Sunday, September 16, 2007

Raw Milk and some food logic


I've been reading the book The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid. It's a long book and deals with many issues that tie into raw milk. If you read it, here are some chapters I recommend.


3. Bad Milk: The Distillery Dairies
Discusses the origin of bad milk and why pasteurization came into practice.

6. Good Medicine: The History of the Milk Cure
Many examples of doctors using raw milk for treatment of various illnesses with good results.

7. Enzymes: Essential to Organic Life
Francis Pottenger's ten year experiment with cats studying the effects of raw versus pasteurized milk. The length of the study and the number of cats involved is impressive.


The book is very thorough in the presenting the issues that are part of the raw milk debate. If you're willing to invest the time I recommend reading it. I would have preferred if it would have had some tables, charts, or graphical snapshots comparing raw milk to pasteurized. Something to synopsize the points being made. You're left to cover a lot of material.

There are many websites devoted to raw milk that will give you the main points more succinctly. RealMilk.com is one of them. The Weston A. Price Foundation website, which sponsors the first site, is another good ones. You'll get the basics, and then some, in a much briefer format.

Personally, I'd like to be at a level where I have a few talking points to debate/promote raw milk. I've been attempting come up with philosophy on raw milk and organics to anchor to when there's lots of commentary flying around from both the pro and con sides.

Here are my thoughts thus far:
  • God made everything and it was good.
  • God made food for our nourishment.
  • The closer the food remains to God's original design the better it is.
  • The more the original design is modified with man's limited knowledge, the more the opportunity presents itself for unintended consequences. Think kudzu, nutria.
Food Safety:
  • Due to sin, there is disease and such in the world. Things die, moth and dust doth corrupt.
  • Nothing is perfect, so the opportunity exists for food-borne illness to be present in any food.
  • Food produced in a clean production environment is less likely to provide opportunities for food-borne illness.
  • Food produced in a dirty production environment is more likely to provide opportunities for food-borne illness.
Many claims are made by raw milk and organics that I'd like to research and find some hard numbers that back those claims.

To investigate:
  • Our ancestors died primarily due to poverty, non-food-related diseases (health-related factors only)
  • Our recent generations die more due to lifestyle-related maladies - smoking, drinking, poor diet, lack of exercise
  • That is, external causes of death have decreased, while internal causes have increased
Study these:
  • obesity rates by decade
  • heart-related disease rates by decade
  • cancer rates by decade
  • TV watching by decade
  • diet changes by decade - sugar, flour, processed
  • life expectancy by decade
  • fertility rates, miscarriages
  • compare US to other countries, developed and non-developed
Given what I've read so far, raw milk is safe. Not perfectly safe, but safe. Nothing is perfectly safe. Buy from a dairy that you trust. That's one of the benefits of buying local. You know where it comes from, you can see it being produced. That can't be said for milk from the store. Read the book above for stats on commercial/industrial dairying. You may wind up skipping the dairy case at the grocery store next time.

Numbers-wise, I've seen that raw milk has a lower incident rate of food-related illness that pasteurized milk, eggs, meat, and produce. I highly recommend the PowerPoint presentation at the RealMilk site. This gives the stats in a brief format.

Monday, August 27, 2007

A Pox on Thy TV

Or "And here's NOT a few words from our sponsors".

Good riddance! We've just completed two weeks of TV-free living. It took a while to get to this point.

Last fall we attended a homeschool conference in our town. The speaker, Carole Joy Seid, said that TV is detrimental to the development of children under the age of two. TV-watching should be very limited, none at all is better, for older children. So we went TV-free for a week or so before I caved in and started watching TV again.

Prior to that our son would watch "Cars" or some other animated movie all day long. No, really. ALL day long. Maybe "Cars" three times in a row and then "Madagascar" or such a couple times. We put a stop to that. For the last few months the rule was no TV unless it's dark out or raining.

Even with that rule we watched TV at the two worst times of the day. One, when the kids should be going to bed. And two, when my wife and I should be going to bed.

Instead of starting the kids' bedtime routine at 7pm, we'd watch "American Idol", "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition", or some other family-friendly programming. Their bedtime gets pushed back, which meant time for household chores got pushed back or eliminated from the evening's activities.

My wife and I'd turn on the TV again at 10pm for the news, then maybe "Seinfeld", Jay Leno, "King of the Hill". Before you know it, it's midnight, which is when "Extra" comes on. So we've been living on way less than eight hours of sleep a night for a looooong time.

With the school year starting and just being fed up with the way things were, the TV was banished to the basement two weeks ago. Had the cable TV dropped. Eventually, we'll set up the TV and DVD player to be able to watch movies in the basement. But not for a long time until we've mastered this new habit.

So what have we done with ourselves due to this TV-shaped hole in our lives? Hole? What hole? Here's a list:
  • Personally, read lots of books on the topics in this blog
  • The kids are always asking us to read books to them. (After the first week, we haven't heard once "I want to watch TV".)
  • Attend to the woefully ignored household chores
  • Play Zoobs with the kids
  • Have conversations with my wife. Hmm, what a concept.
  • Get some sleep for change.
  • Listen to Ravi Zacharias at oneplace.com
  • Last, but not least - get a life

Getting rid of the TV is one of the best decisions we've made.

The book The Plug-In Drug was recommended to me by my fellow lemming. See sidebar for The Lemming Media Group. The book discusses the trouble with TV.

We're living life real-time for real.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Smooth like Butter

Actually, it is butter.

Lately I've been buying raw, organic, milk from grass-fed cows at a organic dairy about 25 miles from here. I and my daughter, 6, like to see the cream at the top of the jar the next morning. In the spirit of self-sufficiency and curiosity, I figured I'd try to make butter from the cream.

There's a number of websites that give instructions for making butter. My wife recently bought a cookbook based on the Little House series and followed most of the steps. Tried cooking milk and grated carrot to make an orange coloring, but that didn't turn out.

Here's how I did it:
  1. Skimmed the cream off two quart jars of milk. I'm guessing it came to a cup - by eye it was about half of the pint jar I poured it into.
  2. Screwed on the jar lid and started shaking. My daughter started, but she got bored with that after about 30 seconds. I kept shaking for about 15 minutes. When I peeked in the jar, the butterfat had formed a ball smaller than tennis ball, but bigger than a golf ball.
  3. Poured the contents of the jar through a strainer and into a bowl. The remaining liquid, actual buttermilk, I saved for making pancakes later.
  4. In a bowl, covered the butter with cold water. I kept rinsing with cold water and working the butter until the water was clear. You're working out the remaining milk, so the butter doesn't go rancid.
  5. Worked in a little salt and put in a little ramekin thing.

All in all it I got about half a stick of bright yellow butter of out it. My wife gave it high marks. Used some on mashed potatoes from the LFM. Mmm.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Gimme milk ... In a dirty glass

For me it's actually, "Gimme raw milk". I've read enough for myself to convince me that it's the way to go. However, I'm not fluent enough in stats of raw milk vs. pasteurized milk provide meaningful commentary - yet. This book seems very good.

All milk was raw before 1840 or so. After the War of 1812, the U.S. couldn't purchase alcohol from Britain as they had been, so it started being produced here. The competition was stiff, so the manufacturers needed to squeeze every cent to make a profit.

They began distillery dairies. The waste grain produced by the distilling process was fed to cows in adjoining dairies. Now cows are made for grass, not grain by-products. Cows on this diet did not thrive and beaome sick, but the milk production increased.

In was common for cows to be tied to one spot for 15 to 18 months until they were too sick to milk or died. The milk became contaminated with diseases from the cows and the squalid environment. To combat the rising infant mortality rate in the big cities from bad milk, milk was pasteurized.

I write this to give the backdrop for how pasteurization began. The downside is this: pasteurized milk lacks the enzymes and vitamins that make milk worthwhile to consume in the first place.

Go to realmilk.com or The Weston A. Price Foundation site for a more rigorous defense of raw milk. In future postings, I hope to add some bullet points for raw milk and against pasteurized milk.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Farmers' Market - 8/18/07

Well, it was another good Saturday at my LFM.

I got:
  • Sweet corn
  • Yellow tomatoes (low-acid)
  • Garlic - next time I may have to get our year's supply. He figures he'll be sold out in two or three weeks. We use a lot of garlic.
  • Apples - I forgot to ask the variety. My uncle usually calls them lunchbox or schoolboy apples. Probably a Mac-mix variety.
  • Bunched carrots - at $1 bunch and a small one at that, I was a bit disappointed in the pricing. But until I find a better supply, it'll have to do.
  • Maple syrup - The apple guy was reselling for a local producer. He had his own apple syrup. Very tasty - I may get that some time.
  • Red potatoes
  • A huge red onion
  • One dozen eggs from happy chickens $1.75!!! Excellent!
  • Peaches from Michigan - technically they're in our 100 mile radius, but I figure they drove them AROUND Lake Michigan and not through. But that's still less than the 1,500 miles that the average food travels to get to my table.

One other thing I like about the LFM, and I remember this from my selling days at the LFM - sometimes they throw in a little extra. I bought 16 ears of corn from one lady and she threw in a couple extra. The apple guy was selling a peck, or was it half a peck, of apples for $4. When I bought $2 worth, he fixed me up with more than half the measure he was using.

I mentioned the price of the eggs for a reason. I've seen the eggs at $4.00 for free-range, grass-nibblin', happy chicken eggs at a farm store. Whoa! That's a lot. I found two other places that sell for $2.25 to $2.50. It pays to shop around.

This past week I also checked on beef prices. The same $4 egg store has ground beef for $4/lb. I found two other places - the egg places - that are around $3.10/lb. That's certainly more than the $1.99/lb for ground whatever (chuck, round, beef - it's all the same to me) at my local grocery store. But for the $1 more, I'm getting grass-raised beef and I know where it comes from. Not some high density feedlot.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

I'll have the fish

I'm not usually a fish eater. Back in the day my mom used to make cod for supper often. Since I'm married and she doesn't live in our kitchen, it's fallen off the radar screen.

However, at previous employer they used cater in lunches for out of town customers. Many of us would scavenge the leftovers including some excellent tilapia. So I got easy recipe for tilapia in a garlic butter sauce and have made it from time to time. Yes, it does sound good, doesn't it?

It's reasonably priced in the frozen section at our local grocery store. When looking at the label I saw "Farm-raised" and "Product of China". I read this article in National Geographic recently and thought, "Well, at least it didn't wind up on the shelf by fishing the living daylights out of the ocean."

However, I've become aware of how terrible the farm-raised practices can be. The use of antibiotics and the environmental impacts of cramming fish on fish has thrown me off farm-raised. I did see some video footage of a farm pond where there were so many fish, that they were barely "in" the water. I haven't found other supporting evidence of that otherwise I'd post a link here.

So if not farm-raised, what about wild? The NatGeo article above has me concerned. I remember eating the aforementioned cod years ago, but it's been over fished to the brink. The season for cod has been curtailed drastically and the allowable catch limited.

I read of one possible conscious-soothing alternative. The Alaskan salmon seems fished responsibly. Alaska's not exactly local. Ya once, but how 'bout some nice perch der from Lake Michigan (a really strong stone's throw from our house and my wife's lake, just so ya know). Whoa, I don't think so.

Maybe I'll just have the salad.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Where I'm coming from

Sometimes it seems that some people's interest in things is due to fad. "Hey, everyone's being green." Oat bran comes and goes. And goes. :-) Atkins, South Beach, Zone all have had their time in the sun.

Much of my interest comes from my background. My grandparents were farmers and went to the local farmers' market (LFM) for over 40 years. For a time in high school and in college I sold veggies at the LFM, too. "Why I remember back in summer of '88, I think it was... Hoo, that was a hot one!" I remember reading a lot of Rodale gardening books from the library. Through my grandparents I had a connection to the way things were done in the past.

From early on I can remember my mom being into health food. She'd make homemade granola and I'd beg for Cap'n Crunch at the grocery store. She got raw milk from a couple of dairy farmers in the area. Through the years, both my mom and dad have been done lots of reading on nutrition and alternative medicine.

The Bible says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Prov 22:6 So now as an adult, I still want the Cap'n Crunch, but eschew it for the granola. Thank you Mom.

Ten years ago my wife and I went to Tampico, Mexico on a missions trip as leaders of our church's high school group. One boy we met a church brought his latest treasure to the vacation Bible school we did for three days. It was the electronic part from a musical greeting card. He proudly showed all his friends and us. The battery was almost dead and barely made any sound, but it put a smile on his face.

I befriended another boy named Daniel who was about 10. I didn't know Spanish, but played tic-tac-toe with him and made a point to sit with him during class. The last day there he gave his marble. I figure he had only one marble and he gave it to me.

Next to the church lived a man and his toddler daughter. They lived in a one-room concrete block shed with no glass windows, dirt floor, no bathroom. The "stove" was a fire-pit/50 gallon drum rig.

Last summer, my cohort from The Lemming Media Group, got me to thinking about social issues. I used to think of social issues as "those" issues. My box was Evangelical, God-fearin', Republican, good guys who know that those other guys are Democratic, tax-raisin', sin-lovin', long-haired, no account varmints. The environment, poverty, and such are issues for those guys. I learned from him that poverty and justice and are on God's agenda, too.

Around the same time I worked at our local CSA (communtiy-supported agriculture). Met a whole lot of people who don't think like I do on most issues, but developed a common ground on organic and such.

So the last year has been incorporating the best of the past and the best of the present. So where I'm coming from is that I'm looking to live out my faith by not just saying that "Jesus is Lord". I want to add to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength", "Love your neighbor as yourself". Faith without works is dead. To have a relevant faith for our times.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Baby Steps ... to the Farmers' Market

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been reading, and have now finished Plenty. This past week I decided that I'd get our veggies from the local farmers' market (LFM) and not the grocery store.

Nothing against our grocery store. They have an excellent health food section, organic fruits and veggies (pricy though as you might expect), and numerous store-brand organics selections. I am concerned to a certain extent how "real" they're keeping it after reading this white paper by The Cornucopia Institute. Note: Our grocery store is not mentioned in the white paper or the website, so I am not insinuating that there's anything funny about their organics.

Anyway, so as first baby steps to going local I went to our LFM. I've been there a couple times over the last 10 years to see what there was to see. Wasn't really impressed with what I saw. But this Saturday, they blew me away. Sweet corn, tomatoes, cukes (by the pail no less), zukes, red and white onions, green and yellow peppers, and much more. One farmer had peppers the size of a pea seed, which had me thinking, "fire hot peppers come in small packages".

Well, came away with these:
  • One bunch fresh dill (for cucumber salad): $1
  • Home defense zucchini for bread: $1
  • 8 ears of corn: $2
  • Tomatoes: 2 big ones/$1
  • 6 tennis-ball size yellow peppers: $2
  • 2 big green peppers: $1
  • One bunch basil: $1
  • 4 cukes: $2
  • 4 small zukes: $2
  • Total: $13
  • Shopping local, get fresh produce: priceless

I was giddy about the experience in a very manly way. :-)

Don't worry, I won't give a blow by blow of our produce bill. I was very pleased that good food came at a reasonable price.

The moral of the story is check out your LFM. You might be surprised...and well-fed.

Possibly with every post I'll include my place in the queue for Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. When I placed the request at the library I was #62 I think. Currently the wait is 74. Today I'm #54. :-) Seems like that book is about as hard to get as Packer season tickets around here. If you're not familiar, that list is over 40,000.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Welcome to The Lemming Awakening

"The Lemming Awakening? Are you calling me a lemming?"

The name is inspired by my friend's movie blog, The Lemming Apocalypse, and his other blog, The Great Lemming Revival. So I opted to join the The Lemming Media Group. Inside joke, sorry.

Maybe you will chuckle at the name or possibly be thinking, "Uh oh, this is gonna be one of those kinda blogs." With the "those kinda" being the whacked-out, extremist, anti-whatever, pro-whatever, fringe-thinking blogs that you just can't stand. Hmm, well, that might be. So stick around and find out.

The point of the blog is to create awareness and to promote these:
  • organic, sustainable agriculture
  • family farms
  • eating local
  • nutrition
  • cooking
  • living it out as a family
The lemming part comes in, as I'm defining it, as a lack of awareness. Do you know where your food comes from? Do know how it was grown? Do you know what that growing practice does/does not do to the environment or the food? Do you know what your food does to/for your body?

Lemming is tongue-in-cheek. There shouldn't be anything in this blog that indicates, "Those people are such total lemmings.", like I was using as an insult.

I'm hoping strike a balance between philosophizing, information, and our family's narrative. The book I've almost finished, Plenty by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, is an example of what I'd like to do as a family and as a blog.

Stick around. This makes me think of a TV pilot. I hope I don't get canceled after the first episode. :-)