Re: p.s.

Christi,

I would not think twice about accepting milk from the source you describe. I have worked on a raw dairy farm and am presently a customer of one, and from both sides of the fence, so to speak, collecting and storing milk is not that difficult.

You might want to offer to help her milk her cow! I have a friend who trades cow-milking for the milk itself. If you are the only "client" you will have far more milk than you can consume, so consider finding some other people to help/receive milk. A neighbor lets local kids help with the care and upbringing of her sheep, and in return the kids show them at the local 4-H Fair.

You are taking far more of a chance with your health and with milk quality every time you grab a gallon in the grocery store. Pasteurization destroys the self-preserving ingredients of raw milk, and pasteurized milk, therefore, sours very easily, especially in hot weather. Raw milk is self-preserving and really does not sour -- it will begin to culture/form a soft "cheese" after a considerable length of time. Processed milk just goes bad.

Pasteurization accomplishes one and one goal only: it increases the amount of time milk can travel and sit on a shelf waiting for a buyer. If you are taking your raw milk home to use within the next couple of weeks, it will be fine in the fridge (when transporting raw milk in the summer, I usually use a cooler and an ice pack).

Hope you feel comfortable enough to move forward, because it really is a great treat, a great benefit to your health, and a great blessing to have a good fresh milk source.

Take care,

Laura Tweet