Got Milk

On Friday Dave, Stephanie, Jo and Kevin came over for lunch. Stephanie is pursuing a masters degree in Dairy Science. It was interesting to ask her questions about regular milk vs. organic milk and about the growth hormones that everybody seems worried about. Stephanie was more than happy to answer our questions. I will give you a brief overview of what I learned.

The difference between Organic milk and regular milk:
1. Organic milk costs more $$$
2. To be qualified to use the word "Organic" you have to have been organic for three years.
This doesn't mean you have to treat your cows any different, have them in greener pastures, give them bubble baths, etc. What "organic" does mean is that when they are sick or ill, you can only use certain kinds of medicine. For example if your cow gets mastitus, instead of giving her antibiotics you put garlic up in her udder. I don't know about you, but I would rather have meds then garlic in funny places.
3. Every truck that leaves a dairy is tested, regardless of what kind of milk it's carrying. If it doesn't meet code the farmer has to pay for the whole truck. Not good! No farmer wants to pay for his own milk. So in fact it is not likely that you will get sick or ill from milk, whether it is "organic" or not.
4. Organic milk does come in very cute container and has a smiling cow, so the cow must be happier right?

Growth hormones in milk.
The growth hormones in milk should not be confused with human growth hormones If milk from cows contained human hormones, milk-drinkers would be very big and very sick people (not to mention cows with human hormones would probably be mutants). Hormones in cows' milk are not the same in people - very different.

The most interesting bit of information related to the research she is doing on the feed they give the cows. The farmers add a substance to the plants to get them to produce more (I don't have the correct jargon, but I hope that I can at least get the idea across). A side effect is the growth of Streptococcus-like bacteria in the feed made from the plants when it is processed and stored. She is doing a study on that. This same substance used by the farmers is also used for some of our own foods, but her focus is on the cows. Interesting huh??!

This made me think about how much influence the media has over people. They might be right in some areas, but the reason they are telling us is for the shock value. If it was boring would we listen?? I need to do my own research and ask people who are in the field of expertise. Just something I was thinking about.
What do you think?

Banana's Blog

Now that NJ is in school, Banana gets to be my big girl and helper. Ban has the cutest sense of style and her take on the world is fun to hear. The other day Ban was dancing around in the front room while I clapped. She stopped and told me, "I'm beginning to look like Rapunzel. You know, the one with the long golden hair."
She danced a little bit more before telling, "And you can be the bad witch mom!"

Both NJ and Ban like to put things on their heads, but I always wondered about the hat. Today I learned that the hat keeps on the long blankets and table cloth, whatever is in style that day.

Yesterday while we waited outside the school for Ban she found a bunch of small sticks. She put one under her chin and then drew a second stick over the other one.

"I'm playing the ola (viola, violin)." It was so cute that I had her take home her "ola" so that I could take pictures of her.

I used to think Ban was going to play a brass instrument, but now I'm not so sure.

Man child's Birthday

Today the man child turned two. I can hardly believe that my baby is now two years old! He is such a happy guy and has a lot of energy. He adds a lot of excitment and joy to our family. I'm sure that manly man enjoys having someone on his side when it comes to watching Princess movies.
The girls were realy excited about the man child's birthday. They helped me shop for his presents and helped me decorate. They were more excited about His birthday than HE was.
The girls each gave him a matchbox car. I let them pick it out themselves and he couldn't open up their wrapped bags fast enought. He also got a new fuzzy blanket and a play hammer. But as you can see, he liked the cars the best.
For His birthday cake I made him an alligator. It would have liked to make him a frog, but I couldn't figure out a shape without having to make a whole lot of different shapes. After I had the alligator all decked out I felt like I needed to name it. But I couldn't name it because then you have a hard time eating it.
The alligator on fire. I have grand plans for a dragon if ever a kid wants one. The man child had a hard time blowing the candles out. He just wanted to smell the cake!

Corn and Tomatoes

We have been eating a lot of corn recently. Canned corn, frozen corn does not have a leg to stand on when it comes to fresh, sweet corn on the cob. The first time I cooked up five ears of corn thinking that the kids would only eat half of a cob but that wasn't enough and we all ended up wanting more. Natalie showing off her half eaten cob.
The next time we had corn on the cob for dinner I cooked up a dozen. I was worried that we would not be able to eat that much, but I was wrong-very wrong.
The only sound at the dinner table was the biting and chewing of the corn. I had cooked it just right and the kernels still crisp, yet soft burst with sweet juice. There was no fighting or bickering that night. It was wonderful! I think that we should have corn every night, just to help keep the noise down.
This is a small picture of the damage done to my cherry tomatoes. The man child turns my lazy Susan (I think that is what the cupboard that goes around and around is called?) and climbs up it to get onto the counter. Since I come into the kitchen when I hear the loud scraping of a moving chair he has learned to do something that is very stealthy. He had a great time smashing the cherry tomatoes. Pop, pop POP!!!