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Tessa DeMaster

"Isn't RAW Milk Dangerous?" + Cathy Tells Why She Switched

Published almost 2 years ago • 4 min read

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Hi Reader,

Are you concerned about hormones, antibiotics, synthetic vitamins and even undisclosed added sugars in cow milk from the store?

"Isn't raw milk dangerous?" asked the student seeing milk in my Market Box of veggies on display at the farmer's market.

This pre-med student at Lehigh University gave me the perfect opportunity yesterday to explain to her the misinformation about raw milk while I was promoting Willow Haven Farm's CSA program at their last farmer's market of the season in Farrington Square, Bethlehem.

Raw milk from cows kept in unsanitary conditions inside warehouses was causing illness in children in cities during the early 20th century, in large part because the cows were being fed waste products from nearby factories and breweries.

These conditions were the perfect opportunity to try a new technology, pasteurization, to keep the inner city milk factories in business rather than solving the problem of sick cows and low nutritional quality of the milk that families were able to access in the cities.

I wonder what a medical student would think of my friend Cathy's experience with health challenges and raw milk?

Cathy Shutte, a doTerra Wellness Advocate, recently shared her story with me.

My husband and I have six children who are grown and gone and going on 16 grandchildren. This means we turned into septuagenarians when we weren't looking and aging comes with many challenges. 🙄
We learned long ago the value of eating a balanced, unprocessed diet (lean protein, lots of veggies and good fats), along with getting exercise, managing stress and getting good sleep, getting rid of as much toxicity from our environment as possible, especially our own home, taking and using the best supplements and natural medicine in pure essential oils to beat back inflammation and counterbalance the effects of chemicals all around us.
God gave us the right path to follow, to stay as close as we can to the way HE planned for our health and well-being. We've stayed pretty healthy despite some struggles and occasional crisis.
So how did we end up raw milk fans?
We stopped drinking cow's milk (store bought, pasteurized) and switched to almond milk.
Dairy is often cited as an inflammatory food and we thought we were making a smart decision to stop drinking milk.
Inflammation is the root cause of just about every disease process known to man but diet goes a long way to reducing it, so out went dairy. I always felt like the almond milk alternative was such a waste of money, essentially a product devoid of any nutrition but with the color and sort-of milk-like properties we were looking for.
Two things changed this.
1. I learned about the benefits of RAW milk about a year ago at a Harvest of Wisdom event.
I learned how healing raw milk is. It strengthens the gut biome which is huge! It has so many the beneficial enzymes and probiotics, vitamins, minerals, and omega-3s.
The living bacteria have been shown to help facilitate the production of lactase enzymes in the intestine, which helps lactose-intolerant people digest lactose.
As for the question about milk fat, the milk fat in raw milk from grass-fed cows contains significantly higher amounts of conjugated linoleic acid and omega-3 fatty acids which reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
Even growing up in a farm community, I'd never thought about the vast difference between pasteurized, store-bought milk and milk that had all the goodness God intendedI
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2. I learned that I could easily get raw milk from Willow Haven Farm.
We started to buy raw milk but only occasionally because it is an inflammatory food, or so I thought!
I did not know until recently that raw milk actually helps to reduce inflammation, another great health benefit.
Finally, this past Summer, when we learned the truth that RAW milk is not inflammatory but instead helpful, we started buying raw milk every week from Willow Haven Farm.
That's when we realized what an incredible blessing it is to have this perfect food available for us.
The milk is absolutely so delicious! We call it "dessert in a glass." How we enjoy the creamy taste -entirely superior to store-bought, pasteurized milk. Night and day!
We were away last weekend and unable to pick up our farm market box so this week I was forced to buy a gallon of whole milk from the grocery store.
What a striking difference!
What a powerful reminder of just how thankful we are for our raw milk from WHF!
We will never go back!

Many of our cows are born and bred here at the farm. We know that they've eaten good, clean, green grass their entire lives. I thought you might like to meet one of our most important animals - the bull. He has a bit of fun in life as well as challenging the road crews that keep us plowed out in the winter.

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Have you been told to avoid milk because it is allergenic?

Are you concerned about hormones, antibiotics, synthetic vitamins and even undisclosed added sugars in cow milk?

Are you on a strict diet because of auto-immune disease or inflammation?

Are you tired of milk substitutes that often have added sugars and barely remind you of milk anyway?

Do you miss cheese, butter, real cream and and creamy milk?

Know you can try raw milk with confidence.

How to Buy Raw Milk

  1. Come to the Farm Store!
    1. Open tomorrow 9 am to 3 pm.
    2. Open Fridays and Saturdays until Christmas
  2. Add to your Market Box:
    1. Members are customizing their orders until 7 pm on Sunday. Join to start your membership or log in to add milk to your Market Box.
  3. Order from Farm Stand!
    1. We open our Online Farm Stand once a month to non members. This is your chance to check it out without a commitment.
    2. Here's how Farm Stand works. (More info here.)
      1. Opens at 8 am tomorrow morning.
      2. Fill your shopping cart.
      3. Enjoy your farm food when it's delivered Wed/Thurs.
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👇This button takes you to our online Farm Stand during the Flash Sale. 👇

Shopping begins 8 am Saturday.

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We'll keep farming for you!

Reuben and Tessa DeMaster
​Willow Haven Farm​

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P.S. Don't forget ADD MILK when you start shopping tomorrow at 8 am.

  1. Order from Farm Stand!
  2. Fill your shopping cart.
  3. Enjoy your farm food when it's delivered Wed. 11/15 -Thurs. 11/16

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Thinking of unsubscribing? CSA members need to stay connected to our emails but you can limit them to just vital information about your membership by clicking here. ​

Tessa DeMaster

Growing up on my family's farm in Pennsylvania, I never would have pictured the life I live at Willow Haven farm. As a kid I spent summers in our large family garden we called, “The Truck Patch”. I helped mom every summer, picking beans, weeding, and cutting fruit and vegetables for the hundreds of jars of canned and frozen produce we put up. Now I spends less time out in the field and more time in the kitchen doing the same preserving for my own farm family. Farmer Reuben values my many hours doing much of the behind the scenes marketing, writing emails to cultivate customers and capturing the farm story each week. I'm always learning along the way in my quest to improve the farm experience for each of her current and future farm members in our 500+ member, year-round customized farm box delivery program. Reading our stories will connect you with your food in a way you never experienced before. Someday soon you will want to fit local food into your life and we'll be here to help you.

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