Lovely Farm Day recap with pics and videos. And the sour milk debacle. Our milk really does last.

written by

posted on

September 13, 2024

Despite a little rain and chilly weather, this year's Farm Day event was simply lovely. Thanks to everyone who came out!

One family reported, "This is better than Hershey Park!"

Another family reported that they're very selective with the natural foods they eat, and that can be a challenge at parties and events. The best part for them was that they could say "yes" to every food that was there.

And we heard from a lot of people that the Farmer Panel Discussion was extremely educational. Many thanks to our farmers! They said we could have simply done that the entire day, and maybe I'll take that tip for a new event next year.

Here's a short 1-minute video recap of the event:

Honestly the food was incredible. We served a smorgesboard of snacks. Our vendors were giving out samples. And there was a hot lunch of smoked brisket, chicken leg and thigh, a loaded salad bar, baked beans, potatoes, and veggies.

Here are some pics of the food:

We had lots of fun activities, too. A mini petting zoo, making flower crowns, milking a cow, and wagon and pony and camel rides. Here are some pics of that excitement:

We also had a Farmer Panel Discussion. We had Aaron representing his two brothers, our raw dairy farmers. We had Daniel, who raises our chickens. We had Lamar, who's our beekeeper. And finally Raymond, who's one of our egg farmers.

Here are the first 7 minutes of the panel. It's the intro, before we got into the nitty gritty questions.

Overall, Farm Day went off without a hitch. There was one issue --> the Sour Milk Challenge.

You see, raw milk naturally sours as it ages. The living microbiology that's inside the cow ferments the milk, breaking down the lactose (milk sugar) and turning it into lactic acid (which is sour). The warmer it is and the longer it sits, the more sour it gets. Drinking sour milk is not a safety issue, it's a palatability issue.

I put milk aside way before Farm Day. One was 25 days old, one was 15 days old, and one was 8 days old. It was simply sitting in our cooler. The day before the event I tasted them, and all of the milks tasted the same! They all tasted fresh!!

How could I have a sour milk tasting with no sour milk!? I had to think fast.

So I put one milk in the culturing room (at 98F) overnight. Another I left on the counter overnight. The one in the culturing room did get a little sour. But, the challenge overall was very difficult (dare I say impossible).

Here's what the challenge looked like:

This really made me think about how important our milk safety standards are.

I mean, given the amount our farmers clean when milking, there's zero manure or urine or dirt in the milk. There's no external bacteria or yeast mixed in.

Most raw milk farmers don't do what we do (and pasteurized milk farmers definitely don't). It's kinda gross when you think about it. But, having any manure or urine or dirt or residue from equipment in raw milk definitely makes it sour quickly.

It also made me think about temps for storing raw milk.

Our cooler is kept at 35F. It seems that this nearly stopped the fermentation. Compare this to a regular home fridge, which is usually 40-42F. Those 5-7 degrees matter! It makes me want to get a separate mini milk-only fridge at home that I keep colder.

Anyway, I digress. Farm Day was amazing!!! If you came, we'd love for you to leave your comments below.

We'll be attending a few more events this fall, and we'd love to see you there!

Healthy Food, Healthy Body. An Event for Healthy Living.
October 19, 1-4pm
Tenafly NJ

Wise Traditions Conference
October 25-27
Orlando, FL

Documenting Hope Conference
November 15-17
Orlando, FL

Raw milk or fermented dairy and lactose intolerance. Why might it help?

I was misinformed. At some point, I read that raw milk contains lactase. As it turns out, this is not true! It is true that raw milk contains many live enzymes that are inactivated during pasteurization. But, what about lactase? I’ve heard many anecdotal stories from people who are lactose intolerant... but can handle raw milk or fermented dairy. If raw milk, yogurt, kefir, or cheese doesn’t contain lactase, then why is that?

Our bone broth tested negative-ish for heavy metals 🥳 NATURAL AND CLEAN

Over the past few months a bunch of people asked us if we tested our bone broth for toxic heavy metals. When we get the same question a lot, we of course look into it. My first question was --- Is there an issue with toxic metals in bone broth? As it turns out, yes, there "can" be an issue! Heavy metals are naturally present in our environment. We need the "good" heavy metals to thrive: iron, zinc, magnesium, copper, etc. But, we can 100% do without the toxic heavy metals: arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, etc. Too many toxic heavy metals can lead to a host of pretty awful issues: nervous system damage, cardiovascular issues, cancer, endocrine disruption, kidney damage, and so on. Our body is designed to excrete heavy metals through urine (and a little bit through sweat, hair, and breastmilk too)... but only so much. There's a limit. If you're overloaded, your body will store those heavy metals in your bones, blood, tissues, and organs. Similarly, if an animal is exposed to heavy metals via food, water, air, dust, or soil, those heavy metals accumulate in the bones. Maybe the farm's soil or air is contaminated from a nearby factory. Maybe the pipes for the water has lead solder connecting them. Maybe the feed a farm is buying was grown on contaminated soil or processed on contaminated equipment. And, of course, a main purpose of bone broth is drawing out as much as possible from the bones. If there are heavy metals in bones, they will make their way into the broth. This is especially true when you pre-soak with apple cider vinegar and simmer for 48 hours to make it thick and gelatinous (like our broth). And that led me to my second question --- Should I be concerned about every bone broth? Where is the fear coming from? Well... it seems it might be a little political. There was a study done in the UK in 2013 that scared a lot of people. It's titled "The Risk of Lead Contamination in Bone Broth Diets". This study found high levels of lead in organic chicken bone broth, which is quite concerning. And, in fact, this one study is still cited in articles written today! Let's dig a little deeper. Let's go farther than the short abstract. Here are the broths tested in the study and their test results for lead: (9.5 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus skin and cartilage(7.01 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus bones(2.3 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus meat(0.89 parts per billion): Tap water alone cooked for the same amount of time as a control. But, they only used organic chicken from one farm. And, there's zero information about that farm, their practices, the feed, and the broth recipe. Did they use vinegar or wine in the broth? Was the chicken's water contaminated with lead? What was the quality of the feed and the soil? Were the chickens raised indoors or outdoors? So many unanswered questions! All we get is that it was one "organic chicken" that created a lead issue with broth. Another curious thing is that the broth with skin and cartilage contained more lead than the broth made with just bones. Bones are where lead is stored, so why wouldn't the broth made with bones only contain more lead? It's an odd result. Moreover, the abstract of the study specifically called out "bone broth diets" like GAPS and paleo. They even go so far as to write, "In view of the dangers of lead consumption to the human body, we recommend that doctors and nutritionists take the risk of lead contamination into consideration when advising patients about bone broth diets." That's quite curious. Why are they worried about these diets? Are the researchers anti healing through food? Who funded the research? Is it political? My opinion? This study is not comprehensive. It does not speak to all bone broths. But it does cover a potential issue if the water or animals are overloaded with heavy metals. What I glean from this study is that we need more research. We don't need fear to spread and people to stop drinking broth from this one study. Regardless of whether the fear was fabricated or legit, we tested our bone broth anyway. After all, it's always nice to validate that your food choices are as clean as you think. For Miller's, here were my concerns before testing: What if there's mercury in the fishmeal in our chicken feed?What if the soil that our animals live on is contaminated?What is the well water that the broth is made with is contaminated?What if the Celtic sea salt has lots of heavy metals? We got the test results back. I was super excited. But, I was also confused. At face value, it appeared that our bone broth tested NEGATIVE for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. You can find the test results right here! You'll notice that, for every sample, the results are "<0.01 mg/kg" and "<0.02 mg/kg". I asked the lab what the "<" means. They said that it indicates their limit of quantitation (LOQ), the lowest concentration that can be accurately tested using the test procedure in that sample type. So the results simply report that none of the metals tested were found in the sample above the specific reporting LOQs. Whether or not they were present below this LOQ is information that is not provided by the test. When talking to the lab, I told them what we needed and assumed that this test would go below a 1 ppb. So, when the results came in, I assumed that a "mg/kg" was the same as a part per billion (ppb). Ummm... that math wasn't write! A "mg/kg" is actually a part per million (ppm). That means that the test we ran had results saying that the broth had less than 0.02 ppm (or 20 ppb) of arsenic and lead. And, it had less than 0.01 ppm (or 10 ppb) of cadmium and mercury. For some reference, the EPA says that less than 15 ppb of lead is safe in drinking water. Not saying that I agree, but it's a good reference point. These results are good. It means the broth definitely isn't overloaded with toxic heavy metals. But, it's not good enough!!! We need to test again! We really need to a lower LOQ. We need to know the results with an accuracy of as low as 1 ppb. It looks like the lab we sent the original samples to doesn't have an LOQ that low. So here I am on the hunt for a lab to do it again. As soon as I can, I'll send samples in again and paying for more expensive testing to get the info you deserve. Stay tuned! I hope to have the new results in by the end of April 2025. Do you worry about toxic metals (or other junk) in your food? Where have your fears stemmed from? I'd love to hear from you. You can comment below (no account required) or contact us 😊 ----- Sources The risk of lead contamination in bone broth dietsBone Broth and Lead Toxicity: Should You Be Concerned?Bone Broth and Lead Contamination: A Very Flawed Study in Medical HypothesesBone Broth, Collagen, and Toxic Metals: A Research Review

Celebrating the Heritage of Corn on National Popcorn Lovers Day

You've probably heard a lot about GMO corn and its controversies, but did you know that corn, or maize as many Native Americans call it, is a cherished heritage food? Let's take a closer look at corn and learn about its history.

Lovely Farm Day recap with pics and videos. And the sour milk debacle. Our milk really does last.

We'll be attending a few more events this fall, and we'd love to see you there!

More from the blog

Raw milk or fermented dairy and lactose intolerance. Why might it help?

Our bone broth tested negative-ish for heavy metals 🥳 NATURAL AND CLEAN

Celebrating the Heritage of Corn on National Popcorn Lovers Day

Do

Learn

Uphold

Connect

Miller's Bio Farm, 523 Valley Road, Quarryville, PA 17566