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I asked UDV president whether dairy farmers should tip their milk down the drain

I’ve been asked a few times why dairy farmers don’t just refuse to supply supermarkets or tip our milk down the drain in protest at the unsustainable price of milk. Meanwhile, the actions of the Brits in blockading milk processors has been spectacularly successful. I thought I’d put a few “burning” milk price questions to the president of the United Dairy Farmers of Victoria, Kerry Callow, who kindly offered the following replies.

Kerry Callow

UDV president, Kerry Callow

MMM: We’ve all heard that $1 milk is a big deal for farmers but what about consumers? It sounds like a great deal, especially for families doing it tough!
KC: Milk at $1 is obviously attractive to consumers. Especially those with limited incomes and young families to feed. Dairy farming families understand limited incomes. They have had a cut in prices they receive – like having a salary cut. But this is not just about the here and now. It’s also about what’s sustainable. What will consumers have in years to come? Milk at $1 a litre retail is not sustainable for dairy farmers to produce. In Queensland it is reported that already 30 farms have left the dairy industry and more will follow. And consumers will have noticed the challenge in finding non-supermarket brand full cream milk in the dairy sections. This is a strategy for the supermarkets to dominate the supply of milk products industry. It is hard to see how consumers will keep the choices they currently enjoy. Farmers cannot afford to produce milk at the current price.

MMM: Why don’t farmers simply refuse to sell the milk at such low prices?
KC: Dairy farmers also have families to feed, children to educate and bills to pay (power has gone up 16% since the end of June, refrigerant gases required to cool milk have skyrocketed). And dairy farmers also have contracts to supply milk to processors to fulfil. The financial penalty to not supply is greater than the financial penalty to supply at a loss.

MMM: What about tipping the milk down the drain for a few days?
KC: Tipping milk out for a few days doesn’t fix the problem. (Disposing of milk that way does create added management challenges on farm). The problem is that supermarkets have decided to use milk as a ’loss leader’ and hold the price of milk down to ridiculous levels.

MMM: Is the VFF/UDV considering action like the farmers took in the UK? Would it work here?
KC: There is also discussion in New South Wales and Queensland about taking direct action. Because dairy farmers in those states rely heavily on the fresh milk market they are more exposed to the supermarkets pricing actions. Taking direct action is difficult because in this case the focus of dairy farmers angst is not a government or agency or authority, it is a commercial entity that has shown limited capacity to hear farmers concerns or acknowledge that their actions are directly and adversely impacting dairy farming families. That said, farmers are getting frustrated with the current situation.

MMM: Is there a silver lining to the $1 milk campaign?
KC: Not really. The supermarkets will point to milk consumption being higher now than before the retail milk price was slashed. But we think the consumer is heading down the road of less choice for milk products. And now we have other products like cheese and butter being marketed heavily on price. That is not a positive outcome.

Filed under Community

2 responses to “I asked UDV president whether dairy farmers should tip their milk down the drain

  1. The Dairy Farmers in New Zealand are part of a supply chain to provide Dairy Beef Calves for rearing by specialists. Is there a role in Australia to do the same rather than accepting a ridiculous price for non contracted milk? We use Angus sire over a friesan cow via the I.A. system. There is a definite market for those calves and the Beef industry are keen for these calves at about 12 months of age.

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Tag Archives: Australian dairy farmers

Light at the end of the tunnel: ADF’s Terry Richardson

If there’s one word dairy farming feels like at the moment, it’s exhausting. Sometimes – often – I wonder why we keep on slogging away. So, I asked dairy peak body, the Australian Dairy Farmers, to write a guest post titled simply “The Light at the End of the Tunnel”. It’s not an easy piece to write and I am incredibly grateful to ADF president, Terry Richardson, for taking up the challenge.

ADF president, Terry Richardso

ADF president, Terry Richardson

Last year was tough. It was tougher than tough for a lot of dairy farmers.

So, is there light at the end of the tunnel? I think as a farmer you just get used to riding a bike up and down those hills. To keep their heads above water, farmers must keep peddling their bike.

I could start talking about the global market showing a slight upward trend, or I could talk about the things that we have been working on to make sure last year never happens again.

There isn’t a quick fix and there is no silver bullet.

While we are an industry that has been under intense pressure, we are also an industry that has the know-how and resilience to overcome adversity and thrive in the long term.

ADF, together with the state dairy organisations have fought hard for farmers and continue to do so. Even though we won’t be able to solve all the issues farmers are facing, we have been working behind the scenes to relieve some of the pressures. We want to ensure that an unfair share of the risk in the value chain is not taken by the farmer and that events last year don’t ever happen again.

Our first aim is to show you that there is a tunnel. To us, this is the ongoing prosperity of dairy farmers’ and our clear intent is to ensure no dairy farmer is ever made to feel vulnerable over processor decisions. This is the reason we are working on a code of practice for contractual agreements between farmers and their processors.

Next, we need to show you that there is a light. The Effects Test is a tool regulators can use to judge whether a company is acting to unfairly reduce competition. With the potential for use in examining the business practices of the large supermarkets in Australia, and their strategies around $1 per litre milk, and $6 kg cheese.

Lastly, the Commodity Milk Price Index will be a tool farmers can use to better understand and plan for market volatility throughout the Australian dairy supply chain. This is the bike.

We need practical and viable solutions to increase transparency in the way the milk pricing system works, and to simplify milk contracts to ensure the volatility of the market is better balanced. Improving equity and transparency through the supply chain is one of the matters ADF is driving with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Federal Government.

We can’t do this alone, collaboration is the key to get us where we need to be. Our industry relies on all the elements to operate effectively. Farmers need processors and processors need customers big and small – so the solutions require all of us to work together to ensure a positive future.

While we can show farmers the tunnel, offer them a light and hand them the bike by working on the solutions for a long, sustainable future, it is still important that we continue to develop and improve these tools so farmers can keep peddling.

Farmers can help achieve this by grabbing every opportunity that comes their way, getting involved, joining a policy discussion through their state organisation and by showing the community that dairy farmers – regardless of the challenges they face are good business people, who care for their cows and work to enhance the well-being of the Australian people.

Filed under Farm

Following the money – where your DA dollars go

The fabulous UDV infographic in the last post got me thinking about how the biggest chunk of farmer levy funds are spent – with Dairy Australia.

Just how much does an average farm pay for DA? I did some sums based on figures from the 2016 Australian Dairy In Focus report and, for the average Australian dairy farm producing 1,563,258 litres of milk, the annual DA levy came to $5,523.

Are we getting good value? I asked Dairy Australia some basic questions about what it does and where our money goes. After discussing it amongst themselves for a few weeks, the DA staff were most forthcoming. This is one of the longest posts ever likely to appear on Milk Maid Marian but it’s very useful. Thank you, DA!

1. What are the sources of DA’s funding?

For 2016/17:

Payments from levy payers:                                                               $32.0 million
Matching Federal Government funding for R&D projects:      $20.4 million
Other (Interest on reserves, royalties on IP)                                  $0.7 million

Total                                                                                $53.1 million

DA project expenditure is also able to leverage additional State & Federal Government funding by investing jointly in projects, this adds approximately $10 million a year.

2. What percentages of DA’s budget are accounted for by admin, R&D, extension, promotion, and reputation protection? (I’m imagining a pie chart here)

3. How does DA set its priorities?

DA follows a process each year to refresh its strategic priorities as part of its rolling three-year plan.

Each year, the starting point is to review the performance of existing/current projects and whether they are achieving what they set out to do. An environmental scan of the operating environment helps to identify any new risks or challenges the industry will need to address.

Once these two steps have been completed, then comes the key measure to the whole process – extensive consultation with representative bodies, Regional Development Programs (RDPs) and farmers. This provides a focus of effort and expenditure on those matters that are not only seen as important, but necessary for a profitable and sustainable sector. Out of this DA is able to clearly define its key investment priorities.

From here, budgets are set and project expenditures are revised to help complete the new plan. Once finalised the plan is presented to industry and Federal Government for ratification.

The underlying, big industry challenge is to profitably grow farm production to fully take advantage of regional potential over the next decade. The current plan retains its focus on building the foundations to support resilience and growth.

Our core priorities are clear and concise: making farm businesses more profitable and competitive; growing people skills and capability; and protecting and promoting our industry.

4. Can you offer a list of the main projects delivered over the last 3 years and those slated for 2017 in R&D, extension, promotion and reputation protection?

The main projects delivered over the last three years are as follows – many of which are ongoing:

  • Regional Development Programs – extension activities to fill the gap left by state governments, discussion groups (now 107 groups up from 80, nationally) and focus farms (a total of 12 nationally).
  • Herd Improvement – Good Bulls Guide, ABV’s, Breeding Indices
  • Dairy Bioscience, Forages – DairyBio (formerly Dairy Futures CRC), hybrid breeding, endophytes
  • Dairy Bioscience, Animal Improvement – DairyBio, tracking genetic progress, Feeding the genes
  • Integrated Feedbase R,D&E – Feeding Pastures for Profit
  • Animal Nutrition & Feed Systems – Feed planning and budgeting, cow nutrition manual, purchasing grain resources, feed additives resources
  • Forage Improvement – Fert$mart, perennial ryegrass management, TopFodder silage management, quality pasture silage booklet
  • Industry Education – NCDE, Young Dairy Network, Picasso Cows, Discover Dairy, Cows Create Careers
  • Attracting & Retaining People – the People in Dairy website and resources like the Employee Starter Kits (ESKi), Stepping Stones, Stepping Up/Stepping Back, Farm Safety Starter Kit
  • Marketing – Foods that Do Good (promoting dairy alongside fruit and vegetables to health professionals), Australian Grand Dairy Awards, Legendairy Capital

Projects underway for this financial year, some of which are ongoing from last year, include:

  • Animal health and fertility – Raising awareness and adoption of new Cattle welfare standards (Animal Health & Welfare), improving herd fertility and supporting farmers to phase out calving induction (InCalf), improving mastitis management through new Milk Quality adviser training and better practices at drying off (Countdown), publishing a new edition of the calf rearing manual (Rearing Healthy Calves), improving dairy hygiene to reduce milk price penalties due to bacterial counts (Better Hygiene Better Milk)
  • Genetics and herd improvement – Data Gene (including a centralised data repository), DairyBio
  • Feedbase and animal nutrition – Forage Value Index, DairyBio
  • Farm business management – Dairy Base training, Taking Stock, Standard Chart of Accounts
  • Farm systems and modelling – Precision dairy, virtual fencing
  • Land, water and carbon – Fert$mart, More Profit from Nitrogen (cross sector), Waste to Revenue (cross sector), Phosphorous efficient pastures (cross sector), Stocktake of the Nutrient Loss to Water Risk for the Australian Dairy Industry, feed additives to reduce methane emissions (led by Canadian research institutions), Sustainable Pasture Systems under climate extremes, Profitable Dairying in a Carbon Constrained Future program (Australian Government funded), Cool Cows heat alert service and Cool Cows workshops, Smarter Irrigation for Profit (cross sector) and technical support for industry contributions to the design and implementation of the Murray Darling Basin Plan

  • International market support – China, Japan and South East Asia scholarship programs and in market programs across China, Japan, South East Asia and the Middle East
  • Manufacturing innovation and sustainability – Technology Transfer Scheme, Transfer Dairy Fund, Small Dairy Network, Dairy Manufacturers Sustainability Council, Dairy Industry Sustainability Framework
  • Marketing – Legendairy Capital, Foods That Do Good (for health professionals)

5. DA has explained that some programs have been trimmed or cut to meet the expected downturn in income this financial year. What are they?

 Internally, DA has reduced its workforce by about 10% and reduced overhead costs by ~15%. Efforts have been made to preserve core internal programs (RD&E) but most programs have experienced some cuts.

The larger changes have been:

  • Post-farm-gate R&D and educational initiative expenditure has been cut by $3 million per annum.
  • Mass market advertising (TV based advertising) has been cut by $2.5 million per annum.

6. How much has DA spent on post-farmgate R&D over the last three years? Why are farmers’ funds on post-farmgate R&D? How will this change?

Post Farm Gate R&D – Manufacturing Budget

2014/15 – $3,157,500 (DIAL)

2015/16 – $1,293,800 (DIAL)

2016/17 – $414,000 (Supporting Manufacturing Innovation & Sustainability)

Up until the past year, our main investment in post farmgate R&D was core funding for DIAL to produce cultures for cheese companies and also undertake post farm pre-competitive R&D to help companies move up the value chain and improve the return for farmers via milk price.

DIAL was established in 2008 and since that time we were contributing about $3 million/year and most of the processors (MG, Bega, Lion, Parmalat, WCB) were contributing proportional amounts, as were commercial investors so that DIAL had an annual budget of about $7-10m/ year. DIAL also undertook a number of projects to help companies improve operating efficiencies in their factories.

Over the past 2-3 years DA has been scaling back its investment due to a number of factors. 1) with the reduction of co-ops over time, being able to demonstrate to farmers the value of levy dollars into DIAL became more difficult 2) a number of the processing companies had developed strategic alliances and partnerships with overseas R and D organisations or global dairy companies who had very large R and D capability. So the value proposition for DIAL came into question.

After a thorough review it was decided to wind up DIAL. The cultures business was sold to a commercial company already producing cultures and all the remaining IP from DIAL has now been shifted to DA and we will continue to assist processing companies adopt the existing IP.

Following the decision to wind-up DIAL, the strategic direction of the investment as well as the level of investment has changed dramatically. DA’s strategy in this area is now a more targeted post farm gate investment approach focused on technologies ready for adoption rather than idea inception.

We are looking to take commercially mature technologies or practices and see them through to implementation in an Australian context so that our processors and farmers see the value sooner rather than later.

Ultimately it will aim to increase the profitability of the Australian dairy industry by ensuring that our supply chain is keeping pace with global developments in dairy production innovation.

Key focus points of the current Supporting Manufacturing Innovation & Sustainability program:

·         Accelerating technology uptake into the Australian dairy processing sector by supporting commercially-relevant technology assessment and assisting processors to access larger buckets of available government funding sources

·         Enhancing the sustainability of the dairy processing sector by supporting the processors to both track and make progress against industry targets to reduce GHG emissions intensity, consumptive water intensity and waste to landfill. Each of these environmental targets are coupled with clear commercial drivers in that energy, water and waste disposal costs are increasing at a rate which requires rapid industry respond in order to maintain any sort of international advantage in terms of cost of production.

·         Ensuring that the value of current and previous DA research is realized for the benefit of Australian dairy farmers

As part of this new program, Dairy Australia has already completed three pilot-scale technology transfer projects that investigate the economic feasibility of innovative technologies designed to:

a) provide a non-thermal, low energy process to extend the shelf-life of dairy products as well as improve pathways for value addition to whey;

b) enhance the recovery of clean-in-place chemicals and reduce environmental discharge; and

c) optimise spray dryer control and reduce energy use.

Post Farm Gate R&D – Health and Nutrition Research and Science Budget

The Budget has progressively been rolled back in the last few years but is now dominated by the Fractures Trial Commitments.  This funding will continue to contract over the forward estimates as the fractures trial comes to completion.

2014/15 – $584,000

2015/16 – $430,000

2016/17 – $495,000

DA invests in Human Health and Nutrition Research to ensure that dairy nutrition science is strong enough to support industry communication activities designed to improve consumers’, key influencers’ and policy makers’ confidence in dairy foods while highlighting evidence of the benefits of dairy.

This research has been vital in helping industry to counter the anti-dairy sentiment and fad diets (eg: Paleo) using the most up to date science.  This research also provides real opportunities to enhance the health and nutrition benefits of dairy in the diet with a view to increasing consumer demand for dairy (eg: Fractures Trial working to provide strong scientific evidence that dairy foods help to reduce the risk of fractures in adults).

7. What are the alternatives for farmers to provide DA with feedback?

Aside from contacting DA by phone and email, many of our staff, board directors and RDP extension people are often out in the regions on farm or at various industry events and forums so there are plenty of informal opportunities to approach us face to face.

Farmers are able to provide us with feedback via our stakeholder tracking survey which contacts about 600 farmers twice a year. Farmers are asked directly about their satisfaction with levy investment, what’s working and not working and ideas/advice on how to meet the needs and expectations of farmers.

Also, every three to five years, the Federal Government requires an independent performance review of DA. This process collects feedback from stakeholders about DA’s effectiveness, efficiency, and achieved value for money and return on investment to the industry. Workshops are held in all dairy regions for all levy payers to attend or farmers can email a submission to the agency conducting the review.

Farmers can contact their RDP directly or attend organised events, workshops and local discussion groups. Farmers are also encouraged to join local or industry boards and committees (such as their local RDP).

Or there is also the Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) and the state dairy farmer organisations which farmers can contact or join to provide feedback which will then be given to DA.

***Agri-political activities or lobbying on behalf of dairy farmers is led by the state dairy farmer organisations – UDV, TFGA, SADA, Dairy Connect, NSW Farmers, QDO and WA Farmers, who are members of the national body, the ADF.

Filed under Farm, Research

Secret meeting the ultimate irony in quest for transparency and trust

Barnaby Joyce and Malcolm Turnbull meeting MG. Pic credit: The Guardian Australia

Tomorrow, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce will bring the cream of the dairy community – from retailers and processors through to farmers – together in a symposium to discuss our futures.

It’s acknowledged there is much work to do in order to rebuild trust. One of the measures widely touted – including by Murray Goulburn itself after an earlier chastening at the hands of Minister Joyce and PM Turnbull – has been increased transparency.

Yet tomorrow’s meeting will be:

  • attended by a list of so-far-unknown representatives on an invitation-only basis and;
  • their discussion will be conducted in secret.

No wonder many average dairy farmers outside the inner circle feel excluded and frustrated.

I take my hat off to Barnaby for dragging all the parties together. But this pivotal meeting needs to be an open and honest discussion of what can be done to renew the confidence of Australian dairy farmers in our futures. And if there’s a bully in the room who demanded the doors be closed, it’s time that bully was called out.

Nobody in the Australian dairy supply chain has the right to hold the rest of us to ransom any more. The high moral ground has been well and truly lost.

There are fears that the dairy symposium will be yet another talk-fest over tea and cucumber sandwiches that achieves little other than the fulfillment of a political promise. I’m hoping it will be so much more. If Barnaby Joyce can hold Johnny Depp to account, anything is possible.

Thank you very much to the Deputy PM’s office for providing this information:

The symposium will be held in Melbourne tomorrow. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Dairy Australia and the ACCC’s agriculture commissioner, Mick Keogh will all address the symposium, to be chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce.

A spokeswoman for the Deputy Prime Minister said:

“We have invited key stakeholders from farmer organisations, processors and retailers to a dairy symposium to facilitate industry-led options to address the challenges facing the Australian dairy industry and discuss ways to improve the industry’s prospects going forward.

“The agenda will cover a number of topics including the outlook for the Australian dairy industry and options for improving milk price transparency, strengthening bargaining and restoring industry confidence.

 “The symposium is an opportunity to facilitate an industry-led discussion to better manage risk along the dairy supply chain, including managing the effects of world dairy prices.”

Thanks again to the Deputy PM’s office for a list of RSVPs:

Farmer representative bodies
Australian Dairy Farmers
NSW Farmers
Dairy Connect
Queensland Dairyfarmers’ Organisation
South Australian Dairyfarmers’ Association
Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association
United Dairy Farmers of Victoria
Western Australia Farmers
National Farmers’ Federation
ACE Farming Company
Farmer, Willow Grove Gippsland
Farmer, Trafalgar Gippsland
Leppington Pastoral Company
Dairy Farmers Milk Co-operative
Farmer, QLD
Farmer, WA
Farmer, VIC
Farmer, VIC
Farmer, VIC
Farmer, QLD

Australian Dairy Products Federation
Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC)
Murray Goulburn
Bonlac Supplier Group
Burra Foods
Premium Milk
Richmond Dairies

Dairy Australia
Macalister Irrigation District Customer Consultative Committee
KAP President
Sinclair Wilson Accountants Warrnambool
Manning Valley Fresh Group, Taree Collective Bargaining Group NSW
Freedom Foods

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources
Assistant Minister for Rural Health, Federal Member for Lyne
Federal Member for Forrest
Federal Member for Wannon
Senator for Victoria
Victorian Minister for Agriculture
Leader of the Nationals Victoria, Victorian Shadow Minister for Agriculture
Deputy Prime Minister’s Agriculture Industry Advisory Council

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
Dairy Food Safety Victoria
Murray Darling Basin Authority
Campaspie Shire Council
Department of Agriculture and Water Resources
Department of Economic, Jobs, Transport and Resources

Filed under Farm

Why the system is broken

The interaction between processors and farmers is bizarre to outsiders. The way it works is this:

Out of a handful of processors in the district, you ask one to collect your milk, although, if you’re unlucky and live somewhere a little remote, you might not actually have a choice at all. We’ll call this processor “your” processor for convenience.

Whichever processor you choose, they tell you what they will pay for your milk on July 1 – sometimes after July 1. This “opening price” is meant to be the lowest anticipated price, the one you can budget on. The only other time the price has fallen below the opening price in the last couple of decades was during the global financial crisis and even then we had a couple of months’ notice.

The price generally goes up along the way from there, though, unless you are one of the very few farmers who gets a fixed price, nothing is actually guaranteed after that.

It all depends on the exchange rate, global commodity prices, the performance of the biggest processor in the market and the success of “your” processor’s particular product mix.

What’s the performance of the biggest processor in the market and the success of your processor’s particular product mix got to do with the amount farmers are paid, you ask? Everything.

And it’s a system that used to work brilliantly. Once upon a time – not too long ago for those sporting the odd grey hair – there were not one but two major dairy co-operatives in the southern states: Bonlac and Murray Goulburn.

Every cent of profit the two co-operatives earned was returned to their farmer-shareholders and, because their whole reason for being was to maximise profits for their farmers, they effectively set a base for the farm-gate milk price.

Neither co-op could get too lazy or arrogant because there was strong competition from the other. Then, disaster struck, as reported by The Age:

“Crucially, Bonlac is processing only 1.6 billion litres of milk. Over the past 10 years, its share of Victorian milk production has declined from about 40 per cent in 1992 to 16 per cent in 2002.”

“Bonlac’s milk plants are running at only 75 per cent of manufacturing capacity. Particularly underused are the factories at Darnum in West Gippsland and Stanhope in northern Victoria.

“Debt, the result of an ambitious expansion into value-adding branded products in the 1990s, is still crippling the company, despite asset sales creating paper profits in the last couple of years, and the repayment of $185 million of debt.”

Now, in the midst of an ambitious expansion into value-adding branded products on the back of a partial listing, MG is in turmoil. Its MD and CFO have resigned and the milk price has collapsed, triggering ASIC and ACCC investigations, at least one class action and a share price meltdown.

Bonlac is long gone and, in the eyes of many farmers, MG has lost the title of reliable pacemaker. The system is broken.

It’s no longer acceptable for dairy leaders to tell farmers to concentrate on their farm businesses and blindly follow their calls for growth. It’s time we actively forged a new era for Australian dairying.

Filed under Farm, Fonterra, milk price, Murray Goulburn

Fonterra’s Judith Swales explains Theo’s thoughts on Aussie dairy farmers

Theo Spierings Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings. Photo: Pat Scala, Sydney Morning Herald

Fonterra is one of the world’s biggest dairy companies with a glittering history. A cooperative in New Zealand, Fonterra is also Australia’s second-largest processor.

Just last year, Fonterra delivered a stellar Kiwi farmgate price far better than anything ever enjoyed by Aussie dairy farmers. Analysts enjoyed debating why Australia could not emulate its success. Today, the co-op is under intense scrutiny from its shareholders.

As I mentioned in the previous post, farmers in New Zealand are doing it very tough this year and Fonterra Australia chalked up losses last year.

Then, last week, Fonterra’s chief executive Theo Spierings, was quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald  in a story headlined Aussie farmers being overpaid amid global dairy rout, says Fonterra boss.

After quoting Mr Spierings as saying the current price of $5.60kg MS could not be supported, the Sydney Morning Herald reported:

Mr Spierings said the method on how Australian farmers were paid needed to change so it wasn’t based just on the farm-gate price and matched other processors.

“It’s loyalty and skin in the game that can lead to an upside. You can call it a dividend, or whatever, a bonus per kilogram milk solids,” he said.

“But we need to have the conversation now about what the endgame looks like. What is the value being created – what’s the size of the cake? Then we need to have a good debate with farmers … about how are we going to share – how are we going to cut the cake?

The comments raised a lot of questions for a Fonterra Australia supplier like me, especially in respect to the “Bonlac Agreement”, which extends until 2019 and commits Fonterra to paying its Australian suppliers a price that equals or betters the dominant processor.

I put some of those questions to Fonterra Australia and am grateful to managing director, Judith Swales, for answering them.

Judith Swales, Fonterra Australia managing director. Pic source: Australian Dairy Farmer

MMM: Why has Theo chosen to telegraph a change in Fonterra’s dealings with Australian farmers via the media rather than by opening a conversation with farmers?
JS: Theo was commenting on the global dairy situation and its impacts for Australia. He was putting a voice to issues that many in the industry are well aware of. These are difficult issues and shouldn’t be shied away from, and as an industry we need to address them.

MMM: Are there any inaccuracies in the article you would like to correct?
JS: The headline was unfortunate. The main issue to point out is that the problem is not around Australians dairy farmers being overpaid – as stated in the headline – but rather the impact global volatility is having on the sustainability of current dairy pricing in Australia. What’s important, is that we’re sending the right price signals to our farmers to avoid any surprises and so that they can budget for various scenarios.

MMM: Theo appears to cast doubt on the Bonlac agreement that ensures farmgate prices match or better the dominant competitor. Will Fonterra honour that agreement this year?
JS: We remain fully committed to honouring the Bonlac agreement. We are focussed on giving our farmers line of sight to the price we can pay this year as quickly and accurately as we can. The price we pay this year must be sustainable. We do not want to sacrifice investment in our long term strategy, which aims to deliver returns above the Benchmark price, in response to short term, tactical pricing pressures.

MMM: Does Fonterra remain committed to the Bonlac agreement in the medium to long term?
JS: We view the BSC Milk Supply Agreement as a baseline. We always strive to aspire to more – whether it be with our SupportCrew services, price risk management tools or our suppliers receiving the highest milk price (as found in an independent report by Ian Gibb for the 2013/14 season). We expect our relationship with our suppliers to continue to evolve over time.

MMM: “It’s loyalty and skin in the game that can lead to an upside. You can call it a dividend, or whatever, a bonus per kilogram milk solids,” says Theo. Does this mean special pricing that favours long-term contracts and large farms?
JS: Achieving a mechanism for determining milk price that drives behaviours that support the success of Fonterra’s strategy for all suppliers is our aim. This work is always evolving and we will continue work with BSC on this.

MMM: Farmers who supply milk to Fonterra Australia are suppliers rather than shareholders. What does Theo mean by “sharing the cake”?
JS: We have always said that the best dairy industry model is the one where everyone can get a sustainable return. Farmers need to be able to make money, processors need to make money and so do customers, like retailers. And that’s what he means by sharing the cake.

MMM: Does Fonterra continue to have a long term commitment to Australia?

JS: Absolutely we are committed long term to Australia; and our Board continues to voice this commitment. Australia is one of our four key strategic markets for Fonterra. It is a key plank to our global multi-hub strategy, which complements our Retail and Foodservice business. We continue to invest: we are progressing our Beingmate partnership; we have plans to rebuild our cheese plant in Stanhope; and only this week we commissioned a multi-million dollar Beverages plant in Cobden.

Thank you very much, Judith Swales!

Filed under Dairy Products, Farm, Fonterra

Skeletons in the dairy case

We know we are not perfect, we realise we must do better and we are proud of how far we have come.

Our cows live better lives than they did when I was a girl. Careful breeding has reduced the incidence of mastitis and lameness, while a new understanding of bovine nutrition has reduced the risk of calving trouble and helped us insulate the cows from the impact of both drought and flood. Our first generation of naturally polled (hornless) calves has just been born.

Even so, dairy farmers will one day earn a prime-time feature for all the wrong reasons. It could be someone doing the right thing that looks like the wrong thing: Continue reading

Filed under Animal Health and Welfare, Community, Environment, Farm, Research

What it will take to encourage dairy farmers to grow

The much lamented stagnant Australian milk pond

The much lamented stagnant Australian milk pond

Consider this entreaty from the charming Lino Saputo Jr, who is the newish owner of Warrnambool Cheese & Butter:

“…what will it take for the dairy farmers to be optimistic about the dairy industry and investing in their farms and what kinds of programs can we put in place that will assist them.”

“What we are trying to do in Australia is appeal to the dairy farmers and say, ‘Look, we can be a good home for your milk. If you choose to increase your herd size and you’re producing more milk, we will put on the infrastructure to process that milk’.”

Lino’s not alone. Many of the processors including our own co-op, MG, would like to see Australian dairy farmers arise from our slumber and produce more, more, more. Why, the industry even commissioned the Horizon 2020 Report last year to work out why we are so sluggish.

But even a simple dairy farmer can sum it up in two words: Continue reading

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text:
Peace in Greece Pasta

greekPastaThis peace filled recipe is dedicated to a fellow Peace Blogger that passed away today (January 29, 2012): Sarge Charlie was a retired Army man that understood the importance of peace. He will be greatly missed.

We had pasta in the pantry. But, we have also had a lot of Italian meals of late. I skimmed my cookery books, searched the internet, and went through my somewhat but not quite orderly files, and not a one said “You must make me just like this.” However a bunch of recipes said, “Oh look! Why don’t you use this or that from this idea?” Others said “well, I’d be much better if you only added these things and took out that thing.”

The recipes were starting to cause quite a ruckus and I was not about to allow the violence to escalate. So, I decided it was time, once more, to Declare World Peace with Pasta.

I let all of the nice recipes contribute a little something, added some ideas of my own, and ended up with Peace in Greece.

Ingredients mindfully chosen and applied with great thought and gentleness:

1 lb whole wheat pasta
4 T olive oil
about 1 1/2 pints of cherry tomatoes, rinse and slice them in half – you can use more if you like, but this amount worked well. When you put them in the bowl, make sure that you include every bit of liquid.
garlic – usually I use fresh, but this time I had a jar of chopped garlic in the pantry so I used it. Because the jarred garlic is not as strong as fresh, I put in three very large scoops using a teaspoon (the eating kind, not the measuring kind and I do mean mounded scoops). I would suspect that an equivalent amount of fresh garlic would be four large crushed cloves – at a minimum, but then our family adores garlic.
a goodly splash of white wine – about 1/3 cup. Please use a decent wine, you can then serve it with the meal.
1 t Greek or Mediterranean Oregano – or 2 t of fresh.
1/2 – 1 t crushed red pepper, to your tastes. If you are not a heat person, do still add about 1/4 t of it anyway, trust me.
a number of twists (I think I counted to 8 or 10) of fresh cracked black pepper.
about 1/4 t of nutmeg
1 cup fresh rinsed and torn basil – I wondered afterward if more would have been good, and will let you know the next time I make it.
6 oz crumbled Feta, plus more at the table. I bought a 12 oz container, used half and we probably added 2/3 of the rest at the table.

Optional: The husband and son added black Greek olives to their portions. No accounting for taste, but I am sure there are a few of you odd olive eating people out there so I did want to let youGreekPastaOlives know that you could do that. They loved it. To the right is a pic of what their plates looked like. Notice how it does not look quite as attractive as my plate did. No, I did not go out of my way to take an unattractive pic, it’s the olives.

How I put together a Pasta Worthy of World Peace:

I filled my great large pasta pot with water and a little salt and heated it to a boil – do please use cold water and never hot from the faucet. The reason for this is that there are things like rust and unspeakable sediments that accumulate in water heaters. These particles are delivered to your cookery pot mixed with the hot water after the heater agitates itself to do your bidding. You do not want to add rust or the other things to your dinner, and can avoid it by using cold water.

I cooked the pasta to a nice al dente and drained it in the colander where it would sit waiting patiently and peacefully while I made the sauce.

Then I added the olive oil to the same pot – no rinsing or anything, I just added the oil and returned it to the burner now set on medium high. I sauteed the garlic in that for about a minute. You just want to release the garlic’s lovely aroma and not burn or over cook it. Then I poured in the tomatoes and their juices – it may look like not enough liquid, but it is. Stir a bit.

After this began to boil, I added the white wine and all seasonings except the basil. It boiled happily for only a couple minutes. Then I added the drained pasta to the pot and began to stir. I had to use a spoon and my pasta grabber to do this – needed both to plate it too. Once this was done, I added the basil and stirred it up again. Finally, I added the feta and stirred… all the while the pot was over that medium high heat.

By now the pasta had reheated nicely and the sauce was thickened a bit from the melty feta. This is a good time to give it a taste and make any adjustments you need to make it yours. Remember, that a recipe is just a template. You need to bring your own views and opinions to the structure.

As you can see, I don’t add salt (except for the water), as the Feta has a sufficiently salty presence. You may be used to salt though and will want a bit. Please take the dish to this point and taste first – never ever just add salt because you always do, ok? Much more peaceful to learn to love the flavors of food without all the salt that only leads to high blood pressure and then to arguments and then to war.

It is with great mindfulness, that I Declare World Peace with this offering of Peace in Greece Pasta. Enjoy.

Recipe also posted at Mindful Palate.

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But Just You Wait…

My name is Miranda Flores Farley. I’d like to welcome you to my blog and hope if you don’t already love Hamilton you will at least grow to appreciate it from an educator’s standpoint by the end of the semester.

A little background on me; I am a Theater Education major here at UWM. I am most passionate about acting and theatre history, so you could say Hamilton really spoke to my inner history nerd. I have not only acted and performed, but I also sung in choir, which is where my adoration for musical theatre stemmed from.

One of the things I love most about  Hamilton was the way it combined U.S. History with so many different genres of music. While the main musical element of the show is hip hop, it also ties together elements of jazz, rock, and classical music genres. Being a lover of many different kinds of music, I consider this my favorite part. (Lin was also a big  Bowie fan. Check out the Moana soundtrack — which he wrote most of — and you might here the influence!)

I will certainly not be the first teacher to use Hamilton as a resource for my teachings, here’s what another eighth grade teacher has to say about this unique production.

6 thoughts on “But Just You Wait…

  1. By simply reading a bit about yourself, I can see how passionate you are about Theater Education. I can’t wait to hear more about what you have to say about “Hamilton”.

  2. Hello! I believe we had Educational Psychology with Jacqueline Nguyen last semester, is that right? Cool that you are into theater! I wrote a musical for the Alchemist Theatre that debuted last summer, my second after writing something for the Underground Collaborative.

    Oddly, I haven’t really been exposed to Hamilton yet in a significant way, although my wife and I tried to get rush tickets last time we were in New York. In any case, looking forward to your observations on education and the theater; you should keep our group updated on UWM productions of interest!

  3. I saw the title of this post and didn’t dare believe it was a Hamilton reference. BUT IT WAS AND I’M ON BOARD! Reading this got me so excited to read more from you, I absolutely love Hamilton and love reading about it from the perspective of someone with more background in theater than I have.

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text:
Let Us Love

Let us love,

since that is all

our hearts were made for.

– St. Therese of Lisieux

St. Therese of Lisieux was affectionately called ‘The Little Flower’ and roses are her signature, hence the photo above which I do not remember where I found it originally, but I send gratitude to whomever shot the photo of the roses.

If you want to read more about her, please click  here!

Just another small reminder today to use our hearts for what they are made for, LOVE!

Shine your heartlight!

Shine On!

8 thoughts on “Let Us Love

  1. I knew you’d love her! Beautiful picture and post 🙂 I love her because of how she lead by her example. She understood that it is the little things that we do in life that make up the majority of what life is about! Make each little thing count! Love to you….keep shining!!

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New Stuff! (21 years!!)

Hey there guys!
It feels like forever. I’m sorry for going AWOL, I honestly have no good excuse. My birthday was on the 24th (yeeey!) so I just thought I’d post 2 things I bought with birthday money and my sister’s present.

I saw this top on sale at the outlets and had to have one. They were in a variety of colors and prints, but this one really caught my eye. It’s just a fun top to pair with a skirt.

I’ve been wanting a pair of pants like these for ages. These I found at a local store called Valija Gitana, on sale as well. They’re a light, high-waisted pant and I loved how it looked.

This was my sister’s present. It’s a Zara skirt I’d been lusting after for weeks. I absoutely adore the rufflea at the bottom and how it’s form-fitting.

So, on my birthday I had a lot of things going on with school and work… So, no play for me. On Wednesday I went out and celebrated with a few close friends. Yesterday, I celebrated with my mom. We went to a really nice restaurant and they sang happy birthday to me. It was a really good time.

Oh, being 21. All the responsibilities!
Anywho, I hope you enjoy my post.

How did you guys celebrate your last birthday? What goods did you get?

Take care!

Love Like the Sea

I’m lost at sea
In love with the waves that rock me
You, with your nicotine breath.
Slowly, but surely, breaking
Waves against the edge of my ship.

I wake to your heavy breathing
You’re angry again!
The sky is gray
And the air is crisp
“Oh Captain, my captain”
I fear the storm.

But God, you swear like a pirate
And I just stand there taking
The blows of saltwater
And I’m suddenly stuck
In between sheets and waves.

The albatross leads us
But I shoot him down
Because luck is never on my side
Because YOU were never on my side.

After months of never ending blue
Of heartbreaks and faded tattoos
Going back to never having met,
I decided to abandon ship.


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2017 Milwaukee Film Festival 9/28 - 10/12

Beware the Slenderman

Director: Irene Taylor Brodsky

Film Summary

Documentary Festival Favorites | 1:54 | 2016 | USA | | View Website

It was a local story that horrified the nation: two 12-year-old girls lure their friend into the Waukesha woods, where they proceed to stab her 19 times in an effort to appease a faceless mythical entity known online as the Slenderman. But there's much more to the story than its “evil” headlines. A sobering documentary that delves deep into the story behind this shocking crime, with heart-wrenching access to the young women’s families, Beware the Slenderman examines how an urban legend, created whole cloth on the internet, could take root in impressionable young minds and lead to an unspeakable act. Courtesy of HBO Documentary Films.

Director Irene Taylor Brodsky
Executive Producer
Producer Irene Taylor Brodsky, Sophie Harris
Cinematographer Nick Midwig
Editor Gladys Mae Murphy


text:
Skip to content

Lewyn Addresses America

A little politics, a little urbanism- I also blog 100 percent on urbanism at and

This year I am, for the first time in four years, teaching a seminar on Sprawl on the Law.  It will be a bit harder this year, in that I don’t have a simple story to tell about the local surroundings.

The first time I taught the course (in Carbondale, Il.) I could focus on the decline of St. Louis (the nearest major city).  So in a sense the course was a story about: What made St. Louis sprawl?

Then I taught the course in Jacksonville, Fl., a growing but pedestrian-hostile city.  So I could focus on: why is it so hard to get around Jacksonville without driving?

Pittsburgh is pretty pedestrian-friendly and somewhat successful- but not completely.  Its not growing like NYC (so I can’t focus on “Why is this town so expensive?” which would have to be the main NYC story), but it hasn’t declined as rapidly as St. Louis either.  It has lost a lot of population but still has more successful neighborhoods and less crime than St. Louis, so it is kind of a middle ground between the success stories and the failures.

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text:
Adam Bede

  • by George Eliot
  • Narrated by Nadia May
  • 19 hrs and 57 mins
  • Unabridged Audiobook

Publisher's Summary

George Eliot's first full-length novel is the moving, realistic portrait of three people troubled by unwise love.Adam Bede is a hardy young carpenter who cares for his aging mother. His one weakness is the woman he loves blindly: the trifling town beauty, Hetty Sorrel, delights only in her baubles - and the delusion that the careless Captain Donnithorne may ask for her hand.Betrayed by their innocence, both Adam and Hetty allow their foolish hearts to trap them in a triangle of seduction, murder, and retribution. Only in the lovely Dinah Morris, a preacher, does Adam find his redemption.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful

Country tragedy and country humor

I have a kind of love/hate relationship with George Eliot. On one hand, she writes beautifully crafted novels filled with interesting and solid characters. On the other hand, she's always interrupting her narrative to tell me how to think about it. She's forever reaching after generalizations, but many of them ring as false to me as the narrative itself rings true.

Adam Bede is no exception. As a narrator, Eliot annoys me; as a narrative, the book is a graceful and moving story about life and love in a small village as the 18th century slides into the 19th. (Some of the dinner-table conversation revolves around Bony - Napoleon - and the threat he and the armies of France pose.)

Adam is a carpenter who's in love with Hatty; but Hatty's head has been turned by Arthur, the son of the local squire. Arthur and Adam fight; Arthur goes off to join his regiment; Hatty decides to marry Adam after all; but as the day approaches, she discovers (in wonderfully elliptical Victorian prose) that she's pregnant.

In some ways the book could have been written by Thomas Hardy. The ending is less grim than it would have been in Hardy's hands, and there is considerably more country-folkish humor throughout the book; but not everyone makes it through, and there is a kind of autumnal poignancy about the last moments.

One of the more remarkable achievements in the book is the character Dinah, an early Methodist. Until the Conference forbids it, Dinah plays the unusual role of itinerant preacher. She's a gentle, loving, peaceful soul, and one of the few utterly believable persons of faith I've encountered in fiction.

Nadia May is a comfortable narrator, reliable as a rock, and I very much enjoyed her performance.
Read full review

- Tad Davis

Consummate reading by Nadia May

There are some audiobook readers whose narrations never fail and among those I would place Nadia May. I have had this audiobook for more than a decade and never got around to listening to it until now but it is still as wonderful as the day I bought it - and now there are so many other readings available but this is still the one I would choose. Nadia May has wonderful tone, pace, diction and an ability to tell a story without drawing attention to herself. That said her ability to appropriately read dialects in a natural tone is an amazing talent.

In this particular text she speaks the dialect of the rural farmers and tradespeople in a way that makes the realism for which George Eliot strives have a much greater impact than reading the book as a text. I have heard many of her other narrations such as 'Anna Karenina' in which her ability to give a subtle Russian accent to words also made the reading a much greater pleasure than would otherwise be the case.

I love the intricacy of the text in 19th century novels and having a reader like Nadia May makes these readings so much richer. I highly recommend this book, particularly as read by such a talented narrator.
Read full review

- Doggy Bird

Book Details

  • Release Date: 08-12-2008
  • Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.


text:
• by W. Joseph Campbell
  • Narrated by David Ledoux
  • 8 hrs and 16 mins
  • Unabridged Audiobook

Publisher's Summary

A hinge moment in recent American history, 1995 was an exceptional year. Drawing on interviews, oral histories, memoirs, archival collections, and news reports, W. Joseph Campbell presents a vivid, detail-rich portrait of those memorable 12 months.
This book offers fresh interpretations of the decisive moments of 1995, including the emergence of the Internet in mainstream American life; the bombing at Oklahoma City, the deadliest attack of domestic terrorism in US history; the sensational "trial of the century", at which O. J. Simpson faced charges of double murder; the US-brokered negotiations at Dayton, Ohio, which ended the Bosnian War, Europe's most vicious conflict since the Nazi era; and the first encounters at the White House between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, a liaison that culminated in a stunning scandal and the spectacle of the president's impeachment and trial.
As Campbell demonstrates in this absorbing chronicle, 1995 was a year of extraordinary events: a watershed at the turn of the millennium. The effects of that pivotal year reverberate still, marking the close of one century and the dawning of another.

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This isn't a book, just an academic dumping out research unfiltered. A very boring blow by blow narrated by a robot.
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- David Harris

Book Details

  • Release Date: 06-23-2015
  • Publisher: Audible Studios


text:
Lost Highlander: Lost Highlander, Book 1 : Lost Highlander

  • by Cassidy Cayman
  • Narrated by Angela Dawe
  • Series: Lost Highlander
  • 7 hrs and 16 mins
  • Unabridged Audiobook

Publisher's Summary

Grad student and cocktail waitress Evelyn Merkholtz has plenty to deal with. Too much to deal with, actually. So when her runaway best friend calls with a mysterious and urgent request to join her in Scotland, she is secretly more than happy to drop everything and oblige. When she gets there, Evelyn discovers that she is faced with an ancient curse, an adorably hunky villager, and a super hot (but possibly murderous) Highland warrior from the 18th century - and realizes that getting burned at the stake is a really bad way to get out of writing her thesis.

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Customer Reviews

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Misleading and disappointment

The book's cover and title makes you think that this is a historical romance. The blurb also mention the sexy highlander. Well the sexy highlander is a character that is barely mentioned. This is NOT a historical romance. If you think this is even close to Outlander you'll be sadly disappointed. The time travel theme is poorly mentioned. And this is basically a contemporary mystery. I listened about 60% of the story (about 5 hours) and our hero and heroine had 0 chemistry. Not one kiss, barely any flirting or inclination that a romance will develop. This is just a mistery about how an 18th century highlander ended in in Piper's home (heroine's BFF). I kept listening to see if it would get better but no, every minute I Was more and more disappointed. It was a waste of time and money.
Read full review

Any additional comments?

One reviewer said "TOO QUICK PROGRESSION TO SEX." I'm at 55% and there has not even been a kiss, no thoughts of sex, no desire, no wanting from either of them, no sexual tension. If there's sex in this book it's gotta be near the end and that makes it's gratuitous sex and that's the worse kind there is, no sex, no nothing then WHAM there it is.. AND the reviewer said "Maybe both of those questions will be answered in the follow up." Umm, NO.
I should have paid attention. This is a cliffhanger and I absolutely hate when an author tries to force me to read book after book to finally get to a solution. I'm glad I found out before I read the whole book. I'm done. Sorry..
I gave it 3 stars because I'm not finishing it.

As to the narrator: Ms. Dawe just keeps getting better and better. For as much as I listened to she did a great job.

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- Trish R.

Book Details

  • Release Date: 12-22-2014
  • Publisher: Tantor Audio


text:
• by Larry Niven
  • Narrated by Dennis Holland
  • 12 hrs and 21 mins
  • Unabridged Audiobook

Publisher's Summary

Gil 'The Arm' Hamilton was one of the top operatives of ARM, the elite UN police force. His intuition was unfailingly accurate, his detective skills second to none, and his psychic powers - esper sense and telekinesis - were awesome.
Now you can hear all the classic stories of the legendary ARM operative, collected in one volume for the first time - plus, an all-new, never-before-published Gil Hamilton adventure!

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Most Helpful

Great, fills some gaps in Nivens' "Known Space".

What made the experience of listening to Flatlander the most enjoyable?

I read some of Larry Niven's "Tales of Known Space" a few years back & these short stories helped explain the backround.

What did you like best about this story?

Future cop, with a twist!

What about Dennis Holland’s performance did you like?

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

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- Chuck

Great story, but so-so reading

I grew up reading Larry Niven, and always enjoyed his stories, especially the tales of Known Space. So I was really looking forward to the reading of Flatlander. Unfortunately, I was disappointed, Dennis Holland 's main reading voice is excellent. However, he seems to only have two or three secondary character voices. So all the other characters sound alike. In addition, he doesn't have the vocabulary required to read science fiction. He doesn't know the correct pronunciation for some of the words used in the story. Still and all, he did a reasonable job, barring the above. And these stories are excellent examples of Larry Niven's writings. His "Gil the Arm" stories are generally exemplars of "fair mysteries," mysteries where the reader has all the information required to solve the mystery. So in summary, if you are a fan of Known Space, you'll probably enjoy this performance.
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- Timothy Knox

Book Details

  • Release Date: 11-15-2012
  • Publisher: Audible Studios


text:
Being Nobody Going Nowhere

  • by Ayya Khema
  • Narrated by Claire Slemmer, Fajer Al-Kaisi
  • 7 hrs and 53 mins
  • Unabridged Audiobook

Publisher's Summary

In this lucid classic, beloved teacher Ayya Khema introduces the listener to the essence of the Buddhist path. She addresses the how and why of meditation, providing a clear framework for understanding the nature of karma and rebirth and the entirety of the eightfold path. With specific, practical advice, Ayya Khema illuminates the practices of compassion and sympathetic joy, and offers forthright guidance in working with the hindrances that we all encounter in meditation. Few introductory books are both simple and profound. Being Nobody, Going Nowhere is both.

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Customer Reviews

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The only book you will ever need.

This is a straightforward book that gets to the very heart of the meaning of Dharma and why we should practice. You will not find a better more straight talking teacher. Listen and put the teachings into practice and you will find that these are not just empty words.
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- Andrew

A must read for a beginner

Read this book before you start your journey on the path. Clear and concise. An easy read for those beginning their journey into Buddhism
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Book Details

  • Release Date: 08-02-2016
  • Publisher: Audible Studios


text:
P.S. I Loathe You

  • by Lisi Harrison
  • Narrated by Cassandra Morris
  • 5 hrs and 11 mins
  • Unabridged Audiobook

Publisher's Summary

Massie Block: When the Pretty Committee deems its boy-fast null and void, boy fever sweeps through BOCD. What better way to back-handspring into new crush Dempsey's heart - and make old crush Derrington jealous - than to cheer for him on the soccer field? And just like that, Massie forms BOCD's first-ever cheerleading squad. But will Massie still have something to cheer about when Dempsey starts spending a lot of time with LBR Layne Abeley? Give me an "E" for ehmagawd! Kristen Gregory: With Massie and her SBFF (secret best friend forever) Layne vying for the same boy, Kristen has to make a choice: (A) the Pretty Committee, or (B) the Witty Committee. And if she doesn't choose fast, she'll end up (C) - committeeless. Dylan Marvil: Is hiding something, and it's not just those peanut butter Luna bars stashed under her mattress. She's got a secret crush on Derrington - and it's no secret that he likes burpilicious redheads.... Alicia Rivera: Prefers pliés to pom-poms, especially when Massie orders her to the bottom of the cheer-pyramid. Can Alicia accept her beta status, or is it time to become alpha of her own squad? Claire Lyons: Now that she's back with Cam, Claire finally has her love life in order. But her friends are trading crushes like styling tips. Will the Pretty Committee survive the boy-swap intact, or is the Clique about to come apart at the seams?

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Book Details

  • Release Date: 02-10-2009
  • Publisher: Hachette Audio


text:
Correction: Matt Cassel Actually Enormous Douchebag

Remember last week when we ran a story about Matt Cassel’s surprisingly poised debut for the New England Patriots, indicating that he may be able to lead his team to victory in the wake of Tom Brady’s season-ending injury? Well, the Modern Jackass team would like to make the following addendum to that story: upon further review, it turns out that Matt Cassel is an ineffectual dunderhead, and will subsequently be responsible for the end of the Patriots’ dynasty as the best team in the NFL.  We here at Modern Jackass sincerely apologize for any confusion we might have caused with our initial position indicating that Matt Cassel is anything but a festering pile of elephant poo.

When empires fall, they tend to fall hard, and yesterday’s disgraceful outing at Gillette Stadium was no exception.  The mighty Pats, having not lost a regular season game since November of 2006, were handily routed 38-13 by the Miami Dolphins, a team that went 1-15 just last year.  But instead of fiddling while Foxborough burned, Matt Cassel fumbled stupidly like an infant discovering his dick for the first time.  The same qualities that just last week seemed thoughtful and admirable for a replacement quarterback this week became frantic, desperate, and inept.  While I commended Cassel for his cautious passing game last week, this week I marveled in disbelief at his inability to throw anything but piddling slip screens at the line of scrimmage.  What seemed like quiet concentration on the sidelines last week became the vacant, empty-headed staring of a frat-boy doofus incapable of motivating his teammates.  When the reality of the impending defeat set in sometime around the time Ronnie Brown scored his fourth or fifth touchdown, it was even more gut wrenching to watch Cassel repeatedly scramble in the pocket, only to be sacked or, if he was lucky, pick up about a yard before getting taken down by approximately eight defenders, the football rarely leaving his hand.

To be fair, New England’s defense yesterday looked like it had been bussed in from a geriatric facility in East Mansfield, but that doesn’t quite alleviate the despair I felt while watching Matt Cassel flounce about like an effete dandy, ending drives after four downs as efficiently as Miami was able to mercilessly run up the score.    Unless Cassel spontaneously sprouts some nuts, or we somehow acquire a new QB (Carson Palmer, perhaps?  That dude is too sick to be squandering his talent in Cincy.), it’s going to be a long-ass season.

Thank you for understanding last week’s error in judgment.

8 Responses to Correction: Matt Cassel Actually Enormous Douchebag

  1. Can we retire the term douchebag? I heard someone use it in reference to Craig Kilbourn a bit ago and realized that the entire concept needed to hit the gurney. Like metrosexual. Let’s just throw it on the pop culture pyre. Along with the 2008 Presidential Election and white girls. Oh, did I type that out loud? Kidding Ambers, Amy’s, April’s and Archanas!

  2. rock out with yer clock out, Flav says:

    keep “poo” though, please. Poo is never passé

  3. Dudenation says:

    This may be a bit too soon to call. The Dolphins routinely beat the Patriots. The patriots have something like a .500 record against them over the last 15 years. The dolphins are more or less their achilles heel.

    But then again, I hate the Patriots and hopefully they continue to suck a nut.

  4. Chin9y8302 says:

    I just got done watching Pats vs Colts…And yea I would have to say I’ve seen him play b4 and I didn’t like it one bit. Now would actually have to say this guy really isn’t that good…The man has no fire. He never once threw it down the field until the 4th quarter, but he did fire in that 1 pass that could’ve won the game, but Jabar Gaffney couldn’t hold on to it…*sigh* I mind as well just start watching basketball.

  5. Guest says:

    Matt Cass sucks

  6. NFL films says:

    Matt Cassel sucks. He looks like a baboon but he doesn’t play football nearly as well as one. Any other QB would be connecting for 1st downs and winning more games given the offensive weapons, protection, and play calls he gets in NE. The New England defense may be hobbling with injuries to their starters but they are deep and doing their jobs and meanwhile the offense he has is practically identical to what Brady had to work with last year when they set a load of NFL records. I am not sure if Cassel is a decent guy or not, so I’ll lay off on the d-bag remark, but what the eff has he been doing on the sidelines all these years? Clearly not absorbing anything he’s seen from Brady or viewing tape! Bench his ass, my grandma could read coverages better.

  7. Gipper says:

    Cassel- thorn in my side!

  8. Random says:

    Cassel should go back to high school and play football in the company of his peers. Let’s open the floor for discussion of a replacement- at least until Brady is healthy again. And speaking of Brady and his health- where is he, btw? I guess it’s possible that more R+R will just accelerate his recovery process in hopes of rehabbing him for the post-season, but maybe Cassel would step his game up a bit if Brady were there on the sidelines.

    Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

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Monkey Clap Education

Ennui in Deep Space

This is the tape I’m most satisfied with by far. Of course, it took a few tries to get it right. Starts of with minimalistic spacey pleasures, then the drum beats gets more wicked as it goes on. And lastly, it bangs hard with my so amazing Edit of SMD 🙂 please have a hear!

01. Patrice Baumel – Roar (Dj Wehbba Remix)
02. Dusty Kid – Psika
03. Modeselektor feat. Thom Yorke – The White Flash (Trentemoller Remix)
04. Lindstrom – I Feel Space (M.A.N.D.Y. Remix)
05. ZZT – The Worm (Erol Alkan Extended Rework)
06. Laidback Luke & A-Trak – Shake It Down
07. Poni Hoax – Hypercommunication (Alter Ego Remix)
08. Wippenberg – Drumster
09. D.I.M. – Is You (Brodinski Remix)
10. Simian Mobile Disco – Run (Sebo Sebo’s Slightest Edit)

Sebo Sebo – Ennui in Deep Space (Mixtape)

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I’m an ICT Advanced Skills Teacher (AST) and Lead Practitioner for teaching & learning at St. Mary’s Catholic High School in Astley, Greater Manchester.

My main interests are in how we learn, the new KS3 Computing curriculum, social media for professional development, E safety and quality INSET.

Stuff I’ve Done

Presented remotely at the 2nd TeachTweet and #TMCov 2014

Organised TeachMeet East Lancs.

Contributed to Staffrm.io

Started the #CompEdUK hashtag.

Presented at the SSAT 2014 Computing Conference in London.  The great thing about social media is that you get instant feedback:

SSAT_Tweet_1I’ve also delivered the Improving & Outstanding Teacher Programmes, been a Specialist Leader for Education for AfL and collaborative learning, run whole staff INSET at my school and others, team taught in primaries, trained as a coach, facilitator and middle leader.  If it’s got an acronym, chances are I’ve had a go.

At the moment, I’m applying for Computing at School ‘Master Teacher’ status and skilling up for the new GCSE and A Level specifications.

You can find me on Twitter at @MrAColley

As usual, any views or opinions on here are mine (or pinched from someone else) and don’t necessarily reflect those of my employer.

12 thoughts on “About

  1. Hi Andy,
    What a great set of resources! Was just doing a trawl of the Internet for ideas for refreshing our KS3 Computing offerings and came across your site. Game over!

    Thanks, Alex

    • Hi Alex,

      Thanks for taking the time to comment. I hope your pupils learn a lot from the resources. Any feedback is more than welcome and keep your eyes peeled for summer updates.

  2. One of my Assistant Head Teachers sent me a link to your literacy article. He knew I would love it and I did!! So, I stumble upon your site and I am just so excited that you are so generous to share. In particular I loved how you shaded out the cells in the last column of the table to help with Denary to Hex conversions! Small but brilliant idea! Looking forward to trawling your resources. Thank you very much!!! Edel

  3. Hi Andy
    What a great site! We hope this is ok posting this to you. We just wondered if you’d help us share news of a great new STEM resource / challenge – http://www.shell.co.uk/brightideaschallenge.

    The brand new national schools challenge charges students 11-14 with imagining the types of energy challenges that future cities will face in 2050 and encourages them to use their STEM skills to create ingenious solutions that will improve quality of life in those cities. The winning team will receive £5000 to super-size the STEM experience at their school!

    The challenge takes between 2.5-5 hours to complete and the site includes a comprehensive Teacher Toolkit, video resources and curriculum linked ice breaker challenges.

    Deadline for entries is on 29th April at 5pm so there’s still plenty of time for people to enter!

    Thanks in advance for your support. We’re really keen to ensure as many young people as possible can take part in the challenge and be inspired by it.

    We wish you continued success with your great blog….

  4. Hi Andy

    What superb looking resources – how can I ‘join’ in please. Working somewhat on my own to develop/deliver KS3 and 4 Computing in Y7 and 8 – then GCSE Y9-Y11 and now new A Level as well. Any help/advice or even resources would be fantastic.

    • Hi Helen. You don’t have to join, the links should take you to Dropbox folders where you can download and adapt your own versions.

      I’d advise (if you haven’t already) joining Computing at School. There are loads more resources on their site. You can also find out if there are any ‘master teachers’ near you. These people have a brief to help and support others delivering CS. It’s a great programme.

      Good luck with your computing!

  5. Hi,

    You have a great site, I have made use of your year 8 web unit but used it alongside what I have with Year 7, I like that fact you have used Notepad++, how has it worked for you?

    You mentioned a link on the powerpoint slides in lessons 2 and 3 which have a link of Tutorial_Site.lnk but this cant be opened in Chrome nor in another program, can you advise what the link for the tutorials is?

    • Hi Rob,

      Thank is for the feedback. Notepad++ is working well for us 🙂

      The tutorial site is a self contained micro site that I’ve made to help pupils progress independently through the unit. If you download the whole unit from the Dropbox folder then there is a ‘Tutorial Site’ subfolder with all the relevant webpages in. The lesson slides refer to a shortcut to the index page of this site, which is why it probably doesn’t work for you. Try going into the tutorial site folder and opening the index.htm file instead.

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Goals for the Day: Friday May 10

  • Sketchbook #2: Self-Reflection Sketch: Draw from your reflection in a mirror.
  •  Advance Sketchbook #1: Watercolor and Ink Pen room design

use TWITTER and my handle @MRPAPPASTEACH to post a photo of your sketch

Ceramics 2 and Painting 2: Twitter Response

There will be some confusion today about what really is due.  I spoke to 1st HR about this Monday and want to make sure that the rest of you guys have the ability to make this choice as well.

I am giving students the opportunity to choose between writing the 2 pg critique for the re-worked project or participate in 4 weekly TWITTER posts about their project and progress.  At the end of each week, there will be a response question that you will have to post along with any photo evidence to support your tweet.  To receive full credit, all 4 weekly posts must be completed on time.  This weeks question(s) were: What project did you choose to rework?  Why did you choose it?  What progress have you completed or are you hoping to complete by the end of the week?

use TWITTER and my handle @MRPAPPASTEACH to post your response and photo(s)

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Wick-Quoting #20: Singers are NOT Actors

God damn, the people at Universal are stupider than I thought.  Who decided to put Rihanna in the film?  No wait, back up.  Who decided to base a movie on a FREAKING board game?  This is Battleship we’re talking about.  And to spend already 200 million on a film that isn’t even a sequel from a previous success?  It seems to me that Universal is just asking to get sunk.

And why, out of all the people out there, would Universal give Rihanna a role?  She’s a singer, not an actor.  It just seems so unfair for the people out there who actually are good actors.  Fair enough, I haven’t seen Rihanna act before, but I’m betting it ain’t gonna be pretty.

Guurrrrrrrrrl, just stick to the singing

Speaking about Rihanna, what kind of movie would want Chris Brown?  Seriously, after what happened between him and Rihanna, I’d think that Brown would be too controversial to be even considered in a movie.  I can’t even listen to his music anymore.  I ain’t supporting no woman beater.  So, for all you film noobs out there, do not go see Takers.  Unless, of course, you want to support a guy who beat his girl yet still has a career.

1 Response to “Wick-Quoting #20: Singers are NOT Actors”

  1. 1 Alexander Ahn August 17, 2010 at 8:44 am

    I agree with this post %100. Chris Brown should be striped of any title he’s ever won, and not be allowed to make any new shit.

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Readings 20141212

The following reflection is courtesy of (c) 2014. Their website is located at

“Thereupon Mary set out, proceeding in haste into the hill country to a town of Judah, where she entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth.” Luke 1:39-40
When we think of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we think of her miraculous image on the tilma, the miracle of the roses, the great basilica, and especially the millions of conversions. The cause of all these wondrous works is symbolized by the black sash at the center of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This sash is a sign that Mary was pregnant with Jesus. Jesus, Who was in Mary, has done and continues to do countless miracles through Our Lady of Guadalupe. Jesus through Mary continues to convert millions to new life in Him.

On this great feast day, let us accept God’s grace to be like Our Lady of Guadalupe. Let us be filled with Jesus. Let us be like Mary and visit all the Elizabeths and Johns in our lives (Lk 1:39ff). Christ in us is our Hope of glory (Col 1:27). “There is One greater in you than there is in the world” (1 Jn 4:4). As we are conscious of Jesus living within us (see 2 Cor 13:5), Jesus will do miracles through us and give salvation to countless thousands.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us to be like you. May we let Jesus within us transform the world around us. We are servants of the Lord; let it be done to us according to His word (Lk 1:38).

Prayer: Jesus, during Advent prepare us to be full of Life this Christmas, for You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn 14:6). Promise: “See, I am coming to dwell among You, says the Lord.” Zec 2:14 Praise: Our Lady of Guadalupe left her image on the cloak of a Mexican Indian, and it is still miraculously intact today. (For a related teaching, order our tape on Renewing Our Culture on audio AV 80-3 or video V-80.)
Rescript: In accord with the Code of Canon Law, I hereby grant my permission to publish One Bread, One Body covering the period from December 1, 2014 through January 31, 2015.
Most Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Auxiliary Bishop, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, June 30, 2014.
The rescript is a declaration that a book or pamphlet is considered to be free of doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted ecclesial permission agree with the contents, opinions, or statements

The following reflection is courtesy of Don Schwager (c) 2014, whose website is located at
Do you seek God’s way of peace and wisdom for your life? The prophets remind us that Gods kingdom is available to those who are teachable and receptive to the word of God. Through their obedience to God’s word and commandments, they receive not only wisdom and peace for themselves, but they, in turn become a blessing to their children and their offspring as well. Jesus warns the generation of his day to heed God’s word before it is too late. He compares proud teachers and vain scholars with stubborn playmates who refuse to follow wise counsel and instruction.
Jesus parable about a group of disappointed musicians and their stubborn friends who refuse to sing or dance at the appropriate occasion challenge us to examine whether we are selective to only hear and do what we want to hear. The young music players in Jesus’ parable react with great dismay because they cannot get anyone to follow their instruction. They complain that if they play their music at weddings, no one will join in their festive song and dance; and if they play mournful tunes and songs at funerals, no one will join in at all. This parable echoes the wisdom of Ecclesiastes 3:4 – “there is a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance.” Are you in tune with the message of God’s kingdom? And do you heed God’s word of wisdom and truth as if your life depended on it?

Spiritual indifference and deaf ears can block God’s word for us
Jesus’ message of the kingdom of God is a proclamation of good news that produces great joy and hope for those who listen and obey – but it is also a warning of bad consequences and disaster for those who refuse to accept God’s gracious invitation. Why did the message of John the Baptist and the message of Jesus meet with resistance and deaf ears? It was out of jealously and spiritual blindness that the scribes and Pharisees attributed John the Baptist’s austerities to the devil and they attributed Jesus’ table fellowship as evidence for pretending to be the Messiah. They succeeded in frustrating God’s plan for their lives because they had closed their hearts to the message of John the Baptist and now they close their ears to Jesus, God’s anointed Son sent to redeem us from bondage to sin and death.

What can make us spiritually dull and slow to hear God’s voice? Like the generation of Jesus’ time, our age is marked by indifference and contempt, especially in regards to the things of heaven. Indifference dulls our ears to God’s voice and to the good news of the Gospel. Only the humble of heart can find joy and favor in God’s sight. Is you life in tune with Jesus’ message of hope and salvation? And do you know the joy and blessing of believing and obeying God’s word?

“Lord Jesus, open my ears to hear the good news of your kingdom and set my heart free to love and serve you joyfully. May nothing keep me from following you wholeheartedly.”


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Short-Circuit: A "Twin Peaks" System

An audiovisual essay and text dedicated to the system of light and communication in "Twin Peaks".
The sixth entry in an on-going series of audiovisual essays by Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin.
25 May 1991 - Lynch. I saw, a bit by chance, with S.P., an episode of Twin Peaks on TV. I had already seen one and been intrigued (in a good way). Same feeling yesterday. Same pleasure to let myself into the “chain” of the film, once I am (vaguely) related to the plot and once I am in the passage, always stimulating, from one scene (one shot) to another. Ah! Here’s some cinema, one notices. It constantly articulates something. —Serge Daney, The Exercise Was Beneficial, fragment translated by Laurent Kretschmar
Many things can be said in general about the entire Twin Peaks phenomenon masterminded by David Lynch and Mark Frost; its pertinent ‘macro’ contexts are many. These contexts include: the convoluted narrative and the crazy characters; the inauguration of a ‘dead girl’ genre (and where that genre has gone since the start of the 1990s, in Top of the Lake or True Detective); long-form TV drama, its possibilities and pitfalls; and the elaborate ‘cultish’ approaches to its viewing and interpretation developed by fans old and new. Then there is the especially rich mythological underpinning of Twin Peaks in all its extensions (including spin-off books, the feature Fire Walk With Me, and last year’s unveiled “Missing Pieces” shot for the latter)—both the mythology conjured by the series, which still holds so many in its thrall, and the many mythological systems from Judaeo-Christian to occult that feed into it.
Many of these paths (and others) will no doubt be explored in-depth by the participants at an upcoming conference at Salford University, Manchester, on 21 and 22 May: I’ll See You Again in 25 Years: The Return of Twin Peaks and Generations of Cult TV. In our contribution to this conference, we dwell more on the “micro” level of Twin Peaks, using audiovisual resources alongside the standard academic tools—to get to the heart of that particular, televisual “cinema of poetry” that Daney found so captivating.
On this micro-level, certain motifs circulate, sensations spark, textures are created. We look (and listen) to isolate material clusters of elements, pockets of feeling, poetic configurations—constantly in motion across the total work, metamorphosing and transforming. For the cinema (or TV) of poetry—as Pier Paolo Pasolini well understood when he first investigated this term in 1965—is, at its best, never a matter of static, unchanging symbols that rise above the work and call for a “legend” or key (mythological or otherwise) to decipher them; rather, a good piece of audiovision (whatever the medium) invents its own systems, and sets them perpetually spinning.
So let’s dissolve the lure of Twin Peaks’s narrative intrigue, with its regime of mysteries and clues, questions and answers, at least for a while. Let’s follow, instead, something that happened by accident on set during the shooting of the pilot episode—a light fixture that didn’t work, flickering on and off—which then became a major motif in the entire scope of the series.
Flickering lights, sparks and short-circuits, on/off emissions, lightning, torches, complex strobing patterns, and less “motivated” effects that suggest the sudden overexposures created by photographic lighting or printing: light, for Lynch, is a privileged medium for or manifestation of that electrical energy which, as the critic Stéphane du Mesnildot has noted, he seems to “exalt” in an “almost mystical veneration” (Cahiers du cinéma, issue 703, September 2014).
This system of light gets attached, by poetic association, with the strange fate, and often the failure, of communication devices in the series. Most of these devices come in the form of resolutely old-fashioned technology, in line with the surreal, time-shifting nostalgia of the enterprise: telephones, radios, boxy old TV sets set to “snow”, big microphones, wires, speakers, earpieces, antennae.
Mechanical or artificial communication tends to go berserk in Lynch, creating every kind of auditory displacement and excess: screaming, sobbing, feedback, echo, static, distortion – as well as music that stops and starts, speeds up and slows down. Telephony is even married to an uncanny, mental telepathy in the Twin Peaks pilot, when people know what is to be told them before it is said, and even without it being said.
Light and communication, image and sound: is it any wonder that Daney noticed in Twin Peaks that spark of cinema which “constantly articulates something”?
An enjoyable and, ahem, illuminating exploration of Lynch’s love for faulty technology. Although the motif of electricity became explicit in the film, it is clearly present in te series too. I liked how near the end you compiled scenes from the back half of season 2 as if Lynch’s influence was spreading across oter directors’ work, beyond his own control to suffuse the ungainly whole of Twin Peaks. It would be interesting to see a “sequel” I’m which the theme of dysfunctional electricity and/or communication is traced across other Lynch films. I think I’m most fascinated by his use of the telephone. It’s of ourse most notable in Mulholland Drive in which the ringing, unanswered phone evokes so much unexplainable dread (dread which is more or less “explained” when we see the last location of the ringing phone again in the film’s final thread). There is also a deleted scene featured in the Missing Pieces-esque “More Things That Happened” collection on the Inland Empire disc, and Pete’s chilling conversation with the Mystery Man in Lost Highway (during which his parents seemingly evaporate, gone for the duration of the movie). And of course the more famous Mystery Man phone scene, one of the few times Lynch uses a cell phone (Twin Peaks 2016 will be interesting in that regard). In his Industrial Symphony No. 1, Sailor and Lula-like characters break up on the phone, initiating the entire musical dreamscape which follows. Sometimes the “missed connection” occurs when you are able rarer than unable to pick up the receiver. A few more interesting instances on phone use in Twin Peaks: there is a sequence near the end of a non-Lynch episode in season 2 in which an ominous, unanswered phone (ostensibly in the sheriff’s station) seems to anticipate Mulholland Drive ten years later; the Deer Meadow sheriff’s comical pun “We got a phone hear, got a little ring”; the delightful moment in which a drunken Laura tangles herself in her phone cord (the last even semi-“light” moment in Fire Walk With Me, though 20 grueling minutes remain); and perhaps most significantly the Missing Piece in which a ringing phone disrupts Laura’s comforting visit to the Hayward’s. Who’s calling? Let’s just say that she is sitting on the couch over which Bob will crawl toward Maddy on the series…sometimes uncanny psychological trauma manifests itself in the mundane before becoming a full-fledged nightmare. At any rate, you and your viewers might enjoy my own audiovisual work with Twin Peaks. The first, “Take This Baby and Deliver it to Death” compiles moments and sequences from Lynch’s first six films, as well as the show, to investigate the repression of abusive trauma and its violent release (beginning with a juxtaposition of Laura Palmer and the Eraserhead baby and concluding with the correspondence of Laura and the Elephant Man): The second is a narrative and contextual analysis split over 28 chapters, more or less chronological with asides for the characters of Laura and Cooper, the ensemble’s subplots, the media reaction to Twin Peaks, and the development of the show’s mythology (with particular emphasis on Mark Frost’s Theosophical influences). Fire Walk With Me is explored extensively, using links to the show, quotes from the Upanishads (one of Lynch’s oft-cited spiritual resources) and behind-the-scenes last-minute rewrites to shed (flickering?) light on the formation of Laura’s character and the transformation of her precipitating tragedy into the saga’s climactic triumph. Journey Through Twin Peaks, included by Kevin B. Lee in his 2014, 25-video round-up, is organized here: Were there more videos created for the conference, or is yours the only one? I would love to see others too if they are available.
I’ve never seen anything of Twin Peaks until today, that being the video essay by Cristina and Adrian. What a freak out ! This may be a short, brief opinion on an excellent video essay but I am rather curious to see more of Twin Peaks, if not a bit wary as well.
My apologies now for calling them video essays when they should be called audiovisual essays. Sorry guys ! Loving your work.
VickyMou, my advice is see it as soon as possible & don’t read/see anything else on the internet until you have! It’s best experienced blind because it’s quite a wild ride with ups, downs, surprises, and a hell of an ending(s). (That said, be warned that amidst the fun stuff is some really dark & disturbing material as well if that concerns you.)

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Upper Skykomish Valley towns lost to time | Taking Stock

By Tim Raetzloff | Apr 19, 2017
Courtesy of: Neil Anderson This photo shows the town of Alpine in the Upper Skykomish Valley in the autumn of 1918. It was taken by Doris Bell, who was the high school teacher in Alpine during the 1918-19 school year. Originally named Nippon, the town was first built to house Japanese railway workers. The town sat a mile from the nearest road. In 1903, a local lumber baron renamed it Alpine. Around 1918, an estimated 200 people lived in the active logging town. Ten years later, the estimated population was 400. The town was evacuated and intentionally burned in 1929. Today, little more than nature remains.

Many of us travel Highway 2 over Stevens Pass. In the winter, it may be to ski; in the summer, for a visit to Central or Eastern Washington.

Do you ever think about what you are passing through, or do you just drive to get where you are going as quickly as possible?

Most would be surprised by the history of the Upper Skykomish Valley. What you see now is forest, and one of the most common places for sighting Harry the Sasquatch. In fact, much of the filming of Harry and the Hendersons was done in the Upper Skykomish Valley. That is what you see now, but 100 years ago it was a very industrial area.

Many of the towns of the Upper Valley are gone. Wellington/Tye, Nippon/Alpine, Martin Creek City, Alvin/Embro, Heybrook and Corea are gone. Berlin/Miller River, Scenic, Halford, and Mill Town are nearly gone – only a few people continue to live in each. Skykomish, Index, Grotto and Baring are mere shadows of what they once were.

Once there was industry here, and many more people than live here now. Historian Warren Carlson estimates that the population of the Upper Valley 90 years ago was 10 times what it is now. The jobs went away and so did the people.

The jobs that were there were industrial. Granite was quarried in Index where rock climbers now scale the sheer face. Baring also quarried granite, and logged. All of the towns had some logging. Saw mills were located at Heybrook, Mill Town and Alpine. Grotto had a cement plant.

Wellington was just railroad. Its name was changed to Tye after the notorious avalanche killed 96 people in 1910. Skykomish was mostly railroad. As a Division Point, it was an important crew and engine transfer location for the Great Northern Railway.

There was mining in various parts of the Upper Valley, and the towns acted as supply points for miners. The exception to the heavy industrial character of the valley was Scenic Hot Springs.

There, a resort piped the water from the hot springs to baths in the hotel. Visitors came long distances on the railroad to enjoy the hot baths in a literally scenic setting. The resort was also noted for hosting dances. The hotel was destroyed in 1929 when the Great Northern Railway realigned its tracks to the “new” Cascade Tunnel.

On May 13, the Skykomish Historical Society is going to host “An Upper Sky Valley History Event” at the historic Maloney store in Skykomish. The 120-year-old store is now a community center for Skykomish. There will be docents who are familiar with each of the towns. I will be there talking about Alpine.

The event will run from noon-4 p.m., slightly unlike the Charles Bronson movie “From Noon till Three,” but in a similarly vintage town.

Tim Raetzloff operates Abarim Business Computers at Harbor Square in Edmonds. What he writes combines his sense of history and his sense of numbers. Neither he nor Abarim have an investment in any of the companies mentioned in this column.

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