I learnt how to milk a cow last week.

Little Eco and I were lucky enough to spend the week farm sitting Purple Pear Organic Farm.

The gig included milking a gorgeous Jersey cow called Patsy.

Learning how to milk a cow was way up on the top of my 'skills I want to learn' list, so I jumped at the chance when it arose.

I spent two mornings joining Mark in the milking (Little Eco even had a go) and then we were on our own for five days.

The results of my efforts on day 1 & 2 were a little pathetic. Patsy is nearing the end of her current milking season so is only providing around 1 litre a day. But my initial efforts didn't even come close to a litre. My single handed milking was pretty slow and awkward and I gave up once I felt Patsy had had enough of my fumbling around down there. Thankfully she's a very tolerant cow.

I'm sure Patsy's calf Blossum enjoyed the extra milk I left her.

By day 3 I was a little more relaxed and found my rhythm. I even managed to progress to two handed milking. 

I've fallen in love with the morning ritual of milking a cow. The routine. The smell. The milk. The sunrise. I can't think of a better way to start the day and am looking forward to being settled at our own little farm so that I can get my own house cow.

Hows this for ridiculous!

It's illegal for me to drink the milk I got each morning. Despite raw milk from pure sources being extremely safe, and despite the health benefits of raw milk, the only people that can legally drink the milk are the owners of the cow - Kate and Mark.

I can legally feed Little Eco caffinated sugar-laden soft drink but am breaking the law if I feed her nourishing raw milk.

and of course I wouldn't dare break the law.......

Are you a raw milk drinker?

Interested in reading more about raw milk? In addition to realmilk.com which I link to above, I also recommed the article 'the white stuff' by Mark Whittaker. And for a laugh watch the video shared by Michelle in her post about raw milk.

edit: Liz's post on raw milk is also well worth reading.