Whole Foods, Raw Milk, and Cock-a-Doodle-Don’t

By Contributing Writer, Marcia Wilwerding

Back in the 90′s we endured seven years (a.k.a. “The Great Tribulation”) of living in the second most dangerous neighborhood in Peoria, Illinois. Each summer as we drove from family camp in Missouri through the verdant countryside dotted with quaint little farms back to our inner city neighborhood – I cried all the way home. The rest of the year was spent perusing Countryside magazines and dreaming of our homestead deep in the woods somewhere far from the noise, the grime, and the crime.

Though we were much more careful in subsequent moves, we still never got to the country. At this point I doubt we ever will – or really even want to. You see, the dream can be very different from the reality; therefore, I will be sharing some of our experiences in hopes of saving someone a lot of time, effort, expense, and even heartache.

Is It Worth the Time and Effort?

After reading Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions our daughter became obsessed with learning the art of whole food cooking.  I had previously laid it aside with great fear and trepidation, but Lydia was much braver than her mother and persevered into making homemade yogurt, crafting sourdough bread, and preserving lacto-fermented vegetables.

Together we learned that there are many nutritional benefits to eating this way; however, let me caution you to consider some of the down sides we also found:

• New foods are sometimes hard to swallow, so it may be wise to begin slowly with only one or two new recipes per week. For example, if your family eats a lot of yogurt, then perhaps you could begin with making your own. (See my post Our “Dairyman’s Daughter” Makes Yogurt for instructions.)
• Many whole food recipes, especially for lacto-fermented foods, build on one another. For instance, whey must be drained from yogurt in order to make lacto-fermented foods. Also, many recipes use homemade bone broths which require at least a day of preparation before they are ready to incorporate into other recipes.
• Whole, fresh food takes time. They don’t call them “convenience foods” for nothing. If you are considering a whole food menu plan, you may have to radically adjust your schedule in order to prepare from scratch. There may be shortcuts such as purchasing pre-cut vegetables, but then you lose the money savings. It will either cost time or money either way.

My conclusion is that while whole food cooking may be nutritionally superior and more economical, it may not be worth the time and effort for some families, especially when learning the proper techniques and incorporating them into their schedule. If you do go this route, take it slowly and only keep what actually works for you.

Is It Worth the Expense?

One whole food which is definitely NOT economical is raw milk. I’m not talking about the organic, hormone-free kind now found in most major supermarkets; that’s expensive enough. I mean straight-from-the-cow, non-homogenized, unpasteurized liquid gold.

In our state, the sale of raw milk is illegal. However, dairy farmers get around that by selling cow shares. You pay for part ownership of the herd plus a monthly boarding fee.

With only three of us left at home, we thought we could afford a half share (1 1/2 gallons per week) from a nearby dairy. The cost breakdown was as follows:

• $6.25 per month for our half milk share (We paid a one-time fee of $75 and had it for one year. This would have decreased over time.)
• $32.00 per month boarding fee (Could be more or less depending on the cost of the herd.)
• Approximately $11.00 per month for gas with a trip every five weeks shared with four other families in our town.
• $1.30 per month for supplies (3 glass jugs, 3 plastic lids, and a bottle brush, a $15.50 initial outlay; had them one year. This would have decreased over time.)

Total: $7.75 per gallon (approximately $50 a month)

After a year we thought it wise to sell our share and get out before we broke the bank.

Yet, the cost was not the only reason we gave up on raw milk. For one thing, we were greatly disappointed to find it made our homemade yogurt slimy and unpalatable. Also, there was never enough cream for making butter and getting the cream separated off the top was nearly impossible even with a turkey baster. Very disappointing.

Do Your Homework

Nothing is more romantic about the whole food, sustainable lifestyle than keeping a flock of chickens. We bought the house we live in now with a vision for producing our own free-range, organic eggs. The raw milk dairy sold theirs for $4 a dozen and others locally went for $2, which was still twice as expensive as store-bought regular eggs. So, when our daughter expressed a desire to be the hen keeper, we took the plunge.

We converted the garden shed into a chicken coop, built a movable pen out of PVC pipe and chicken wire, and put our chick order in at the feed store. “The Girls,” as we came to call them, were simply delightful. We had no trouble from of them at all until one of them CROWED!

That’s when the trouble began. Mr. Cock-a-doodle-do thought The Girls belonged to him and sometimes tried to beat us off when we came to collect eggs. But, hey, they claim that fertilized eggs are actually better for you than unfertilized, so we decided to keep him. Besides, if any of the neighbors complained, we’d just have some fried chicken for dinner. No problem.

After over a year of keeping our chickens, we got a letter from the Township giving us notice we had a week to get rid of the flock. Unbeknownst to us, it was illegal to keep “farm” animals in our Township. I called the office to inquire why they allowed a neighbor just around the corner from us to continue keeping farm animals, including a herd of swine, a cow, and numerous flocks of chicken, geese, ducks, and who knows what all, some of which were running around loose in the neighborhood.  Huh?

Grandfathering. That particular property had been zoned as a farm long before the subdivision or our own property were ever built. The man I spoke with was very sympathetic and said if we hadn’t kept the rooster, perhaps the neighbor who complained wouldn’t have even known we had them. But, once someone complains, the law is the law. We should have done our homework.

Finding Balance

Though our chicken fiasco didn’t turn out as we had hoped, we kept searching for an affordable free-range egg option. That’s when the Lord opened the door for us to get $2-a-dozen eggs from my husband’s co-worker. This fellow brings the eggs right to the work place, so we don’t have to even drive to get them. Plus, we are helping a fellow believer in his home business.

That’s what I’m talking about when I say “balance.” You may not be able to grow your own food, raise your own animals, or have time to switch over to a whole new way of cooking and eating, but maybe you can take baby step changes and find what you need through those who are already doing these things.

Here are a few ideas:

• Whole Foods: Farmers’ markets and garden coops are excellent alternatives to organic gardening. Yet, even stores like our local Aldi and Meijer are beginning to include organic, local foods which are an economical alternative. Even lacto-fermented foods may be found for sale if you do your homework and can afford them for their health benefits.
• Raw Milk: Unless you have a cow, raw milk will probably be way off budget for one-income families. This is one area which may require compromise. You could exclude milk from your family’s diet altogether and seek other forms of calcium and nutrients, or you could opt for pasteurized organic milk, which is about half the price of raw. However, it may be very difficult to find non-homogenized milk except in health food stores.
• Free-Range Eggs: Look for signs along country roads in your area, search the Internet, or simply ask around. There are new small-flock, free-range egg producers popping up everywhere these days, which may even eventually make the prices more competitive.

The search for more economical ways to feed our families doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice good nutrition, but we do have to find a balance in economy and practicality. I encourage you to keep taking those baby steps, and, most importantly, to pray for wisdom from the Lord to give you balance and to direct you to just the resources you need.