Thursday, February 11, 2010

Farm Fresh

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(look close at the milk....you can see the cream on the top....YUM!)

"Oh you would like more milk than the two gallons that are left in the cooler?"

"I was really hoping for six gallons" 

"No problem, let me go milk Princess for you real quick!"

"Oh and you want more eggs than what are already cartoned?  Hang on, I'll run to the hen house and see if I can gather up a few more dozen!"

You just can't beat the customer service when you buy farm fresh. 

Or the taste for that matter....or in the case of cracking eggs the mess!
That's right, if a chicken is fed a good healthy diet, then the egg shells don't crumble, and the yolks stay together.  You can even pick them up with your fingers most often. 
(and yes I really do keep my eggs in that basket on my counter)
I know we live on the edge ...such adventurers we are to drink 'pet milk'
those words on the label are required in order for farms in Georgia to be able to sell raw milk (different states have different laws...some require you to buy a share of the cow even....)
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Our son who is lactose intolerant can drink raw milk to his heart's content without getting ill since it the manmade stuff in dairy from the store that made him ill.
We gave him soy for the first few years of his life....then I started reading more and decided that was no longer an option I wanted for him.
Rice milk....well was just plain "ick" to us...sorry!
So thanks to the help of a friend whose son is severely allergic to MSG and other preservatives I started researching raw unpasteurized milk.  Yes we even consulted our Dr's and I asked a friend who is an allergist his thoughts.  His response was "if I could get it where we live, it's what we would be drinking" 
We've been drinking it a few years now and all of us much prefer it to store-bought organic and the price here is comparable.  For me with Crohn's I am more likely to actually digest the vitamins from raw milk as I can digest natural vitamins better than man-made stuff. 
The first raw milk I had was almost too sweet for us.  A lot like melted ice cream.  Delicious, just SUPER  rich!   But turns out what the cow eats effects the flavor.  So in true Goldilocks style we tried a different farm's milk and it was 'just right' for us!!

We love our farm !!!  The kids love going with me to get milk because while I'm loading up they'll go check out the new baby calves, and other animals!!  We've gotten to watch the milking process so we can feel confident in what we drinking....and we just enjoy that it's fresh....as in "let me go milk Princess for you" fresh!!  oh yeah.....

NOTE:  Yes I was buying 6 gallons of milk.  In all honesty we don't drink tons of milk ...mostly it's used for cereals, baking etc.  But we freeze it so we don't have to go to the farm as frequently. 
PLUS we're prepared if God happens to decide to bless Atlanta with a good snowfall....
I've got the milk and eggs and bread in my freezer ready and waiting....now I just need the snow!!

8 comments:

Tricia said...

We used raw milk for a long time while my FigNewTon was sick. Then she got too sick for me to go anywhere to pick up milkor anything else for a few weeks. When we were at the doctor's office, he asked if she was still drinking raw milk and I said not right now. Turns out that several children from his practice drank it from the same farm we were purchasing the milk from and had come down with a rare bacterial infection that was traced to the milk. It was a gift from God that we had not gotten milk at that time as that bacteria would have likely been fatal for FigNewTon. He suggested we find a farm that pasturized without homogenizing, and because of FigNewTon's compromised immune system, I complied. It works for us, but I miss the cream. Nothing beats raw milk if you trust the source.

The Unlikely Homeschooler said...

Wow Tricia!!
I concur....confidence in the source is REALLY important!!

MILLYROUX said...

Wow....I HATE MILK....I MEAN HATE I!!! I can't even stand the smell of normal milk without my stomach churning. Never have liked it. Went from my Mommy's Milk to NEVER EVER drinking milk again!!
BUT your post made me WONDER, would I like RAW MILK? Maybe I should take a trip to Rockmart? Looks very pretty from your photo and I LOVE ICECREAM.

The Unlikely Homeschooler said...

ha ha....Mandy you sound like my Mother. she would put OJ in her rice cripies when she was little. But she LOVES ice cream :-)

Laura at By the Bushel said...

I have bookmarked this farm in Rockmart. It will come in handy one day. :)
I have one milk drinker & one not. My 2nd has never been able to 'do' dairy, even had soy formula. Which is ok with me. He'll eat on cereal, but never really began drinking it. we just supplement dairy needs with yogurt etc.
but I really think the pure, before pasturized is where it's at. Too much 'gunk' in the food we eat(I eat)
Have you been to homestead revival( my last post...) she's really been talking about quality food lately. I'm a wanna-be right now. got to get back in the groove.

Laura at By the Bushel said...

... you probably did leave a comment, already :)We had snow today! Jack actually made a snowman!
Hope you are having a nice week/soon to be weekend!

Andysbethy said...

Oh what fun! I haven't had raw milk since I was a kid. I get fresh eggs whenever I can, but none of my friends have extra right now... for some reason their chickens are not laying much this winter. I have just been paying for organic at the grocery. I guess I need to look for a local farm! Thanks for the idea.

i said...

i wish i lived near a cow!!! how wonderful for your family! ;)