What is Fresh Milk Anyway?

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?  I don’t think so!

My dear uncle would turn over in his grave if he saw the message on that truck.  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.  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.  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.  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.  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