Another side of the Claravale story

[Guest guest]

The content of this post is from Aajonus Vonderplanitz,

a nutritionist who has worked closely with the former

Southern CA distributor of Claravale. I am posting

this because it rounds out some of the comments

in an earlier posting that indicated that the SoCal

distributor " suddenly " dropped Claravale, which is

far from the case -- and I felt it would be valuable to

present a balanced view for those who are interested.

Thanks!

Aajonus' message follows:

Claravale Farm dairy supplied us with raw milk and

cream for 3 years. It is a small dairy using old

fashioned, totally natural, time honored dairy methods

dating from the 1930's, before the more recent move

toward large-scale factory farming. The market

demand grew beyond what the owner of Claravale

chose to supply. Without any advanced notice or

explanation to the distributor, from October through

December, Claravale decreased its production to

less than half the amount that they had been supplying

to its Southern CA distributor. Most of the consumers

were devastated without the raw-milk supply. The

distributor lost money and nearly closed his business.

Fortunately, another diary interested in supplying raw

milk contacted the distributor and Organic Green

Pastures dairy was born. It is able to supply the

present market demand.

However, Claravale raw milk products are unique,

produced entirely from Jersey Cows that are an old

fashioned breed that is world renowned for being

naturally higher in cream, proteins, solids, and beta-

carotene than other breeds produce. All other milk

sold in California, including other raw milk, come

primarily from Holsteins and do not have the those

qualities of Claravale products.

Claravale must sell its milk or it is unlikely that it will

survive. If they do not survive Claravale says that its

Northern California customers also will be deprived

of its products. That would be unfortunate. Claravale

has engaged a new distributor, Doug Call, who

would like to supply Claravale products to Southern

California. Claravale's owner advised me that,

unfortunately, stores in Southern California, especially

the Whole Foods chain are hesitant to restore Claravale

raw milk to its shelves. (Note from : fortunately,

the situation with Whole Foods has changed since this

letter was originally written -- but it would be good to

continue to follow up with other stores.)

Therefore, I request that those interested in drinking

Claravale raw milk, or to extend appreciation for having

had Claravale, and in the interest of a choice of raw milk

on shelves, contact the dairy buyer at the

individual stores.

healthfull and appreciatively, aajonus

Here is a list of stores in Southern California that have

access to Claravale raw milk and cream (note from :

since Whole Foods will now be carrying Claravale, there is no need

to contact WF, just other stores):

Co-Opportunity, Santa

Erewhon Mkt, Hollywood

Mothers, Costa Mesa (also possibly the other two)

Pacific Greens, Malibu

Wild Oats, Irvine

Wild Oats, Laguna Beach

Wild Oats, Pasadena

Wild Oats, Santa

Wild Oats, West Hollywood

Wild Oats, West L.A.

Northern California stores that carry Claravale milk:

Aptos Natural Foods, Aptos

Country Sun, Palo Alto

CoOp,

Earth Beam, Burlingame

El Cerito Natural Grocery, El Cerito

Farmer Joe's, Berkeley

Food Mill, Oakland

Good Earth, Fairfax

Harvest House, Concord

New Leaf, Capitola

New Leaf, Felton

New Leaf, Santa Cruz

Open Sesame, Lafayette

Peggy's Health Center, Los Altos

Piazza, San Mateo

Piccadilly Circus, Berkeley

Piccadilly Circus, San Anselmo

Piccadilly Circus, Sacramento

Piccadilly Circus, Sunnyvale

Rainbow, San Francisco

Real Foods, San Francisco, 24th St.

Sacramento Coop., Sacramento

Santa Community Market, Santa

Staff of Life, Santa Cruz

Sunshine Foods, Calistoga