Saturday, July 17

Raw Milk

After years of pining for an affordable source of fresh, unpasteurized, raw milk here in Tennessee (where it's sale is illegal!), we have finally had two pieces of good luck come our way. The first is a re-writing of the laws to clearly allow folks to buy "cow shares". And the second is an opportunity to join a newly formed group of fresh-milk-loving families and attach ourselves to an Amish farmer and his Jersey cows. Members of the group take turns driving to the farm each Saturday to pick up milk, cream, eggs, cheese, and pickled goods for the whole group. Today it was my turn to drive again.

I took Mado and her camera along. It was not easy capturing images of the farm without being intrusive. And it wasn't easy capturing any of the beautiful sights as we flew down the road either. But she managed to bring home a few pictures so that we could share some of the happiness we feel at being joined with this family and their farm :)

















Looks like Saturday is laundry day! All the beautiful blues and purples make me smile.

















Several men were out tending fields...some with teams of 4 or even 6 horses.


















The youngest of the 10 children in this family...the little girl has a cord around her waist and her brother is holding the "reins"...it reminded me of a Waldorf kindergarten scene, but in its true, natural setting!























Two of the hardest workers on the farm.


















A pair of young Jersey calves. This family moved here this year all the way from Maryland. Without a motorized vehicle. One of their cows calved in a Walmart parking lot on the way...they named the calf "Walmart". (I guess someday in the near future I'll be able to say that I get my raw milk from "Walmart")


















We saw many signs letting us know that we were in an Amish community.


















And shared the road with this whistling fellow!


















Can you see the 2 turkeys flying across the road in front of our van??!! They had a flock of babies with them, too. We took this sighting as a good omen, of course :)
 

















Here is Toucie perched on top of 16 gallons of fresh milk.
I am SO grateful to have access to this wonderful food!
(and to you, Mado, for the pictures that remind me of how lucky we are)

10 comments:

  1. awesome! i love that you all were able to capture some pics! i have to find something like this...and now i'm off to look....

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  2. WOW! What a blessing. We have access to raw milk as 'cosmetic purpose milk only'! Somehow they can sell raw milk here for 'cosmetic purposes', but not for human consumption, so we have access to it that way - but OF COURSE!!! we do NOT drink it :P hehehehehehehe :P It's sold as 'bath milk' - so yes... we 'bath' in it!!!???!!!! :) HA! :) Just wondering if anyone actually does BATH in this milk? oh, yeah, that's right... we do, that's what we do with it... yep..... :)
    What a beautiful community you are blessed to know and have access to. Thank you for sharing the precious pics.
    I think there is some cow sharing that goes on around here... haven't looked into it too much as yet, but thinking we will soon. Baby steps... one thing at a time. Living simply really can be quite complicated! :) love to you and yours Cypress. Loving your posts :) xxx

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  3. Thanks for the words, you two.
    Isn't it frustrating? The laws that are set up "for our own good"? Here you will find some raw milk being sold for "pet consumption only"...similar to your "cosmetic purposes only" deal. It is priced beyond our budget and not available regularly enough to do us any good anyhow. I can't tell you how thrilled I am with my current arrangement. I've been trying for 18 years to provide my babies with raw milk! (The twins leave home in 5 weeks...chug that good milk, girls!!!)

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  4. Wow what is the issue with drinking raw milk? Sounds good to me though I have never tried it. I actually have farmers in my family and close friends as well so it shouldn't bee to hard to access but I don't know about the laws in NY state. Not that I am going to let this stop me! Where abouts in TN do you live? I used to live in culleoka, columbia, and murfreesboro

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  5. I have an award for you Cypress! It's on my blog.

    forloveofmyoceans.blogspot.com

    Blessings,
    Kat

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  6. An award??!! For me??? You are so kind :) I commented on your blog to say THANK YOU!!!

    I lived in Murfreesboro for a few years and worked at Middle Tennessee State Univ, there...my 3 oldest girls were born while we lived there :) And I know Columbia, but not Culleoka. Now we live just outside of Nashville.

    If you can get raw milk (unpasteurized, unhomogeonized) through your friends or family, I'd go for it...Lucky you!

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  7. How wonderful that you found some raw milk, I have had the blessing of a reliable source since arriving in these mountains (Asheville NC), there is just no going back once you have had it. It love the pictures from the Amish, there is a lot to be said for the simple life, I love how they color coordinate their laundry, I do that too:)
    Warmly,
    Christina

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  8. Yes, yes, yes, Christina...a "blessing" is the perfect way to put it :) Thanks for the compliments and for the visit, too!

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  9. Untill we got our own goats to get milk from, we found a raw cheese dairy that has recently been cleared by the state of PA to sell raw milk. It was so nice, the day we started buying the milk they gave us all a tour of the farm, we got to meet the cows who supplied us our milk and see all the cheese making. Oddly enough, we also learned that to sell raw milk, thier bacteria count has to be considerably lower than the bacteria that is allowed in commercial milk. Found that law really messed up, but it is nice to have the ability here to get milk like that.

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  10. we love the amish....we live in eastern pennsylvania and travel to amish country often....glad to have found your blog!

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