eatkamloops.org

Michael Schmidt, Raw Milk Activist, Acquitted!

Michael Schmidt has been fighting for the rights of his herd share members to consume raw milk for the last three years. The National Post said today: “Justice of the Peace Paul Kowarsky upheld the legislation, but said in this case Mr. Schmidt did not break the law because he was distributing to joint owners of cows and not the public at large.”

The Globe and Mail today describes the issue as: “really about the extent to which consumers should be free to buy foods, however rarefied, and whether constitutional rights stretch as far as the grocery basket, farmer’s market and the people who own shares in - but do not live on - food producing farms.

This is not just about raw milk, this is about people’s rights to choose whatever foods they want. I advocate for choice, said Joseph Heckman, an organic farming expert at Rutger’s University in New Jersey who has consumed raw milk since childhood and now studies it.”

The court has upheld our individual rights to hire someone to care, milk and pasture animals. They have upheld our rights to jointly own a herd of animals. This ruling may be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. But right now, Michael Schmidt can go back to the business of running his farm.

Updated January 23, 2010: Patricia Meyer-Watt CNP From the Weston A Price Foundation Toronto Chapter posted this article from the Toronto Star about Michael Schmidt’s acquittal. The essence of why herd share programs are legal is outlined in the following statement: “Schmidt has long maintained he does not break the law by providing milk to the cow’s owners, all of whom purchase a portion of the cow and pay to board the animal at Glencolton Farms. The prohibition on raw milk in Ontario does not apply to farmers drinking raw milk from their own cows. [Justice of the Peace Paul] Kowarsky ruled Schmidt’s cow-share program did not break the law because the farmer only provided milk and raw milk products to his members, did not advertise or market his operation, and that cow-share members were aware they consumed milk at their own risk.”

Updated January 25, 2010: There is celebration at the Weston A Price Foundation over Michael Schmidt’s acquittal. Kimberly Hartke is the publicist for the WAPF. Kimberly tells the story of her great grandmother’s recovery from TB using the raw milk cure. She has a posting on the Royal Family’s support of raw milk and many other interesting postings.

January 17, 2010 Weston A Price Foundation Potluck in Kamloops

When: Sunday January 17, 2010 at at 2:00pm-4:00pm (meeting) 4:00pm-6:00pm (potluck) 
(Third Sunday of Month)
Where: 2853 Bowers Pl, Kamloops, BC (map)
Contact: Caroline Cooper at 250.374.4646

We will be hosting a Weston A. Price Foundation Potluck. Please bring one nourishing traditional dish to share with others. If you are unsure of what a nourishing traditional dish is, please read Dietary Guidelines and Dietary Dangers. Please bring a list of ingredients for the dish or a copy of the recipe. This is for those people with food allergies or sensitivities to even properly prepared nourishing traditional foods.

We will be discussing the formation of a herd share program for Kamloops. We will review Naomi Fournier’s lecture on January 9, 2010 for those families that could not attend. If you are interested in raw milk, please come to this meeting.

Raw Milk Contamination?

I was listening to CBC Radio today and heard a warning from the BC Center for Disease Control about raw milk contamination at Home On The Range in Chilliwack, BC. I have not been able to find a reference to any sickness caused by the contamination. Please read Raw Milk Products Contaminated for the full story. This is my response to the CBC News article:

My name is Caroline Cooper. I am the Chapter Leader for the Weston A Price Foundation in Kamloops, BC. The Weston A Price Foundation supports people trying to get nourishing traditional foods. Raw milk is one of these traditional foods that has nourished generations of farming families.

I believe the needs of the BC Center for Disease Control and the cooperative members of Home on the Range are not that far apart. Everyone wants a safe product. It would be more helpful if the BC Center for Disease Control used its excellent resources to help the cooperative to improve their safety protocols. I would hope an enlightened government would use its power to help, not penalize, its citizens.

It is important to realize that it might be great if the government used its resources to help herdshare programs improve their safety methods, but the government does not have jurisdiction regarding inspection or regulation of the products of the herdshare program. This is because the products of the herdshare are not being sold. The monetary transaction occurs between the herdshare members and the agister/milker under contractual agreement. Any products of the herd are shared between the herdshare members in proportion to the member’s shareholding. (If there are any lawyers out there that can weigh in on this point of law, I would appreciate it.)

Updated January 6, 2010: This is a link to Michael Schmidt’s blog called The Bovine. There is a posting written by Gordon Watson, a herdshare member of Home on the Range, about the situation in Chilliwack, BC. This is a link to Health Authority Cracks Down On Raw Milk. It is a story about Deb Purcell’s search for better health for her child.

I still have not been able to find any proof that someone has become sick from the stated food contamination. If anyone sees any test results from the BC Center for Disease Control please forward the information to me.

Undated January 7, 2010: I contacted Sally Fallon yesterday and she had a number of questions that the BC Center for Disease Control could answer to clarify this situation:
1. How many people in the area became sick?
2. How many of these people drank raw milk?
3. Did they test the milk?
4. If so, did they find a pathogen?
5. If they found a pathogen, did it match the pathogen that made people sick?

Many of the answers are in the following email from Home on the Range. The email was written by Gordon Watson, a long term member of the Home on the Range cooperative:
On January 6, 2010, I got a copy of the lab results which was given to one of our former depots, by Vancouver Coastal Health. A ‘cfu’ means colony forming unit. The presence of colonies of bacteria is the way foods, in particular milk, are tested for pathogens. It is important to realize that we live in a world of bacteria everywhere. Colonies of bacteria may be either ‘good’ bacteria or ‘bad’ for human beings. For purposes of food safety, what matters is the sheer quantity of colonies present in a one gram sample of milk. The less the better. The FOOD QUALITY SAMPLING RESULTS for milk from our herd show that the colony forming units range between 1,300 for the butter and up to 3,000 for other products. The fluid milk was 2,400. Thus, the tests from the BC Center for Disease Control show that our milk is well under the 10,000 cfu standard for pasteurized homogenized milk retailed in BC.

I still cannot find a reference to anyone becoming sick. Therefore a tie to the strain of bacteria found in the raw milk products is irrelevant at this point.

January 14, 2010: I have just received an email from a shareholder/worker of Home on the Range. Sui Ryu has started a blog about her insider experience with the raw milk issue in Chilliwack, BC. This issue is not only about having access to a nourishing traditional food such as raw milk. It is about the individual’s basic right to choose the source and type of food the individual considers healthy.

Updated January 21, 2010: Michael Schmidt, Raw Milk Activist, Acquitted!

Dreaming In the New Year

New Year’s Day is a time to reflect on the past year and contemplate the future. Many people use this time as an opportunity to make New Year’s Resolutions. I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions, but I find myself thinking about what I would like for my future. I have only so much energy and resources, so I must carefully focus my intentions, so I may arrive at my destination.

In my last blog I shared my dreams. I sometimes feel I have taken the long road to my dreams. Obstacles get in the way, and I find myself going in directions that I never intended. I find these side trips to be incredible learning experiences. At the end, I find I better understand my underlying motivations and resolve.

There are many dreams that have been left at the side of the road. Below are a list of dreams from my past and present. They have been sustaining dreams. I wonder what miraculous forces will shape these dreams into my future.

1. Meditation, Mindfulness and Lovingkindness are three practices common in some form in all religions.
Mettā Meditation: The Practice of Lovingkindness
Birken Forest Monastery (Abbot: Ajahn Sona)

2. Autodidactic Learning is self-directed study. I can’t give any links to sources because there is no authority on this topic. Nor can there ever be. Autodidacticism is self-directed learning without an authority figure to direct the course of study. Along with the process of autodidactic learning is the process of “unlearning” lessons taught by authorities which may impede the ability to learn new ideas.

3. Nonviolent Communication is a method of communication where everyone gets their needs met. When everyone’s needs are met the world indeed becomes wonderful.
Marshall Rosenberg on Nonviolent Communication Part I
Marshall Rosenberg on Nonviolent Communication Part II
Marshall Rosenberg on Nonviolent Communication Part III

4. Financial Independence is having enough resources to live comfortably without having to work for the basic necessities of life. If a person has simple needs, this state will be achieved earlier than a person with complex needs. When this state is achieved it opens up time to “work for love not money”.
Vicki Robin on Your Money or Your Life

5. Permaculture is a system of designed human settlements that mimics the relationships found in natural ecosystems. It is based on perennial agricultural and integrated animal husbandry.
Behind Greening the Desert with Geoff Lawton
Permaculture Water Harvesting with Geoff Lawton
Bill Mollison on The Permaculture Concept Part I
Bill Mollison on The Permaculture Concept Part II
Bill Mollison on The Permaculture Concept Part III
Bill Mollison on The Permaculture Concept Part IV
Bill Mollison on The Permaculture Concept Part V
Bill Mollison on The Permaculture Concept Part VI

6. An Earthship is a home built with recycled materials and is completely energy self-sufficient.
Earthship 101 Part I
Earthship 101 Part II
Dennis Weaver Builds His Earthship

May all living beings be well, happy and peaceful. May no harm come to them. May no difficulties come to them. May they always meet with success. May they also have patience, courage, understanding, and determination to meet and overcome the inevitable obstacles in life.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow with IZ

Boxing Day: You Are What You Buy (Believe)

Boxing Day has a long history but is now primarily known as a shopping holiday in North America. I haven’t participated in Boxing Day “celebrations” for decades. But at this time of year, I can’t help but think about what we “buy into”, will make the world we live in.

I dream about a world where my needs can be met without those needs costing someone else dearly. I dream about food that will nourish the body and community that will nourish the spirit. I dream about producing food for our families in a way that won’t cost “the world”. I dream about a world where our children are surrounded by a caring loving community that thinks about our shared future.

How do we become more enlightened about our behaviors so we can live our dreams? How can we change our thinking so our actions will follow? Maybe we need to just “buy into” a new vision. Of course, this vision isn’t new but very old. Maybe we need to learn how to tame our technology and harness our brilliance. All the answers are out there, we just have to apply them.

While I was at the Weston A Price Foundation 2008 Conference in California, I had the opportunity to see some new ideas being worked out in the real world. I visited the Three Stone Hearth in Berkeley, CA. They are running a Community Supported Kitchen (CSK). Jessica Prentice is one of the co-founders of Three Stone Hearth and author of Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection. I hope you enjoy an interview with Jessica Prentice Part I and Part II. If you would like to see inside the Community Supported Kitchen run by Three Stone Hearth please watch Business With Passion.

People who feel themselves in chains, with no hope of ever getting them off, want to put chains on everyone else.
John Holt

Weston A Price Foundation Updates Website

The Weston A Price Foundation website has been updated. This means many of the links on eatkamloops.org will not be working for a few days until I can reset all the links. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. The new Weston A Price Foundation website can be found here.

Updated December 16, 2009: I have gone through eatkamloops.org and corrected most of the links. I could not find a few of the essays on the new WAPF website, which I hope to find over the next few days. The new WAPF website is extremely well organized. It is much easier to find information about a particular subject.

Special Meeting for Kamloops Herdshare Program

Please note there will not be a potluck on December 20, 2009. There will be a Special Meeting for the Kamloops Herdshare Program on Saturday January 9, 2010.

When: Saturday January 9, 2010 at 2:00pm-4:00pm (meeting) 4:00pm-6:00pm (potluck) 

Where: 2853 Bowers Pl, Kamloops, BC, V1S 1W5 (map)

Contact: Caroline Cooper at 250.374.4646

We will be discussing the formation of the Kamloops Herdshare Program. Naomi Fournier of Birdsong Farm will be answering questions about herdshare formation. She runs a herdshare program in Enderby, BC. We will have a copy of the CFAI grant application we made to Interior Health. We will answer basic questions about herdshare formation and the estimated cost to shareholders. If you are interested in raw milk, please come to this meeting.

After the meeting there will be a Weston A. Price Foundation Potluck. Here are directions to GO BOX Storage, home of eatkamloops.org. Please bring one nourishing traditional dish to share with others. If you are unsure of what a nourishing traditional dish is, please read Dietary Guidelines and Dietary Dangers. Please bring a list of ingredients for the dish or a copy of the recipe. This is for those people with food allergies or sensitivities to even properly prepared nourishing traditional foods.

Update December 11, 2009: Here is a link to Sally Fallon talking about the work of Dr. Weston Price on One Radio Network.

Joel Salatin’s Vision of a Local Food System

This last weekend I had the great pleasure of meeting Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm. He was speaking to a sold-out crowd hosted by the Cowichan Agricultural Society in Duncan, BC. Joel Salatin speaks passionately about family run, grass-based farming. In his own words, he is “in the redemption business: healing the land, healing the food, healing the economy, and healing the culture.” The guiding principles behind “Polyface are:
TRANSPARENCY: Anyone is welcome to visit the farm anytime. No trade secrets, no locked doors, every corner is camera-accessible.
GRASS-BASED: Pastured livestock and poultry, moved frequently to new “salad bars,” offer landscape healing and nutritional superiority.
INDIVIDUALITY: Plants and animals should be provided a habitat that allows them to express their physiological distinctiveness. Respecting and honoring the pigness of the pig is a foundation for societal health. 
COMMUNITY: We do not ship food. We should all seek food closer to home, in our foodshed, our own bioregion. This means enjoying seasonality and reacquainting ourselves with our home kitchens.
NATURE’S TEMPLATE: Mimicking natural patterns on a commercial domestic scale insures moral and ethical boundaries to human cleverness. Cows are herbivores, not omnivores; that is why we’ve never fed them dead cows like the United States Department of Agriculture encouraged (the alleged cause of mad cows).
EARTHWORMS: We’re really in the earthworm enhancement business. Stimulating soil biota is our first priority. Soil health creates healthy food.”

My husband Shaen has read most of Joel Salatin’s books, so much of the information in the lecture wasn’t new to him. Near the end of the lecture, Shaen asked Joel Salatin if there was any big differences in his thinking now compared to when he wrote his books. Joel Salatin answered that in the past he believed thousands of farmers would communicate directly with customers. But most farmers find marketing and distribution very difficult and don’t like the work. Now he sees “clusters of farms” working with “local streams of marketing and distribution”. Joel talked about a six part system for a successful local food supply: producer, processor, accountant, marketer, distributor and customer. My husband and I looked at each other and wondered if there is a place for GO BOX Storage and eatkamloops.org in this new vision.

We realized we could become a local food distribution center for Kamloops. We could form a buyer’s group for Kamloops. We could increase the size of our orders and get better prices for everyone. We could run pocket markets or personal deliveries for a cost. If you do not know about pocket markets please read: Pocket Market Toolkit.

It was exciting thinking that we could become part of a successful local food system which helps all of us get the best in local food at a reasonable price. If we could develop a successful local food system, Joel Salatin believes “we could give the big-box stores a run for their money.”

Update November 25, 2009: I contacted Sally Fallon and asked if she knew of anyone who could mentor me to start a buyer’s group for Kamloops. She suggested John Moody who started a buyer’s club called Whole Life Buying Club. Before a new member can join the Whole Life Buying Club, they recommend the new member watch The Story of Stuff. The Whole Life Buying Club follows a Food Philosophy which defines the type of products the buying club will bring in for members. John Moody has written an essay for the journal Wise Traditions called Building a Local Food Buying Club.

Update December 1, 2009: Here is a link to Martha Stewart’s interview with Robert Kenner producer of the movie Food Inc. and Joel Salatin. I hope you enjoy the hypocrisy of the commercial, marinated in the content, more than I did. This is a link to the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund about Buyers Club Victories.

Updated December 23, 2009: I have just learned from Sandra Burkholder that Joel Salatin will be coming to Quesnel, BC on March 27, 2010. Sandra Burkholder and her husband Chris Newton are building a earthship house in Darfield, BC. An earthship house is made from recycled materials and is designed to be completely self-sufficient housing system requiring no outside support. The earthship is the brain child of Mike Reynolds of Earthship Biotecture.

Kamloops Herdshare Program

At the Weston A Price Foundation Kamloops Chapter potluck, we had a group discussion about starting a herdshare program in Kamloops. If you would like to receive further information about starting a local herdshare program please contact me at info(a)eatkamloops.org. I will put you on the email list for people wanting further up-dates. We need people willing to volunteer their expertise to get this project operational. Below is a summary of the conversation:

Basic Structure
We talked about basic structure of the herdshare and how the structure must protect the landowner, agister/milker and shareholders. This means there must not be any question of who owns the herd. The herd must be jointly owned by the herdshare members. All the benefits and risks are jointly accepted by the herdshare members.

The basic structure will have three contracts. One contract is for the landowner for rights to pasture and house the cows on a given acreage of land. This would include water use for pasturing, if required. The second contract goes to the agister/milker for daily milking and care of the cows. Both contracts could be with the same person or different people. The third contract would be for shareholders. This contract would outline the member’s responsibility to pay a share price to become a member. The share price would be used for the purchase of cows, equipment, and start-up costs. A second part of the contract would be a quarterly fee for the boarding of the cows. This cost would be based on the pasture lease fee, hay, milking and processing. This cost could be increased if something unexpected occurred.

The Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund has sample contracts so we do not have to start from nothing. We have copies of Wild Thing Organics cowshare contracts and l may be able to get contracts from Home on the Range and Birdsong Farm Herdshare. We need a lawyer to look at the sample contracts and write something up for the Kamloops Herdshare Program. This can be done later if we decide to move forward with the herdshare.

Amounts of Milk
Young cows produce less milk than older cows. A cow normally goes into peak production after about three pregnancies. Cows also go through a seasonal cycle of production. Management of the cow/calf relationship also affects dairy production. We can get more milk out of the cows by milking twice a day. This happens 12 hours apart, but we must have staffing for two milkings a day. This is a very hard split shift and makes people not want to continue the work. The agister/milker needs to be well paid and have holiday relief or we will lose our agister/milker.

A young cow will produce about 3 gallons a day and a cow in peak production will produce 6 gallons a day. If we use the lower numbers for a younger herd, we are talking about 21 gallons a week per cow or 63 gallons for three cows. How many families this can service depends on individual family use. A family would buy one or more shares depending on their personal needs.

Costs
We talked about costs. From my experience with our cow Patty, milk costs over $10 per gallon to produce. This includes the cream, which is a very valuable product which can be made into raw butter or consumed fresh. This is a very specialized product and it will cost more than store bought milk. Becoming cost effective should be a goal of the herdshare.

The quarterly costs of boarding the cows will involve the lease payment for pasturing and housing. The biggest cost will be for the contract to hire the agister/milker. To milk and process the milk of three cows, would require about 2 hours of work, twice a day, seven days a week.

Holiday Relief
One of the biggest problems of dairy production is the farmer becomes married to the cows. The easiest way to solve this problem is to not milk all year round. This means not having a fresh milk supply for a number of months each year. During peak summer and fall production, individuals who want milk all year round can freeze milk for the winter. The Weston A Price Foundation recommends seasonal milk for a number of health reasons. Milk produced from cows on fresh pasture is of the highest quality. Milk from cows fed hay is of poorer quality. It is better for the cows not to be milked in later pregnancy. The cows have healthier calves and the cows will live longer.

Sources for Jersey Cows
We had a brief conversation about cows and equipment. I told the group that we have a great resource with my contacts with Home on the Range (Alice) and Birdsong Farm Herdshare (Naomi). Naomi Fournier has given me a list of six local breeders for Jersey cows:
1.  Joni DeWitt (250)836-4206
2.  Jake Konrad, (250) 546-6069
3.  Don Hendrickson (250) 838-7942
4.  Thys Haambuckers (250) 546-0346
5.  Jennifer Pretty (250) 838-0556
6.  Gord Ferguson (250) 838-2373

I have talked to the first two people on the list and both have cows for sale. Jake Konrad gave a $750 price for a pure bred Jersey cow. Assuming these are quality cows, this would mean the base cost for the herd would be $2250.

Herdshare Equipment for Milking and Processing
If we have more than three cows, hand milking is not practical. We will need milking equipment and a filterer. Equipment is expensive but we could buy it used. It would be best to have a dishwasher and refrigerator for the milk. Most herdshares use reusable 1L wide mouth Mason jars with plastic caps. This can create a return problem but glass is best for milk. Yoghurt can be simply made by putting the jars of milk and culture into a cooler with warm water for the night. If we wanted to make raw butter as a group, we would have to look at industrial kitchen equipment to do this job efficiently. Otherwise, individuals can make raw butter at home. My guess is we would need about $2500 to cover used equipment costs.

Growing the Herd
The cows will need to be artificially inseminated once a year. We do not want the cost or risk of having a Jersey bull around. We have a 50/50 chance to get a female calf which can be added to the herd. She can be breed after 16 months. The males become grassfed veal. The products from the veal calves are to be split between herdshare members. The females are added to the value of the herdshare and will require some sort of “share split” for the increase of the value to individual shares. A link to a local company that does artificial insemination is Westgen.

CFAI Funding from Interior Health
Interior Health is funding Community Food Action Initiatives. I talked to Casey Hamilton and she said there might be funding for starting a herdshare program. She was very excited about the program and suggested we apply.

Call to Action
1. We need a core group committed to the Kamloops Herdshare Program. That group would do a fair amount of research without compensation. Anyone interested in volunteering their time and expertise is needed.
2. It would be good to have a herdshare member that is a lawyer and one member that is an accountant or bookkeeper. If anyone knows someone with these skills who would want to be a member please contact me at info(a)eatkamloops.org.
3. Christine Rougeau will write a grant application for CFAI funding. Regardless of if we get government funding, we should be willing to fund the herdshare ourselves.
4. Does anyone have the expertise to pick a quality Jersey cow? Krystal Williams is a 4-H leader and will try to find people with dairy cow expertise. Chris Harder has volunteered to check out the Jersey breeders in the area and learn more about cows.
5. I will try to get sample contracts from all my sources. I will try to get more details about costs from other herdshare programs.
6. Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) has courses on starting herdshare programs. I will look into this option.
7. We will be needing to find used milking equipment. If someone knows about dairying equipment and would be willing to help, it would be greatly appreciated.
8. We are looking for farmers or ranchers willing to take a contract for pasturing and housing our herd. We are looking for a person willing to be under contract as our agister/milker.

Updated November 17, 2009: This is an article I found on the Weston A Price Foundation Leaders Bulletin Board called The Raw Milk Revolution. Another link is to an article in The New York Times called Raw Milk Sales Could Reinvigorate US Dairy Farms. Please note the referral to the Canada listeriosis outbreak. The article is not talking about Maple Leaf Foods and how their processed meats sickened thousands and twenty people died. For more information about this issue read Slaughtering in BC: Information You Need to Know. This is a typical spin done in mainstream media about the dangers of raw milk. We don’t see people outlawing processed meats, do we.

Updated December 2, 2009: I found a source for Portable Milking Machines. Local used equipment would be cheaper. I hope everyone is on the look-out for used equipment.

Updated December 3, 2009: I have just applied for a four part seminar on Herdshare Formation put on by the Farm to Consumer Foundation.

Updated December 11, 2009: Naomi Fournier of Birdsong Farm found this essay on herdshare formation called Don’t Let Your Herd Share Agreement Land You In Court.

Updated December 19, 2009: I got an email from Interior Health about the grant application for the Community Food Action Initiatives (CFAI). Interior Health has decided not to fund the Kamloops Herdshare Program.

Updated January 21, 2010: Michael Schmidt, Raw Milk Activist, Acquitted!

Learning Home Cooking

Home cooking is fast becoming a lost art. I have had a number of requests for good starter cookbooks. I would recommend:

Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon
Recipes and information about nourishing traditional food preparation methods.

Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection by Jessica Prentice
“Moon by moon” seasonal cookbook based on seasonal local foods.

The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
This is a reprint of the original 1931 edition or get any copy between 1932 and 1979. Later editions start to go low fat and do not have much information about food storage and cuts of meat. I like the 1930s and 1940s editions best.

On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee
Not a cookbook but full of information about the science of food and cooking.

Thompson Rivers University has a Culinary Arts Program and Retail Meats Processing Program. If you are looking for inspiration, The Culinary Arts Program runs a Cafeteria and Bistro. The Accodales Dining Room is run by Chef instructor Ron Rosentreter, and has won awards for their fine foods.

For online videos and courses, you might want to have a look at Rouxbe Online Cooking School. There are free videos that explain basic cooking techniques. You can get a membership and take courses. The website is supported by Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver.

Update November 23, 2009: I have just found a link to an online library of classic American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century. Feeding America is a good source for old-style recipes.