Just yesterday I received an e-mail from a friend with an attachment from Johns Hopkins on what to do if pandemic strikes in the form of the swine flu. It says to stay home, easy enough. And it says to be sure you have 16 days worth of food stockpiled. Not a problem. I’ve become quite the believer in stocking up. That wasn’t always the case.
I used to make frequent trips to the market and buy “only what I needed” in the firm belief that this was better for our budget. The problem with that logic is that I was forever running to the store for “just this one thing” I needed and coming home with a cartload of stuff because it was on sale or I was sure we were out of it. Let me be clear here – the less you go to the store the less you spend. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out. I don’t “need” many of the things I buy, but that doesn’t stop me from buying them.
Here’s a better plan, and one that saves me money.
1. Stock up.
I try to keep my shopping trips down to one trip to the Amish Market and one trip to the grocery store each week. Some weeks I can even skip the grocery store. I can almost always accomplish this by keeping my pantry and freezer well stocked. It stands to reason if you know you eat pasta at least once a week, you can buy all the pasta you need months in advance (it keeps). Stocking up on staples like pasta, pasta sauce, chicken broth, ketchup, syrup, cereal, jelly, peanut butter, beans and other items that will store well saves you the last minute trip to the grocery store with cranky kids in tow that not only costs money, but costs time. Fill your freezer with the things you need and always have an “emergency” kit in your freezer for “emergencies” (avoiding a trip to the grocery store for that one thing): 1) loaf of bread (even if you make your own bread fresh), 2) a pound of butter (will freeze for the duration), and 3) hot dogs (easiest meal to fix in a pinch that will please nearly every kid).
2. Shop less.
Before you rush off to the store to get one crucial ingredient do two things. First, if it stores well, add it to your list of things you keep stocked up on. Second – think of something else you can serve instead. I’m telling you – flexibility will save you hundreds of dollars. It’s really nice and supremely organized to have the weeks menus made up ahead of time and posted primly on the fridge, but if you haven’t got exactly what you need to follow the plan – improvise or serve something else. That’s why you’re the mom – you always have a Plan B.
3. Centralize your shopping list.
My list is a magnetic pad on the side of the fridge. Everyone knows that if you open the last of anything (oatmeal, peanut butter, ketchup, olive oil), you must write it on the list or Mommy may wig out on you. It’s my system, but it does take a little enforced guilt in the beginning to get everyone with the program. This works for us because then it’s not up to me to inventory the kitchen to make up my list or rely on my ever-decomposing memory to remember all the things we might need.
4. Shop alone.
Under no circumstance should you be taking your kids to the grocery store. Not unless you’re doing math homework that requires that you go there. I know, I know, I’m usually all for the teach the children by example thing, but honestly, if I take my kids to the grocery store I leave stressed out and laden with things I didn’t come there to buy (like Cheezits in every flavor) and almost always missing at least one item I planned to buy but left behind in the interest of my children’s safety and my sanity. There will be time to teach them about shopping for groceries (like when they come home from college). I’m here to tell you that if you are serious about living a kid-friendly organic life on a budget, don’t shop for food with your kids.
5. Organize your cupboards. Clean them out. It’s about time for that at my house. We have a pantry that is so deep I must stand on a high bar stool to see the back of the top shelf. Things could be lost back there for decades. It’s important to know what you already have before you end up buying yet another package of cornmeal (we currently have three) you think you need because you haven’t seen it in awhile, but in reality is happily molding in the back of your cabinet. This is a case of do what I say not what I do, (a line that never works on my kids) but I’m going to try to be better at this. I know how happy I felt on the few occasions when my pantry was organized. Most times it was because the house was for sale (I even faced all the labels out – amazing how that makes a cabinet look truly organized). It takes time to organize. You need to have a garbage can, a recycling bin, and a give away box handy. I’m putting it on my to-do list. Knowing what you have saves you money.
I’m going to expose our food budget for the last four years on Friday’s post and I know that stocking up has played a big part in the numbers. So, just in case the swine flu is headed your direction, consider stocking up. And even if you’ve had your flu shot, stock up to save money. You’ll be amazed.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Being Neighborly
Three things happened this weekend that reminded me of an important element of a kid-friendly organic life.
My neighbor Nan brought me over 200 hostas. Nan lives at the bend in the creek that snakes along next to our road. She is blessed with lots of morning sun and soil made incredibly fertile from the many natural springs that feed our creek. Hostas go a little nuts at her house and each spring she (or rather her husband) have to clear out hundreds or be overrun. She has the same problem with Daylilys so I’m waiting for the next batch of boxes to appear at the end of my driveway.
My daughter wanted her very own flower garden. I’m thrilled to cultivate her interest in gardening, but I’m not so thrilled to spend lots of money on the plants of her dreams. Lucky for her my neighbor Mary who has a garden that looks like it stepped off the pages of a magazine, gave us some wonderful seeds she had saved from the ‘spider flower’ plants that Addie loves. Between those seeds, the marigold and zinnia seeds we saved from last year, and the seed packets that were given out free at the fall fest garden demo, we had seeds to spare and it didn’t cost us a thing. We spent a beautiful morning planting the seeds and Addie made markers so we would know what was what. We talked about all the people we could give our seeds to after we harvest them this year. We even envisioned starting our own seed swapping club.
Yesterday it was nearly 90 here (which broke a local record, just in case you’re interested) but it was the only chance we had to get our bounty of hostas in the ground. I had envisioned the hostas adorning the two banks that flank our driveway and trickle with water from several springs. When my husband and I pulled the truck laden with hostas, shovels, and our great intentions up beside the banks, we quickly lost steam. The bank was much bigger when the job was a reality and the weeds and grass that needed to be removed to make room for the hostas were very committed to staying where they were. We wrestled with the elements for about 15 minutes before our neighbor Chris happened along in his truck. He laughed when he saw the mountain of hostas and I explained my plans. He shook his head knowingly at my husband and then said he’d be right back with his front end loader. It took Chris only a few minutes to scrap away the offending weeds and expose our muddy bank. I spent the next few hours planting the hostas and reflecting on what great neighbors we have.
Being a good neighbor and having good neighbors sure makes a kid-friendly organic life much easier. We don’t live in a traditional neighborhood, so when I say neighbors I’m talking about people who live a mile down the road. It can take awhile to cultivate a neighborhood in these parts. To that end, we hosted a “neighborhood” potluck the first year we lived here. I made up a flyer and my kids and I took them to all the houses in about a one mile radius. We were able to meet lots of neighbors. It’s very easy to get insulated in your own little life especially if you’re busy with work and kids, but building a community should be a priority. There is great security in knowing there are people nearby who will help you in a crisis or even just to plant your hostas (or give you the hostas in the first place). We all need each other and if we take the time to know each other there is much that connects us besides geography.
My neighbor Nan brought me over 200 hostas. Nan lives at the bend in the creek that snakes along next to our road. She is blessed with lots of morning sun and soil made incredibly fertile from the many natural springs that feed our creek. Hostas go a little nuts at her house and each spring she (or rather her husband) have to clear out hundreds or be overrun. She has the same problem with Daylilys so I’m waiting for the next batch of boxes to appear at the end of my driveway.
My daughter wanted her very own flower garden. I’m thrilled to cultivate her interest in gardening, but I’m not so thrilled to spend lots of money on the plants of her dreams. Lucky for her my neighbor Mary who has a garden that looks like it stepped off the pages of a magazine, gave us some wonderful seeds she had saved from the ‘spider flower’ plants that Addie loves. Between those seeds, the marigold and zinnia seeds we saved from last year, and the seed packets that were given out free at the fall fest garden demo, we had seeds to spare and it didn’t cost us a thing. We spent a beautiful morning planting the seeds and Addie made markers so we would know what was what. We talked about all the people we could give our seeds to after we harvest them this year. We even envisioned starting our own seed swapping club.
Yesterday it was nearly 90 here (which broke a local record, just in case you’re interested) but it was the only chance we had to get our bounty of hostas in the ground. I had envisioned the hostas adorning the two banks that flank our driveway and trickle with water from several springs. When my husband and I pulled the truck laden with hostas, shovels, and our great intentions up beside the banks, we quickly lost steam. The bank was much bigger when the job was a reality and the weeds and grass that needed to be removed to make room for the hostas were very committed to staying where they were. We wrestled with the elements for about 15 minutes before our neighbor Chris happened along in his truck. He laughed when he saw the mountain of hostas and I explained my plans. He shook his head knowingly at my husband and then said he’d be right back with his front end loader. It took Chris only a few minutes to scrap away the offending weeds and expose our muddy bank. I spent the next few hours planting the hostas and reflecting on what great neighbors we have.
Being a good neighbor and having good neighbors sure makes a kid-friendly organic life much easier. We don’t live in a traditional neighborhood, so when I say neighbors I’m talking about people who live a mile down the road. It can take awhile to cultivate a neighborhood in these parts. To that end, we hosted a “neighborhood” potluck the first year we lived here. I made up a flyer and my kids and I took them to all the houses in about a one mile radius. We were able to meet lots of neighbors. It’s very easy to get insulated in your own little life especially if you’re busy with work and kids, but building a community should be a priority. There is great security in knowing there are people nearby who will help you in a crisis or even just to plant your hostas (or give you the hostas in the first place). We all need each other and if we take the time to know each other there is much that connects us besides geography.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Ah- Aspragus Season!
Just yesterday I spotted the first little purple edged green tip of asparagus poking up through the straw in our asparagus bed! Can you find it in the picture? Made my day. Not that I will get to eat that particular inaugural spear. We’re in year two of our asparagus bed. More about that later.
Asparagus is, hands down, my favorite spring vegetable. I’ve been watching the tightly packed bundles of asparagus in the grocery store. They are still labeled “Mexico” so I leave them where they stand in their dingy water trays. I don’t have any real evidence to back it up, but I’m fairly certain that vegetables grown in Mexico have a higher than average chance of being laced with unapproved pesticides (all pesticides are unapproved in my book unless they’re natural, but I’m talking about federally approved pesticides). Having spent some time in Mexico volunteering with a group of teenagers one summer not so long ago, I’m familiar with the Mexican disregard for quality or regulations when there is a dollar to be had. So I steer clear of their produce if at all possible. Besides asparagus season is almost upon us and soon there will be local asparagus!
As for my own asparagus, not this year. Or next. It takes three long, long years to establish an asparagus bed. But after that – you’re golden because asparagus is just about the easiest and most rewarding vegetable you could grow. It’s perennial so you never have to plant it again once it’s established. We lived in a home years ago with an asparagus bed that was most likely over 20 years old and still producing much more asparagus than we could ever dream of eating. And sadly, I’ve never figured out an acceptable way of storing, freezing, or canning asparagus. It’s just not the same. You have to eat it fresh. And once you have, you’ll never be satisfied with grocery store “fresh” asparagus shipped in from Mexico. So you just have to eat and eat and eat asparagus for the month or so that it produces. Lucky us have friends nearby with an established asparagus bed and they sell it to the lucky few who know about it. I’m checking my e-mail anxiously waiting the announcement that the asparagus is ready. Meanwhile we are hovering over our own asparagus babies celebrating their second appearance in the garden.
If you’d like to try your own hand at asparagus, it’s not too late to put a bed in this year. First, you need to buy “crowns” (preferably organic and heirloom – check out http://www.landrethseeds.com/ or if you’re local head to the New Freedom store). Directions for planting asparagus generally come with them, but basically you plant them in a sunny spot with good drainage. You dig a deep trench about 18 inches deep and spread the crowns out along the bottom of the trench. Asparagas crowns look like dried up squid, so be sure to spread out all the tentacles. Cover them up with about six inches of dirt. As they begin growing the first year, continue to fill in the trench covering them up to their necks until you have the soil at ground level. Then water them regularly and watch them grow from skinny spears in to feathery ferns. But you can’t eat them. Like I said, it takes three years to establish your asparagus bed. The fourth year you can finally harvest them. So you better get started now! I promise you it will be the best investment you make in your property.
If you don’t have a space for asparagus, poor you. Start searching now for local asparagus. If you’ve never seen it growing it looks just like it does in the store. Single spears grow straight up out of the ground. They look a little Dr. Suess like and they grow so quickly that I’ve always thought you could sit and watch them grow. At our house with the asparagus bed, we used to pick it all first thing in the morning to take to our coworkers and by the time we got home from work there would be an entire new crop to pick. There’s nothing like it. I drove past a field starting to grow up in Seven Valleys this week. I couldn’t believe there wasn’t a guard posted. It was very tempting.
There are lots of ways to prepare asparagus. I love it in omelets or simply roasted with sea salt and fresh pepper. My husband and I chanced in to a restaurant in Lititz, PA recently and ordered the asparagus. Even trucked in, as I’m sure it was, it was delicious and prepared in a novel way. I loved it so much, my husband actually went in to the kitchen and asked the chef how it was prepared. Here’s the recipe, loosely, since Nick only had a napkin to write on and the chef was busy:
Steam a bunch of fresh asparagus for about three minutes (keep it crisp), then quick sauté it in butter with fresh parsley, salt, pepper, and chopped walnuts. Serve immediately. I’m telling you it was outstanding. Walnuts and asparagus – who would’ve thought? Try it this month.
Asparagus is, hands down, my favorite spring vegetable. I’ve been watching the tightly packed bundles of asparagus in the grocery store. They are still labeled “Mexico” so I leave them where they stand in their dingy water trays. I don’t have any real evidence to back it up, but I’m fairly certain that vegetables grown in Mexico have a higher than average chance of being laced with unapproved pesticides (all pesticides are unapproved in my book unless they’re natural, but I’m talking about federally approved pesticides). Having spent some time in Mexico volunteering with a group of teenagers one summer not so long ago, I’m familiar with the Mexican disregard for quality or regulations when there is a dollar to be had. So I steer clear of their produce if at all possible. Besides asparagus season is almost upon us and soon there will be local asparagus!
As for my own asparagus, not this year. Or next. It takes three long, long years to establish an asparagus bed. But after that – you’re golden because asparagus is just about the easiest and most rewarding vegetable you could grow. It’s perennial so you never have to plant it again once it’s established. We lived in a home years ago with an asparagus bed that was most likely over 20 years old and still producing much more asparagus than we could ever dream of eating. And sadly, I’ve never figured out an acceptable way of storing, freezing, or canning asparagus. It’s just not the same. You have to eat it fresh. And once you have, you’ll never be satisfied with grocery store “fresh” asparagus shipped in from Mexico. So you just have to eat and eat and eat asparagus for the month or so that it produces. Lucky us have friends nearby with an established asparagus bed and they sell it to the lucky few who know about it. I’m checking my e-mail anxiously waiting the announcement that the asparagus is ready. Meanwhile we are hovering over our own asparagus babies celebrating their second appearance in the garden.
If you’d like to try your own hand at asparagus, it’s not too late to put a bed in this year. First, you need to buy “crowns” (preferably organic and heirloom – check out http://www.landrethseeds.com/ or if you’re local head to the New Freedom store). Directions for planting asparagus generally come with them, but basically you plant them in a sunny spot with good drainage. You dig a deep trench about 18 inches deep and spread the crowns out along the bottom of the trench. Asparagas crowns look like dried up squid, so be sure to spread out all the tentacles. Cover them up with about six inches of dirt. As they begin growing the first year, continue to fill in the trench covering them up to their necks until you have the soil at ground level. Then water them regularly and watch them grow from skinny spears in to feathery ferns. But you can’t eat them. Like I said, it takes three years to establish your asparagus bed. The fourth year you can finally harvest them. So you better get started now! I promise you it will be the best investment you make in your property.
If you don’t have a space for asparagus, poor you. Start searching now for local asparagus. If you’ve never seen it growing it looks just like it does in the store. Single spears grow straight up out of the ground. They look a little Dr. Suess like and they grow so quickly that I’ve always thought you could sit and watch them grow. At our house with the asparagus bed, we used to pick it all first thing in the morning to take to our coworkers and by the time we got home from work there would be an entire new crop to pick. There’s nothing like it. I drove past a field starting to grow up in Seven Valleys this week. I couldn’t believe there wasn’t a guard posted. It was very tempting.
There are lots of ways to prepare asparagus. I love it in omelets or simply roasted with sea salt and fresh pepper. My husband and I chanced in to a restaurant in Lititz, PA recently and ordered the asparagus. Even trucked in, as I’m sure it was, it was delicious and prepared in a novel way. I loved it so much, my husband actually went in to the kitchen and asked the chef how it was prepared. Here’s the recipe, loosely, since Nick only had a napkin to write on and the chef was busy:
Steam a bunch of fresh asparagus for about three minutes (keep it crisp), then quick sauté it in butter with fresh parsley, salt, pepper, and chopped walnuts. Serve immediately. I’m telling you it was outstanding. Walnuts and asparagus – who would’ve thought? Try it this month.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Live an Earth Life, not just a Day
I’m having trouble writing something for Earth Day because truth be told, Earth Day frustrates me. It’s ridiculous that on one day each year we talk about the importance of reducing, reusing, recycling, and caring for our earth and then the next day we go back to business as usual. Why is it we feel driven to keep our homes immaculate and in perfect running order (some more than others I know), but we don’t feel the same way about our planet? Isn’t our planet truly our home? It’s our responsibility - each one of us, not just the hippy-leftover lady that picks up trash along the side of the road. We wouldn’t walk by a bag of trash lying on our living room floor, so why is it so easy to look the other way at the trash lying on the sidewalk? We wouldn’t throw away money, so why is it so easy to throw away recycling? I’m as guilty as anybody. I’ll throw out the jar of peanut butter rather than try to clean it out for the recycling.
We recycle when it’s made easy for us and when it’s not we look both ways and then pitch the item in the trash. It’s just one bottle, can, newspaper, envelope, whatever. But that’s just it. We don’t think just one of us can make a difference and just one of us can’t. But just one of us times a million makes a huge difference. My paper’s obligatory Earth Day article on the front page recited some interesting facts: Recycling just one aluminum can creates enough savings to power a TV for 3 hours. Now I don’t know how “they” get to that number, but think about it. It’s kind of like trading your carbon rights. You recycle that can and you can watch TV for three hours and not feel guilty. (although personally I think three hours in front of a TV should make you feel guilty or at least bored out of your mind.)
Another statistic quoted said that each person, on average, creates 4.4 pounds of trash each day. Wow! That’s nuts. But I’m guessing it’s fairly accurate. Just think what could happen if each of us changed a few habits – recycled all the envelopes and junk mail (or better yet called a halt to the endless junk mail by logging on to www.optoutprescreen.com and other sites like it and requesting an end to it), compost your coffee grounds and filters, filled a box for donations, recycled even the yucky peanut butter jar. Each of us could easily become less than average if we made one small change. 4.4 pounds per person is more than this earth can, or should, handle. So cut out the garbage.
On this Earth Day make a real change. Sit down with your kids and talk to them about Earth Day. They’re probably getting it pounded in to them at school so ask them what they learned. Make a pact to change just one habit. Let this Earth Day last longer than just one day. Maybe for your kids it can be an Earth Life.
We recycle when it’s made easy for us and when it’s not we look both ways and then pitch the item in the trash. It’s just one bottle, can, newspaper, envelope, whatever. But that’s just it. We don’t think just one of us can make a difference and just one of us can’t. But just one of us times a million makes a huge difference. My paper’s obligatory Earth Day article on the front page recited some interesting facts: Recycling just one aluminum can creates enough savings to power a TV for 3 hours. Now I don’t know how “they” get to that number, but think about it. It’s kind of like trading your carbon rights. You recycle that can and you can watch TV for three hours and not feel guilty. (although personally I think three hours in front of a TV should make you feel guilty or at least bored out of your mind.)
Another statistic quoted said that each person, on average, creates 4.4 pounds of trash each day. Wow! That’s nuts. But I’m guessing it’s fairly accurate. Just think what could happen if each of us changed a few habits – recycled all the envelopes and junk mail (or better yet called a halt to the endless junk mail by logging on to www.optoutprescreen.com and other sites like it and requesting an end to it), compost your coffee grounds and filters, filled a box for donations, recycled even the yucky peanut butter jar. Each of us could easily become less than average if we made one small change. 4.4 pounds per person is more than this earth can, or should, handle. So cut out the garbage.
On this Earth Day make a real change. Sit down with your kids and talk to them about Earth Day. They’re probably getting it pounded in to them at school so ask them what they learned. Make a pact to change just one habit. Let this Earth Day last longer than just one day. Maybe for your kids it can be an Earth Life.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Milk in the Raw
There was a story in our newspaper on Friday about the return of the milkman. I, for one, am excited about the possibility of having my milk delivered like when I was a kid. But it got me to thinking about milk. I’m as confused as anybody about whether it’s the basis of a healthy diet or the root of all evil. Two of my kids don’t drink much milk, but the third loves milk and drinks several glasses a day. We go through 2 and ½ gallons a week. Other than cereal, we use it to make yogurt and pudding, but not for much else. When I was first diving in to this organic, healthier lifestyle, I read a lot about milk. I was particularly interested in “raw milk”. The milk industry and the media in general give it a very bad rap, so that immediately peaks my interest. I can always smell a conspiracy (even if there’s none). Other than the internet, which we all know can be very self-serving; much of my information comes from the book Nourishing Traditions. Sally Fallon is an excellent writer, making even the most complex and bland subjects fascinating. She is also an amazing researcher and sites study upon study to back up her words.
The first issue that always comes up when you mention raw milk is its safety. When I was using raw milk, my friends pointedly requested that I not give it to their children. They were concerned about the safety of raw milk. For anyone not familiar – raw milk is milk that is not pasteurized, homogenized or frozen. It has not been altered with chemicals, additives, or light. It’s milk the way our great-grandparents drank it – straight from the cow. Modern milking machines and stainless steel tanks, efficient packaging and distribution, plus strict guidelines for all of this make pasteurization unnecessary for sanitation. Besides pasteurization does not guarantee your safety. All outbreaks of salmonella from contaminated milk in recent years have happened in pasteurized milk. There are many states that won’t allow the sale of raw milk; Pennsylvania is not one of them.
What’s so great about raw milk? Lots of things. But before I tell you them, I want to point out that while modernization of food production has helped us in many ways, it may be harming us in even more ways yet unknown. Our society continues to experience an increase in chronic illnesses. While, I’m no scientist, I have to note that the way we feed ourselves has changed drastically in the past 60 or so years. It’s easy to point the finger at the environment and genetics. They are big and vague and certainly responsible in part for some of the increase. But I am more inclined to search for the real problem and I can’t help but wonder if it doesn’t have something to do with what we are putting in to our bodies. Were we designed to process such complicated, fortified, chemically altered food? Any machine not given the appropriate fuel will break down and the more bad fuel you give it the worse the problem and the quicker the break down. Just saying.
Pasteurization of milk destroys good bacteria, along with any bad. This includes lactic-acid-producing bacteria that protect against pathogens. To quote Fallon: “Heat alters milk’s amino acids lysine and tyrosine, making the whole complex of proteins less available; it promotes rancidity of unsaturated fatty acids and destruction of vitamins. Vitamin C loss in pasteurization usually exceeds 50 %; loss of other water-soluble vitamins can run as high as 80%; vitamin B is totally destroyed. Pasteurization reduces the availability of milk’s mineral components (she lists them here – there are lots). There is some evidence that pasteurization alters lactose, making it more readily absorbable. This, and the fact that pasteurized milk puts an unnecessary strain on the pancreas to produce digestive enzymes, may explain why milk consumption in civilized societies has been linked with diabetes. Pasteurization destroys all the enzymes in milk. These enzymes help the body assimilate all bodybuilding factors, including calcium. That is why those who drink pasteurized milk may suffer from osteoporosis.”
Yes, you’re right milk companies do add back some of these vitamins that have been destroyed by pasteurization, but Fallon writes, “synthetic vitamin D2 or D3 is added – the former is toxic and has been linked to heart disease while the latter is difficult to absorb.” If you want the whole scoop, read if for yourself. The book is a wealth of eye-opening information about what modernization of food production is doing to our health. And like I said, it’s very readable. Plus it contains not just what we’re doing wrong, but how to do it right and gobs of recipes.
After saying all that, you’d probably deduce that we’re a raw milk drinking family. We’re not. We did try though. Raw milk is not homogenized, so that means it seperates and your milk can be very clumpy. You have to shake it before you drink it. But even with shaking there is still some separation. My kids could not get past the clumps. And I could not die on that hill (parents must pick their battles). So I buy grass fed, locally grown, and minimally processed and stored milk. But I haven’t given up my belief in raw milk. If you can’t handle the actual milk, you may still love raw milk cheese.
Raw milk cheese is sold all over the country and many, if not most, of the international cheese you buy is made from raw milk. Not only does it have much of the benefits of raw milk, it also tastes amazing. You can buy it in all the popular forms (except the individually wrapped “cheese food” version that kids seem to love). We love the raw milk Colby cheese or just the plain cheddar. Several farms nearby produce raw milk cheese and, while it may cost a little more, it’s worth it. My kids eat it on nachos and I cook with it exclusively. For a list of raw milk and milk products check out www.Realmilk.com.
I hesitated to write this post because milk can be very controversial for many people, and that includes soy milk which has received its share of bad press. But I suppose this invites the discussion. So if you have something to say about milk – raw, pasteurized, soy, or otherwise, I’d love to hear it.
Note to anyone living in Southern York County: The farm that has begun milk delivery, Apple Valley Creamery, does not deliver this far south. They would consider adding a route if there was enough interest down here. If you’d like to become a delivery customer for their grass-fed, no hormone added milk products (they’ve got lots of other local products available for delivery too including raw milk cheese), give them a call or an e-mail: 717-528-4520 or www.applevalleycreamery.com. They have a store in East Berlin. I’m thinking of making a road trip out there – I’d love company!
The first issue that always comes up when you mention raw milk is its safety. When I was using raw milk, my friends pointedly requested that I not give it to their children. They were concerned about the safety of raw milk. For anyone not familiar – raw milk is milk that is not pasteurized, homogenized or frozen. It has not been altered with chemicals, additives, or light. It’s milk the way our great-grandparents drank it – straight from the cow. Modern milking machines and stainless steel tanks, efficient packaging and distribution, plus strict guidelines for all of this make pasteurization unnecessary for sanitation. Besides pasteurization does not guarantee your safety. All outbreaks of salmonella from contaminated milk in recent years have happened in pasteurized milk. There are many states that won’t allow the sale of raw milk; Pennsylvania is not one of them.
What’s so great about raw milk? Lots of things. But before I tell you them, I want to point out that while modernization of food production has helped us in many ways, it may be harming us in even more ways yet unknown. Our society continues to experience an increase in chronic illnesses. While, I’m no scientist, I have to note that the way we feed ourselves has changed drastically in the past 60 or so years. It’s easy to point the finger at the environment and genetics. They are big and vague and certainly responsible in part for some of the increase. But I am more inclined to search for the real problem and I can’t help but wonder if it doesn’t have something to do with what we are putting in to our bodies. Were we designed to process such complicated, fortified, chemically altered food? Any machine not given the appropriate fuel will break down and the more bad fuel you give it the worse the problem and the quicker the break down. Just saying.
Pasteurization of milk destroys good bacteria, along with any bad. This includes lactic-acid-producing bacteria that protect against pathogens. To quote Fallon: “Heat alters milk’s amino acids lysine and tyrosine, making the whole complex of proteins less available; it promotes rancidity of unsaturated fatty acids and destruction of vitamins. Vitamin C loss in pasteurization usually exceeds 50 %; loss of other water-soluble vitamins can run as high as 80%; vitamin B is totally destroyed. Pasteurization reduces the availability of milk’s mineral components (she lists them here – there are lots). There is some evidence that pasteurization alters lactose, making it more readily absorbable. This, and the fact that pasteurized milk puts an unnecessary strain on the pancreas to produce digestive enzymes, may explain why milk consumption in civilized societies has been linked with diabetes. Pasteurization destroys all the enzymes in milk. These enzymes help the body assimilate all bodybuilding factors, including calcium. That is why those who drink pasteurized milk may suffer from osteoporosis.”
Yes, you’re right milk companies do add back some of these vitamins that have been destroyed by pasteurization, but Fallon writes, “synthetic vitamin D2 or D3 is added – the former is toxic and has been linked to heart disease while the latter is difficult to absorb.” If you want the whole scoop, read if for yourself. The book is a wealth of eye-opening information about what modernization of food production is doing to our health. And like I said, it’s very readable. Plus it contains not just what we’re doing wrong, but how to do it right and gobs of recipes.
After saying all that, you’d probably deduce that we’re a raw milk drinking family. We’re not. We did try though. Raw milk is not homogenized, so that means it seperates and your milk can be very clumpy. You have to shake it before you drink it. But even with shaking there is still some separation. My kids could not get past the clumps. And I could not die on that hill (parents must pick their battles). So I buy grass fed, locally grown, and minimally processed and stored milk. But I haven’t given up my belief in raw milk. If you can’t handle the actual milk, you may still love raw milk cheese.
Raw milk cheese is sold all over the country and many, if not most, of the international cheese you buy is made from raw milk. Not only does it have much of the benefits of raw milk, it also tastes amazing. You can buy it in all the popular forms (except the individually wrapped “cheese food” version that kids seem to love). We love the raw milk Colby cheese or just the plain cheddar. Several farms nearby produce raw milk cheese and, while it may cost a little more, it’s worth it. My kids eat it on nachos and I cook with it exclusively. For a list of raw milk and milk products check out www.Realmilk.com.
I hesitated to write this post because milk can be very controversial for many people, and that includes soy milk which has received its share of bad press. But I suppose this invites the discussion. So if you have something to say about milk – raw, pasteurized, soy, or otherwise, I’d love to hear it.
Note to anyone living in Southern York County: The farm that has begun milk delivery, Apple Valley Creamery, does not deliver this far south. They would consider adding a route if there was enough interest down here. If you’d like to become a delivery customer for their grass-fed, no hormone added milk products (they’ve got lots of other local products available for delivery too including raw milk cheese), give them a call or an e-mail: 717-528-4520 or www.applevalleycreamery.com. They have a store in East Berlin. I’m thinking of making a road trip out there – I’d love company!
Friday, April 17, 2009
The Times They Are A-Changin'
My husband recently installed a GPS in my car. Not that I asked him to. Not that I even wanted another technological gadget added to my already technologically challenged life. But it’s the thought that counts, right? Until I figured out how to shut up the robotically sweet voice (he calls her “Betty”, hmmm), it was almost eery. Even silenced, I am constantly distracted by the video game like quality of the screen that is forever in my field of vision on the windshield.
Still, it could come in handy he insisted. It would help me find customer’s houses. Or the houses hosting the birthday parties that my children attend almost weekly. And when we go on vacation just think how great it will be to have Betty leading our way! I was sucked right in to this bigger, better life until I was happily observing Betty observing me as I drove to the hospital to visit a friend. As I got on the exit ramp suddenly the road disappeared and according to Betty I was flying through the air not attached to any road! That exit ramp is relatively new, but I’m sure it’s been open at least a year. What else does Betty not know? If I trust her and throw away my maps – I might become irrevocably lost.
Will having this GPS in my car strip away another life skill? Reading (and folding) a paper map? My children have already grown up shoelace challenged from a lifetime of velcro and unreliable clock readers thanks to the gift of digital. I have friends that might just starve to death if you took away their microwaves. Most elementary schools don’t bother teaching script anymore. My children are amazed at my cursive writing. How do I do that? I am terrified that they will someday be in a life or death situation and have a note explaining their escape slipped to them only to discover it is written in script and they can’t even read it. Or what about an old-fashioned boss who still uses that ancient form of communication – paper and pen and heaven forbid, even writes in cursive? All this progress seems to be making us more helpless than ever. I take a strange pride knowing that I can cook over an open flame, my hands don’t cramp up after writing a few sentences, and I can tie a slip knot that holds. I’m an excellent navigator with a map and can even tell which direction I’m going based on the sun.
None of my children stuck with the scouts. But I am trying to raise them to be competent, self-reliant individuals, still I wonder if they could survive in a third world country with no Velcro or digital clocks? Could they have a written correspondence with anyone over 50? Of course you could argue that who really needs to tie a shoelace – you can find a slip on version of just about any shoe. And what isn’t digital these days? No one has real clocks. I grew up in a house with a clock that had roman numerals. My children just wrinkle their brows in disbelief at that reality.
Tell any teenager these days that you grew up without a microwave or DVD player or Direct TV. (Don’t even mention that you didn’t have a video player because they barely remember them anymore!) They are shocked, horrified – how could you have survived? No cell phones? The horror!
I’ve been thinking that a great new job might be as an electrical outage survival consultant. Or maybe a generational communications consultant. The gap seems to be growing and I truly don’t want these abilities to disappear. Maybe that’s because if they did that might make me pretty obsolete too. Or maybe that just makes me eccentric. Either way, I hate to see a day when a person can’t function without his handheld electronic organizer or find her way around her own city if all the satellites were absconded by aliens.
I’m all for progress, truly I am. I have nothing against it. I am amazed by what is possible these days. But at the same time, I’m not ready to trust it all either. I feel better knowing I don’t really need any of it. I do like to play sudoku on my palm pilot. And Betty is a form of entertainment too; trying to find roads that don’t exist in her reality is a strange thrill. I love to hear her incredibly calm voice telling me to make a U-turn at the next available safe intersection. I picture her sighing in frustration and disappointment as I ignore yet another of her simple directives.
I guess what I’m trying to say is – it’s important to know how to tie your shoes and read a clock. It’s important to know how to heat water on a stove and read a street map. Maybe they seem just like learning trigonometry – unnecessary skills you will never use in real life. But I believe they are important because the world will always change. And the further we move in the direction of complete dependence on all things technological, the further we get from the earth and where we came from. Just because there are calculators, doesn’t mean you don’t need to learn arithmetic. When it comes down to it, depending on technological advancements can make a brain pretty lazy (unless you are the brain coming up with the technological advancements). So humor me, teach your children how to make popcorn on the stove (or better yet – over the fire). Teach them how much fun it is to write a capital Z in cursive. Buy them a pair of sneakers with real laces. And if they don’t seem to be particularly motivated, ask them just who wins Survivor anyway?
Still, it could come in handy he insisted. It would help me find customer’s houses. Or the houses hosting the birthday parties that my children attend almost weekly. And when we go on vacation just think how great it will be to have Betty leading our way! I was sucked right in to this bigger, better life until I was happily observing Betty observing me as I drove to the hospital to visit a friend. As I got on the exit ramp suddenly the road disappeared and according to Betty I was flying through the air not attached to any road! That exit ramp is relatively new, but I’m sure it’s been open at least a year. What else does Betty not know? If I trust her and throw away my maps – I might become irrevocably lost.
Will having this GPS in my car strip away another life skill? Reading (and folding) a paper map? My children have already grown up shoelace challenged from a lifetime of velcro and unreliable clock readers thanks to the gift of digital. I have friends that might just starve to death if you took away their microwaves. Most elementary schools don’t bother teaching script anymore. My children are amazed at my cursive writing. How do I do that? I am terrified that they will someday be in a life or death situation and have a note explaining their escape slipped to them only to discover it is written in script and they can’t even read it. Or what about an old-fashioned boss who still uses that ancient form of communication – paper and pen and heaven forbid, even writes in cursive? All this progress seems to be making us more helpless than ever. I take a strange pride knowing that I can cook over an open flame, my hands don’t cramp up after writing a few sentences, and I can tie a slip knot that holds. I’m an excellent navigator with a map and can even tell which direction I’m going based on the sun.
None of my children stuck with the scouts. But I am trying to raise them to be competent, self-reliant individuals, still I wonder if they could survive in a third world country with no Velcro or digital clocks? Could they have a written correspondence with anyone over 50? Of course you could argue that who really needs to tie a shoelace – you can find a slip on version of just about any shoe. And what isn’t digital these days? No one has real clocks. I grew up in a house with a clock that had roman numerals. My children just wrinkle their brows in disbelief at that reality.
Tell any teenager these days that you grew up without a microwave or DVD player or Direct TV. (Don’t even mention that you didn’t have a video player because they barely remember them anymore!) They are shocked, horrified – how could you have survived? No cell phones? The horror!
I’ve been thinking that a great new job might be as an electrical outage survival consultant. Or maybe a generational communications consultant. The gap seems to be growing and I truly don’t want these abilities to disappear. Maybe that’s because if they did that might make me pretty obsolete too. Or maybe that just makes me eccentric. Either way, I hate to see a day when a person can’t function without his handheld electronic organizer or find her way around her own city if all the satellites were absconded by aliens.
I’m all for progress, truly I am. I have nothing against it. I am amazed by what is possible these days. But at the same time, I’m not ready to trust it all either. I feel better knowing I don’t really need any of it. I do like to play sudoku on my palm pilot. And Betty is a form of entertainment too; trying to find roads that don’t exist in her reality is a strange thrill. I love to hear her incredibly calm voice telling me to make a U-turn at the next available safe intersection. I picture her sighing in frustration and disappointment as I ignore yet another of her simple directives.
I guess what I’m trying to say is – it’s important to know how to tie your shoes and read a clock. It’s important to know how to heat water on a stove and read a street map. Maybe they seem just like learning trigonometry – unnecessary skills you will never use in real life. But I believe they are important because the world will always change. And the further we move in the direction of complete dependence on all things technological, the further we get from the earth and where we came from. Just because there are calculators, doesn’t mean you don’t need to learn arithmetic. When it comes down to it, depending on technological advancements can make a brain pretty lazy (unless you are the brain coming up with the technological advancements). So humor me, teach your children how to make popcorn on the stove (or better yet – over the fire). Teach them how much fun it is to write a capital Z in cursive. Buy them a pair of sneakers with real laces. And if they don’t seem to be particularly motivated, ask them just who wins Survivor anyway?
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