5 reasons we just love raw dairy. Why do you choose raw?

Happy Valentine's Day 💖 In honor of St. Valentine, I'd like to tell you about the one thing (other than my wife and family) that I love most - raw dairy! Truly, it's my passion in life. And, truly, not just any person wants to be a dairy farmer. You have to be committed. The cows need to be milked 2x a day, every day, no matter what (even when I'm feeling crappy). And, when you farm regeneratively, you need to move the cows every day (sometimes multiple times a day). To sum it up -- it's not an easy career! So why do I do it? As I said, I just love raw dairy. And while I'm doing it for myself, I might as well supply you with it, too. Here are the top 5 reasons I love raw dairy: 1-- Raw milk is a real, old fashioned food. I mean, humans have been drinking raw milk forever as their first food (AKA breast milk). Infant formula was invented in 1865, less than 200 years ago. Before then, all babies got breast milk and only breast milk. And, humans started drinking milk from animals thousands of years ago. Some people speculate that humans probably started taking milk from other animals out of desperation. In a foot shortage or drought, they may have noticed a calf nursing its mother. "Hmmm... maybe I can take some milk, too," they may have thought. Then, they realized it was delicious. And, it was an excellent extra food source, especially in winter or when migrating. It became a staple in cultures around the world and still is. 2-- Raw dairy is probiotic. That's right. Raw milk naturally comes with probiotic lactic acid bacteria. It can boost your immune system, improve digestion, and may even help prevent certain kinds of diseases including cancer. Did you know that your gut contains 80% of the immune cells in your body? It's so important to maintaining good health and having resilience when sick. Your gut works by being in balance. The probiotic bacteria defend you against invading potentially harmful bacteria. The probiotic bacteria in your gut also help you digest food. You can get max nutrition from every bite, have better bowel movements, and have less inflammation when your gut is in balance. 3-- Many people with lactose intolerance can handle raw dairy. A baby naturally produces lots of lactase enzymes to digest breast milk. Lactase is needed to digest lactose, a sugar in milk. Without it, you can experience stomach upset and other awful symptoms. But, as you get older, you naturally produce less and less lactase. People who are lactose intolerant either don't produce enough lactase or don't produce any at all. The "magic" of raw milk is that the living microbiology that it naturally contains can jumpstart your body to produce lactase. Amazing! 4-- Keeping it raw makes all the nutrition bioavailable. Pasteurization destroys or inactivates vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and enzymes. Raw milk, on the other hand, has max nutrition that it fully and easily available to your body. Here's a nice chart from the Raw Milk Institute that sums it up: It's it's no necessarily a matter of the vitamins disappearing or being destroyed altogether. It's more a matter of the milk being altered so your body cannot use vitamins in the milk. 5-- Raw milk can be made into so many yummy foods! Butter, yogurt, kefir, ice cream, pudding, cheese, paneer, sour cream. The list can go on and on. It's kinda amazing that one simple food - milk - can result in such an array of foods with different textures and flavors. As with most foods, all dairy items were invented accidentally. This is pretty amazing. For example, it's been said that cheese was invented when someone put milk in an animal stomach to go on a long journey. While walking in the hot sun, the enzymes from the stomach coagulated the milk and made cheese. It was delicious, so he did it again and again! Whoever invented ice cream definitely deserves a prize! Did you know that the same health benefits of raw dairy for humans applies to your furry family as well? Although it shouldn't be a staple food, feeding raw dairy to your cats & dogs has definite benefits. It add moisture, healthy fats, probiotics, and vitamins and minerals to their diet. It also enriches their life, giving them new flavors and textures to explore. That's why we offer as much raw dairy as we can! We have raw milk and cream for humans in WV, and raw dairy for cats & dogs everywhere. What's your #1 reason for loving raw dairy? I'd love to hear from you. Comment below or contact us 🥰 ----- Sources The Origins of Milk: Why Was the First Cow Milked in the First Place?Letter to Medical Professionals about Raw MilkThe Role of Probiotics in Maintaining Gut Health

What's in your natural chicken feed? Why do you have two egg options?

There are a couple questions about our pastured eggs that come up over and over again. I figured you might be wondering, too. So here are answers to the top 2 Triple E egg questions! What's the difference between the 2 pastured egg feeds? We have corn & soy free eggs as well as GMO-free eggs. The big difference is the type of feed the hens eat. One feed does NOT have corn or soy in it. The other feed has both. The ingredients of feed will affect both the nutrition of the egg as well as the price. Corn & Soy Free Feed Ingredients: Milo, Wheat, Barley, Peas, Alfalfa Meal, Calcium, Vitamins, and Minerals Eating eggs from chickens eating a corn & soy free feed results in higher omega 3s and lower omega 6s. Eating a better ratio of omega 6/3 can improve your health and prevent chronic illness. GMO-Free Feed Ingredients: Non-GMO Corn, Organic Non-GMO Soybean Meal, Rice Hulls, Calcium, Salt, Active Dry Yeast, Vitamins, Minerals, and Natural Flavors Since corn and soy are so cheap to grow, having them in chicken feed reduces the price of eggs. When GMO-free and pasture raised, this is a great option for price conscious natural consumers. You get the added nutrition of pasture raised eggs with a lower price tag. How are the farming practices different in the 2 "pasture raised" flocks? "Pasture raised" has become a confusing term nowadays. How each farmer raises their animals at pasture varies. And the requirements for having those words on a label are... well... lax. It's such a different food world compared to 200 years ago! When Triple E says "pasture raised", it's like you imagine it in your head. You know, like it was in the olden days when hens were outside on green pasture as much as the weather allowed, clucking and foraging for bugs and seeds and plants. The being said, there are slight differences in how each of our egg laying flocks is raised. Our corn & soy free flock lives in mobile coops. A mobile coop is an enclosure on wheels that gives the hens shade and shelter from rain (when needed). It has nesting boxes, water, and feed inside. And, it has a door that's always open when the sun is shining so the hens can go out. Around each coop is at least 1/2 acre of enclosed pasture. Then hens are kept in that spot (and protected from predators) with an electric fence. The coop and the fence are moved at least 3x per week to fresh pasture. This makes it easy for the hens to forage for bugs, seeds, and plants. This is what happens in the warmer months. In the winter, the hens are brought inside so they can stay warm. And, of course there's a door in the barn so the hens have free access to outside (although honestly if it's too cold they won't go outside). Our GMO-free flock is in a permanent coop. A permanent coop is a built structure with a foundation. It cannot be moved. Our GMO-free hens live in one of these. It has many doors that are always open, and it's surrounded by acres of pasture. In the warmer months, the hens will venture outside and forage for bugs, seeds, and plants. In the colder months, they tend to stay indoors where it's warm. Why have eggs been out of stock recently? Well the simple answer is that we don't have enough eggs! This is why we're offering two options -- so we have more eggs! There are a couple big reasons why: Basically all of our customers want eggs, and we can't keep up with supply.In the winter, our hens naturally lay less eggs. The lay rate is lower right now in January. It should pick up in the spring. Of course, we want to solve this problem. We don't just want to be a source for old fashioned farm food, we want to be a reliable source. We started a new flock of laying hens, and they just started laying! They will continue to lay more and more. And that means that... We're hoping to have eggs consistently in stock starting this spring! Keep in mind that eggs take time. There's no quick fix. A hen doesn't start laying until they're 5-6 months old. And they're not considered a full chicken producing regular eggs until their 1 year old. We're doing our best to plan ahead and keep eggs available for you. If you have any questions about our pastured eggs, comment below or contact us. I'm happy to help 😊

Why choose old fashioned sourdough bread? What makes it better?

Let's get this straight - sourdough came first. It might feel like a new trend, but it's actually the most old fashioned leavened bread you can eat. I mean, active dry yeast wasn't even invented until 1943! As we've heard time and time again when it comes to modern conventional food, convenience and cost typically come before health. Ugh. This is especially true when it comes to bread. Modern bread in supermarkets has 22.5 ingredients on average. I mean, wow! Our sourdough bread is made with just 3 - flour, water, and pink Himalayan salt. Why all those other ingredients? To make what modern consumers consider the "perfect bread". Sugar to make it sweeter. Yeast to make it rise instantly (instead of waiting for the sourdough culture). Dough conditioners for better volume. Preservatives to make it last for weeks. Emulsifiers to give it the same consistency every time. Artificial colors to make it look good. Did you notice a trend with those extra ingredients? None are there to improve the nutrition of the bread (on the contrary, many come with potential risks). Yup, it's all about appearance and flavor. Enter sourdough, the better bread. It's more nutritious than yeast bread. There are 4 big reasons why: 1- Carbohydrates are broken down during fermentation, making them easier to digest. There are naturally occurring bacteria and yeasts in flour. When flour is dry, they're inactive. But, when you add water, they come to life. It might seem like magic... but it's science on a microscopic level. These lactic acid bacteria and yeasts feed on carbohydrates. They break them down and produce carbon dioxide gas. That's what makes a sourdough culture bubble and what makes bread have those wonderful pockets inside. This is also what makes sourdough bread more digestible. Carbs are one of the hardest things for your body to digest. But the carbs in sourdough bread are pre-digested, making it a lot easier on your body. 2- Gluten is broken down during fermentation, making it easier to digest. Same story as above. The naturally occurring bacteria and yeasts break down gluten, too! That means there's less gluten in sourdough bread compared to yeast bread. This doesn't mean that those with Celiac disease can eat it, but it does mean that it's more digestible for most. But it does mean that many people with gluten sensitivity can handle sourdough but not yeast bread. 3- Phytic acid is broken down, which makes the minerals bioavailable. Phytic acid in unfermented bread binds to minerals, making it hard (and sometimes impossible) for our body to absorb them. But, sourdough fermentation creates phytase, an enzyme that breaks down the phytic acid. This makes the minerals remain bioavailable. Because of this, sourdough bread is more nutrient-dense than yeast bread. 4- Prebiotics are naturally present. Prebiotics are a type of fiber that feed on the good bacteria in your gut. When you eat them, it helps probiotics grow and thrive in your digestive tract. Beca-glucan is a specific prebiotic in sourdough bread that can boost probiotic activity after digestion. Buyer beware --- fake sourdough is a thing! Watch out for yeast and sugars as ingredients. Real sourdough does not include them. Also keep an eye out for expiration dates weeks or months away. Authentic sourdough will only last a few days. And lastly you may want to ask about fermentation time. A true sourdough will ferment 3.5-7 hours. There's a new thing called "sourdough powder", which is basically an active dry yeast that makes the bread taste like sourdough. Did you know we offer handmade artisan sourdough bread? It's the real deal sourdough bread made with just flour, water, and Himalayan pink salt. We have both regular and organic. Every loaf is made by Esta, right here on our farm. Our loaves are crusty on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. It's everything you expect from an old fashioned bread. If you won't eat it within a few days, you can freeze it for later! If you have any questions about our sourdough bread, comment below or contact us. We're super transparent and are happy to answer any questions you may have 😊 ----- Sources In the Land of the World's Oldest Bread, a Return to an Ancient Baking CultureDo you know what’s in your bread?Sourdough Fermented Breads are More Digestible than Those Started with Baker’s Yeast AloneSourdough and digestibilityIs Sourdough Bread Healthy? Nutrition Facts & BenefitsHow to Spot a Fake Sourdough

Why corn & soy free? Here's an old fashioned standpoint.

In case you didn't know, over the past few years, we've transitioned all of our animals to be corn & soy free.

Here are 5 reasons why (as it mostly relates to chickens):

Chickens naturally forage for small grains, not big ones like corn and soy.

A modern, unnatural diet of mainly corn & soy can lead to health issues in animals.

We can avoid modern GMOs with certainty. No risk of cross pollination.

Corn & soy are, more often than not, farmed with modern conventional practices. Those are usually bad for the environment and the future of soil.

Feeding a natural diet means healthier animals and therefore more nutrition for you!

What do you choose corn & soy free? Is it the PUFA/omega thing or something else?

More from the blog

5 reasons we just love raw dairy. Why do you choose raw?

What's in your natural chicken feed? Why do you have two egg options?

Why choose old fashioned sourdough bread? What makes it better?

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