Raw Milk Underground

After my botched taste-test, I didn't think of raw milk for several months. One night I found myself babysitting and bored, having put the kids to bed. Charlottesville is home to an inordinate number of parents who are fundamentally opposed to cable television, so I scrounged through their reading material and found a magazine devoted to healthy farming practices. One of the articles featured Organic Pastures, a massive raw dairy operation in California, and its recent scuffs with the law. The magazine interviewed the owner, who explained why people love raw milk, even though the government is hell-bent on shutting them down.

The whole issue struck me as bizarre and fascinating, do I decided to learn more. After a few Google searches, I found out that raw milk is illegal to buy or sell in Virginia, and that the only way for me to get raw milk was to buy a cow, or at least part of one. The hunt was on.

I quickly found out that the farm nearest to Charlottesville with a cow share operation was maxed out, or at least I assumed that to be the case based on the non-response to any of my emails inquiring about share availability. (I later found out that the farm could handle many more shareholders, but they opt to milk the cows once a day and let the calves have their mommies for the rest. Talk about cow-share.)

A friend of mine who works at a natural food store told me that a dairy in Amelia, Virginia was thinking of starting up weekly raw milk deliveries to Charlottesville. Suddenly I was the member of a Yahoo! discussion group and found myself fully tapped into the raw milk underground culture.

The cost can be prohibitive: a share cost $100 (one time cost), and monthly boarding fees are around $40. A share only gets you a gallon of milk a week, so many families buy multiple shares. We also have to pay $2.50 for the weekly deliveries and an additional fee for bottles. I opted for the half-share option (half a gallon of milk a week) and split the cost with my sister and a roommate. I crossed my fingers that the milk would be as delicious as they said it was. For $10 a gallon, it better be.

After I sent in my check, all I had to do was wait for enough other people to sign up. Then the drop-offs would start.