Tag Archives: local

I like milk

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Yes, I like milk, more specifically cow’s milk. I do enjoy goat’s milk from time to time but I drink cow’s milk on a regular basis. There are people out there that feel humans are not designed to drink another animal’s milk, because it is created to nourish a specific baby animal. Nonetheless, I enjoy it and have never noticed any negative effects.

Okay, now I made my declaration – but what type of milk do I buy? I prefer whole milk. Why whole milk? I believe the world’s healthiest foods are whole foods — foods that have not been processed. The nutrients in whole foods have a natural synergy with one another — that is, they work best in and are most beneficial to the body when they are taken together. Therefore, when you pull some or all of the fat out of milk, you throw its nutritional profile out of whack. Basically, you discard some of the health benefits when you discard the fat.

I used to buy local organic raw milk in glass jars. This made the most sense to me; cows were fed a healthy diet, so there was no antibiotics, no rBST hormones, no heat that would kill the nutritional content in the milk, no BPA from the plastic leaching into the milk.  Another benefit to glass containers is that they tend to keep the milk fresher longer by the nature of a tighter seal and glass holds in the cold better. Unfortunately, Mathew stopped drinking it because there was too much cream in the milk. I tried skimming it off, but that was not good enough for him. I do not push Mathew to drink milk because I think he gets his protein, calcium and fat from other foods. Nonetheless, I know milk compliments a healthy diet. Therefore, when I needed to find another milk, three factors were important to me: local, no rBST hormones, and glass containers. Antibiotics are not an issue with milk, because it is tested and the farmers cannot sell milk from cows whose milk contains antibiotics.  I would love it if organic played a role in my decision, but to buy a local organic milk, I would have to eliminate one of my other three needs. Maybe you’ll have better luck in your area. Luckily, I do have a local distributor – Byrne Dairy. They sell their milk in a reusable glass bottle and do not give their cows rBST and get their milk from local dairies.

When shopping we have many choices. These are my choices, what are yours?

 

Local or Organic, how do you choose?

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early morning farmHow much thought goes into what you buy at the grocery store or farmer’s market? How do you make your decisions? Do you choose your produce based on looks, price, organic, how locally it was grown or simply that you just want it? Until 2006, the average person did not give much thought into where their food was grown or what chemicals were used to grow it. But Michael Pollen illuminated the process of growing food in “Omnivores Dilemma.” Then in 2007, Barbara Kingsolver wrote about it in “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.” For me these books helped opened a dialog for the average citizen to think and talk about their choices. Now eight years later, organic and locavore are terms that have become part of normal daily life. People are starting to think about how their food is grown and how it affects them and the planet’s health. I love how this information is becoming mainstream and is making people think about their choices; educating them.

For our family, local is more important than organic but the best, if affordable, is local organic. I spend a lot of time talking with the growers. I have found that they spray as little as possible because every time they turn on their tractors, it costs money, which they have to pass along to their consumers. They need to think about how they raise their crops and maintain the health of the land along with the animals they raise. Their livelihood depends on it. The growers who are selling their produce to larger markets and ship long distances tend to have to make tougher choices about what they are spraying and when they pick their produce. It’s important that their produce can handle traveling long distances and still be edible on the other side. So, some items may have to be picked before they are ripe. I believe that produce picked ripe is taster and has more nutritional content. The local growers who sell to the locals feel their customers are more understanding that their produce may not be cosmetically beautiful, but tastes so good nonetheless. This fact helps them decide how and what to spray and when to pick.

When animals are happy, taken care of humanly and fed a healthy diet, they do not need to be given antibiotics, except on rare occasion.  We take this into account when purchasing meats and eggs.

Every year, it is getting easier to find local produce. Farmer’s markets are springing up everywhere. In 1994, there were only 1,755 farmer’s markets in the entire USA but in 2012, there are at least 7,864.  We are so fortunate that local produce is becoming more widely available. Sometimes I feel like a farmer’s market groupie, which is easy in the area I live in. During the summer, there are five farmer’s markets weekly and since I seem to always forget something, I have been to know to visit them all in a week.

What factors guide your choices? Please share and I will continue to share.