Raw Milk Freedom Riders Caravan & Rally

Photo from http://www.rawmilkfreedomriders.com/

Making a Difference Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

We are big supporters of the Farm Food Freedom Coalition (FFFC).  We believe in our right to choose what we eat.  (We also choose to drink raw milk which we can legally buy at our local farms and to make our own cheese with it.)

Unfortunately, there are still 11 states where raw milk is illegal and Maryland is one of them.  This has resulted in many mothers driving to nearby Pennsylvania and illegally transporting their raw milk back to Maryland. - thus committing a crime to feed their children healthy milk.

Liz Reitzig (lizreitzig@gmail.com)

As a way of calling attention to this injustice, Liz Reitzig, co-founder of the FFFC has organized a two part event at the FDA headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland (10903 New Hampshire Ave.):

Part 1 - The Freedom Ride

 A group of mothers calling themselves the Raw Milk Freedom Riders will be meeting at a farm in Pennsylvania, buying raw milk and taking it in a caravan  to the FDA headquarters in Silver Spring, MD.  Once there, they will be drinking it and serving it to their children.

The caravan will start on US Rt 1 in Rising Sun, Maryland at 10:30am.  (Travel route at the end of this article.)  If you go, be sure to put something in your car windows identifying yourself as a raw milk freedom rider. If you need a place to stay or have questions contact: farmfoodfreedom@yahoo.com 

Part 2 - The Rally at the FDA

When they arrive at the FDA at noon, there will be speakers from across the country- some of the most important and famous proponents of raw milk.  The list of speakers is like a Who's Who in the raw milk movement:
(Note:  We weren't able to take pictures for this article and there wasn't time to get permission to use others, so the only option was to use YouTube videos.  They were chosen to give you a sense of who these speakers are.)

Joel Salatin is the author of You Can Farm and Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal. He just released a new book - Folks, This Ain't Normal: A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World.  You may have seen him in the documentary Food Inc.  He and his family run the Polyface Farm in Riverheads, Virginia.

Mark McAfee is founder and CEO of Organic Pastures Dairy in California.  He has travelled to 15 states and 3 countries, advocating for raw milk.  In 2000, Organic Pastures, located near Fresno, became California's first raw milk dairy with certified organic pasture land.

David Gumphert wrote The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America's Emerging Battle Over Food Rights, which includes a preface by Joel Salatin.  At his blog (http://www.davidgumpert.com/) he documents up-to-date developments in the movement and at his website, The Complete Patient he covers a wide range of health freedom issues.

Max Kane is a filmmaker and he just released the trailer for his new movie, Milk Men about his experiences defending food freedom on a cross country bike ride (below).   

Michael Schmidt is a Canadian farmer whose farm near Toronto (Glencolton) was raided by officials from the health department several times.  He fought back and finally triumphed but the story is frightening.  Sally Fallon tells it at her real milk website.

If you can't attend this event, Natural News Radio will have live coverage at http://www.NaturalNewsRadio.com.  There will also be live streaming at http://www.justin.tv/farmfoodfreedom.

For more info contact Liz Reitzig at Lizreitzig@gmail.com

By the way, if you have a high tolerance for frustration, check out the video below of Max Kane trying to report this upcoming illegal demonstration to the FDA.  It is apparently virtually impossible to report a violation to the FDA.

Travel Route:

Begin (A): US-1 S/Conowingo Rd.

    Head southwest on US-1 S/Conowingo Rd toward N Greenmont Rd (3.0 mi)
    Turn left onto MD-276/Jacob Tome Hwy Continue to follow MD-276 (0.5 mi)
    At the traffic circle, continue straight onto MD-276/Rising Sun Rd Continue to follow MD-276 (5.1 mi)
    Turn left onto MD-275 S/Perrylawn Dr Continue to follow Perrylawn Dr (2.5 mi)
    Turn left to merge onto I-95 S Partial toll road( 66.2 mi)
    Take exit 27 for I-495 W toward Silver Spring (0.9 mi)
    Merge onto I-495 (0.7 mi)
    Take exit 28A to merge onto MD-650 N/New Hampshire Ave toward White Oak N (1.4 mi)

End (B): 10903 New Hampshire Ave.