Thursday, June 30, 2011

Maine, Raw Milk, and Me

My family and I took an epic ten day vacation in Maine earlier this month. I stayed at my grandparents' cottage in Franklin, Maine, up the coast apiece past Ellsworth and Bar Harbor.

Two very wonderful things about this area are the John Edwards Market (no, not THAT John Edwards), which you can see here at http://www.johnedwardsmarket.com/, and that there are two farmer's markets in Ellsworth, one on Saturday in town, and one on Sunday at the Black House.

I forgot to mention that Morton's Moo in Ellsworth has FANTASTIC ice cream! http://www.mortonsmoo.com/ I think we went just about every day. I *wsh* my local ice cream people had ice cream anywhere near as good.

Okay, now to the raw milk. At John Edwards, I could walk in, get a jug of raw milk from one of two farms, and pay for it. No questions asked. No paperwork to fill out. No video on the potential harm it could cause me (yeah, right). And oh my gods, is it good. My husband and daughter loved it! My husband even said that he didn't feel bad after drinking it, which is what happened even with the non-homogenized but pasteurized stuff. So raw milk from now on for our family. I wasn't chickening out before because I was afraid of getting sick. I was chickening out because I wanted to make sure we liked the stuff, especially if I'm going to pay $9 a gallon! So anyway, I'm glad I finally took the plunge because it's so worth it.

After we got home, I decided to take my family to our local source of raw milk, Eastleigh Farm. http://www.eastleighfarm.com/ I had to fill out a waiver saying I understood the "dangers," and was taking personal responsibility if I get sick. I understand that they had to do that to satisfy the local government, but seriously? I think there are more dangers buying conventional spinach at the grocery store or a box of Twinkies. Now, I'm a big fan of government regulation-I am not a Libertarian, by any means-but because I think the government is focused on the wrong priorities when it comes to food, I can sympathize. And why is the government focused on the wrong things? because giant food corporations have a TON of money and powerful lobbyists. Real Food folks just don't have that kind of cash, and thus don't have the clout that they do. Sigh.

Where was I? Oh yes, raw milk is tasty, and is so much healthier for you than that dead stuff they sell in the supermarket. Don't believe me? Here's what Eastleigh farm has to say on all of the benefits, not just in terms of health:
http://www.eastleighfarm.com/benefits-of-raw-milk.html