3.31.2010

The Great Raw Milk Debate


Clearly I read too much.

So many different ideas and opinions can be found in your local library!

I'm smack in the middle of reading Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck. Some very interesting facts in there, about how high cholesterol is a fairly recent malady, and our ancestors didn't really deal with heart disease and cancer. Her main philosophy is that "industrial food" is slowly killing us.

I'm down with that.

So, we're already eating way more organic than we did, and I expect to wean out the rest of the processed foods over time (I'm way too cheap to throw away food!). I drive out into the country and buy our milk and eggs from an old order Amish farm, which almost certainly doesn't use growth hormones or antibiotics on their cows. The milk is very lightly processed, still having that beautiful cream line in it. Look at that and tell me you don't want some!

Yes, this is better than the white stuff they try to pass off as milk in the dairy aisle of the grocery store. But it's not raw.

Raw is what our forefathers drank every summer and fall. Then they supplemented their winter calcium needs with preserved milk. Cheese.

There was no low fat or skim milk. Our bodies needed (and still need) the fats and proteins and bacteria found in milk.

But wow, finding raw milk, not so easy. I contacted a local farmer about purchasing raw milk, and was told you have to be a shareholder (called a herdshare) in the cow. So you pay a monthly maintenance fee to feed/house/medicate/etc. the cow, and in return you get a share of the profits. It's expensive, too. $75 one-time contract fee, $36 monthly upkeep fee. All for a gallon of milk a week. Yowza...

I desperately want the benefits of raw milk. Planck even mentions in her book that it can help with asthma and allergies, both of which I'm really suffering with right now. But I can't justify it at that expense.

So we'll keep trekking out to the country (which I love) for our milk. We'll keep shaking up that gallon jug so we distribute the cream into the milk.
And we'll hope that someday we'll be able to afford to take on a herdshare. Or to buy our own mini-farm and have a family cow.

If you're gonna dream, dream BIG!

8 comments:

  1. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I am into all of the non-processed foods too. I try to make most things from scratch. However, I still don't pay the extra $$ to get Organic. Maybe someday...

    Hugs,
    Trisha

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  2. YAY for you guys! We do milkshare too =) Raw milk is what I grew up on ~ my uncle was a dairy farmer, so we'd just go get some milk from the bulk tank when ever we ran out =)
    Another good book to read is "The Untold Story of Milk" ~ http://www.amazon.com/Untold-Story-Milk-Pastures-Contented/dp/0967089743/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270070062&sr=1-2

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  3. I'm so excited that you've kept going out to the farm. :-) I'm going out Friday morning.

    I'm not sure that I told you but his milk is pasteurized but not homogenized...the next best thing to raw. He would have had to get a specialized license & the state would have to come out for even more pop inspections than they already do &, as the Old Order are VERY private, I'd say that's another big reason why they chose the process that they did.

    But...I have cream for my coffee...I'm happy! lol '-)

    Blessings, Kim<><

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  4. I've tried to find non-processed milk but do you know it's actually illegal in Jersey to sell non-pasteurized milk?

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  5. Have you tried any goat farms, I don't know for sure but you may find raw goats milk eaiser to get. Good luck with your milking dreams. We even bought the animals, but just didn't have time for all the milking, so we sold out :(

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  6. Yum that sounds great. Shopping at an Amish farm sounds like a lot of fun as well. =)

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  7. I def believe all the processed foods is what cause many health problems. That's so neat you have a farm to go to!

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  8. I recently moved to Troy and I must say, this is an outdoor lover, health conscious, adventure seekers paradise. Upon joining Meetup.com, I found "E.A.T. Food for Life Farm" which discusses a lot about RAW MILK. According to their website they do sell raw milk cheese, but I am not sure of just the raw milk, as I have not been there before. Fulton Farms is great if you are really into the Organic foods...I had forgotten that veggies actually have flavor. If you wouldn't mind sharing, I would love to know more about this Amish farm...it appears to be right up my alley.

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