I have started to buy milk at the local dairy. Well, milking place. It is just down the road maybe a hundred feet from the entrance to the colonia. The cows graze even closer.
Here is a picture of some bulls hanging around the milking shed.
That's Jim to the left with Giaco and Cosi.
The farmers breed their cattle right here. We sometimes see calves.
Here is a picture of one of the farmers milking. It is done obviously by hand.
On the other side of the cow there's a trough where the farmers can give the cows supplemental food in dry times. Often they chop up banana stalks which, after all, are also a form of grass.
A couple of weeks ago I asked if I could buy a liter. "Of course," said the farmer. "I will deliver it to your house."
A boy brought it in a clean orange juice container. It cost seven pesos, maybe fifty cents.
I read about how to be sure it was safe and proceeded accordingly. Lots of people in the colonia buy it. They are careful to sterilize it. It was very creamy, very rich. Jim put it in slow-cooking Cream of Wheat his brother John had brought for us from HEB in Texas. We can't find Cream of Wheat here. Both Jim and I and John have a love of Cream of Wheat left over from our childhoods.
This past Sunday we bought some more. Jim put it in more Cream of Wheat and I've been using it for coffee. It is leche muy rica.
And muy local.
And probably organic, or close to it.