Good Morning America!

written by

Edwin Shank

posted on

April 6, 2015

Hi Family Cow Family,

You know what?...There's a lot that's going right with Americans and food for 2015. You heard right... There's a lot going right.

Maybe you think I'm overly excited because we just got back from two days in Pittsburgh at the annual Farm to Table Conference where we gave away 800 raw milk pints plus sold 100's of servings of Family Cow raw milk and other healing foods to the crowd of 5000.

And you would be partly right. That was exciting. The teaching was fun...the crowd of healthy food enthusiasts was exhilarating. At times there were seven of us explaining raw milk, raw milk kefir, raw honey, lacto-fermented veggies at once. New Family Cow tribe members were signing onto drop points as fast as they could write.

Farm to Table

But I'm not overly excited. Last week's conference is not even what started my thoughts in this direction. The spine-tingling realization started almost a year ago. It started as I increasingly, almost unbelieving at first, picked up signs that mainstream Americans are waking up to the truth of real food and its undeniable, no-brainer, connection to real health.

Maybe you have noticed it too, but if not, I'd like to point out the signs of a nation awaking from the processed food stupor that has held its grip ever since the 1970's. The awakening comes in several distinct areas.


The Big Fat Myth Gets Busted: Of course Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon of WAPF have been busting the saturated-fat-is-bad-for-you myth for years but Nina Teicholz's book, The Big FAT Surprise in May 2014 pushed the envelope even farther. When the June 2014 issue of TIME Magazine sported an amazing front cover article called, "Eat Butter. Scientists labeled fat the enemy. Why they were wrong"... I knew the myth was busting big time.

 

But the real astounding clincher came in March 2015, when as Dr. Mercola reports, The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) is doing a complete about-face on cholesterol. They are finally acknowledging what the science shows…that cholesterol is simply not a nutrient of concern.

"DGAC has recommended limits on dietary cholesterol be removed from the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This is a reversal of the cholesterol limitations that have been widely circulated since the 1960s." Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Dr. Steven Nissen told USA Today: "It's the right decision. We got the dietary guidelines wrong. They've been wrong for decades."


Organic Announced as Fastest Growing Segments in All of Food History!  In April 2014, Dan Flynn, a Food Safety News writer announces the astounding "increase in sales in 24 years makes organic the fastest-growing consumer food and lifestyle trend in modern history."

Yes!... together we are winning one bite at a time!


Food Giants Notice Customers Leaving: McDonald's is actually starting to lose money! In a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding, McDonald's announces its plans to start using chicken raised with reduced antibiotics and milk from cows that are not treated with the artificial growth hormone rBST. Then Nestlé announced plans to remove ingredients such as Red 40, Yellow 5 and artificial vanillin from all of its chocolate candy brands. So, by the end of 2015, Butterfingers, Crunch and Baby Ruth candy bars will be free of artificial flavors and colors.

Not that this will make any of our tribe supporters of Nestles or McDonald's, but still...it's a remarkable testament to the real power of the real food revolution when the big boys start to tremble.


WHO Pronounces Glyphosate quite likely Carcinogenic: Of course, we are not at all surprised about glyphosate being a carcinogen. The surprise is that WHO (World health Organization), after 30 years, is finally acknowledging it! If you are new to the organic conversation, Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Monsanto's most popular herbicide, Roundup.


The use of Roundup has exploded since the mid nineties when Monsanto first engineered their patented GMO crops to suck-up, absorb and thrive on the toxin. This allows chemical farmers to soak their fields with Glyphosate even after the crop is growing since Monsanto's Roundup sucking, GMO crops are the only plants that can survive the poisonous onslaught.

Smooth move for the farmer wanting to farm 3000 acres instead of 300. And of course, smooth lining for Monsanto's deep pockets...

But very bad for American families as the eaters of the non-organic corn, non-organic soybean and non-organic wheat food crops.

Hmm... no wonder Organic is the fastest growing segment in all of food history. Thank you for your help Monsanto! :)


Moms Steer Clear of Pasteurized Milk: Pasteurized milk consumption fell roughly 30% in the past 15 years and no amount of milk mustaches or other energetic marketing campaigns can do a thing about it.

It seems, milk mustache or not, moms and children instinctively steer clear from the bland, highly processed white stuff that gives them digestive upset and congestion.


Raw Milk Demand is Exploding!  Especially for organic raw milk from grass-fed Jersey cows. I just ran the calculations today. At The Family Cow, our raw milk sales have grown on an average of 40% per year for our past 7 years. Many other raw milk farmers across the nation report the same phenomenal, passionate interest from moms and dads and their children.


Our family and team and other RAWMI listed farmers are all working overtime to teach and train very high levels of raw milk safety to the "small, smart and special" tribe of raw milk farmers who are rising to meet the new demand for this super healing food.

In the past three years since Dawn and I pioneered our own laboratory, I have had the personal pleasure to mentor 16 other raw milk farmers from 9 states and 3 counties to set up and operate their own raw milk laboratory. All of the laboratories are on-farm and without fail the farm families are both surprised and pleased at how much cleaner and safer their raw milk is as a result. Dawn and I feel a lot of satisfaction and reward to pass on what we have learned.


But Most Amazing of All! Progressive Dairyman magazine printed not just one but three positive raw milk articles in their March 2015 issue!  To fully grasp the astounding importance of this development, and the shift in thinking it represents, you must know that Progressive Dairyman is not a magazine for small producers. They cater to the biggest of the big commercial, CAFO, confinement dairies. To see them give this nod of affirmation and legitimacy to America's raw milk dairy families is a major shift and a first of its kind for an industry publication.

One of the articles was titled, Making Clean Raw Milk: A How To Guide and was written by Nick Zigelbaum the director of a microbiology Laboratory in Vermont.

Another was written by Emily Caldwell, the east coast editor of Progressive Dairyman. I thought it significant that her closing sentence was this quote from FTCLDF's Pete Kennedy. "I think in another 5 to 10 years we will see raw milk access in all 50 states."

And you know what! ... I can't think of a better way to express what is going right in America than that!

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So anyway, folks, I hope I didn't bore you... I just thought you'd like to know my personal take on the positive state of food in America. We have a long way to go, of course...but the trend is on the upswing...the food giants are trembling...conventional Ag-Business is noticing and things are a-changing in America!

And it's all because of you educated mother lions, protecting your young, and speaking repeatedly and passionately with your buying decisions. 

In spite of what Monsanto would like to think, the Real Power still resides in "the People!"

Think about it... Spring is coming in more ways than one!

Your Farmer,



More from the blog

Raw Milk Cheese to Boost your Immunity

Last week Dad shared his analogy Of Raw Milk and Swimming... If we want to "relax and swim" with strong immunity and good gut health we'll need as much raw living food in our diet as possible. Thousands of families have "learned to swim" with our Organically Grass-fed A2A2 Raw Cow Milk... And we've helped many of them take the next step to make Raw Milk Kefir at home.

Of Raw Milk and Swimming

Good morning Family Cow farm Tribe!It's been a long time since I've explained in detail the probiotic building-of-immunity-pathway to health and wellness as opposed to the antibiotic kill-all-bacteria-method. It is important to understand that these are my answers, not necessarily the answer. Each of you will need to decide and be ultimately responsible for yourself and for your family. Let’s start with an analogy. I find that sometimes observing and understanding the simple and visible helps us grasp of the more complex and obscure. According to the CDC, there are 4,500 drowning deaths per year in USA. That works out to over 12 deaths by drowning per day. For every death caused by drowning there are another 20 near-drownings involving hospitalization and many times permanent brain damage. These are sobering facts. This is reality for families somewhere in America every day. It is only normal for parents, and others who care for the health and wellbeing of our communities, to ask the obvious question. "What can we do to protect ourselves and our loved ones from a similar tragedy?" Since all drowning occurs in water, we might quite logically conclude that water is the enemy and that the best preventive would be to prohibit people from getting into water. Make laws against getting into water. Pass regulations. Establish a Federal Drowning Prevention agency to enforce the laws. Raise taxes to pay them to protect us. The FDP could arrest anyone who dared to violate the law which obviously was established for public welfare. You see where I’m going with this? An alternative drowning prevention is to learn to swim and to teach your children to swim. The ability to swim makes you and your loved ones practically immune to drowning while avoiding water like the plague only leaves your family more vulnerable. More vulnerable since it is highly possible that sometime in your life, in spite of your best attempts, you or your children will find yourselves unexpectedly in water without the least idea how to save yourselves. Swimming does not make one 100% immune to drowning of course, so the FDP can always publicize a few highly emotional stories per year in which those who were experienced swimmers still drowned. Parents who dared to risk their children’s lives by attempting to teach them to swim, as a preventive to drowning, could be prosecuted for willful endangerment and their children taken from them. After all, they were carelessly ignoring data from the CDC which irrefutably documents thousands of deaths per year caused by water. I know this analogy is not perfect, so don’t drag me through the coals to tell me so, but there are many parallels.The Federal government estimates that in America there are about 48 million cases of foodborne illness annually with 3,000 deaths.This is the equivalent of sickening 1 in 6 Americans each year. These also are sobering facts. And it is only normal that parents and others ask the obvious question. "What can we do to protect ourselves?" Many well-meaning people have concluded that bacteria are the enemy and so have set out to kill… set out to sterilize themselves and their environment. "Kill all the bacteria! Fight BAC! Buy Purell… put a dispenser in every room. Get antibacterial soap. Anti-biotics for every sniffle. Outlaw unpasteurized cider. Pasteurize the nuts and almonds too. Outlaw raw milk. These foods may contain pathogens!" There is only one problem with these bacteriaphobic reactions. In spite of our best attempts, in spite of living in constant fear of the microbe, and in spite of efforts to increasingly sterilize our food… if we chose to live this way, someday a stray bacterium will penetrate our sterile bubble… and our artificially protected, flabby immune systems will have no defense against it. The alternative defense against foodborne illness is to embrace bacteria as a part of a larger eco-system, within which we humans integrate ourselves. It's much like learning to swim. We who take this approach are not careless and neither do we underestimate the power of the microbe. Rather, we respect it, and because of this respect we carefully and intentionally educate and help our immune system in its duty of defending us. We focus on life instead of killing. Pro-biotic instead of Anti-biotic. This is what raw milk, raw cheese, butter & cream, and Lacto Fermented Veggies are all about… building immunity and health! We learn to swim and teach our children to swim. Instead of fearing the water we relax and enjoy life as God created it! We embrace living whole foods. Whole foods full of immunity building probiotic bacteria, living foods full of nutrient-absorbing, living enzymes. Whole living foods full of unadulterated, unprocessed, unmessedwith, cell-nourishing, cell-repairing raw fats and protein. Only living foods give life. Only living foods full of a diversity of natural micro flora from our local, natural environment can provide the education and information that our immune systems desperately need to actually protect us as God designed it. God has designed the entire eco-system to live in harmony with bacteria. Be clean, but don't kill The sooner we drop our hubris and accept this humbling fact, the wiser and stronger and healthier we will be. Think about it! Your Farmer ~ Edwin Shank P.S. If you are new to gut healing foods, start with our clean, A2A2 Organically Grass-fed Raw Milk, Raw Milk Kefir or Raw Milk Cheeses... and they are all lactose intolerant friendly! For an immunity boosting non-dairy food, try Lacto Fermented Veggies. Get Immunity Building Food you can eat with confidence.

The Heart & Soul of our Farm is Life-Changing A2A2 Raw Milk

Good morning!Raw milk is what The Family Cow is all about. It defines us. It is the heart & soul of why we do what we do.When my parents, Edwin and Dawn, chose the name The Family Cow, they wanted to express a specific vision. We provide clean, organically grass-fed, A2A2 raw milk to your family just as if you had your own cow grazing in a private meadow.Our family and team pour so much energy, innovation, and "blood, sweat and tears" into the purity and safety of our raw milk because you deserve real food you can eat with confidence.Why the renewed emphasis on our Raw A2A2 Milk?Out of all the clean foods we offer, Raw Milk is the most remarkable. It is a healing, delicious, immune boosting, nourishing, enzyme rich, perfect-in-every-way whole food.For many in our "Family Cow Tribe," this raw milk has been truly life-changing.But don’t just take our word for it. Here is a sampling of the 700+ reviews from families who found they could finally enjoy dairy again: - - - - - - - - - - -"We started getting our milk from The Family Cow around 8 months ago and I have had zero lactose problems with it." ~ Sarah H. "I haven’t had dairy for 10 years due to an allergy, but your raw milk, cheese, and yogurt doesn't affect me! I am in heaven!" ~ Hannah C. "We’ve been getting milk here for 4+ years. It’s incredible, so much cream-line and so good for my daughter who wasn’t able to tolerate regular milk (enzymes and probiotics are killed by pasteurization)." ~ Jenny D."My husband hasn't been able to eat dairy for literally two decades and after trying their raw milk, he has been absolutely amazed to find that he can tolerate it well and has suffered zero ill side effects." ~ Carmen Schlabach- - - - - - - - - - -See what I mean about life-changing?This is why we are renewing our emphasis on Raw Milk.We want to help more people thrive on clean, raw A2A2 dairy.Over the coming weeks, Dad and I will share some of our family's knowledge of raw milk and help answer the most popular frequently asked questions we've received since 2008.Whether you are a long-time fan of Raw Milk or just curious, we want to give you the facts to feel confident in your food choices.Ready to start your Raw Milk journey today?If you have been hesitant to try dairy because of past digestive issues, or if you're simply looking for the most nutrient-dense, clean, A2A2 Raw Milk available, we welcome you to our Farm Tribe. :)Visit our farm store or find a PA pickup location to get raw milk now.Or if you are too far from PA, choose UPS home delivery to get our Raw Cheese, Butter, Cream, etc. delivered to your doorstep. (We do not ship the raw milk itself via UPS home delivery.) One final testimony yet from Joelene... It is extra long, but her story is well worth the read!"I've been searching for truly organic, real food, and I am SO happy I found The Family Cow. The raw milk has been a complete game changer for me.After doing a ton of research on raw milk and its nutrient density, I decided I was going to find a trusted source and try it for myself. I had stayed away from dairy for years because it never agreed with me and I assumed I was lactose intolerant. Through my research, I began to realize the issue might actually be the heavy processing most conventional milk goes through.So I decided to try their A2/A2 raw milk — and wow. No reaction! No lactose intolerance symptoms. I've now been drinking this milk consistently for a full month with zero negative effects.What really sold me initially was the lab testing and the clear commitment to doing things the right way. It means so much to find a farm that is genuinely God-honoring in how they care for their animals and land.The drop-off location is convenient, ordering is simple, and the customer service has been wonderful. The produce is awesome, the honey is delicious, and of course the milk is incredible. I'm already looking forward to trying more products in the future. Thank you for providing real, nourishing organic food — I feel so blessed to have found you!" ~ Joelene Edmondson----------------- Our family and team counts it a pleasure to bring you this clean, regeneratively grass-fed, nutritious raw milk just as if you had your own family cow producing fresh raw milk in your own meadow.All the best of food and blessings, Wesley~ 5th generation on the farm P.S. Even if you are too far from PA to get our Raw Milk itself, you can still get the same raw dairy benefits with our Raw Cheese, Butter, Cream, Cottage Cheese, etc. via nationwide home delivery.