Saturday, April 30, 2011

Raw Milk: My Hero

 My mom is a really smart lady. She's very savvy about nutrition, herbs, supplements, and things of that nature. She recently had a BioMeridian test which tested the function of all the systems in her body. When she went in to get her results, the doctor reading them to her had never met her and he was very surprised when he saw her in person. My mom is 68, and from the results of her test, the doctor was expecting someone in their early 30s.

Growing up, we didn't have anything processed in our house: no white flour, white rice, white sugar. And we almost always had raw milk. We moved around a lot, but Mom would always find someone with raw milk. At one point, she had to drive almost an hour each way to get it and we went every Saturday and got 8 gallons.

A lot of people are misinformed about raw milk, they think it will make you sick. I've been drinking it literally all my life and never been sick from it. In the 1920s, a lot of people got sick from unpasteurized milk, but it was factory produced milk from sickly cows kept in filthy facilities. Pasteurization was a solution to that problem. But when milk is pasteurized, the good enzymes and bacteria necessary for digesting the milk are killed, making it very difficult for our bodies to break it down properly. Can you say lactose intolerance? Lactose intolerance isn't milk's fault, it's pasteurization's fault.

And what about homogenization? Homogenization changes the molecular structure of milk so that the cream cannot rise to the top. It also changes it into a food that our bodies cannot properly utilize. It subjects the milk to intense pressure and heats it yet again. Bleck.

The are an extremely impressive amount of health benefits from drinking raw milk. I don't want to take up too much space with talking about them, but I found a great resource (YAY INTERNET) HERE, if you are interested.

Anyhooo.... When Marty first told me that he wanted to marry me and take me to Orderville, I asked him if he knew someone with a milk cow. We've been able to get raw milk most of our marriage until just this last year. And I've been having a hard time. I've had digestion problems I've never had before, I've had canker sores, which is pretty unusual for me, and gotten more colds than I've ever gotten in my life. I really think it has something to do with not having raw milk anymore.

But happy day on Monday - Marty called and told me that someone in our valley was selling raw milk. We went up and got some earlier this week and I feel like dancing with joy. The cow is a Brown Swiss. I haven't met her yet, but they pretty much always look something like this:



She gives so much milk that she's feeding several calves, her own family and our family with lots left over. I'm planning to meet her soon, give her a big apple and tell her how much I appreciate her wonderful milk.

We needed some containers to hold all our newly acquired milk, so we went down to Marty's dad's house and found some half gallon bottles. They contained tomato juice and prunes and rice (respectively) that were bottled in 1976. We washed them out and sterilized them and now they're holding milk in my fridge. Look at this great old bottle:



It's an ATLAS strong shoulder Mason Jar. And it's blue. 



 How cool is that?!  A couple of the other jars are kinda square with vertical ribs on them. I love old junk.

And...

I LOVE RAW MILK!


6 comments:

Catherine Ritlaw said...

I agree! Great milk and beautiful jars!

katie said...

Me too! We are hoping to get a goat soon... I can't wait!

Anonymous said...

I remember drinking milk at your house and how it was actually palatable. It is the only milk I have ever been able to drink and enjoy!

Veronica said...

I have never tried raw milk, maybe I can sample it someday at your place. :)

Anonymous said...

My aunt grew up on a farm/ranch setting and she always in her stories, when milk comes up... talks about the milk seperating as a kid

Parelli Central said...

When I still lived in Germany, we would walk down to the neighbor's house and get our milk, fresh from the cow... Just found somebody here that sells cow shares, looking forward to the "good stuff".
Ann, I will be out of the office for the summer, teaching out in the field and assisting at the campus. If you need me, you can always get ahold of me on Parelli Connect, Facebook or at info@petrachristensen.com

Have a super summer!

Petra Christensen
Parelli 2Star Junior Instructor
Parelli Central