This is the end (singing the song in my head)

Of the raw milking season for 2021. Not the farm. And not raw milk going forward. Despite Jeanette warning me, in writing no less! I completely forgot that this was our last pickup for 2021. I mean, we are drying off in November. And it is still October. That is next month! Which also happens to be next week, for those of you who are calendar challenged, like I apparently am.

So when I got to our dairy farm for our weekly pickup, it was with surprise sadness that I realized that I wouldn’t be back next week. After Tamryn told me, you don’t think I actually realized anything on my own, did you? Duh.

We do have lamb there. And pork. So I’ll be back. Just not on my normal weekly trip.

Despite my being sad, the timing actually worked out. I’d say most people know I volunteer for the Civil Air Patrol as a pilot. It keeps my flying sharp, and lets me do so for no cost to me (other than time). We have a week long mission coming up starting the first week in November and I’d already overcommitted myself to that week, flying five days out of six so making my normal rounds was already going to be a stretch. So I’m glad we aren’t doing a milk pickup next week but I’ll miss visiting with our dairy farm operator when I’m there each week. Sometimes I don’t see her at all as she’s farming. But sometimes we hang out for an hour and chat. It is fun and great to catch up.

But the good news is we’ll be back to milking in January or February (depending on birth dates for our new little ones) and we’ll be back to raw milk and the herd share. What that means to everyone who buys raw milk is, this week is your last week. After that, we don’t have any. None saved. None frozen. None hidden in the secret farmer’s share.

It also means that the signup list for being in the herd share is defunct and when the season starts next year, you’ll need to buy in again for a new year. Jeanette has been telling new people that for months now, not letting them buy in since it is almost over. So none of this should be a surprise, but all this is NC law, not something we cooked up ourselves. We only charge the cost of one gallon of milk for membership so it isn’t like it is a big expense but it catches some people flat footed sometimes so I wanted to get it out there.

For some eagle eyed regulars you may have noticed some oddly shaped bottles in with all the rest of the milk in that first picture. Christy noted they had eggnog in the coolers when she was picking up our Simply Natural dairy order and grabbed us a few. We spend every holiday season with eggnog on backorder as they can never keep it in stock well enough to keep up with demand. After my drop off, I was leaving the store, headed to SC, and only my laziness (I didn’t want to pack a cooler) kept me from grabbing the eggnog and bringing it with me. So there are 3 sitting in the cooler waiting on whomever is quickest. If you miss getting these three, then tell Jeanette or True or Jasper or Myla (whoever is working the store that day) to put your name on the order list so we can order it in and hold it for you.

Back to my headline, for those of you not old enough to remember The Doors (like my kids, should they ever actually read something I wrote), here is the song I was hearing in my head during this entire post.