In this blog I am sharing my experience and a little of my own research for pure enjoyment only, as indicated above. Shopping locally and directly from the farm a is a truly new and very enjoyable experience for me. I did not grow up doing this, unfortunately, but thanks to a strong resurgence in small family farms it has become an integral part of my life. A big part of my enthusiasm comes from the travel it takes for me to achieve my grocery lists demands.
Let’s go for a beautiful ride!
Raw milk has been a part of my diet since 2009. I love the fact that it is perfectly natural, unpasteurized, and unhomogenized. Yes, I have heard there may be a risk but I never had any problems. In fact I thrive on this food and I believe that it did a lot to improve my health. After all, my older family members never had a problem. I come from a line of milkmen and in their time there was no such thing as “raw milk”. What is raw to us, to them was ordinary milk. I knew family members who were born in the early 1890’s, a time when everything was “raw” and there was no call for alarm over farm bought food. This was their environment, it was their culture and the thought of a sterile world never entered their minds.
Although milk was pasteurized during grandparents time, it came to be because of a peculiar event just after the Civil War. The farmers outside Boston were still under home guard siege just after the war and felt safer bringing their cows into town. They settled at Boston Commons and soon their cattle had grazed the land bare. This lead to the problem of feeding the animals since the farmers were not yet ready to go back to their homesteads. A brewery near by offered castings of hops and barley as feed. Sounds like a solution but not by a long shot. It made the cows sick and their milk turned blue. Many people in town became sick from this milk and I cannot recall with any certainty if there were deaths. Long and short of it is, at this point and time pasteurization of milk was the best way to ensure safety due to the situation. Homogenization was not yet practiced, I believe because we were not yet led to believe that full fat was bad for us.
The local farm that I bought from was only 7 miles from my house and had been family run for four generations. The youngest of the four generations had decided he did not want to be a dairy farmer for the rest of his life. He went back to school to become a teacher. The cows are still at this local farm but he closed the business to raw milk sales. I was heartbroken to lose this wonderful resource and I lived without it for several years.
Then lo and behold in August of 2018, I suddenly had a hankering for that raw milk again. But my reliable source had been long gone so I turned to the Internet for help. The search came up with four pasture raised raw sources within 50 miles of my home. But upon closer inspection I only came up with one that was perfectly reliable. Old Ford Farm on Old Ford Road in New Paltz, New York.
Although this farm is 45 minutes from my home I knew that the drive would be wonderful. It would be a beautiful ride into a gorgeous part of Ulster County New York.
There are two ways I travel. One is Rt. 208 North East out of Washingtonville, New York through Maybrook. Passing Stewart State Lands where I hunt small game in fall and winter. Through the beautiful town of Walden and its row of pretty Queen Ann Victorian houses. The last stretch of 208 to Old Ford Rd. runs along the Wallkill river through the town of Wallkill. Beautiful stretches of the river lay out before you to the left full of Canadian geese congregating in the winter to find food along the shores. Sometimes it appears that there are literally thousands of geese!
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| Wallkill River |
The other way that I travel is along route 32 north out of the town of Newburgh. At the corner of Fostertown Rd. and 32 is the 18th century farm where the 2018 Rockefeller Christmas tree was cut. This trip takes you through the sleepy cozy towns of Modena, Plattekill and the beautiful town of Gardner at the foot of the Shawangunk mountains. Rt 32 intersects with Rt. 44/55, incidentally the road that takes you to Shawangunk cliffs and what is considered some of the best mountain climbing in the world. Farther on we passed Hurds Family Farm, a wonderful place to bring the kids for apple picking in the fall. Next on the left is Jenkinstown Rd. which was an 18th century colonial settlement which bears a historical marker. There is on this road the Jenkinstown Spa, which I find very intriguing and I hope to visit someday.
The last stretch of the journey to the farm takes you to a crest of a hill that looks South and Southwest over the Shawangunk. I usually take this trip after work and as the day light is lasting longer each day I get to see the most spectacular sunsets.
At the farm I purchase raw milk, raw eggs, raw cheese and raw butter. It is a joy to know that such incredibly nutritious food exist right here at home in the Hudson Valley. The young couple who owns it is very knowledgeable full of energy, their help is very friendly I hope they stay around for a long, long time. They not only have raw dairy but also a huge selection of pork chicken and beef that is all pasture raised.
In the past 6 months of patronizing this farm, I have met many of their long time customers. Some have been going there for as long as 5 to 6 years they all have wonderful things to say. Never had any problems and are enjoying the fact that they no longer have to depend on the supermarket. This is my main reason for using this type of farm. I decided 6 months ago that the supermarket's were not going to work for me anymore. Now I not only get an excellent product but I have a beautiful and wonderful time driving there through the country side of Ulster County.
(p.s. I ❤️ the fresh farm smell!!)
http://www.oldfordfarm.com/
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