Self-Intro - Jenifer in Columbia, MD

[Guest guest]

As indicated above, my name is Jenifer and I live in Columbia, MD. I am a

stay-at-home mom to one son (, almost 3 years old). land is one of the

states that is extremely unfriendly to raw milk, but we are fortunate to have

Pennsylvania as a neighbor...

I initially started to learn about raw dairy when I came across the _Nourishing

Traditions_ cookbook. At the time, I was pregnant and had been put on modified

bed rest due to autoimmune-related complications. The information in NT made a

lot more sense than most of the current nutrition " wisdom " , and that started the

ball rolling. When our son was born at 33 weeks (my autoimmune condition had led

to preeclampsia), I learned that I was not likely to be able to nurse him for

several reasons. He was in the NICU for two weeks; the day after he came home,

he took his first road trip to PA so that I could buy a bunch of raw milk. He

was promptly started on the homemade raw milk formula, which he LOVED. Now, as a

toddler, he drinks nearly a quart of raw milk every day; when he's sick, he

refuses food and drinks about a quart and a half of raw milk a day. He's rarely

sick, and when he is it's generally not serious.

Now that we've been in the raw milk mode for a while, we have established

relationships with a couple of Amish dairy farmers in Pennsylvania - they

provide our eggs, all of our fluid dairy, and most of our butter and cheese. Oh,

they also provide a lot of our poultry and all of our chicken hearts and livers

( eats chicken liver as part of his breakfast most days... raw egg yolk,

too...). We also have established a relationship with a meat rancher here in

land who raises his animals entirely on forage (pigs) or pasture (everything

else), and have been part of a CSA for several years.

Now I am needing to learn more of the fermenting and preserving side of things.

I have made sauerkraut successfully, which is a start...