Holistic Business Ethics
posted on
May 2, 2011
If you're a locavore, the simple act of eating becomes a powerful, three-times-a-day vote for the food system you support. There is power in grocery shopping. You can make a difference. If Food Inc. makes you sick... then don't buy industrial food. It's as easy as that.
At least it sounds easy till you go looking for local, non-industrial food and find it next to impossible to locate and maybe even in short supply.
This is where The Family Cow pickup locations come in. We'll bring it to you! Our family bends over backwards to ensure that purchasing from a local, sustainable, organic farm is as convenient and pleasant as possible and that the supply and delivery is dependable.
When you make the conscious choice to feed your family from The Family Cow, that choice allows you to be a key supporter of a unique, farmer-connected food supply. Our average drop-point delivery is only 115 miles from our 100% certified organic farm. That can sound far, but considering that the average purchase from the supermarket travels 1,500 to 2,500 miles from farm to table, it is actually quite close.
But maybe you are looking for something even more local than we provide. Then what? To get you started, here are some other PA dairies that also sell high quality raw milk. Some of them may be in your immediate area. Check them out. Most of them are not certified organic but at least some are. Some of them have Holstein cows instead of Jerseys but to my best knowledge they all are making a quality product and they are all inspected and permitted by the PA Department of AG for raw milk sales. Feel free to contact them. Ask them your questions. Tell them that Edwin from The Family Cow referred you.
It may seem extraordinary that we give direct links to other raw milk farms that we could view as competitors. Businesses just do not do that. And that is the point. This is more than just business.
Our attitude of co-operation with other farmers is simply an extension of the organic principle of harmony and balance. We emphasize positives rather than negatives. (Pro-biotics rather than anti-biotics is a shining example of this philosophy.) We choose to nurture the synergy of the whole community of farmers and the families eating from those farms, rather than only our small segment of that whole. Call it holistic business principle if you will.
We do not think of other raw milk farmers as competitors. We rather see them as friends and partners in the sustainable, grass-based agriculture raw milk revolution. We are on the same team. Our message is the same and our goal is one. We are real life, down to earth farm families that have a passion to grow and deliver the purest and the best to our customer-friends.
At The Family Cow, we are firmly convinced that when each of us pours our energies into producing truly remarkable food and educating others about those foods, that we will all be rewarded. The demand will outrun our ability to supply... and we will need to encourage more farmers to join us!
But quite the opposite would happen if we'd fall into the trap of seeing our fellow raw milk farmers as enemies. Our customers and children would grow disillusioned at our negativity and anger would ruin us all.
So feel free to buy from any and all. We will not be offended if you decide that one of the above is a better fit for you and your family. The earth is big. There is room for everyone and we sincerely wish the best of food and blessings for all.
Your Farmer ~ Edwin Shank
*Locavore: (ló-ca-vor)
Someone who exclusively (or at least primarily) eats foods from their local or regional foodshed or a determined radius from their home (commonly either 100 or 250 miles, depending on location). By eating locally, most locavores hope to create a greater connection between themselves and their food sources, resist industrialized and processed foods, and support their local economy. The majority of locavores do not give themselves a strict radius from which to eat, but instead buy as much of their food as they can from farmers, growers, and sellers with whom they have a relationship or whose growing or producing practices they wish to support.
