As you know, I was thrilled to become a shareowner in Windsor Dairy a few months back, starting our weekly ritual of driving up to the Denver Urban Homesteading farmer’s market to pick up two gallons of raw, organic milk from grass-fed cows. The dairy was hit hard financially last year by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s interpretation of the Colorado Raw Milk Act and their enforcement choices, which prevented Windsor from continuing to offer raw dairy products like cream, yogurt and butter for their shareowners. In just the past few days, they have been bombarded with the catastrophic failure of practically every machine they own—from freezers to refrigeration units to cheese aging units to personal and refrigerated vehicle transmissions—and are in desperate need of emergency funds to bring these critical units back online.

If you would like to donate funds to Windsor Dairy directly, please visit this link. Another way current shareholders can help support the dairy is by committing to the milk from an entire milking (anywhere from 80-180 gallons depending on the time of day) either individually or in groups, and come to the dairy to process your milk personally into cream, butter, yogurt, or cheese. This is something I would love to do if possible, despite the up-front expense, but it is not something we can consider until we purchase a stand-alone freezer to store the bounty!

In the meantime, I would like to make a deal with my blog readers to help keep Windsor Dairy operating unencumbered. You may or may not recall that I started a business called Scribbles by Sparks in April, making unique whimsical cards and bookmarks by hand with my son’s help, in order to raise money for his therapeutic needs. Windsor’s raw milk is one of the expenses paid for by those earnings, and we firmly believe that it has been beneficial to our entire family’s well-being. Because of that, I created a new dairy cow design this morning, and have started putting together both individual cards and sets of farm-inspired cards.

Dairy cow, chicken, pig, rooster (goose and goat also available):
5×7″ cards $5 each or $20 for a boxed set of 4, plus shipping

Dairy cow, goat, goose, rooster (chicken and pig also available):
3.5×5″ cards $4 each or $15 for a boxed set of 4, plus shipping

I will be donating the proceeds from the purchase of any or all of the farm animal cards listed above in the month of August, and will additionally enter your name in a drawing (once per farm card purchased) to receive a boxed set of four 5×7″ cards with your choice of subjects.

Email your orders to scribblesbysparks@gmail.com or use the custom order form at Scribbles by Sparks by August 31, 2011 to help Windsor Dairy and enter the drawing!