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I grew up drinking "REAL"(raw) milk. I drank it from the time I was born until I was about 12 years old. I'm 55 now, and NEVER had an illness due to the milk. I drank both cow and some goats milk. The "all knowing" state needs to help these small farms survive instead of blocking them every step of the way. "Real"(raw) milk is healthier for you, it provides much needed good bacteria for your system. When you go to the farm to buy your milk you can see the conditions there and you know where it came from. How much do you know about the milk you get from the super market?
Local farm milk has far superior taste. Milk from Jersey and Swiss cows is richer. America's factory farms produce watery stuff from Holsteins. They produce more milk per cow, but it is inferior and the biotics used to keep the cooped up cows healthy are not likely to help humans.
And I too have been known to make butter from the grass and hay fed, not kibble fed producers. It not only tastes better, it has more omega oils.
I love Cricket Creek Farm in Williamstown, which has not only milk and cheese, but meats and a bakery.
If unable to get there I buy Pittsfield's High Lawn Farm milk at the supermarket, but not all carry it.
ServiceNet Warming Center Hosted 126 People This Winter
By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
ServiceNet manages the warming shelter next to the church.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — ServiceNet's warming center has provided more than heat to unhoused individuals over the last four months and will run to the end of April.
It opened on Dec. 1 in the First United Methodist Church's dining area, next to ServiceNet's 40-bed shelter The Pearl. The agency has seen 126 individuals utilize the warming center and provided some case management to regulars.
While this winter was a success, they are already considering next winter.
"I've been on this committee many years now. There's probably only a few months out of the year that I don't talk about winter, so I'm always trying to plan for next winter," Erin Forbush, ServiceNet's director of shelter and housing, told the Homelessness Advisory Committee on Wednesday.
"We are in this winter and I'm already thinking what's going to happen next winter because I want to be really clear, winter shelter is never a given. We don't have this built into the state budget. It's not built into our budget, so there is always trying to figure out where we get money, and then where do we go with winter shelter."
She pointed out that warming centers are "very different" from shelters, which have a bed. The warming center is set up like a dining room, open from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m., and folks are welcome to stay for breakfast.
"We are asking people to come in, get warm, be out of the elements," Forbush explained.
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