raw milk

About once a month, I make a trip to Stone Wall Dairy in Cornwall Bridge. The drive takes me along some of Connecticut’s most scenic roads; it winds through pristine lakeside communities, pastoral countryside, and quaint colonial villages.
The scenery changes dramatically with the seasons. In autumn, the roads are clogged with "leaf peepers" in rental cars, and the landscape is licked with the colors of flame. In winter, after a snowfall, the scenes appear to be painted by Currier and Ives in monotones of black, white, and gray. In spring and summer, the countryside becomes profuse with life; crops bask in the sun-baked fields, herds of cattle loll in bucolic pastures.
It is easy to lose oneself in time among these scenes. This is a landscape void of Walmarts and strip malls, where villagers shop in General Stores and cheerful attendants pump gas and wipe windshields while chatting about the weather.
                        

Stone Wall Dairy embodies the simplicity of its’ idyllic setting; the salesroom is located in a red and white painted barn, in which the door is always open, and a wooden courtesy box serves as a cash register. Their product, raw milk, comes from Jersey cows that they have chosen to raise without the use of antibiotics or synthetic hormones, and is unpasteurized.
Raw milk is a living food rich in health-promoting enzymes, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and beneficial bacteria. Pasteurization sterilizes milk by exposing it to high heat, and destroys or diminishes much of what makes milk a healthy addition to our diet. Raw milk will sour naturally, while pasteurized milk will rot.
Despite the transparent benefits of raw milk, it is not without controversy. Proponents of pasteurization have used fear tactics to achieve consumer acceptance. Extensive evidence and records show that raw milk from healthy cows has a high safety record and that pasteurized milk does not, having caused thousands of bacterial diseases and many fatalities.
Pasteurization laws favor large, industrialized milk producers, and squeeze out the small dairy farmers. By giving farmers the right to sell unprocessed milk, they are able to make a decent living, even with small herds. Currently, the sale of raw milk is legal in 28 out of the 50 US states. I am grateful that Connecticut is among these. If you are interested in the current laws regarding your state, you can view them here.