Oake Knoll Ayrshires: raw milk

Last Tuesday, I went to the Oake Knoll Ayrshires at Lawton's Family Farm in Foxboro, MA, to get some raw milk. They have 10 or so cows, mostly (all?) Ayrshires. This farm seems to be the source of raw milk nearest to where I live in Cambridge, MA (USA). The drive took me 40 minutes, without traffic. There is no train station nearby. They sell raw milk and raw milk products by appointment. The first time you go in, they "orient" you, showing you around, and making sure that you understand the differences between raw milk and pasteurized milk. When I was there, they had the following products on offer:

• Raw milk ($5 for a half-gallon).
• Raw milk cheddar, havarti, and gouda (aged over 60 days, as required by law).
• Eggs from henhouse hens ($4/dozen). These hens are able to run around and eat bugs and all the things that hens like to do—but they stay in the henhouse, where they have the 14+ hours of light they need for laying. During the summer, there are also eggs from outdoors hens. The outdoors eggs cost a little more.
• Honey, maple syrup, and maple sugar candies.
• Natural soaps and lip balm.
• Ground beef and stewing beef ($6/lb).

They also have some barn cats that can climb up walls like squirrels. Pretty cool. For a friend, I bought one half-gallon of milk. For myself, I bought one half-gallon of milk, some extra-sharp raw milk cheddar, and a dozen eggs. The cheddar is great. I drank about half of my milk. Raw milk tastes okay to me, as opposed to pasteurized milk, which, from what I remember, tastes bad to me. Next time I will try a side-by-side comparison. The farm sells their milk in plastic containers. They said that in order to sell in glass containers, they would have to have sterilization equipment etc., and that this not economically practical, given their small size. I turned the rest of my milk into yogurt. I heated the milk up to 110 degrees, stirred in a few tablespoons of Seven Stars biodynamic yogurt as a starter, put it in two sterilized pint jars, and left them on a warming tray for half a day or so. The yogurt turned out very rich and creamy, mild, and a little more liquid than store-bought yogurt. It thickened up a bit once I put it in the refrigerator. It is delicious.