Milk

We have been so blessed to have fresh milk produced and processed within 20 minutes of our home. Kilby Cream Farm began selling their own milk this past May. It comes in glass bottles, which you can return, and is sold in quarts and half gallons. It is delicious. The last batch I picked up was milked and processed the day before. Can you say that about your milk? The price is great, too. Organic milk in the store runs $6 a gallon or more and may still be from large factory type farms. Kilby’s milk is $3 a half gallon and you know where it is coming from. Their ice cream is great, too and I believe goes from cow to cone in two days.

Maryland is a state, like most, that does not allow the sale of unpasteurized milk. I do not promote the drinking of raw milk. I do not think that it is safe. There is a great article that my sister, Amy, sent to me explaining why drinking unpasteurized milk is not a good idea. You can find that article here. But, I DO believe we should be allowed to buy raw milk. It really is no different than buying raw meat. The government trusts us enough to buy meat, cook it and serve it to our families. So, why is milk any different? We could buy raw milk bring it to the set temperature and then let it cool in our own homes. Why is this important or even an issue? Because, it would allow farms to sell THEIR milk directly to the consumer. Right now, unless the farm, like Kilby, has their own pasteurization facility they typically send the milk to a processing plant and the milk is homogenized with milk from other dairies. There is an added cost both environmental (milk being trucked all over) and monetary (transportation and processing) and in the end the farmer gets less for his/her product and we pay more. Raw milk is available in Pennsylvania and I hope that in the near future Marylanders would have this option available, too.