Contrary to what an old advertising campaign asserted, milk is not for everybody. Some people are simply unable to digest it (particularly those whose genetic ancestors come from parts of the world where dairy foods have never been a major part of the human diet, such as east and southeastern Asia). Others suffer from what is called "lactose intolerance;" for some reason, their bodies cannot handle the natural sugars found in dairy products.

It's even possible that dairy foods may contribute to asthma, allergies and other respiratory ailments in certain individuals.

Or it's distinctly possible that the milk itself has nothing to do with it, but rather the way it's processed.

According to a recent study published in the medical journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy, drinking fresh milk straight off the farm (aka: raw milk) may actually prevent childhood asthma and allergies. The study was carried out a few years back in the E.U. and included almost 15,000 kids between 5 and 13 living in northern European countries. The kids that were studied represented a healthy cross-section, including those who lived on farms as well as in cities and suburbs.

The results, according to the lead researcher Dr. Marco Waser: "All the children drinking unpasteurized farm milk and eating other farm-related dairy products showed the same level of protection against asthma and allergies, regardless of whether they were living on a farm or not." The kids least likely to suffer from respiratory ailments were those who had been drinking farm milk from the time they were weaned from their mothers' breast. Furthermore, there didn't seem to be much difference in whether or not the milk had been boiled first – suggesting that there may be other compounds that protect these kids from respiratory problems.

They still don't recommend drinking raw milk however. There's a reason we pasteurize dairy products, and that's for your own safety – so don't just rush off to the nearest farm to buy a bucket of fresh milk fresh from the cow's udder (legally, they probably couldn't sell it directly to you anyway.  There is a trick to getting it though.  You can co-op own a cow.  Owing your own cow allows you to consume its milk directly). Your kids may get similar benefits from certified organic milk from local sources, which you can purchase in most supermarkets these days. It costs more, but may very well be worth it if it does the job (it's certainly cheaper than asthma and allergy medication).

Another dairy product that frequently gets overlooked is whole milk yogurt. We're not talking about the flavored yogurt that comes in tiny containers; what you want is plain yogurt that specifically contains "live and active cultures." The idea of tiny bugs living in your intestines may seem bizarre, but these microbes are actually very helpful in keeping your intestines clean. The best proof may come from certain people in the Hunza Valley of northern Pakistan, who regularly live to be 100 years old – and eat yogurt almost every day. Plain yogurt is pretty versatile – you can make tasty desserts by adding honey and fruit, or a nice savory dressing for vegetables or meat and poultry (garlic, mint and lemon is a favorite dressing for roast lamb in some parts of the world), and it's a decent substitute for sour cream as well.

Recently, a woman living in the small Idaho town of Kootenai (about fifty miles northwest of Spokane, Washington in the middle of Idaho's panhandle) called her city council to find out what the regulations were about keeping chickens in one's back yard.

The problem was, there weren't any. Turns out nobody had ever brought up the issue before.

I've talked a lot here about the open as well as the hidden costs of beef and why America's favorite source of protein is liable to get much more expensive (and admittedly, healthier and of better quality) in the future. Fortunately, chickens and ducks are much less resource-intensive, take up much less space – and produce an excellent source of inexpensive protein.

Yes, factory farms abuse poultry as well, as but more and more people vote with their pocketbooks and are willing to pay $3 to $5 a dozen for eggs laid by happy, free-range hens, that may very well go by the wayside. But another way people are taking control of their food supply is by raising chickens in their backyards. (My friend Scott in Hawaii just got 3 hens)

It's a bit of a project; you'll need a good, safe enclosure that raccoons and neighborhood cats  can't get into, and of course, you'll need to invest in a regular supply of chicken feed. The good news is however that most municipalities today are quite open to the idea of people keeping chickens in their backyards. Several folks I know of are even turning their flocks into a nice little revenue stream by selling eggs to their neighbors.

Most city ordinances that restrict this kind of enterprise are not necessarily directed toward chickens particularly; when these laws were passed, people were mostly worried about their neighbors keeping cows, horses and pigs – all of which give off aromas that many people do not find especially pleasant (and the fecal matter can pose a distinct health hazard in an urban or suburban area).

Chickens and ducks are pretty unobtrusive (geese can be noisy, however). Nonetheless, you'll definitely want to check in with your city council members before you start raising chickens. You should also know that while an increasing number of cities and towns are allowing residents to raise chickens in their back yards, there is no way that anyone is going to allow you to keep roosters – for reasons that should be patently obvious to anyone who works the night shift. If you like the idea of roast chicken on occasion, you'll still have to rely on your traditional, rural farmer, or pick up some free-range chickens at your nearby Trader Joes or Whole Foods market.

That said, if you are an egg connoisseur, you're going to find that home-raised eggs are tastier and healthier than the bargain brand you've picked up for years at .88 cents a dozen from the local Mega-Lo Mart most of your life.

Yes, it's a lot of time and trouble, and you may have to fight with the city council – but trust me, it's well worth it.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Will Rogers – "With Congress, every time they make a joke, it's a law – and every time they make a law, it's a joke."

Except HR 875 is no laughing matter. It's the so-called "Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009.

I wrote on this about a year ago. This bill was introduced by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), whose husband, Stan Greenburg, reportedly has ties to (surprise!) Monsanto. Now, on the surface of it, the bill looks like a good-faith attempt to protect the American people from "food-borne illnesses" while "ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to food-borne illness, and improving security of food from intentional contamination, and for other purposes."

HR875 is currently in committee, which is where most bills go to die. Still, at any moment it could come lurching back to life. So...why are so many people worked up about it?

On one hand, people are seeing it as a government takeover of agriculture, including not only the big factory farms and huge corporate operations like Monsanto and ConAgra, but small organic farmers and even your neighbor who grows vegetables in his backyard and sells them at the local farmer's market. On the other hand (given Representative DeLauro's purported ties to Monsanto), folks are saying that it's a corporate takeover of agriculture and is going to put Big Corporate Ag in charge, forcing everyone to use GMO seeds (which as you know, Monsanto has a virtual lock on).

The bottom line is, this bill threatens to take control away from small family farmers and force us down a particular path – with heavy fines and even prison time for violators. Here's what's dangerous about HR 875 – it's a "one-size-fits-all" piece of legislation that in the great tradition of the legal profession, is incredibly vague. The hidden cost of legislation like HR 875 is that when things like this get signed into law, there are going to be lawsuits and litigation and court challenges for decades, and the only folks that are going to come out winners are the lawyers.

There's another bill sneaking its way through Congress right now, and from what I'm hearing, it's not only worse than HR 875, it's more likely to become law. That's HR 759, the so-called "Food and Drug Globalization Act of 2009."

What's really scary about HR 759 (introduced by Congressman John Dingle of Michigan) is that it's totally flying under the radar. Hardly anyone knows about it (I found out just today). This bill would allow the FDA to impose "science-based standards" on everyone right down to the backyard gardener and force everyone to pay "compliance fees," submit to "hazard evaluations" and "preventative controls," and put a huge paperwork burden on everyone.

And it doesn't do a damn thing about food safety.

This bill is likely to come up for a vote by the end of May. Get educated – call your member of Congress – and raise your voice before it's too late.

Read previous discussion on this topic at: http://blog.alextiller.com/BlogRetrieve.aspx?BlogID=2729&PostID=58102

As you know, I'm not against meat consumption - I love a good burger or steak grilled out in the open air on a summer afternoon. On the other hand, considering the state of the world (too many people, not enough farmland) and the various and sundry problems (and questionable morality) of the factory-farm system that raises commercial meat products, it's looking increasingly like meat is going to once again be a luxury item, to be enjoyed on occasion rather than as an everyday source of protein.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, and it's a golden opportunity for ranchers to tap into today's niche markets – where the demand for clean, sustainably-raised meat products is literally exploding.

Now, in case you missed it, 2010 Small Farms Conference at Oregon State University in Corvallis back in February had presentations on this and other issues on topics of interest to small farmers who are tired of struggling and being under-appreciated (and underpaid).

If you haven't been to this conference yet, I highly recommend that you get it in gear and get registered for next year's conference, which is going to be on the 26^th of February 2011.  What you can learn from this little get-together is how you, as a small farmer, can actually make a decent living at what you do while helping your neighbors and community – all things I tend to harp on a lot on this blog.

This year, the conference at a total of 18 presentations in the areas of production, marketing (the biggie for a lot of us) and government and social policy as it relates to our occupation. If you couldn't get there, here's a sample of what was covered:

• Alternative Meat Marketing Strategies: Pretty much what I started out with. I was surprise to learn that there have been ranchers selling their beef, lamb and poultry direct to high-end restaurants and specialty food co-ops since the 1980s. One lady from eastern Oregon (there's actually some prime cattle country in that area) is now able to sell her grass-fed beef to the Bon Appetit organization, which is introducing this kind of sustainably-raised meat and produce to places where they have to feed mass numbers of people every day – like educational institutions, hospitals and large companies with in-house cafeterias.

• Agri-Tourism: Why not make your farm into a tourist attraction? It's amazing to me how little people know about their food and how and where it's grown and the people who do the work of raising it. It's also heartening to see that those same people are genuinely curious and anxious to learn about how that food goes from seed to the table and are willing to pay good money for an education in this regard. (Hey, remember the story of Tom Sawyer and the whitewashing of Aunt Polly's fence?) Check out the site at http://www.OregonCountryTrails.com to learn about one agritourism model that's working well.

This is just a small sample of what's happening as small farmers reassert themselves. After all, it's what most of America started out as. To find out more (and download the current issue of their magazine), try visiting http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/newsletter.