Self-intro of Margaret - Golden, CO

[Guest guest]

Name: Margaret Auld-Louie

E-mail: margaret@...

I live in Golden, Colorado in Jefferson County

Raw Dairy sales are legal in Colorado thru a herd share program

I first started drinking raw goat milk a few years ago at my chiropractor's

suggestion from a producer who lived in one of the mountain canyons nearby. She

came down to Golden as her son goes to high school here, so I would meet her in

parking lots and pay her cash. She was small and not comfortable doing all the

legal work to create a share program. The work of milking the goats got to be

too much so she quit doing it. Then I found a goat dairy with a share program in

Longmont, Colorado, a 45 minute drive from my home. I would go there every 2

weeks and get half my milk frozen. However, she quit producing due to family and

financial problems. Then I signed up for a goat share with a member of the local

WAPF chapter, who works across the street from me in downtown Denver. However,

her job changed so she didn't have time to milk her goats. Then I found a new

goat dairy near Golden and signed up for a share but then quit drinking the milk

a year ago when I got extremely ill with a parasite and was having trouble

tolerating any food at all. That farmer also had problems, such as losing the

lease where she kept the goats but was able to relocate elsewhere nearby and is

apparently doing well as she now has a waiting list.

In March this year, my chiropractor signed up for a goat share with Harvest

Acres, a goat dairy in , Colorado. They deliver to her home in Golden,

near me, so she suggested I sign up, too. I signed up in April and started

drinking goat milk again. I find I'm having to take it slow for my body to

adjust, as I did when I first started drinking goat milk several years ago. My

digestion is probably still recovering from the year-long bout with the parasite

and the strong drugs I had to take last spring and summer to kill it (after all

holistic options failed). So, I am only able to tolerate 1 cup/day goat milk but

hope over time to increase that again, because it tastes so good. I sure hope

this dairy stays in business!

I don't tolerate cow dairy at all, even raw, except for butter, but my

chiropractor says that raw goat milk tests as very " healing " and " balancing " for

my body. She doesn't tolerate cow dairy, either, but has a cow share as well, so

that she can purchase the raw butter, and then gives the raw milk to her grown

daughter. She says the raw milk has really helped her daughter.

When I started drinking raw goat milk, I hadn't eaten any dairy for 20 years

(due to not tolerating it), except goat yogurt and cheese, so it has been such a

treat to have milk again. I bought an ice cream maker a couple of years ago and

sometimes make ice cream from the milk.

Although I am grateful that it is legal to get raw milk thru herd share programs

in Colorado, I find the herd share program frustrating at times. It would be so

much easier if I could just go to the store and buy the amount of milk I need

that week, instead of being stuck with a set amount of milk every week (though

I'm not sure I'd trust the quality of raw milk in a store vs. getting it direct

from the farmer). Sometimes I need more or less milk than my share amount, but

there isn't any way to vary the amount temporarily. And, since I work full-time,

it can be difficult at times to fit the milk pickups into my schedule. I am very

fortunate that with my current arrangement, I can just stop by my chiropractor's

home, which is nearby, to pick up my milk.

I also find it frustrating that there is no way to get raw butter without

signing up for a cow share, but then what would I do with the raw cow's milk

that I can't drink? No goat farmer in Colorado produces butter (and I would have

to buy a centrifuge to make it myself). So, I buy expensive pasturized goat

butter that is imported from England and only available in one store here, since

it tests better for me than any of the other butters in the store, even the

Organic Valley pasture butter. And my husband does not tolerate cow butter, only

goat. (The Meyenberg goat butter & milk available in all the health food stores

tastes like crap and tests bad for me, too.)

I have been a member of the Weston A. Price Foundation since 2003 and attending

the Denver chapter meetings since about 2006. I help moderate the Yahoo Group

for the Denver chapter. I am a member of the Discussing NT Yahoo Group, where I

heard about this group. I thought this group would be interesting, now that I'm

drinking raw milk again.

-Margaret