About a week or so ago I forwarded a Health course for Traditional Foods and their Preparation. One of the ensuing posts was how to find such things. I meant to give those organizations and sites so that those who are interested to read more, but I didn’t expect to be so delayed; I apologize. I’ve been recooping from neck surgery, so my energy reserves are limited. But here are some great places to start, with some of my comments along the way. I apologize ahead of time if it’s too long!
First of all, I didn’t get my sources together all at once, but it’s taken years, So I think it’s important to share with others how they can get in touch with the resources (kind of like beginning the HS’ling journey) they need. A little about me; I believe in eating as closely to the way G-d designed it from the start, there is wisdom from many of our ancestor’s ways. What he says to eat I do not believe has changed since He is the Creator of all things and His Creatures have differing purposes; knowing however, that that means learning preparation techiniques on my part (that my great-great grandmother had known) as opposed to the processing on the mass scale ‘food-like substances’ and eating ‘food’ from an average of 1500 miles away, not to mention making animals eat things they weren’t created to eat. I’m not a lefty-global warming person-just the opposite! I believe in G-dly Stewardship and that His ways make more sense than man’s arrogant “improvements” made in a laboratory somewhere (I’m not referring to the age-old practice of open-pollination of plants and methods of animal husbandry by man). Also, I try to eat in season and as local as possible; my local area, then state and bordering states only; makes food less expensive, healthier, and tastier; plus it follows G-d’s Design, meeting the needs of our bodies at the different times of the year.
I want to know my farmers, to be able to talk to them and ask them questions. They don’t have to be “certified organic” either if I know their practices either, as being certified by the gov’t. is expensive and invasive, so it just depends. I don’t follow all the guidelines of Nourishing Traditions, as the Scripture tells me not to eat pork products or certain types of fish (I believe they were created for a purpose, just not consumption by all of His People) nor blood (the raw meats) and certain other things. But those of you who do eat these things, I hope I will provide resources for you to find the most economical and correctly/sustainably raised of these creatures. I love to direct people to sources to do their own research and get things to help make their lives better.
For finding real milk:http://www.realmilk.com/where1.html You can also find goat’s milk this way, too. Yum! and highly digestible. Each state has different laws concerning Real (raw) milk, too so you’ll want to find that out. In GA., it can only be sold labeled as Pet Food; well all my pets are very happy with all the great milk they’ve been getting along w/yogurt, kefir, curds and whey, cream cheese, butter, buttermilk and what I can do with soured milk (as opposed to rancid which is what happens to store milk after the sell by date) and the whey is refreshing in summertime drinks, but that’s another post. I also can use several of these for soaking grains in and enhance other cooking; even thought the real milk is more expensive, the one product knocks out several others that I don’t have to buy anymore.
Just scroll down to your state and click. Call the farms that are closest to you and go from there; I drive once every 6 weeks, 45min.-1 hour from home, to buy 6-7 gallons and freeze 5-6 when I get home. From a health milk standpoint, you want to stay away from Holsteins (they were bred for the mass production market) For example, my farmer uses Jerseys. SO I would ask what type of cows they use. If you can be part of a cow-share program in your state, here is a good list of questions to ask the farmer-http://www.realmilk.com/faqcowshare2.html. There shouldn’t be any problem going by their farm and be shown their facilities or being asked questions, if the farmer doesn’t like the questions, then I’d find someone else, even if another is further. Lastly, please ask how much grain per day they are given and what types. The more grass, the healthier the milk. The types of grains that are harmful to us (and the cow) are soy, cottonseed and corn and if he does give some corn, make sure it’s not a hybrid, GM, but organic; like mine gives corn he’s grown on his own property, but it’s not GM, it’s mixed with some other homegrown grains and only 8 lbs. a day, 4lbs. at each milking time to keep the cow happy while being milked
. In the Winter, organic hay silage. I’m hoping he will move away from using corn; it’s a process. Here’s a list of questions to ask a raw milk farmer:http://www.tennesseansforrawmilk.com/farmerquestions.html Again, these grain issues matter so if you have to drive further, you could start a co-op and alternate with others or just go once every month or two, depending on your storage capibilities.
Well, I decided to do this in installments, because it’s a lot of info. and I don’t have the energy to put it all down at one time! Plus, it gives you time to look through and save the links in special place for a convenient time. I’m hoping to send the next one tomorrow.
Lastly, feel free to post me privately or questions here,
Rachel
