surprised by green

I have established many new food habits from a good friends of mine, Zack and Carrie. They are very thoughtful when it comes to food. And let’s just say my taste buds are not in the least disappointed.

One of these new foods is raw milk.  We buy our raw milk from the one local diary that produces and sells it: Jackie’s Jerseys. http://www.jackiesjerseymilk.com/ My daughter and I along with Zack and Carrie and their boys recently went on a tour at Jackie’s Jersey’s. We were able to meet and thank the cows and Bill and Jackie, who own and run their dairy. We saw their whole system from start to finish.  Theirs is a remarkably well-kept and clean dairy.

There is a lot of fear currently that is fanned into flame by media hot air that all raw milk is the same and all raw milk is harmful to your health.  There is enormous political and economic pressure from Big Diary to promote this idea, because they see this growing small dairy raw milk movement as a threat to their milk industry. I decided to read up a bit on raw milk, so picked up a book called “The Untold Story of Milk” by Ron Schmid, ND.

Put simply: “First, the cow’s diet largely determines the health of the cow. Second, the healthfulness of a cow’s milk is largely determined by the the health of the cow; therefore the cow’s diet largely determines the healthfulness of the milk (p.37).” All milk is not created equal.

“Because much of the modern and historical debate about raw versus pasteurized milk involves issues of safety in relation to infectious disease, it is important to take a look at the current paradigm, the belief that germs cause illness. Those who maintain that illnesses commonly associated with certain germs are caused simply by exposure to those germs will view raw milk as a threat and a danger. But for those who believe that illnesses are caused by a failure of the immune system to adequately cope with infectious agents, the issue shifts and focuses instead on the building of powerful immunity, mainly through nutritious food. The basic choice that lies before us it whether to choose foods that are nutrient-dense, or that have been rendered sterile.” ( Pg 43)

One of the conversations that by Schmid brings to light here is the difference between blame and personal responsibility, the difference between seeing ourselves as victims or seeing ourselves as responsible actors.  To the degree that we blame, we lose ground on which to stand; we lose the ability to have our feet firmly anchored and to take responsibility for our own health and the health of our communities.

There is much more to say and discuss about this, but alas it is time to go have breakfast with my daughter and drink a tall glass of raw milk from Jackie and Bill’s Jersey cows.