When Mark told me he found a dairy farmer in the area that sold raw milk my heart skipped a beat, and then another beat. I had not had raw milk since visiting Sissy Kaset in Vermont a few years ago. In fact, I thought it was illegal in New York State to sell raw dairy. I was happily mistaken. This is the skinny. As long as you sell directly from your farm in New York State and you have a license to do so it’s cool. So, we went online, emailed our order then headed down the next morning to Freedom Hill Farm in Otisville, New York.

Pulling up in the truck we were both taken aback by how pristine this farm was, almost like it was out of a movie. When we walked up to the retail side we were greeted with a large chalkboard sporting a biblical scripture of the day, “Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.” Psalm 16. I strangely found comfort in this seeing this. They embrace who they are proudly. I love that.

We entered and looked around finding the refrigerator where our order was housed and there it was, my very own raw milk jar with C. BOONE written on it! It was like a Dairy Christmas! Ummmm….so, where was the cashier? “HELLLLOOOO???? Anybody?” Nobody around. That’s right baby…it’s an honor system. Can you believe it? A business that trusts the customer? Dumfounded, I ended up paying more b/c I didn’t have change. Oh yeah, you can also meander over to the milking barn at your leisure and take a look at the milking “Jersey” ladies. Not for nothing, but I’ve ALWAYS wanted a Jersey Cow.

A word about Jesus. Just know, the farmers might ask you to join them in a Christian prayer circle while you are walking around. It’s not freaky in any way. They ‘re not heavy handed about this and were cool with people who declined. Just wanted you to be aware of that.

What a find!