So there I was, out in the middle of nowhere, driving home after picking up eggs from my local farmer the other day, when what should pull out in front of me but the huge milk tanker truck pictured to the right.
The interesting thing is that most folks wouldn’t think twice about the big fat lie plastered on the back of that milk tanker.
Is it possible for farm fresh milk to come out of a tanker truck? Â I don’t think so!
My dear uncle would turn over in his grave if he saw the message on that truck. Â You see, my Uncle Harry was a small dairy farmer from Frewsburg, New York just a few miles down the road from Chautauqua where my family spent the summer each year while I was growing up.
My first experience with fresh, raw milk was at my uncle’s farm where I would drive out as a teenager to visit on weekends. Â I would ride his palomino horse for hours all over the beautiful, rolling pastures and then come in for lunch or dinner.
There was always a big stainless steel pitcher of cold, raw milk on the dining room table during meals and my aunt and uncle would try and coax me to drink some. Â I was tentative about it as I’d been warned that “raw milk was dangerous” and not to drink any.
But, seeing his peaceful, healthy cows grazing in the pasture, I found that somehow hard to believe.
I never did try my uncle’s raw milk, but I truly wish I had. Â I’m sure it was delicious.
Now a veteran of raw milk drinking from numerous farms for over 10 years, I feel like I am somehow honoring my uncle’s legacy by supporting the small dairy farms in my community and spending my dairy dollars locally.
Sadly, like thousands of small dairy farms across America, my uncle’s farm is no more. Â It pains me to know that I can never take my children there to see it like it used to be.
But, I can help educate people about the wonders of raw milk from cows grazing on green grass and how this food is so very safe to consume – light years safer than factory treated, tanker truck milk headed to grocery store shelves around the country!  Grassfed raw milk is life giving, nutrient dense, and exactly what children need to grow up sturdy and strong.
This seems a timely topic to write about given that my local farmer’s rye grass is coming in strong in the pastures right now and the raw butter is turning deep yellow as the cows transition off of the hay winter ration. My family’s favorite raw butter of the year!
One thing is for sure – there’s no way my kids will ever be drinking any phony fresh milk from a tanker truck in all its pasteurized, homogenized, antibiotic, steroid, and hormone laced, GMO glory.
No, my kids will be drinking clean, raw milk from a small farm such as what my aunt and uncle proudly owned.
And, it will be fresh from the cow, not phony “fresh” from a truck!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Sarah, I want to thank you for all the time you take in education. Fresh from the cow is the safest milk, especially if you know and trust the farmer. Shoot, I would drink it even if I did not know my farmer because I would never drink it any other way. But, thank goodness we do know our small farmers and trust them so! What could be better than the anticipation of the rye grass coming in and knowing how yellow our butter will be along with the cream-colored milk! Mother Nature at her finest! Thanks to all of you!
Boy, that is definitely deceptive marketing. There’s nothing fresh about milk in those trucks! But, many people believe it and don’t question the validity of such a statement. Many people have never been on a farm or even know that raw milk exists. It’s really sad. Many other things in the store are labeled as “fresh” and “natural” and it really isn’t so.
I’m very grateful that I am learning how to eat healthy and that my children are growing up on traditional foods. We’re not always perfect, but we try hard to eat well. I grew up on the Standard American Diet. One day, we went to the store to buy some regular, bleached sugar from the bulk bins. I am pleased to say that my kids had no idea what it was! 🙂 My kids drink milk with cream on top, soaked oats, kefir, and eat coconut flour baked goods (my son takes his lunch to school and other kids constantly ask him what he’s eating. He loves telling them about it!
Thank you for the article!
Has anyone seen that new milk ad that lies “Real milk doesn’t need to be shaken!” Are they trying to make people forget that real (raw) milk usually IS shaken because the cream has separated?! Real milk is not homogenized! I fight back against these lies in my own way… I just published a book called “Bye bye IBS ! The Natural Irritable Bowel Syndrome Cure” in which I tell all my readers not to drink pasteurized milk or cheese! :o)
Thank you for being an advocate for raw milk, Sarah. I grew up on a small farm and drank lots of raw milk. We were rarely sick, had very few cavities and never needed braces. I have a question, though. A friend of mine is also on board with raw milk, but stated in passing that he couldn’t afford it. He is a young man with 3 young children. Would kefiring “dead” milk be an option for him to make it beneficial again? Thank you in advance!
We are raw milk drinkers and like you, when I first went to my husband’s family farm, I just couldn’t drink the milk raw even though they’d all grown up on it (and never got sick!). But they produced for those trucks that would carry it off to be pasteurized, etc. These cows graze in the fields too in Pennsylvania and so you wouldn’t know they weren’t happy if you saw them. Except that you didn’t see the shortened life span and the corpses that appeared now and then by the side of the barn. And then when rGBH was introduced, it tore the farm apart with fighting over that third late night milking shift… lawyers, everything… it was horrible. I refused to drink regular store milk after this hormone was introduced, especially after my children were born. They are some of the few kids left with a normal age puberty (13-14) while other kids, especially girls, were starting their periods and getting underarm hair when they were 10 and 11 years old or sooner. Our pediatricians have always pushed low fat milk, but my kids knowingly ignore their advice in the office. My fear is relocating to a state where I can’t easily get raw milk!
Living in Texas is a challenge to get true Raw Milk and it is hard on the pocket book as well. To get the milk I have to drive a hour out of my way home and it is 3 times more expensive than the store stuff. I understand it is more because less is sold but when you go through 2 gallons or more a day on a one person income it adds up quick. I do try to get it every chance I get though.
Sounds amazing, Sarah! It’s ironic how Big Food tries to claim raw food producers are making “false” statements yet they make the most deceptive statements of all. The milk in that tank has no nutrients in it but is no more than processed chemical garbage.
Sarah,
What exactly is the process of getting the raw milk, from the cow? I always wonder about cleanliness, storage, how long it lasts, etc.?
Thanks.
Elita
I would recommend Elita that you visit realmilk.com for a description. Better yet, go to a local raw dairy farm and watch it happen for yourself. Then watch how they do it at conventional dairies (only via youtube if you’re lucky as they would be very careful not to allow cameras into those filthy disgusting operations).
You won’t have any question that grassfed raw milk is safer than conventional milk after that. Here’s a post I wrote awhile back plus video on the 2 faces of raw milk:
https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/two-faces-of-raw-milk/
I read at David Gumpert’s blog whenever something new is posted at my RSS feed, and he has lots of good articles concerning milk, and the fight to try to keep it —- and keep it safe.
http://www.thecompletepatient.com (I think that’s the right link)
Ha! That “drink Florida fresh milk” sign emblazoned on the tanker truck of subsidized cow pus reminds me of a label I saw on some ground beef at a conventional grocery store yesterday. It said in large print “pasture raised” and in small print that it was partly raised on pasture and then fed grain, corn, soy, etc. — so in other words nothing better than CAFO meat. In both cases, it’s deliberate marketing deception and a classic case of stealing terminology from the competition to make the product seem more appealing and hopefully maintain market dominance.
Your goose is cooked if you are not a savvy consumer who can see through the stealth marketing and deceptive labeling practices.
It’s the same story with “Florida Fresh Orange Juice”. Orange juice which can sit on a store shelf for upwards of 3-4 weeks without spoiling is not “fresh” by any means. There’s an article at WAPF about how orange juice (unless you actually make it yourself) is ALL processed junk.
So, it’s not just milk. Us real foodies have had to fight the system as far back as I can remember. In the 70’s when my first two babies were born, I tried to educate other young Mom’s about making their own baby foods (we only had blenders back then, not all the fancy gear they have now, which is really no more effective, just more expensive) – but you shoulda seen their faces go aghast when I mentioned egg yolks and pureed meats and raw goat milk. It was hysterical. But I learned about those things from my Mom and my two gramma’s and it was the best advice I could ever hope to have gotten. My doctor at the time didn’t ask what I was feeding them, so I didn’t tell him either. When my oldest was around age 2 he finally asked, and I hesitated but decided to tell him anyhow. He grinned and said his wife was from Austria and that’s what they fed their kids, too. I guess maybe he recognized the difference between my daughter and how sturdy she was compared to the other sickly kids he saw on a daily basis. We only went to his office when we were in town, because we lived out on a farm 75 miles from the nearest town so we pretty much took care of ourselves. When we were done with our “visit”, the doc put his finger up to his lips as though to say “shhhh”. We each winked at one another knowingly. He, I’m sure, would loved to have given that information to other mom’s who were his clients, but even back then he probably would have had his license yanked or whatever they do to doctors who don’t follow the status quo. What a shame, huh?
My grandfather started milking his cows at three int he morning. By five in the morning, he was driving that milk to his customers, leaving the bottles they ordered on their doorsteps.
In those days, “fresh milk” meant it was taken from the cow the same day it was delivered to the customers.
I have to laugh when I see huge tanker trucks full of stored milk that has had most of the nutrients heated out of it, with the word “fresh”. on the side.