Well this is too bad. The quotes in that article suggest suggest either carelessness or a disregard for the customer.

Darren72 wrote:Well this is too bad. The quotes in that article suggest suggest either carelessness or a disregard for the customer.

Perhaps a little of that, or perhaps just someone who wasn't ready to expand as quickly as he attempted to. Here's the long story that the Blue Marble owner had to share about the situation.


"On a fall day, 1969, three young boys and their mother go for a walk to have a picnic under the big oak tree up on the hill in the cattle pasture. They had just come from the grocery store, so they had a lot of produce to pick through. You see, they drove around the back and picked up the food that was being discarded. They didn’t know that they were poor. They only knew that the old bananas mother could make into bread, the not so bad stuff they could eat, and the rotten stuff would get fed to the pigs.

As they stood under the massive tree, mother unfolded the red and white checkered table cloth, which made a beautiful contrast to the lush green pasture. She placed the wicker basked in the center of the table cloth and they all sat Indian style and began to divide up the very best of the produce. The children did not see fear, panic or worry. They only saw love as their mother handed out the fruit. “Oh look, you can see the capital”, she said as the children looked in amazement at the city, which looked so far away. “We may have to move to a different farm boys”, mother said. “The owner wants to sell this land and your father and I can not afford to buy it this close to the city”. We looked at each other confused, because to us, the city seemed a world away.

Forty years later in the fall of 2009, up on a hill on the edge of the city, there stands a might lone oak tree. Next to it, a large building; the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

There is a sign dedicating the tree to a person I have never met. That person was never on any of the picnics or sleigh rides we went on, 40 years earlier. I don’t recall seeing him as we gathered the cows after school before the evening milking. Anyhow, the tree was dedicated to him.

In 1971, our family packed up and moved to a farm next to a small town we had never heard of, Barneveld. The school was not only but a few grades, but all the grades kindergarten through 12, were all in one building, all under one roof. Far different from the Madison school system we had come from. If we missed the bus, we had to run to school. “Only two miles as the crow flies”, father used to say. Problem was, we weren’t crows. We were young boys with short legs. Needless to say, we did not miss the bus very often.

I grew up and graduated high school and decided to farm with my father. After a few successful years, I figured it was time to purchase half the cattle and equipment in April 1984. June 8, 1984, our farm and the town of Barneveld were wiped out by a tornado. We saved what we could, buried what we couldn’t and rebuilt the rest. Sixteen years later with the farmer and the consumer getting further disconnected, along with the RBGH approval, mad cow disease, and genetically modified crops, I had an idea. What if the farmer and the consumer were to work together? (For the common good of both) I would bottle my own milk and sell directly to the consumer in glass bottles, as close to raw milk as possible.

Over the next five years, an idea became reality. Blue Marble was born, along with many ups and downs of starting a new business. In November 2009, at the edge of total burn out and a bunch of stress related health issues, I decided to scale back and stop bottling for a time to recharge and refocus.

When the inspector came out, Wednesday November 25, 2009, and told me that they had found a possible problem with one product on one date, I informed her that we were done bottling for a time. I asked if there was anything we needed to do about the milk in question. She stated that they tested all the products, only on the whole milk dated 11-27-09 was in question. That if I was done bottling for an undetermined time, it would be best to voluntary surrender our license and there would be no more issues. When we opened up again, we would get re-inspected. Nothing was said about a recall/press release. Apparently, some other DATCP employees decided that they would do a press release without notifying myself or the inspector that came to the farm. They did this totally out of fear, even though no bacteria or pathogens were found. To make things worse, they did this after hours, 6:30 p.m., Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. On top of that, they had the press release state all Blue Marble products dated 11-27-09 and after should be discarded. Remember, only one product whole milk; one dated 11-27-09 was there ever a question. I would have gladly recalled all the whole milk dated 11-27-09, it would have been less than 30 bottles total. Instead, they ruined the Blue Marble reputation because of fear.

We live in a fear based society, change is coming. We are becoming more aware of our connection to the Earth and each other. Join together, replace fear with harmony. Who am I trying to kid putting a pen to paper? I flunked tenth grade English – twice. I am just a simple farmer, naïve enough to believe in a dream, that I can make a difference.

What someone works years on can be destroyed in seconds. I learned this back in 1984, the year of the tornado. Looks as though I will have to start to rebuild again.

Life is a journey…………Dream on.

I suppose that I should be grateful to DATCP because of their actions, my children may get to share the same experience that I had as a child – to forage through discarded produce looking for something edible. Maybe this spring, I’ll plant an acorn on a hill, not far from the city.

I hope that you can forgive me for any wrongs I have done.

God Bless,



Nick Kirch

Founder/Owner/Operator

Blue Marble Family Farm



bluemarblefamilyfarm@yahoo.com"

I picked up some Kilgus Farmsted 2% milk at the Green City Market last weekend. It's very good. Hopefully no pasteurization issues here.

Here is a news article about them and their GCM page:
http://thebuglenews.com/bugleweb/?page_id=824
http://www.chicagogreencitymarket.org/f ... .asp?id=69

Darren72 wrote:I picked up some Kilgus Farmsted 2% milk at the Green City Market last weekend. It's very good. Hopefully no pasteurization issues here.

Here is a news article about them and their GCM page:
http://thebuglenews.com/bugleweb/?page_id=824
http://www.chicagogreencitymarket.org/f ... .asp?id=69

I got some Kilgus too, and it's good. But it's no Blue Marble. Maybe it's all psychological, because I miss the glass bottle. I've moved on to Castle Rock milk, which I like significantly more than Kilgus. It's available at the Dill Pickle Coop in Logan Square.

Does anyone know where I can purchase whole buttermilk in Chicago (preferably north side). I forgot to visit the Green City Market last week (not even sure if they would have had it) and Green Grocer only carries 2% (like everyone else). Super Bowl Sunday has me making fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits, and to me biscuits are not biscuits without whole buttermilk. Anyone?

BR wrote:Does anyone know where I can purchase whole buttermilk in Chicago (preferably north side). I forgot to visit the Green City Market last week (not even sure if they would have had it) and Green Grocer only carries 2% (like everyone else). Super Bowl Sunday has me making fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits, and to me biscuits are not biscuits without whole buttermilk. Anyone?

I am fairly certain I saw local, whole buttermilk (Kilgus brand, perhaps?) at the Dill Pickle Coop in Logan Square. I'd call to confirm.

Kennyz wrote:I've moved on to Castle Rock milk, which I like significantly more than Kilgus. It's available at the Dill Pickle Coop in Logan Square.

Castle Rock is also available at Green Grocer. I like it a lot; I think I like it a tad better than I liked Blue Marble. Seems fresher and creamier.

Green Grocer
1402 West Grand Avenue
Chicago, IL 60642-6303
(312) 624-9508

Kennyz wrote:

BR wrote:Does anyone know where I can purchase whole buttermilk in Chicago (preferably north side). I forgot to visit the Green City Market last week (not even sure if they would have had it) and Green Grocer only carries 2% (like everyone else). Super Bowl Sunday has me making fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits, and to me biscuits are not biscuits without whole buttermilk. Anyone?

I am fairly certain I saw local, whole buttermilk (Kilgus brand, perhaps?) at the Dill Pickle Coop in Logan Square. I'd call to confirm.

Thanks for the tip, but Dill Pickle says they are not presently carrying any buttermilk. Apparently, it didn't sell well.

Darren72 wrote:

LAZ wrote:

Darren72 wrote:Parmalat is available in the US and is shelf-stable.

Good luck finding it at retail. Does anyone know of a local source?

I can't help you with a specific source, but our office was getting it somewhere (and it wasn't through an office supply company).

Parmalat has been available at Dollar Tree for $1/ qt, which is too expensive for my tastes. I would rather buy a gallon at Aldi for $1.79 and freeze seven pints for future use.

Most milk lovers truly hate the ultra-pasteurized version.