Raw Milk

I found a raw milk source. I'm so excited I can barely stand it. Yes, I'm a hippie, despite all my cute shoes.

By and large, in this country it is against the law to sell raw milk commercially. I don't understand the myriad of rules in the various states regarding the sale of raw milks, so please don't email asking me, but feel free to gripe about it in the comments section below.

I know that I was able to buy raw milk in California at my local Whole Foods in Berkeley. I couldn't buy raw milk at a grocery anywhere in Florida. Here in Oregon I found raw goat's milk in a few of the health food stores, but no cow's milk. Go figure.

I did find a very nice farmer here in Eugene who sells raw Jersey cow milk. Her name is Paula, she has two cows and a pristine operation. We had a long discussion about cows and nutrition and the benefits of raw milk.

Paula has two cows. In addition to allowing them to graze freely on her 29 acres, she feeds them a feed mixture of her own making. She looked everywhere for a feed that didn't include soy or corn, but whenever she asked all she got was blank looks. Soy and corn are not not part of a cow's natural feed. Nor did nature intend humans to eat them in the quantities that we now do. They're used primarily as filler, and are both a source of allergies and create digestive problems. Don't believe me? cut them both out of your diet for awhile and see if you begin to feel better. Check food labels - you'll find one or another of them in almost all pre-packaged food items. In addition, they're two common food stuffs we have in our diet that have been heavily genetically modified. They are no longer a true whole food.

So why raw milk, you ask. When milk is pasteurized, it is super-heated, to kill off any bacteria that could potentially cause illness and to increase shelf-life. But the super-heating also kills off the beneficial bacteria, stripping the milk of it's best properties. Click here for a more detailed explanation.

I can hear a whole bunch of you right now protesting this - milk can carry diseases! Yes, it can. To produce raw milk there has to be strict adherence to cleanliness, and we're just not going to get this from large farms. It's too expensive and time-consuming, and will cut into their bottom line, our health be damned.

I'm not advocating anyone run out and buy raw milk and begin feeding it to their family, nor am I going to list the benefits of raw milk as a whole food - this is another of those subjects that must be researched and decided on by each individual. I do encourage this. Keep in mind, not all farmers are careful with their equipment, and just because one sells raw milk doesn't mean that milk is going to be clean. Ask around, research, know what you're looking for before you buy.