This is where it all began. My love for locally sourced healthy foods all started with yummy, gut healthy, raw milk.
Disclaimer
I’m going to throw out a disclaimer before you get too far in to reading this post. The opinions of raw milk consumption are simply just that, my opinion. I have done my own personal research on the topic and I would encourage you to do the same. If you are ready for the raw milk experience and you need the tools to find where to get it? I’m your girl. If you don’t feel this post is for you, come back next time. You should only do what you feel comfortable with because it is a personal decision. You make your own educated decisions for your family.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you.
My Opinion
2020 brought about a lot of new things for our family. For everyone really. William and I wanted to make certain lifestyle changes based on our overall health. I started with one of the main sources, dairy. I wanted to find raw milk. Where was I going to get raw milk?
I lived in the middle of town so there was no way I was going to be able to get my own diary cow and milk it every day. Plus, we checked no cows or goats in city limits. Darn it!
I needed to find somewhere local to me that would sell it to me straight from the cow. Not only was I wanting raw milk for the health benefits, but also because of all the crazy times we live in. Stores were a little scary for a while and who knew if that would happen again. That was the last straw for us.
We wanted to source as much food as possible from other avenues. We have a decent size family and we go through quite a bit of diary products through the week. Cheese, yogurt, sour cream, butter, etc. I decided that if I was going to make the decision to go full raw milk, I was then going to go all in. I’d make all the other diary products we consume or I’d make it a priority to make sure it was raw dairy too. I was in and I am so incredibly glad I jumped in feet first! It was also important to us to support the farming community.
How to find raw milk
There are multiple ways to search for raw milk online:
- realmilk.com
- rawmilkinstitute.org
- getrawmilk.com
- Just to name a few!
I found our local dairy at realmilk.com. I was super excited to find 2 rather close to me.
We get our milk from a beautiful farm. The first time we picked up milk I teared up because this place had everything that I want for our future homestead: a pond with ducks, chickens roaming about, a garden, a lane that goes up to the milk house with bee hives on both sides and most importantly healthy cows. I was about as close to heaven as I could get here on earth! Not to sound like I’m exaggerating but it was one of the happiest days of my life. For real. Ask my husband. Haha! They asked us how we found them and I told them and they said we were lucky because that was the only place they’re listed. It’s as if it were meant to be! *Cue the hallelujah chorus*
All we had to do was bring our own jars to fill with that delicious raw milk. We use these here, and they sent us on our merry way!
Why raw milk?
Raw milk has many benefits but the benefits that I was looking for, for my family were the following:
- promotes a healthy gut flora
- calms the nervous system
- lowers the risk of heart attacks
- normalizes blood pressure
- builds a healthy immune system
- helps with rashes, hives, allergic reactions, etc.
- can help with food allergies
- has beneficial enzymes
- rich in vitamins
- it’s easier to digest
- it supports local farmers
- and so many more…
Something super important to think about with consuming raw milk…make sure you’re getting it from a trusted source. We personally walked the area where they milk the cows to make sure it was clean; it was. We looked at the cattle to make sure they looked healthy; they did. Just some things to keep in mind because you wouldn’t want to consume something that could potentially make you and your family sick.
Pasteurized milk vs. raw milk
Pasteurization is a process of heating up the milk to the point of killing bacteria, which is great for killing harmful bacteria. Unfortunately, it also kills all the good bacteria in it as well.
Raw milk is simply that, raw. You still have all the bacteria, which is why I said it is super important to get it from a trusted source.
How we do our milk order
We typically save milk pick ups for the weekends because our local dairy is about an hour away from us, so we make a day of it. The day before we need our milk order we either call or text the owners and tell them what we would like.
An example of our order would be:
- 5 gallons of milk
- butter
- 2 lbs of ground beef
- beef bones (for homemade bone broth)
- 3 dozen eggs (for when our chickens aren’t currently laying)
- cheese
Then we load our clean jars and cooler into the truck to pick it up. Pretty simple!
How we feel since switching from pasteurized milk to raw milk
First and foremost, I don’t think I could go back to store bought milk. If I did, I would go kicking and screaming. Okay that’s a bit dramatic, but I would truly not be happy about it.
I asked William if he felt any different and he said he doesn’t feel like meals (with dairy) make him as bloated as they used to. He and I both have lost some weight. Not a dramatic amount, but an amount that we were both surprised at seeing. We have switch our eating habits around completely recently too, so that may play into it as well.
Our kids absolutely LOVE raw milk. Their favorite is chocolate milk…naturally…and the kefir smoothies I make (recipe to come). They said it tastes better and “would refuse anything that didn’t come from a cow!” *insert face palm here because it all comes from cows* but you get what they’re meaning. Haha!
I should also add we are a food allergy household. William has both an egg and a peanut allergy. Fingers crossed the raw milk consumption for the kiddos will help prevent that from happening to them!
What I make with raw milk
Earlier I mentioned that if we were going to do raw milk, I was going “all in” and these are somethings I’ve started making at home since switching to raw milk:
- yogurt/sour cream
- milk kefir
- coffee creamer
- butter (okay not me personally but we buy ours made from raw milk)
- things that you would use store milk for
After learning how to find raw milk, we don’t think we could ever go back. I hope I’ve shared enough tips to help you find raw milk in your area too! Comment down below if you have any suggestions for others trying to find raw milk!
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I love this! How long does your raw milk keep before it spoils?
From what I have seen and read, it doesn’t. I haven’t personally tested this theory though. I’ve read where someone accidentally left their milk on the counter over night and it was still good the next day. We go through ours too quickly to test that theory though. BUT there’s bacteria in raw milk that isn’t in store bought milk that could be dangerous, so I would personally not go over 2 weeks. That is just my opinion.