Message From the Director 5/15/09

     Recently the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel did an article on raw milk, see: 

http://www.jsonline.com/business/43259972.html

in which the rise in drinking raw milk is noted as well as the dire health warnings of public health officials.  Today I will tell you my personal story of experience with raw milk.  I hope you find it interesting. 

     About a year and a half ago I began reading more and more about how far away from natural food we have gotten in this country.  Much of what is available in the average grocery store is radically adulterated from anything even resembling nature.  Many many ingredients in foods are created from corn, soy, and petroleum products.  The average American's body is now comprised of a huge percentage of corn.  The amounts of petro-chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides used on the crops grown in America is astounding and the additional fuel to get the products to our markets only adds to this dependence on oil.  Many of these foods contain residues from all this unnatural growing and then they are heavily processed on top of it!  So the nutritional value of conventionally grown food is definitely compromised when compared to small farm, carefully crafted and locally produced products.

     Dairy products, in particular, are supposedly made safe by pasteurization.  If you read about the history of pasteurization in milk production, you will be surprised to learn that it was used for "slop milk."  This was milk produced at dairies outside the large cities of New York, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati near the turn of the last century.  These filthy factory operations fed the cows spent mash left over from the whiskey distilleries and the milk was poor, watered down, and diseased.  Pasteurization prevented widespread disease in the humans who drank it. 

     The problem with pasteurization is that it destroys beneficial bacteria, enzymes and vitamins.  These bacteria actually will prevent the milk from becoming diseased by attacking and killing pathogens!  In addition, it means that all the dead bacteria in the milk stay there thus making it spoil more rapidly.  And another problem with modern milk is the homogenization process which blends the cream into the milk.  In order to do this the fat is smashed into tiny pieces that your body doesn't recognize.  This is the problem with the fat in milk.  Unhomogenized milk requires a little shake to mix it before pouring and your body knows exactly what to do with this fat:  extract the excellent nutrients from it and burn it!

         Look closely and you can see the cream line on top   of the milk.  The cream line helps protect the milk from any outside bacteria getting into it.

     So after learning all this I decided to buy a share in a herd of cattle.  You are not allowed to buy raw milk in the state of Wisconsin (although 28 states do allow it in some form.) Here you are only allowed to drink raw milk if you are the owner of the cow.  So I became a part-owner in a herd and now I get raw milk and pay for the upkeep of my herd.  Note that I do not buy raw milk.

     For about a year now my husband and I have been gleefully enjoying raw milk and raw milk cheese which I have learned to make.  It is the most luscious milk with flavor and body.  I just cannot tell you in words how great this stuff is!  I had never been a milk drinker before, but I love the frothy, creamy, raw milk.  And to know that it is supremely healthy, offering all the benefits of nutrients that are unavailable in commercial milk is just a delight!

     Ah, but aren't we afraid of the health risks, you ask?  In a word, no.  Our farm has healthy animals grazing on grass, the cows' natural diet.  The milking and handling of the milk is super-hygienic.  And every batch is tested.  The bacterial levels are better than pasteurized milk and no harmful pathogens are detected.  In one full year we have never had a bad reaction of any kind to this milk.

     I'm not telling anyone to drink raw milk.  But you might want to start researching and questioning the things the "officials" are telling you about what to eat and drink.  Who pays these people and funds their research?  Who lobbies the government officials?  What is happening to the health of the population who follow their advice?  Is it really crazy to consume a natural product that people have used to their benefit since the domestication of animals?   

        See: http://www.realmilk.com/happening.html