I Bought a Dairy Cow! Milk for sale!

I am so excited, and wait 'til you hear why, it's so nerdy. I don't even care! Well, I am now the proud owner of a 1/2 share in a herd of cattle at Johnson's Acres Dairy Farm! This dairy farm has (by FAR) the best prices and flexibility for all-grass-fed milk. The 1/2 share entitles me to half a gallon of milk per week, and I am able to buy things from their other inventory as well. They sell raw milk from cows that are never fed anything but grasses....a concept so simple, it's amazing to see how far we've strayed from that! Cattle are made to eat grass, it's what they digest well, but they get fed things like corn, soy, and other fillers that make them fat and encourage milk production, but they also get sick. It seems logical that if we want healthy food from animals, they should be healthy themselves in order to be good for us. That's just the way I see it. So, I have filled out a "Cow Bill of Sale" and everything and feel a sense of ownership. I pay "Boarding Fees" for my 1/2 share of cattle (would love to know what percentage of a cow I now "own") and am, thus, allowed to consume milk from the cows as they are legally mine! Basically, the laws in Colorado prohibit the purchase or sale of raw dairy milk, but people are allowed to own cattle, board them, and let other people do the work of making the milk available, and then drink the milk from their own cattle. Strange way to get around it. I am intrigued by raw milk, don't necessarily know I would have opted to consume it were it not the ONLY all-grass-fed milk in Northern Colorado.  So, if I sprout a third arm or become violently ill, I'll be your guinea pig and let you know so you can use my experience to decide if you like the idea or not. The only thing about this delivery system that's not real convenient is that I have to go pick it up each week, but I figure, you'd go to the grocery store to pick up this stuff, so why not take a little extra time to go get it from someplace close to my house. I am crossing my fingers that one day, they'll deliver to our house. A girl can dream.

We also order 1/2 a gallon of milk from Longmont Dairy, and it's delivered along with other things (from yogurt to artisan cheeses to lemonade and seasonal beverages) to our house once a week. We've been receiving Longmont Dairy milk for a little over a month, now, and it's noticeably tastier than the milk we'd been buying at the store. We really like it! As I have said before, Jason's not a big "organics matter" kind of guy, but he's all about getting the best taste from his food, and as I am on a quest to find the best food, we land in the same place. Seriously, the veggies from our garden? Ah-mazing! (I'll update soon with some pictures, it's going crazy out there!) Farmer's Market goat cheeses? Notable difference from things that have been sitting in packaging at the store forever. And the list marches on. The fresher the food, the better it tastes.

The second photo on this page is of the product list we can obtain from the dairy. We won't be getting eggs from them because I have a local guy who charges about $.50 less per carton, and that's nice, not to mention, local is better, in my opinion. Several of the other things on this list are pretty appealing, though! Seriously, if you ever want some of this stuff, just let me know, I'll add it to my order and you can pay me for it. The beef, while pricey, seems to be excellent stuff, and I am pretty thrilled about the honey, as well. And salmon. Yum. I am also more than happy to go get eggs from the farm where I pick mine up every week and you can come get them from me and pay me back for them. They're $4.00 per dozen, and when compared to other organic, local eggs, it's not bad in terms of price. You get what you pay for, that's my philosophy. And it makes my day to say thank you to the hens that laid the eggs each time I go get more eggs. There they are, clucking away, and I just thank them as I walk off with the yummiest eggs EVER. This is another step in my journey towards a deeper relationship with every bit of food I eat.

Here are some of the herd of which I just became a joint-owner!
Cute, right?! I eventually got to the place where I couldn't stand buying
milk because I knew the cows were not handled nicely or fed the right things
and I didn't feel right about it. This is my alternative to the previous problem!
Thank you, cows!

I am now feeling inspired and might do a blog post about the egg farm I go to, just include some photos and information. It is truly awesome to go there and know where my food comes from. I am reading Michael Pollan's book: "In Defense of Food" and another one of his called "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and have been very intrigued with the material and what I'm learning. He prescribes, get this, a well-balanced diet. Weird, huh? No gimmicky "don't eat this" and "eat tons of that" thing. Just "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." I can do that....I think. I can at least work to understand it and then strive to do that. It's much harder than it sounds, especially in this culture where more often than not, things are dyed, heated, given "nutrient additives," and have some downright scary things thrown into them. The majority of food is very processed. Very.

Some call me a hippie, but I'm really not. I am just very interested in nourishing my body the way God intended me to nourish it, and in doing so, I am working to connect myself to the origin of each food item I eat. "The Omnivore's Dilemma" is very eye-opening as it explores the food chains we eat from. This style of eating does not revert back to an older style, but is rather a post-processed foods reaction. It's a new thing altogether. New technologies are not shunned, but things are done in a more natural manner. I like it.

I would recommend reading any and all of Michael Pollan's books. His approach is SO sensible. Food is meant to help our bodies perform the way God intended, and it is also intended to draw people together and encourage community. In general, food is meant to strengthen us. And there are ways to let it do just that.

Who ever would have thought that eating would become so complex that we would need to do serious studying just to make sense of it and understand what's on our dinner plates? It's amazing and mind-boggling to me just how far we've strayed from "knowing" our dinner. Where most Americans get awfully squeamish at the thought of seeing their food alive before consuming it (in the case of animals, anyway) and grow nostalgic upon seeing plants growing food as if it's some long-lost idea or idyllic dream. That's how it should be. That's been a very eye-opening realization for me. Food is grown. Meat has a face. It just does. That shouldn't be so shocking and taboo to us. I decided a while ago that if I couldn't handle being present for the butchering of a particular kind of animal, I shouldn't eat the meat from it. I now eat a lot less beef than I used to as a result. Poultry is very different for me, but I still eat it without hesitation after having a chance to kill my own chickens on a few different occasions in Africa. While it was sad, it connected me to my food in a different way for which I am extremely thankful!

Just like meat was once alive, the soil is connected to every loaf of bread, every bowl of cereal and every Cheeto and Twinkie. What kind of soil are those things grown in? How are they handled? What is the life-story from the ground to a bag of Cheetos (and what IS that orange stuff?) on the supermarket shelf? That interests me greatly. I feel like it should interest all of us as it really defines who we are through our interactions with the Earth that God gave us. Do we respect it and treat it with the care He asked us to show, or do we treat it haphazardly and close our eyes when the reality becomes too unpleasant?

Cheers to a birthday without allergies

I went to my garden today and realized that I have sorely neglected it lately. I water it every day, but apparently, right now, it needs much more than a daily dousing. So, I drenched the thing. I spent like 2 hours digging and churning soil so it would moisten all the way through, I filled the trenches I've dug between the rows with water again and again and again. And I planted some new plants!
Most exciting of which is popcorn! I found blue organic popcorn on Amazon.com and decided to give it a go. I am expecting it to grow like regular corn (which I have at about my shoulder height right now just a few feet from where the popcorn has been planted) and then dry out and be harvested about the same time pumpkins are harvested and voila! I will have home-grown popcorn this winter. Tomorrow, I am planning to go out and water it first thing in the morning (6am) and again at night. If I take care of it, I hope it'll take care of us, too. :) It's been a little weird watering it lately because the person we share the house with was worried about the cost of watering. It's not bad, really, and when you plant more costly things (like artichokes, eggplant, tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, etc), it really pays off. But I don't want to be out there watering all the time if it annoys her. She has the primary access to the back yard, so it's me in her back yard. Oh well, she gets to eat from it, too, and enjoys it, so I should get over it and water my poor garden.

Tomorrow's a new day.

For my birthday this year, my wonderful, sweet husband got both sides of our family together to get me a VitaMix blender (professional series...the thing has a logo that says "Culinary Institute of America" on it...which probably means nothing, but makes me giddy inside just a bit) and a CrockPot slow cooker. Now that I have a slow cooker and realize the emense benefit of it, I can't really understand what I've been up to all this time without one. YAY! I now have the most amazing kitchen in the world. I can make fresh juice, amazing things in the blender, and cook sumptuous meals while I get other stuff done all day. Only one thing holding me back from truly basking in the glow of the new kitchen items.....my juice fast.

Oh, the juice fast lingers on, and every day, I tell myself that this is a two-month (relatively short) period of time in which I am resetting myself and after this is over, I can start living in a healthy, balanced way and enjoy good health. This is how I get through the day. It works.

So far, I have lost almost 20 lbs and have had no allergies this June. For me, that's HUGE. Since high school, every June has become increasingly more challenging. Last year, my birthday was an antihistamine-buzzed blur of sneezing and Jason making lovely plans which I could barely witness or experience through teary eyes, a red (raw) nose, and fits of sneezing that left me needing to sit down. My allergies have historically crescendoed on my birthday. This year, though? Nope!

I had a momentary itch in my right eye for like ten seconds on my birthday. Marked difference. I also decided to go ahead and eat some real food on my birthday. And a day later, I had a day of sneezing and hayfever. It was worth it, of course, but still, notable. So, this juicer has saved June for me. I am back on track with losing weight and have had NO allergies whatsoever in the last day or two since I re-started the juicer. It's amazing to really think about the fact that God gave us fruits and vegetables as food, and He knew that those things would provide our bodies with the ability to maintain optimum health. And we decided to "improve" on those food items and look where it's gotten us. The US has so many allergy problems, so many diet-related health issues, and such pained immune systems. We eat processed this and canned that and freeze-dried those and none of us know the actual source of our food. It makes me really sad.

This summer, I am on a quest to learn where my food comes from and to change the way we eat and begin consuming almost exclusively, only things we can trace to their source. This means a lot more cooking, a lot more legwork for every purchase, and a lot better prices, health, etc. Jason is excited because he has been on his own quest for the best-tasting food. He's found that through elimination of processed foods, and finding the most local, organic, fresh foods, we get the best products. Funny how two different quests lead to the same destination.

Since I am eating just juice, and Jason is being fed mostly fresh fruits and veggies, homemade (not canned) beans, fresh salads, etc, we aren't consuming much that we can't get at our local Farmer's Market in Golden. This week, I'll have to take pictures and post them. It's a beautiful menagerie. Once I am finished with the juice fast in August, I will begin buying milk and eggs and such things from local farmers. I've found a couple of sources for eggs (which I have yet to visit to compare) and am still on the hunt for a good dairy in our area. For me, it's important how the animals are handled, for Jason, it's important that the food is FRESH so it tastes the best. Both things mean finding people here who sell those items. We'll see where that takes me! I am planning to begin making and keeping my own yogurt, mozzarella, cottage cheese, mayonnaise, ketchup, etc. I have the most beguiling things growing in my garden and the hope there is that I'll have enough tomatoes, tomatillos, okra, edamame, corn, peppers, squash, collard greens, etc, to freeze and store over the winter that we can eat from our garden for a decent portion of the year. That means now is crunch time! It's a very back-in-time feeling to be planning to put away the summer's produce for winter when there won't be anything to pick in the garden. It's exciting and fun and a little thrilling. And now I have this incredible kitchen full of things that enable health to the fullest. I am so blessed to have a husband who sees the value in this kind of stuff as much as I do, and who believes in me. He views these appliances as investments in our future. Sweet man.

Food for thought. I am reading Michael Pollan's book, "In Defense of Food," and I am really loving it. A lot of new understanding of food and its relationship to our modern life has come about through my reading. If you're looking for a good read, give it a look. (sorry, no pictures today, I am not that organized)