Who's defending our raw milk farmers' rights?

Step into someone else’s muddy boots for a bit. Imagine you are a small dairy farmer (if that’s the case, your father was probably a farmer, too). You made the choice to produce a product that you believe in – nutrient-dense raw milk. It’s what your customers want for optimal health, and you can hopefully break even every year (most farmers don’t make much or are in debt). You raise naturally healthy cows on a natural diet of grass. Your milk is clean (and you know it, because you have it tested regularly). One day, seemingly out of nowhere, someone writes you a letter or comes to your farm. They say what you are doing is wrong and threaten lengthy legal action. With little money (if any at all), what do you do?

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A brief history of the raw milk debate

Raw milk is a highly contested issue in modern history. Is it a healthy nutrient-dense “cure-all” for nourishing your body, or is it a dangerous vector for spreading life-threatening disease? The two camps are split. It is a complicated issue with mixed battles of bad science vs. personal testimony, morals vs. politics, education vs. advertising, and big agri-business vs. small farms.

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Do we have the liberty to choose our food?

Being born and raised in America, I have been trained to believe that I have “freedom”. I was taught the Pledge of Allegiance on the first day of Kindergarten, with the closing words “with liberty and justice for all”. I have said those words every school day since (and then some). That’s more than 2,160 times.

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Health benefits of bone broth and how to make it

Bone broth is one of the oldest healing foods. It is an excellent way to utilize the whole animal, extracting goodness from parts of the animal that would otherwise be inedible - bones, skin, tendons, marrow, etc. Today’s store bought “stock” and “broth”, in many cases, may not be real. Companies use lab-produced meat flavors in bouillon cubes and various soup and sauce mixes. The best way to get a true bone broth with real healing benefits is by sourcing it from a local farm or by making it yourself using bones sources from quality sources.

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Healthy cows means higher prices.

You may have noticed that the price of milk went up this week. The reality is that it’s expensive to produce wholesome nutrient-dense milk, especially when you need to buy in feed. The farmer pays close attention to his cows’ diet and health. In the warmer months, this is fairly straightforward and easier to control. Plant the right crops and make sure the cows eat them at precisely the right moment of freshness. In the colder months, when the herd’s diet is supplemented or fully on hay, it becomes more difficult to make sure the cows are getting what they need.

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We NEED fat, good fat is good.

I have been liberally spreading tallow balm on my skin this week, 3x per day, and it got me thinking about fat. Fat, especially saturated fat, has been vilified in the US since the 1960s, when the low-fat craze started. It has really done a number on our cooking and our health as a society, because not all fat is bad. In fact, we NEED fat for so many basic bodily functions.

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Conference Review and Tallow Balm Discovery

I had an amazing time at the Wise Traditions Conference in Minneapolis this past weekend. Here’s a quick overview. I ate delicious and nourishing food, all sourced from small organic regenerative farms like ours and packed with nutrient-rich animal fats and organ meats. I learned a ton from the varied vendors and speakers specializing in healthy diet and lifestyle. And, I gave out thousands of samples to potential Miller’s Bio Farm customers from around the country. Next year, the conference will be in Baltimore, and I hope you can attend!

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Who is Weston A. Price, and what does he have to do with small farms?

I am honored to be attending the annual Weston A. Price Foundation Conference (WAPF) this weekend in Minneapolis. We are sponsoring the event and are excited to connect with some like-minded farmers and real food eaters. If you are going to be at the event, please come to our table and say hello!

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The fastest, cheapest, best food. Is it attainable?

So much damage has been done to our food system by the expectation for the perfect trifecta – the fastest, cheapest, best food. However, we all know that you can’t have all three. Maybe two, but not three. Low-cost, quick-to-prepare, tender, flavorful food has been achieved (think McDonald’s, which feeds 1% of the world population daily). But, at what cost? What do you really lose when you disregard quality?

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Local and Seasonal Eating for Cows and Humans

Days are getting shorter, the weather is (supposed to be) getting cooler. Believe it or not daylight savings is next Sunday, November 5. And, the cows are loving this weather.

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