Got Milk?

We live in farm country...well it used to be farm country. Now it's all too familiar to see farms failing, barns crumbling and the saying, Go Big or Go Home, all too true.  My husband was raised on a dairy farm. You raised your own crops, milked your own cows, ate your own critters and sold the surplus to support your families.  Two of my very favorite things on the farm were making sauerkraut from scratch and drinking milk straight out of the bulk tank. Dairy farms were prevalent and successful enough to feed families, educate children and pay the bills.  Then the government slowly began to crawl into rural America.  They offered to pay farmers NOT to grow specific crops, they regulated milk production and all things affordable began to slip away along with control. But milk continued to be a staple of American life.  Even people in the cities drank milk...and then the unthinkable, even Jack went off to sell his cow...for beans no less!


Entrepreneurs and advertisers still reaped the rewards with campaigns like "Got Milk?"  Actors sporting milk mustaches made millions and cows were spotted on billboards all across America.  Today the headline in the morning paper read: Milk industry fights back against "anti-dairy folks." Seriously, the tree huggers of this decade will be sorry when their crumbling bodies lie in hospital beds dying of nothing! :-)  Milk proponents reached the final straw...when the British Medical Journal published a study suggesting " drinking lots of milk could lead to earlier deaths and higher incidents of fractures!"  Really, oh wise Brits....have you checked your teeth lately?   So, it's time to rise up, sport your milk mustaches once again and "drown out milk's detractors with positive posts about milk!  Data says that in 2012, people drank an average of 14.5 gallons of milk a year (they obviously didn't poll us at 2199 State Rt. 38..better known as "the Milky Way!"  We guzzle gallons of milk a week here! The USDA still recommends 3 cups of dairy a day.....we're good!  Last year, the industry dropped its "Got Milk?" campaign in favor of one called "Milk Life."  That one obviously soured...I never heard it once! The newest campaign launching today is called "Get Real!"  Real milk (not almond or cashew or some other nut), real benefits (strong bones and teeth,) and real facts that milk still......... makes a body good!