I went to a dairy farm last week. It was a last-minute thing, right before I left Georgetown to go home, but I'm so glad I didn't miss it! Byron had heard that there was a dairy farm somewhere nearby where you could buy raw milk, that is, fresh milk that hasn't been processed. We followed street addresses that skipped around unhelpfully but finally saw a sign for the place in front of a cute, pale-yellow farmhouse on the edge of some open land. We pulled into the driveway, thought better of dropping by unannounced on a Sunday afternoon, then called the number on the sign and were enthusiastically encouraged to come on by. We didn't mention that we were in the driveway; we just said we were "near" :) We followed the drive up and pulled in next to a small building to the left of the house.
As we got out of the car, the farmer opened the door and waved us in. It was just one room, with a concrete floor and a few stainless steel cooler-display-cases, like the ones they have at someplace like Baskin Robbins, which were almost all empty. We explained that we had just heard tell of this place and wanted to come check it out and get some fresh milk. The guy explained that it sells really fast and that there were only six gallons of milk left, five of which were being save for a lady who has just called. So Byron could only buy the last one. Turns out the milk was just something like three hours old! Just hours ago it was still inside the cow! How cool is that!? Byron asked if he also sold eggs or beef. He does sell eggs, he told us, but his preacher had just stopped by and cleaned him out :) And he keeps a herd of Angus cattle nearby, but the beef always needs to be pre-ordered.
With apologies that we were new to all this, we asked how long fresh milk will keep, and with only a few prompting questions, he unfolded to us the whole explanation of the greatness that is fresh milk. You see, even though it has more fat than whole milk, the fat is easier to digest. It's not so processed. It also speeds up your metabolism. "My wife's as skinny as a rail, and she drinks about a half a gallon of this a day!" He didn't use himself as an example, he explained, because he's fat from beer :) He reminded us to shake it before drinking it in the morning because it will have separated. Byron asked if you could use the separated cream to make butter. "Sure!," he said. Then he flashed a conspiratorial smile and said, "If you pour a glass of milk and let it sit out for about three or four, or five or six hours, let it get warm, mmm!, and it's like buttermilk!" Another big smile. "But it's different from buttermilk because buttermilk is rotten, and raw milk doesn't rot. It just grows. And gets thick."
I was intrigued with all of this! Who knew that all that processing and pasteurizing wasn't always necessary?! I had been drinking processed milk all my life! Okay, sure, processing is an easy way to make sure it's not germ-ridden or disease-harboring. But how cool that this new option was available, that I could buy better-tasting, and some argue, better for you, milk from someone local!
I still haven't found a dairy farm near me, but I haven't given it my best effort yet. I have, however, found some good sites on the internet about it all. Raw-Milk-Facts.com has a lot of information and an easy layout, and RealMilk.com provides a list of local dairy farms in the US (though not exhaustive). The guy from Raw-Milk-Facts suggests that if you can't find a local dairy near you, you should consider keeping your own milk cow. It sounds pretty extreme at first, but there's this book on Amazon I've been looking at called "Keeping a Family Cow"...
We'll see! :)
