Before we say good-bye... - Chico, CA by Noelle

August 5, 2007

We awoke early to gather one last time for a tour of the organic dairy program that just started at the CSU, Chico University Farm. This was officially the last day for Wenonah Hauter, Adam Scow and myself before we hopped off the bus to send the bus on to Oregon. The morning was absolutely beautiful, again an unusually cool day for Chico, which made the outdoor tour of the dairy even more enjoyable. Darby Holmes, the dairy manager, greeted us as our tour host and proved to be an effective barrier between us and the bull who was questioning our presence among his 50 cows. Thanks Darby! But before we made it to the pasture, we saw the milking parlor... a small operation that milks just 6 cows at a time... and the cooling/storage tank. With a head of about 50 cows so far, it takes up to 2 hours to get all the cows milked! With state of the art milking devices, the cows leave the parlor feeling healthier and happier than your average dairy. This operation is part of the Organic Valley Cooperative of Family Farms and gets their milk picked up unpasteurized every other day. An interesting, and nice thing about this coop is that despite the multi-state cooperative relationship, the distribution is divided into regions that allow California milk to stay in California. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to this dairy and if I may speak for the others, the best part was standing in the pasture surrounded by 40 to 50 cows. If you haven’t gotten close up with a cow lately, I highly recommend it! They are quite lovable creatures as Diane soon realized as she felt a nibble and a nudge on her backside!

We had a healthy and delicious farewell lunch at G’rilla Bites before parting ways with the bus. We snapped some final photos, showed the bus to Fred Markham, founder of the G’rilla Bites chain, and gave our filmmaker, bus driver and Sustainable table friends hugs goodbye we loaded into our measly car to head back to San Francisco.

Farewell Moopheus and friends! From the California based Food and Water Watch crew we wish you a safe and tasty journey!

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