Yesterday the Shush Sisters came with me on their first proper walk. Though it was more of a trot. A nerve wracking barely controlled jaunt. 
At speed. The first half they spent racing along with me their little sucky chattering snouts attached to my calves. 
I led them through the barn and back to their pen a few times, practising following me and coming when called and learning where Home was. We have been doing this for a few days. Finally I opening the barn door to the corridor paddock. Bobby Blanc had been moved in case of a riot!. And out they shot!
First they visited the Plonkers and the chickens, all at speed, then they zoomed over to investigate The Big Bobby and Queenie.
And they all had a ‘oh’ moment. Then on command back they galloped back to the barn, through the pens and corridors and into their own pen. We were practising Go Home!
Of course on our second foray Sheila found the weakness in the perimeter, slipped under the gate and ran home through the big barn doors. At this point the camera was abandoned on a fence post and barely in control, I called them back together and back to bed.
They seem to understand to come when called, and to Go Home. But everything is done at high speed and in the end my legs were decorated in dirty little pig snout marks as they kept racing back and forth checking in. 
Jaz asked me a very good question yesterday. She wondered how long raw milk lasted in the fridge. My favourite answer is that raw milk does not go off, it just slowly changes into another milk product. When I used to buy it from a local farmer who I trusted, I would store it in the fridge and drink it for up to a week. Because all its enzymes are still intact it does not go bad like pasteurised milk goes bad. Though it will sour after a while as the bacterias work. Now I have my own cow though, the drinking milk is always fresh.
Some of you are worried that I will get fat with all this lovely cream. But animal fats (particularly grass fed fats) actually cause the stomach lining to secrete a hormone that tells us we are full. If the milk is manipulated this trigger is removed and could contribute to over eating and fatness. This is why non fat and low fat foods need to be approached with caution by a dieter.
Many people have difficulty digesting ultra-pasteurised milk. Or are lactose intolerant which means that their bodies are no longer producing lactase, a condition which prevents them from digesting the milk sugars.(This is oversimplified but I am not of a scientific bent so do please jump right in with your comments. Many of you know more about this that I do.) Though more often than not many people who are lactose intolerant can digest raw milk. (IF they can get it) This is because in raw milk the good bacteria lactobacilli is still intact. Lactobacilli is the bacteria that digests lactose for you. With that killed the milk is indeed harder to digest and the pancreas has to work harder than normal. Of course some people cannot drink any milk which must be so hard.
So raw milk has about 60 (known) enzymes that are linked and enable you to digest this most amazing of foods. Each of these enzymes has a key function in the digestion of this food and the health of your gut. Most of these enzymes are killed by pasteurisation which is designed to make the milk more sanitary. Thereby breaking the milks natural cycles. Disabling its easy digestion. Making the pancreas work harder and yes it goes Off faster than raw milk.
Good morning. Many cultures call raw milk white gold and it has been used in the treatment of some illnesses. This is the good stuff. You all know about the minerals and vitamins that are crammed into a glass of raw milk. I am a lucky girl. More on that another time.
Now it is time for me to go and milk the cow and feed all the baby animals. Then we are off to collect the hay.
Oh and it RAINED last night. And inch and a half! Lovely. The earth is breathing a great sigh.
Oh I really should go back and do an edit but it is 6am. The farmy is quite literally calling out to me. I must run. Please forgive the errors! See you tomorrow.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
66 responses to “The Sisters of Shush make friends and a few raw milk facts”
Another set of happy photos C. I especially love the one (piggies-010) just too adorable. So great that you had the much needed rain. Have a happy day and love your glass.
🙂 Mandy xo
Morning Mandy.. c
Oh those pigs are so adorable – wait until they get HUGE!
I have been worrying about that too. It is possible that the farmy can only really sustain one in the long term.. I will have to think on it! c
These pictures of your new pigs making friends on the farm made me smile, they are adorable! Do the farmyard animals get along in general?
I have what i call Flerds, small clusters of animals that all muddle along together.. it seems to work out .. c
Flerds, best word combo ever! 🙂
Ah, I *do* wish we had saner rules about raw milk…I quite understand the dangers (we did have some folks over in Mass get Lysteria a couple of years ago, and two died), but scrupulous cleanliness should avoid that all together. In Mass, raw milk can be purchased at the dairy if the proper inspections have been done. In Rhode Island, it’s illegal to even GIVE it to someone outside your own family…Makes no sense at all.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy your bounty of White Gold!
And often these laws are made out of fear, i would never buy raw milk unless it was todays milk and from a cow I knew.. I am a lucky girl! And we all live with the dangers of food poisoning esp from fast food chicken and hamburger but i don’t see them outlawing that! c
Just love your kissy piggy pictures! And I feel thoroughly educated too! we had some rain too last night, the first in weeks – no doubt those weeds will take full advantage!
Christine
Those weeds! c
With so many people becoming lactose intolerant we have switched back to drinking raw milk. And we would have done it a lot sooner if it had been available. I’m sure all this pasteurising and homoginising business has a lot to answer for xx
As long as we all adhere to scrupulous cleaning. My equipment gets three washes every time it is used, clean hands, clean udders.. clean buckets and proper refrigeration. And that goes for all food! You are so lucky to be able to obtain raw milk, it is good for the gut.. c
I have always been interested in raw milk. No one around us drinks it, not even from their own animals, so I haven’t dared try. It just seems to make more sense, though.
I don’t understand why people would not, but I am happier producing my own.. people have been drinking it for thousands of years.. in fact sour milk was most often the milk drink of choice until comparatively recently.. c
Celi, wonderful post on raw milk.
The only way you can buy raw milk here is for bathing in……..with a label NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION! Queenie seemed very restrained with the Shush sisters…….no head butting……good girl!
E.
isn’t Queenie funny, she loves the little ones but hates that big red one! strange cow! c
Thanks for sharing the pics of the Shush Sisters getting to know their farmy pals – they are becoming little porkers!
they are just too fiunny!.. c
Lucky you to get rain… could you please ship some my way? Those piggities are growing fast – I *knew* they’d be happy at your place!
Your story about the Shush sisters reminds me of human toddlers. Always in a hurry and wandering all over! Then they become teenagers and their pace slows dramatically. 😉
Loved all the milk facts! Hope you are having a lovely weekend ~ April
I hope I got the lactose intolerant part right April. You know more about that than i do.. all my milk talk much be making you yawn! c
You did just fine and your talk never makes me yawn! 🙂
Oh I did enjoy the Shush tour! I’m sure your lovely example keeps all the flerds so mutually friendly. As for the milk info – very informative. You can get raw milk here from some farmers, but
having seen their state of dubious cleanliness, I have not been inclined to try it.
BTW sour milk makes the best of scones (biscuits?)
good tip about the sour milk, i will try that, I am starting the buttermilk today! c
The Shush sisters make me laugh.
We are so dry here I hardly have weeds in the yard, a mixed bag of blessings that is…if we had rain…I would sigh with relief along side of the earth.
We are so dry that the ground is NOT absorbing the water…well it is but the earth is HOT so the dirt immediately turns into a dried out clod.
This sure has been a hard year here…dry winter, huge fire, hot soil, 70% water, no rain. I hope July is wetter!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
I really hope it rains for you too linda.. terrible that it has got past the stage of even absorbing water.. my mother in law told me, when i was a teenager and she was not my mother in law yet, stop your moaning there are plenty of people worse off.. and you are definitely having a dreadful time and i shall stop this moaning..the trouble is the less rain you have the less rain you are going to have , the evaporation/precipitation thing.. well lets start doing rain dances for you! there must be some rain out there for you, something gentle and wet.. c
those shush sisters just make life too fun!!! i would love to see them in person. very interesting info about raw milk. i am a milk drinker but have never had fresh milk. i guess nothing arrived yesterday so watch for it on monday! joyce