Where are we now? Our journey.

We started on this journey in early 2005 when we were transferred to Knoxville, TN with my husband's new job.  Driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains to our new home, my husband suddenly looked at me and said "we should find someone who sells raw milk".  As a young boy, he drank raw milk as it was gifted his father,the pastor of a small church in New York, from a dairyman in the congregation.  I readily agreed having drunk (and loved) the raw milk we were given for breakfast, on a mission trip to East Germany. Little did we know at the time where this would lead us. We were propelled onward by unseen forces.  Always meeting the right people and the right time.  I had no access to the Internet at the time, but read everything I could find and asked tons of questions of the family we found to buy our "pet grade" milk from.   I began making butter, homemade yogurt, and even experimented with sauerkraut and kombucha.  We were really on a roll, but it all came to a screeching halt when we moved again and couldn't find a good source of raw milk close to us, nor could we afford the organic meats and produce at the only, tiny, health food store in near proximity.  Since mail order is something my husband was unwilling to consider at the time, and I still did not have access to the wealth of information on the Internet, all seemed lost

Fast forward  two years.  We had succumbed to the status quo; eating as "healthy" as we could manage. Buying organic when we could find it at the local Wal-Mart (the only grocery store we had), and I was still attempting to make our meals from "scratch" rather than relying on prepackaged mixes and such, when we were transferred back to TN, a little bit south now in Chattanooga. By now we had Internet access, but with all these pretty grocery stores and "buy one get one free" adds and the world of double coupons it was easier (at least at first) and more exciting to focus on how much money we could "save" on our grocery bill.  Pretty soon we were paying half of what we had been, but we were eating boxed foods and soon it started to take a toll. 

When you have a new baby, that's when the rubber meets the road.  You reevaluate everything.  Not that you don't care about the children you already have, but there is something about a new baby that signals a fresh start. Particularly if you're starting to get frustrated anyway.  So with the birth of our fourth son in June of 2009 I started searching out raw milk again.  I know better now, but at the time it seemed like the only starting point.  It took us a while, but we finally did find a source of quality, affordable raw Jersey milk.  Now the ball is really starting to roll again, and I am so excited!