Got Raw Milk?

I'm sure they think I'm the town kook .

I know that... and that's probably why I don't tell them more than I know that they need to know.

What is the difference between Raw and Organic milk?

Who's to say I haven't been in a similar situation?

There's nothing wrong with some gossip with coworkers... in a professional atmosphere, people who "gossip" do so out of earshot of others. Maybe outside on a break, or during lunch at the cafeteria... not at the nurses station, not during work hours. You CANNOT be judgmental, on the job, with your field, no matter how much you would want to.

Sorry I had to laugh about the "professionalism" of gossip in the work place. I work for the SO. We have nurses here. There isn't an hour which goes by where someone isn't talking about something. Isn't joking about something off color or even in bad taste. In a career field like this or in the medical field if you weren't able to get things off your chest then it would make the job eat you alive. JMO though.


This post has been edited by holley79 on Mar 31 2008, 11:44 AM

Raw is straight from the cow (or goat, for goat's milk), organic is certified by usually the USDA as Certified Organic, but it is still homogenzied &/or pasteurized. Raw milk is considered illegal in many places, or can be sold only as "pet food". Check here for availability: http://realmilk.com/where.html .

in your opinion, what are the greatest benefits of switching from regular milk to raw milk?

I think the greatest benefits of switching are nutritional; the natural nutrients & fats are retained and are better processed by the body. During homogenization & pasteurization, those important nutrients are destroyed or made void altogether. The beneficial bacteria are killed off as well.

More can be read here: http://realmilk.com/what.html .

Raw is straight from the cow (or goat, for goat's milk), organic is certified by usually the USDA as Certified Organic, but it is still homogenzied &/or pasteurized. Raw milk is considered illegal in many places, or can be sold only as "pet food". Check here for availability: http://realmilk.com/where.html .

The closet place to me if 2 to 2.5 hours away. I just emailed the person though.

Raw is straight from the cow (or goat, for goat's milk), organic is certified by usually the USDA as Certified Organic, but it is still homogenzied &/or pasteurized. Raw milk is considered illegal in many places, or can be sold only as "pet food". Check here for availability: http://realmilk.com/where.html .

The closet place to me if 2 to 2.5 hours away. I just emailed the person though.

Sometimes they know of other, smaller farms that might be closer to you. You just need to ask around .

so that last link I can see if any are near me? I have always wanted to try it.

okay its banned now in my state and it looks like I have had it...just did not realise it was raw, now I remember it...yummy. but an e-coli outbreak force them to stop selling it.

If I lived on a farm and had cows I'd probably drink raw milk. I believe it when you say it's better for you in the sense that the nutrients haven't all been killed by the pasteurization process. As far as cleanliness goes, I just found out that part of the reason my sister has never liked milk is because we had friends who had a dairy farm and she saw the dirt and poop falling off the cows into the milk pails while they were being milked - that's disgusting even if you pasteurize it afterwords. I have never tried raw milk - I'm really picky so I'm sure it would be a bit of an adjustment for me but I'd still like to try it. Just think of all the years farmers raised their own dairy cows for their own use - they weren't all dying off in droves. I'm sure the problem is when you have big farms everywhere producing huge amounts of milk, people are bound to start getting careless and then the filth and bad bacteria starts getting out of hand - then pasteurization is most likely the best solution. Another reason I'd love to raise my own milk or get it from a friend as Mollie does is so that I'd know there weren't a bunch of harmful hormones in it. I can't afford to buy organic. I do buy Kemp's Select or Land of Lakes Original since they say they're from cows not treated with rBGH/rBST. Even that was a taste adjustment for me from *regular* milk, so I'm sure raw would be even more. But I'd still love to switch someday.

This post has been edited by ~Roo'sMama~ on Mar 31 2008, 02:36 PM

Does that mean it is legal in the store for just pets?
There is a farm in a town I grew up in on that list

I would too! My step mom grew up on a farm and raw milk and home made butter were what they had.

Wow..some of you who are sick of the bickering sure do participate in it a lot!



I think Mollie has a lot of valid input and should continue to post her ideas, even if they are not mainstream..however, I think that when people respond posting their viewpoints, which at times may oppose those non-mainstream views, others shouldn't step up to belittle them either. All sides need to be respected!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Mollie seems pretty intelligent to me and I dare say she knew exactly what would happen when she posted this thread..controversy...which is fine IMO. But don't be alarmed when people don't bite into these ideas hook,line and sinker. I don't really see Mollie being put down here or treated rudely..yet I see others stepping up to defend mollie treating other members rudely.

Hit the nail on the head - well said

Does that mean it is legal in the store for just pets?
There is a farm in a town I grew up in on that list

I would too! My step mom grew up on a farm and raw milk and home made butter were what they had.

Yes, that means you can buy it right off the store shelves, or directly from a farm . It's not labeled as "pet food".

I didn't treat anyone rudely . Yes, I knew some people wouldn't agree with it, but I didn't plan on the bickering going back & forth, and to have it go completely off-topic . I appreciate that there are a few here who are genuinely interested in learning more. I apologize once again for starting controversy.

Hit the nail on the head - well said

I agree, in that I also think Mollie is very intelligent!

Can we get back to milk now?

This post has been edited by Hillbilly Housewife on Apr 1 2008, 08:54 AM

ok, I had to come out of hiding to respond to this.
First off, to those who don't know me, I'm not a mod here, in fact.

I want to preface this by saying to Mollie, you don't know me but just about everyone here who does, both friend and foe alike would probably describe me as an extreme left winger. I'm not quite as crunchy as you and probably never will be but my main left wing issues are animal rights and the environment and if you scroll back over the last year or so, I'm sure you'll find posts of mine where I lashed out at certain people here who I felt were not being sufficiently kind to animals and I'm sure I hurt some people's feelings in the process. I have to say though, from what I've seen of your posts in lurking here a bit lately, I'm really impressed that you seem to be raising six kids while washing diapers, making your own maxi pads, your own cleaning supplies, etc...you have all my respect...no way could I do all that.
At that same time, Sarah (mybabemaddie), I've always been rather impressed by you because I see you're a very young mom, raising a child on your own with little help from the father or his family and from what I understand, the father hasn't exactly treated you well. All the while getting a degree in nursing which is probably the best degree you can get these days to guarantee your future. You too have all my respect.
As to the topic, raw milk--two thumbs up!!!! I recently got some, it's illegal here in FL but I found it in one of the Whole Foods, sold as pet use only but still good enough for human consumption as selling it for pet use is the only way to sell it legally here. I love it. All the probs I had with pasteurized milk--it used to make my stomach rumble a bit, I was probably mildly lactose intolerant but am a bigtime milk drinker, well, none of that with raw milk and it's delicious. as for it being fattening--remember, it's not homogenized so the fat is more in globules, it's not blended in so it tends to stick to the container or the glass. It's also easy to remove--just freeze the milk, then thaw it and the fat will rise to the top. skim it off and voila, skim milk. As for whether you gain weight, i've actually lost weight on it because it works as an appetite suppressant for me. I find I can go a long time without eating if I have a tall glass. One caveat though--for the first 2 days, it had a bit of a laxative effect on me, that went away by the third day, it takes sometime for your body to adjust to the new bacteria. What with my horrible asthma and allergies, I have to say I've not had an allergic reaction or needed any allergy pills since starting on the raw milk...many people with asthma and allergies are really allergic to pasteurized milk and giving it up makes the allergies/asthma go away. Or you can drink raw milk instead. I absolutely love it.
Here is why I am posting though--it seems that some people are lashing out at Mollie while some, particularly some of the mods are defending her...sounds awfully familiar.
Here is the thing--Mollie, I'm sure Sarah's opinions on raw milk are genuine but I suspect part of the reason she is lashing out at your post on milk is because recently when she asked an innocent question about putting herself and her daughter in matching bikinis, some people really let her have it and you were the first to start it as I recall. Whatever your opinions, there is no reason to make a parent feel like a jerk just because she wants to put her daughter in a bikini and conversely, there is no reason to make a parent feel like she is intentionally harming her child by giving her raw milk which in all fairness, has been consumed by humans since time immemorial.
If you don't like raw milk or think it's unsafe, don't drink it and if you don't want your daughter in a bikini, don't put her in one. There is no need to disrespect people to the point that feelings have to be hurt because had I been in Sarah's place in the bikini thread, what you said, Mollie, would really have hurt my feelings. I know it's hard when you are very passionate about something, believe me it's a lesson I'm trying to learn myself but I lurked and watched this whole "train wreck" unfold and figured maybe respect is a key thing that is perhaps missing sometimes. And believe me, it IS something I'm working on learning myself, it's a lot easier to dole out advice than take it, even if it's your own advice.
As to someone saying or implying that Mollie knew what she said would cause controversy, I don't believe this is the case. While I can't presume to speak for Mollie, I'm pretty sure she'd agree with me when I say that those of us who are not "mainstream" fervently wish that those who oppose our ideas or simply dislike us would just ignore us as if we don't exist. Most of the drama I've witnessed on here was not caused by an original post, no matter how controversial the topic but rather by the way some people responded to it. When you're not mainstream, you're more likely to feel cornered when people belittle your views and are thereby more likely to lash out. Is it right, proper, appropriate? Of course not but it's human nature. For those of us who are eccentric like myself and Mollie, among others, there is definitely an audience for our opinions, and if you don't want to be part of that audience then ignore us, don't talk to us, don't pay attention to us. We're not here to cause drama, we just like a good exchange of ideas. You can't learn from those who think just like you, the most learning you do is from those who are nothing like you. I could write a book about all I've learned here and nearly all of it came from those who are very different from me.
For those of us who are eccentric like myself and Mollie, among others, there is definitely an audience for our opinions, and if you don't want to be part of that audience then ignore us, don't talk to us, don't pay attention to us. We're not here to cause drama, we just like a good exchange of ideas. You can't learn from those who think just like you, the most learning you do is from those who are nothing like you. I could write a book about all I've learned here and nearly all of it came from those who are very different from me.
Ok, back to hiding I go.
Oh, and to those of you who sent me PMs--thanks and thanks for the nice words. Sorry I haven't responded yet, I will though, I'm not ignoring you!

This post has been edited by MommyToAshley on Apr 1 2008, 12:42 PM

Beautifully put!

This post has been edited by kimberley on Apr 1 2008, 01:20 PM

very well said, Jennifer. it's nice to "see" u.

The black panther and the extremely long post....Yep! Jennifer's here!

Nice to see you!