Welcome to Real Milk

Have you ever met the actual cow your milk comes from? If you’re like most Americans then the answer is a definite “no.” I am happy to say that I have begun consuming raw milk and have actually met the cows my milk comes from.

It’s actually quite funny that until this year, I didn’t even realize that there was an alternative to the milk that I bought in the store. I discovered raw milk about 5 months ago after hearing various people on message boards that I belong to sing it high praises. I decided I would look into this whole raw milk thing.

I discovered the research of Weston A. Price and the people who continue to study his research and conduct further research of their own into the role of a traditional and natural diet. I enjoyed the research and reading that I found at one of their websites: http://www.realmilk.com/ and also this link was helpful: http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/.

I also read a lot of the anti-raw milk claims and decided that there was a lot of scare mongering and all though there was a risk to drinking raw milk it wasn’t any more of a risk than eating any number of vegetables, meat or even juice that I was going to buy at the store anyway and it was actually less risky if anything.
So, we took the plunge and joined a local co-op that takes turns traveling for an hour to a local farm where we get our raw milk.

I was a little nervous to try it at first as I had grown up on 2% my whole life. And then there was this whole “shaking” business. You mean I have to shake it? But I got used to that pretty quick. So we got our first 1/2 gallon and I drank a cup of it and was quite surprised. Not only is it superior for you but it is superior in taste! It wasn’t any thicker than the Darigold milk that we’d been drinking which came as a shock since I was expecting something really thick. Instead it was refreshing and creamy and good. Even my 2 year old daughter took to it and it was quickly dubbed “special milk” since we still had my husband’s Darigold in the house (he refuses to try it – little does he know I will soon start spiking his milk – mwahahahaha).

We are lucky that where we get milk from it is not any more expensive than buying regular milk. We only pay $3.50 for a gallon of raw milk. That is an amazing price.

I have noticed that since I have started drinking raw milk that I do not get sick as often. I watch children and so there are a lot of colds and illnesses that go through this home. My daughter and I both seem to ward off most of the illnesses and I have not been sick once since starting raw milk. My daughter is two so she has been sick once or twice but not nearly as much as the children that I’m watching and even her father has been sick more than her.

I also enjoy knowing that I am supporting a local farmer and that I am helping to promote the ethical and humane treatment of cows. It also crossed my mind that it can’t be very healthy to consume milk from an animal that is diseased and whose lifespan has been significantly reduced to do the extenuating circumstances that we place upon their bodies.

Either way, it is raw milk er…Real Milk for us from here on out!