The Complete Patient

Given the upset about the Manna Storehouse incident and other such infringements on our food rights, I had to savor my latest experience purchasing raw milk.

It had been a while since I placed an order for milk with Kathy in New Hampshire, what with being away in Europe and all, so when I called her Thursday to reserve a couple gallons for pickup yesterday, she had some bad news for me. Salina, the cow that normally produces my milk, has just become pregnant, and her production was declining. How would I feel if some of my milk came from Nora?

Salina? Nora? I hadn’t been aware of just which cow my milk was coming from, so I asked what the difference was.

Well, Salina is a full Guernsey, while Nora is three-fourths Guernsey and one-fourth Jersey. In Kathy’s estimation, Nora’s milk isn’t as high quality as Salina’s—it doesn’t last as long, and doesn’t have as high a beta carotene content.

I could definitely vouch for the shelf life of Salina’s milk. When I left for Europe, about a quart of her milk was still in my fridge. It was two weeks old. When I returned, almost three weeks later, it smelled only slightly. I decided to make kefir from it, and it came out great.

When I related this story to Kathy, she had an idea—why not take a gallon from Nora and a gallon from Salina, and use Nora’s milk first. Then I’d know Salina’s milk would last a couple or three weeks, with no difficulty.

I had one last question: How did Kathy know whose milk was whose? She explained that she directs each cow’s milk from the electric milker into a covered pail, so she can monitor production of each of her three milking cows.

Yesterday I picked up my milk from Kathy, and she had some good news for me. She had obtained more milk from Salina than she expected. So the milk in the jugs with the yellow caps were from Salina. The milk in the jugs with the white caps were half from Salina and half from Nora.

Talk about personalized service. I feel very fortunate to have a milk provider who is taking such good care of me.

***

One last recollection of my recent trip to Europe. I spent the last six days in Copenhagen, and found myself enchanted. A very pleasant city—one where everything seems to work and where there are very few signs of poverty, like people panhandling or sleeping on the streets. That in spite of crazy prices, like $5 for a cup of coffee, $10 for a veggie smoothie, $40 for one person at an Indian restaurant buffet.

One of the really amazing things about the place is how many people ride their bicycles to work and to get around. You go out on the downtown streets during the morning rush hour, and there's a strange silence for a large city--there's heavy traffic, yet almost no sounding of horns or quick acceleration of cars and trucks.

Accentuating the quiet are the hundreds and hundreds of people bicycling to work and school, in separate wide lanes between the sidewalks and the traffic, not competing with cars, and their opening doors, for space.

I'm talking about serious bicycling. November in Copenhagen isn't the most pleasant time of year--it's generally between 30 and 45 degrees, and most days there's a cold raw wind and at least some rain. I tend to shy away from bicycling when it’s less than 65 degrees, yet men and women alike are out there in all the mess, bundled up and riding their upright urban bikes. A few are wearing helmets, but most are not. They are a part of the traffic patterns, stopping at lights and signaling turns.

There are even places where bicycles can be automatically borrowed and returned, much like airport luggage carts. And at many businesses, as well as at subway and train stations, you'll see dozens and even hundreds of bicycles parked outside, some locked but many not (per the photo above). Theft seems not to be a problem.

It's certainly a way to reduce energy consumption, but I was told by a few locals that the government promotes the bicycling via television as a way to counter obesity. Bicycling several miles each day through wind and rain will certainly toughen you up and keep the pounds off.

Complementing all this are the dozens of windmills planted in the ocean and harbor around the city, which provide on the order of 20% of the country's energy needs. Inspiring stuff.