Real Milk

"Contrary to current popular belief, pasteurization of milk is not a step forward in nutrition and health. It is a step backward. Certain important nutritional elements such as vitamins, enzymes and minerals are lost. Low standards of milk production are encouraged; incentive for high-grade milk production is discouraged; competition in distribution is narrowed; monopoly control of producers is made possible; and the dietary value of milk is lowered, while the cost to the consumer is increased." Jean Bullitt Darlington, 1947.

Also, while looking into cheese making recipes this week I learned that the process of pasteurization actually breaks down the natural calcium content in raw milk. In order to acidify the milk for cheese making, calcium chloride must be added back to the milk first. And most of what I read this week said don't even bother with "ultra-pasteurized" milk. All the milk on the shelf at my local Giant Eagle grocery store is of the Ultra-pasteurized type.

It's an outrage to me that we have let the food corporations and our greed take control of and exterminate local food production in this country. I think we are beginning to realize what is going on and I think it's shifting towards more local production...but raw milk lags way behind the recent popularity of organic produce. I know if more people were educated on raw milk or could read the unbiased studies for themselves, they would choose real milk over the ultra-pasteurized, homogenized "milk."

Farm Cheese!

I had my first "cheese making" experience yesterday! I found this website on Youtube that shows how to make a SIMPLE cheese. Sorry no photos as I have just moved and have no idea where I stuck my camera. :(
But the cheese turned out nice. It was pretty bland. I added salt and some fresh oregano from my herb garden.
Here's the website where I found the recipe. It's called the Urban Home on the free range:
http://web.mac.com/laurenfritz73/Urban_Home/Home.html

The cheese just includes some fresh milk and some vinegar. Very easy.

Show Goats (and a short PSA)

The National Dairy Goat Show is in Louisville, KY this year--a 3 1/2 hour drive from Columbus--so I'm going! I don't have any goats, but I assume that it's open to the public. I can't hang out for the whole week, but a couple days of goat-filled activities sounds great! My plan is to attend the Sunday afternoon Toggenburg and Recorded Grade junior show, then stay through Monday for Senior Toggs, Senior Recorded Grade, Oberhasli Milk Out and junior show and Saanen Milk Out and junior show.
I think I'm going to learn a lot. At this point, I don't even know what they mean by "milk out." And what is a Recorded Grade...I should probably look that up...

...Recorded Grade: Does who do not qualify for either the Purebred or American herd books (adga.org)
So a doe may be considered either Native on Performance (if she attains the status of a star milker) or Native on Appearance (if she meets a specific breed standard.)
Excellent! I'm looking forward to the National Show, which is July 12 - 18....coming up soon!

And a final thought for today...a quick public service announcement from yours truly...
There has been a lot of press on the current nationwide Salmonella scare with tomatoes. Sadly, it seems the local media in this area at least, are not suggesting the most obvious way to protect yourself...BUY IT LOCAL! Of course if you're getting your food off the conveyor belt from some place in California or Mexico, you have no idea where it's been or what has been done with it. I've been really annoyed visiting Giant Eagle this week and seeing the produce section lined with strawberries from -- California???!! So expensive! They don't even taste like strawberries. Buy it local and you can ask the person who grew it where it's been and if they've used any chemicals or pesticides.
Pickyourown.org lists state by state and county by county places to pick your own produce straight outta the field.

Slow Goat

Well it's been a long few weeks. As it turns out, I did not get a chance to visit Capriole Farm in Indiana. But I am re-scheduling a visit later this summer.

I recently learned about Caprine Estates, a dairy goat milk manufacturing and marketing company in Bellbrook, Ohio. With the price of gas, this sounds like a much more economical choice. Caprine is the first Grade A goat dairy processing plant in Ohio since the 1930s, and they have a herd of over 1,000 goats!! Much, much bigger than anything I plan to do in the future, but definitely worth a visit I think.

Forgot I said I'd do a book report on Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats...coming soon-ish!!!

Currently I'm reading The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid. It's not so much about goats, but definitely a good read on the history of cow's milk production in America and the shift from raw milk to the ultra-pasteurized, homogenized "milk" found at your local grocery store.
(Also, I should probably mention now that no, I have never tasted raw or un-pasteurized milk. I'm working on that too...it's hard to come by!!! And I hope to help change this in the coming years.)
But I think this book is really a great read for anyone interested in knowing where their food comes from. It says a lot about our culture and where we've come from in the past 100 years.
I just skipped ahead to the chapter on homogenization, because I don't understand that process yet, and I learned something ...
Apparently General Electric (GE) ran a campaign in the 1950s to bolster the popularity of homogenized milk production with the slogan, "Progress is our most important product." This campaign "succeeded in convincing Americans to accept a product designed solely for the profit and convenience of manufacturers and distributors...and hastened the demise of traditional foodways, of which milk with the cream on top was one." p. 239. My favorite part of this little story is that Ronald Regan was GE's choice mouthpiece for the campaign. Apparently he hosted some popular TV show called "The General Electric Theatre."

Well that's all for this week. Enjoy!