Raw milk made my family sick last month.
Maybe you saw it in the news a few weeks ago. Raw milk from a farm in PA made people in the greater Philly region ill.
When my hubby came home from work early with a fever, nausea, and ‘the poops’ (sorry, I’m a mom of preschoolers!), I thought, “Oh great, stomach bug. Here we go. Everyone start pumping the Fast Tract double time!” (Love Fast Tract!) Since we started using fermented food probiotics, we haven’t gotten stomach bugs nearly as often as we used to, but when/if we do get them, they usually plow through all six of us pretty quickly, and don’t last long. The baby had a touch of it very soon after my hubby. And then it seemed to stop spreading. Strange.
Then a week after my hubby got the bug, my 7 year old got the exact same thing. And the 5 and 3 year old each puked once, but nothing else. I still had no symptoms. Again, strange. (But I was sure thankful to be well enough to take care of everyone else.)
Until we got the ‘it might have been us’ email from our farmer, the thought that it could have been the milk never even crossed my mind. If anything, I figured the raw milk, with all its amazing probiotic benefits would be helping everyone fight the bug.
And then we found out that it WAS the milk.
But you know what?!
We still love our farmers and will continue to buy raw milk from them. The Shanks handled the whole situation with such grace and humility (click here to read their letters), and I have no doubt that they have taken the necessary steps to correct the problem.
And, while I do not mean to downplay the awful experience of some folks with this bug… honestly? To our family, this bug was not scary enough to outweigh the HUGE benefits of raw milk. Any food can make you sick. Germs are everywhere. And I believe that the long term benefits of the raw milk are one key part of what helped my family kick the bug faster than ‘normal.’ Apparently, this bug can last 8-10 days; for us it was 3. (What are the other keys that I think helped kick the bug faster? Eating real food, using InLiven and Fast Tract probiotic products, and resting.)
I’d love to write a huge post about the benefits of raw milk, and even more so about the media bias against it. But, Jen at Real Food Freaks already wrote that post, so I’ll just send you there and say a big DITTO! 🙂
www.realfoodfreaks.com/2012/02/03/i-still-believe-in-raw-milk/
To the Shank Family and their farm team (including the cows!) at YourFamilyCow.com … We love you and appreciate you SO much. Thank you for all you do! 🙂
Hi, I just saw the trackback to our blog.. Thanks for the link love! I love the Shanks too. They have been wonderful throughout this whole ordeal. It only makes me want to do business with them all the more. BigAg would have done everything to cover up their mistakes (and frankly they have countless times). But I love the transparency of our farmer. I am so glad that you all recovered so quickly!
I am kind of interested in the products you sell. We are currently affiliating with 100% Pure. Not sure if you’ve heard of them. They are also claiming to be fully food based with the exception of color cosmetics which have some oxides for color enhancement of the minerals — but even the percentage seems lower than what I’ve seen elsewhere. If you have info I’d love to look over what you have. Jen
Hey Jen. Thanks for stopping back here to comment. My friend Heba from mylifeinapyramid.com had shared your raw milk post with me, and I love your blog. It’s always great to connect with others who understand the importance of sustainable living and who take a gracious approach to the whole thing. I just read Leslie’s post from yesterday about grains and couldn’t agree more with the ‘let’s all stop arguing about these little detail things and focus on the bigger picture’ tone she took. You freaks rock! 🙂
As for products, I’ll send you a private message via your blog. TTYS. 🙂
The heart of our farmer… http://www.yourfamilycow.com/current-events.html
Love them!