Ta-da! Thank you, Eat Local America challenge! Earl and I are now proud owners of a share of a cow. We’ve taken our first delivery from her, two gallons of milk, and we’ve consumed one of them.
Once I had made contact with the family delivering the milk to Chico share owners, the rest was pretty simple. John and Lyn Burleson, the transporters, made everything easy. They recommended the best type of cooler for transport and suggested where to get it, they worked with Cottonwood dairyman Marc Duivenvoorden to reserve us the four glass gallon bottles for our milk, and they sent clear directions for location and time of pick up and drop off of the cooler.

Sharing a cow and her milk production does involve some investment. Cooler, ice packs, year-long contract for two cow shares (this enables two gallons of milk/week), four gallon bottles, delivery charge, and the two gallons this week cost us around $95. Going forward, we pay $19/week for two gallons, $7/gallon for the milk, and $5 for the convenience of delivery to Chico. Considering we were buying Straus organic milk, the milk cost is actually less.

Two gallons/week will be a lot for us—but, as my grandson Ryan likes to say, we have plans. Already, two quarts of kefir have produced themselves on our kitchen counter. For one, I picked up a basket of local strawberries from a farmstand, mashed them, and added the mash to the kefir. Kind of like a smoothie in a jar. I don’t usually buy strawberries in fall—but the kefir was crying our for some fruit. Apples are abundant now at the farmer’s markets. I’m going to try simmering some with a bit of cinnamon, and adding the applesauce to the kefir.

Next week, homemade ricotta. Maybe a simple eggplant parmigiano or frittata with the ricotta.

One note about this cow share. Marc Duivenvoorden’s certified Grade A dairy had been providing milk to Land of Lakes. Land of Lakes recently told him he had to discontinue his cow share operation if he wanted to continue with Land of Lakes. Marc decided not to sell to Land of Lakes and instead to honor his growing group of cow sharers. As a result, he’s got enough cows to share with more of us. He’s offering a considerable discount when families sign up for a second cow share. Contact Marc at D-Dairy@att.net for more information.

Oh, did I mention how delicious the milk tastes? Maybe it’s because it hasn’t been heated and pasteurized, maybe because it is local and fresh. Maybe it’s all in my mind! If you’re interested, you need to educate yourself about raw milk so that you are making an informed choice.