Wed 8 Mar 2006
Husbands are delicate creatures and must be handled with care. Several months ago I developed a purely philosophical interest in agrarianism. Now my dh is embarrassing me by talking to strangers about the dangers of animal id’s. He found our family a source of raw milk, cheese, butter & eggs, and he has the kids plotting backyard garden spots. I think I am going to erase my agrarian blog links because I found out he is actually reading those blogs !! I finally put my foot down when he said, “If we get a cow we are going to need pigs.” PIGS!! Who is this man?
Speaking of raw milk. I thought I would give one of my unpopular opinions. I believe (whole) milk, raw or not, is good for people. Yes, I refuse to believe that milk is the great Satan sent to destroy our bodies with its oversized molecules. My children drink tons of milk. In all my years of parenting I have only seen one hairline break in the bones of my children. This may not seem like a big deal but my children are not known for their quiet play. Timothy once had a iron weight fall on his head from a rafter during a barn raising. His skull is still intact. As for the estrogen, I would prefer not to have it but so far all of our males are thoroughly masculine.
Milk, like eggs, is a cheap form of protein.
I don’t think I have ever had to say, “He has the croup.” We do get sick but not with that sort of sickness.
Btw, none of my children are overweight.
So there you have it. I am pretty much the only old school homeschool mom I know who will say this and hence I have heard all the arguments against milk. Please feel free to argue. I will just smile and nod and go buy a few more gallons.
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just wanted you to know you are not alone in your love of milk! our family of six goes through an average of eight gallons every 2 weeks! i have recently become more careful what milk we buy. we drive to Vincent, Al to get milk brought from Wright Dairy Farm in Alexandria. oh, the things we do for the love of good milk . i really enjoy your blog and i hope we can see you again soon!
In Christ,
Jen Key
Comment by Jennifer Key (March 8, 2006 @ 10:13 am )
Cindy, I’d love to hear where you are getting your milk and eggs. Is it a lot more expensive?
Comment by Laura (March 8, 2006 @ 10:21 am )
Whole milk here, too! And yogurt.
We used to have goats but took pity on Pieter who had to milk them every day. I would love a cow (Dexter cattle are supposed to be a good breed for a family: small cows which give rich milk, but not too much of it!), but I would make sure to have several milkers who could take care of the job rather than put it on one person’s shoulders.
Hooray for Tim! I have a subversive present for him soon.
Comment by Carmon (March 8, 2006 @ 10:30 am )
Cindy,
We LOVE whole milk here. We get ours from an Amish farm. It’s raw milk and the cows don’t receive any hormones. In a pinch I can use the cream off the top in recipes, but normally we shake it up before we use it.
We used to call William “milk boy” because he drank so much milk. One day he tripped and fell face first on our back driveway and the macadam actually was embedded on his front teeth for a few days but his teeth survived. We said it was the grace of God and all that milk. None of my children have ever (yet) had a broken bone either.
Vince has naturally high cholesterol. Even when we were first married and he was in his midthirties it was already around 320 or so. We saw it go down a bit once he started drinking whole milk and using real butter and eating bacon.
Also, the Bible is full of references of a land flowing with milk and honey being a good thing.
On a quick different note, Vince wants to know if his midwestern twang would be a liability in sales down south. He’s lived in PA now for 13 years but stil has a Chicago accent.
Comment by Jeannine (March 8, 2006 @ 10:51 am )
Please excuse my ignorance… Why is whole milk better for you than lowfat milk? Cindy, do you drink a lot of milk?
Comment by Laura (March 8, 2006 @ 11:38 am )
Also whole milk drinkers, and we love whole milk yogurt with the cream on top. mmmm.
I once said outloud that I didn’t believe that the Bible would refer to a land flowing with milk and honey if milk was a bad thing, and I was told that we don’t really know if that was dairy milk. It could have meant nut milk.
I think not.
Comment by deputyheadmistress (March 8, 2006 @ 11:50 am )
Milk Lovers here too!! I am in my forties and love milk - still drink about 2 glasses a day - I don’t know many adult women who do. However, we have had one broken bone among 9 not very quiet children.
Comment by Kim (March 8, 2006 @ 12:15 pm )
Grew up drinking raw milk from Mathis Dairy in Atlanta GA, delivered to our back door. Now there are some pretty good choices in my supermarket.
Dana
PS I love your banner of chickadees, Cindy
Comment by Dana (March 8, 2006 @ 12:38 pm )
Laura,
I do not drink very much milk anymore. It is kind of a long story. I believe whole milk is much better for people than skim or 2% etc. I believe the fat helps our bodies absorb the nutrients and I believe it is a good fat not a bad fat. I think the fat in milk, butter and eggs is brainfood like fish for poor people. I truly believe it is a disservice to a child to give them skim milk but my bil got very, very angry at me over that once. He brought it up. But then again he thinks we are bizarre for having children in the first place.
Years ago my 5th child was a 10lber +. My midwife said he was so big because I drank a lot of milk. My weight was not too bad after he was born and my blood pressure was great.
I decided to give up drinking milk in order to have smaller babies. In hindsight, I now see that my weight was worse and worse with each of my next 4 pregnancies and I began to have BP problems. In the meantime I have not gone back to milk drinking. I am just out of the habit although I do eat whole milk yogurt without any sugar at all and love it. I am thinking of trying to reintroduce milk back into my diet.
I have asked every female that I know with high blood pressure if they drink milk so far everyone has said no.
Skim milk is almost purely carbohydrate, whole milk has more protein.
Comment by Cindy (March 8, 2006 @ 12:44 pm )
I don’t drink milk either except for on my cereal. I do eat around one to one and a half pounds of aged cheddar every week and have been doing so for years. My uncle is a doctor and several years ago he did a bone density test on me because he thought I was an at-risk candidate for osteoporosis. He was quite surprised to find my bones were so dense I was almost off the chart. I think all the cheese keeps me thin too. There’s some dairy/weight loss connection.
Comment by Jeannine (March 8, 2006 @ 1:21 pm )
Oh my! This is fascinating to me. Cindy or anyone, do you have links about whole milk vs. skim milk? I mean in favor of whole milk. I thought the protein and carbs were very close in number. I just did a quick search and was not coming up with the numbers.
We usually buy skim and 2% milk. I drink skim milk and have trained my children to drink skim milk. My husband doesn’t drink milk. He uses 2% on cereal.
Anyway, I am eager to read up on this.
Cindy, are you still low carbing? Just wondered because of the carbs in milk. I am trying to figure out the right diet for me ~ low carb or low calorie. I keep going back and forth in my mind. As my clothes get tighter. : (
Comment by Laura (March 8, 2006 @ 1:57 pm )
I am lo-carbing. 3 years ago right before I moved to AL my DR put me on BP meds. For the last 2 years I have been telling my new Dr they were making me gain weight. She just kept telling me to try Weight Watchers which I was on with almost no breaks for 2 years and gained and lost 20 lbs several times without really breaking the diet. This year my weight was really bad so she finally said it could be my BP meds. After one month off of my pills I had lost 15 lbs almost effortlessly which really made me feel vindicated. Now I am lo-carbing hoping to lose the rest of these 60 new lbs and a few more besides.
And that is one reason I avoid milk. Although I think I could get away with drinking at least some raw milk especially if I drink the top without stirring
Comment by Cindy (March 8, 2006 @ 2:38 pm )
Hey, Carmon, don’t encourage that man.
Comment by Cindy (March 8, 2006 @ 3:16 pm )
Before that DH of yours goes out and buys broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, or brussels sprout plants, ask him to call me.
I started from seed, organic, and have extra…
And, with favorable providence, will have the same abundance with tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant…
Cheers,
Teed
Comment by TeedOff (March 8, 2006 @ 6:15 pm )
I have 3 kids who cannot tolerate store bought milk, but raw milk doesn’t bother them a bit. Sometimes I am able to get raw goats milk, but not too often, so we mostly do without. I think the process of pasturization really does change milk. I would love to have a Dexter cow-they aren’t too big and look sweet, and bring in a nice big jar of creamy whole milk and let them drink all they like, but at least for now, that isn’t happinin’.
Comment by kerri (March 8, 2006 @ 8:06 pm )
Wow, what a great conversation. I’m fascinated. I’ve just recently been looking into the raw/whole milk vs. pasteurized/skim milk scene, and have been really interested in what I’ve read. Then some good friends came to us and inquired as to whether or not we would go in with them on a small milk cow for our families (plus others, I’m sure, because even some small cows put out 4+ gallons per day!). What timing. I’ll check back to see where this conversation goes!
Comment by Karen (March 8, 2006 @ 8:38 pm )
Teed, I’ll be in touch.
Karen, Getting a cow may be just the ticket, because my crew will go through about 4 gallons a day if I keep it on hand.
Thanks for the encouragement Carmon!
Cindy, I can see we’re gonna have to talk!
Comment by Tim (March 8, 2006 @ 9:03 pm )
Speaking of fractures…Eion broke his leg today. It’s our first break among our milk drinking 6 children. It’s not really bad though - a “buckle fracture”. Yes, it was those rough housing older brothers. If Scott H. is still going to New Life, you could ask him about his cows. He researched it thoroughly a couple of years ago, and he mentioned Dexters. I don’t know what he ended up with.
Comment by Sandy (March 8, 2006 @ 9:59 pm )
Oh, I love this - an opportunity to post my very favoritest subversive link: Real Milk.
Comment by Kelly (March 9, 2006 @ 11:03 am )
Kelly, that’s a great link. It’s a good thing my husband doesn’t read blogs
Just kidding, I will share this one with him. There are several dairy farms near our place of business, whoa baby, can we smell them 
Comment by Janet (March 9, 2006 @ 11:23 am )
Cindy, I just had a great thought! Why don’t you buy a cow. Your family could have lots of good milk… and I could buy milk from you!!! Isn’t that a wonderful idea? : )
Comment by Laura (March 9, 2006 @ 4:00 pm )
Laura, you might look for the book ‘Nourishing Traditions.’
Comment by deputyheadmistress (March 10, 2006 @ 4:11 pm )
I’m on a hunt for information, and you might be able to help me…
I too, grew up going to Mathis Dairy… I went to church at RAinbow Park Baptist, just down the road. I remember a drink/beverage/smoothie SOMETHING called a strawberry keefer (spelling?) and I’m trying to find out how to make it! So, I’m hunting for anyone who might remember this drink and who might be able to tell me what the heck it was! I was only about five or six at the time, so all I remember is the name and that it was GOOD!
Comment by Heather (April 17, 2006 @ 12:37 pm )