmers still need cash and the
>creamery is going to make another 6-8 tons of cheese to sell, before
>they start their fluid milk line.
>
>The first 6 tons of mild cheddar will be available for pickup at the
>Anchorage Farmers Market starting on June 1. For those of us who live
>out in the hinterlands, Karen will ****p cheese to us. (My household
>bought $150 worth. My Farm Bureau Chapter and my Soil & Water
>Conservation District both bought some. And I've given loads of forms
>out to regular people who want to participate.)
>
>We have shown DNR and the Division of Agriculture that the farmers,
>stockgrowers and the public really *will* sup****t local agriculture. DNR
>seems to do everything they can to stomp out agriculture in Alaska. They
>sure didn't care if those last four dairies went under!
>
>You will note that it's the Alaska Farmers & Stockgrowers Association,
>Inc. who did the Cheese Futures. The MatSu Farm Bureau Chapter wanted to
>do it but couldn't, since the state DNR and Division of Agriculture were
>suing them over the Alaska Grown logo at the time, and the state would
>probably have taken any Cheese Futures money that came in. So we
>reincor****ated the old AFSI and used that for the vehicle to save those
>dairies. Ain't it a ***** what you have to do to get stuff done here?
>
>Alaska is the only state with a "grown" program that isn't owned and run
>by the farmers & stockgrowers in the state. Div/Ag wants to own our ag
>promotion program. Even if it means suing the wheels off the farmers to
>do it.
>
> Jan
Yeah, but according to what I read in the following, you buy expensive
cheese by the pound. Period. The "futures" part of it is that what
you buy is delivery promised to you later, evidently after the cheese
ages, etc.. There's no investment advantage in terms of getting a
co-op sort of base price. And from what other readers are saying,
there may be unaddressed health issues.
Personally, I really like the entrepreneurial abilities shown and the
possibility of getting milk products free of artificial hormones,
antibiotics, and enzymes. But a 2 lb. block of cheese for $30 plus a
complicated delivery arrangement is not for me. I no longer patronize
the Farmers Market sellers of expensive and indifferent tasting
products. I don't participate in the call-in auctions sup****ting our
local, supposedly "advertisement free" public television programming,
either. Let the yuppie tree-huggers do their thing, and good luck.
Another grump I have is that typically companies start off marketing
relatively high quality products at reasonable prices, but once they
get established, economical measures are taken that diminish quality
and value. I'm afraid this is true of Tillamook dairy products.
Probably what happens is that companies are bought out by finance
people who make a business of "milking" profits.
(quote)
A new company, Alaska Farmers and Stockgrowers, is hoping to pick up
the slack in milk production between the closing of Matanuska Maid and
the opening of a new dairy planned to start buying milk in the spring.
Spokeswoman Karen Olson said the theme is "Buy cheese in advance and
keep a dairy farm alive."
The company is selling what it calls cheese futures. Buyers can order
packages in three increments. The $30 package contains a 2-pound block
of cheese and a Cheese Futures certificate. For $90, the package
contains 6 pounds of cheddar and an Alaska birch cheese knife. The
$150 package includes 10 pounds of cheddar and a small cutting board
made from birch or stone.
The cheese will be aged at least 60 days and won't be available for
delivery until spring. Olson said advance payment pays the farmers for
their milk on an ongoing basis.
For large-scale charitable donations, different packaging and pricing
can be arranged, she said. To order or get more information, call
1-907-746-2223.
(unquote)
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