One Little Calf Had Raw Milk, One Little Calf Had None

Two calves, two very different outcomes. Michael Schmidt, of Glencolton Farms, recently completed a little experiment. Two calves were raised, one on raw milk and the other on pasteurized and homogenized milk (simulated dairy). You can see all the pictures and read the full story over at the Bovine.

 The anemic, sad little liver on the left is from a calf that was raised on pasteurized milk. The liver on the right is from the raw milk fed calf.  Photo: Bovine

The stomachs of the two calves. The one in the bucket, looking as it should, is from the raw milk calf. The one below, with its 'contents' spilled all over the place is from the pasteurized milk drinking calf. I found this image especially telling.  Photo: Bovine

Abundance (or a 10 minute lunch done right)

Oh summer, how I love thee. Today was a good day, made all the better by a trip to one of our lovely, local organic farmers. I came home with a bounty of deliciousness and set to work making a ten minute lunch for me and my sweet man.

We came home with colourful swiss chard, radishes, asparagus, all types of lettuce, garlic scapes, flowering chives (so pretty), rhubarb, nettle, shitake mushrooms, green onion, and a whack of fresh herbs. Everything was so fresh and beautiful.

I grabbed a handful of my favourites, the shitake mushrooms, asparagus, some Shanghai bok choy, swiss chard, and the garlic scapes, gave them a quick rinse, and chopped them up in big hunks.

I grabbed my glorious raw butter, compliments of a happy, grass-fed cow, and melted a few dollops with the garlic scapes. Once those were softened up, I threw in all of the other veggies. I threw in a couple more spoons of butter, some sea salt, and freshly ground pepper.

While all of that was going on, I was reheating a chicken quarter from last night. I always make enough meat with supper to give us leftovers for lunch the next day.

It's a pretty simple lunch, and really quick to make. I think a lot of people assume I make complex, time-intensive dishes, but when you have good food, there's very little that needs to be done to it. On the other hand, you can add mounds of sugar, colouring, sauces, and flavour enhancers to lousy food, but it's still lousy food.

Today's lunch is standard fare around here. I hesitated to show something so simple, but it's how we eat everyday and I thought it was a good representation of how easy it is to eat really good food. My food reminds me of the many things and people I have to be grateful for. My plate, an embarrassment of riches. I'm a lucky girl, indeed.