Organic, Humane, Family Farm Milk Comes to Nashville's Farmer's Market!

Living in Nashville and looking to buy milk without creepy hormones made by cows who are treated well by family farmers? Well you are in luck!

I know several adults who confess that after watching Food Inc. they had breakdowns in the grocery stores because they were overwhelmed by the vast variety of choices confronting them, especially when so few choices seemed to be things they felt good about buying.

As someone who grew up in Wisconsin, I have driven by more small family owned dairy farms than I can count. And so I grew up with a vision of dairy farming that was strangely closer to an idyllic Rockwell painting: a slightly weathered red barn that opens up onto vast pasture land flecked with black and white cows grazing lazily. I was shocked the first time I drove by an industrial dairy farm in California. I couldn't believe they would cram so many cows so close together in such a small space. The cows just looked...depressed.

So I was nothing short of livid when the California dairy association started launching their dirty smear campaign against Wisconsin cows, claiming that California cows are happier. True, Wisconsin cows have to contend with the snow. But apart from that, those commercials are such a blatant reversal of the true conditions that it is almost comical.

Okay, but now I'm getting on my high horse. My husband won't even stay in the living room when those commercials come on because he knows I rant about them.

What I REALLY want to tell you about is an exciting new opportunity for Nashvillians to buy organic, humanely produced milk from a family-run dairy farm. Read on for a note my friend sent me about JD Country Milk, milk she has been drinking for years from a farm she has visited. With her own two eyes she has seen the happy cows!


Note from my friend:

The milk I've been trafficking down to Nashville from Russellville, KY (where I grew up & my parents live) is now available weekly at the Nashville Farmer's Market! I have talked about this milk a lot over the past couple of years, and many of you have tried it. A few details:

-- JD Country Milk
-- Low temperature pasteurized, non-homogenized milk (cream on top) -- great for making yogurts, etc.
-- Produced organically, but not certified, because...
-- Dairy run by Willis & Edna Schrock and their 8 children
-- Cows grazed in large pastures in vast agricultural area (I'm witness to this)
-- Milk comes in glass bottles ($2 refundable deposit), so little waste
-- Now available in whole, 2%, skim, and cream (a new development -- we were just happy with the whole!)
-- Milk only $2.50 per half-gallon (the same price I pay when I drive to the farm -- they are charging no additional overhead to bring this milk to Nashville!!)

For those of you who might not consider KY local, this farm is approximately 50-55 minutes from the Farmer's Market. Let me tell you, the quality is phenomenal. My best guess for my eldest child weaning himself cold-turkey and never looking back at 19 months of age is this milk; he will drink vastly more milk when we bring this home than a grocery-boxed milk.

I, for one, will be giving the Nashville Farmer's Market weekly consideration as I make my Saturday plans. You can sign up at the Nashville Farmer's Market website to receive weekly updates about producers who will be selling at the upcoming weekend's market. Right now, the local producers are limited due to the cold, but the number will grow over the next few months. I hear from the NFM that the Farmer's Market will be the newest drop-off location for the very popular Delvin Farms CSA program. All fantastic news for a momma seeking local, healthy food without the hassle