by Eileen Weber

For those with a bovine sense of humor, here’s a cow joke for you: Why did the cow jump over the moon? The farmer had cold hands.
If you’re a dairy farmer, you’ve probably heard that one before. And there are enough dairy farmers in this state to get a chuckle out of it. In Connecticut, there is a $2 billion agriculture industry with dairy farmers a good percentage of it.
Some of those dairy farmers decided to go into business together.
The Farmer’s Cow, based in Lebanon, has been spreading the word about the value of supporting your local dairy farmer.
Four years ago, six family-owned farms joined together to provide milk for parts of New York and Massachusetts and most of Connecticut. Between them, they milk 2,300 cows on nearly 7,000 acres of land. They’ve been so successful with milk they decided to try other products. They have half and half, eggs, and cider. In November, they launched their newest product: Heavy cream. With the holidays upon us, it’s just in the nick of time.
Some, however, have already sampled the heavy cream as a holiday treat.
The Unquowa School in Fairfield got the jump on The Farmer’s Cow early on.
“Unquowa has been with us since Day One,” said Robin Chesmer, Managing Director at The Farmer’s Cow. “They buy our milk because they liked our concept.” Last month, the school made a Thanksgiving meal made in part by The Farmer’s Cow product.
But heavy cream is only one stop on their way to a world of lactose domination. The company is looking to include farm-fresh ice cream as part of their upcoming product line. With an April launch, they are planning for six flavors. Besides the usual kinds like chocolate and vanilla, they’re thinking a little outside the box with chocolate mint chip and cookies and cream.
Eco-Crackpots and New Year’s Resolutions
That’s when a good cause loses its steam with the rest of the general public. You, the sweat-pant-wearing, bon-bon-eating, armchair quarterback of life. Blossoming interest is lost once the passion for something—in this case, the environment—comes across as craziness. It’s just another good message gone bad.
Case in point: A friend of mine sent me a Facebook link to the Organic Consumers Association. In it, a woman called for an organic New Year’s Resolution. She is planning on taking her commitment of an organic lifestyle to the next level. She wants to eat more responsibly and hopes you will, too. Certainly a noble cause and I wasn’t alone in thinking that. A number of people responded positively to the organic challenge.
But for me, that challenge was more than a little bit tainted when one person responded by grand-standing. Where one woman tried to start a grassroots movement and offered others to join her, this crackpot wandered aimlessly from topic to topic: Everything from “It’s all the government’s fault” to a nation-wide increase in pill-popping to the evils of pesticides. Frankly, it was a bizarre and rambling romp through narcissicism.
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